WEBVTT - 'Cazique' Gregor MacGregor, the Man Who Fabricated a Country 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:06.479 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:18.520 with iHeartRadio. Poiz the picture of paradise. It was a 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.239 magical place. The water was quote so pure it could 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:26.279 quench any thirst, and as if that weren't enough, chunks 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.800 of gold lined the river beds. The trees were ripe 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.479 with fruit, and the soil was so fertile that a 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:35.440 farmer could have three maize harvests a year, or grow 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.320 cash crops such as sugar or tobacco without hardship. This, 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:44.080 according to Scottish swindler Gregor McGregor, could all be yours 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.440 if you considered investing in his property located in present 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.879 day Honduras. He knew about Poiez, you see, because he 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.280 was he claimed the Kazique of the nation, a figure 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.000 similar to a native chief in other Spanish speaking nations nearby, 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.200 and for what it's Earth similarly spelled as well. In 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.199 the early eighteen twenties, Gregor ran one of history's most 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:11.400 successful and imaginative cons He invented his own country and 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:13.920 then conned investors into buying the bonds of a country 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.760 that did not exist. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm ranch marquis 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.760 and I'm a holy fry. What Poyez lacked, McGregor stated, 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:27.080 were willing investors and settlers to develop it and leverage 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:31.520 its resources to their fullest. British investments in South America, 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.759 which by the way, at this point was this catch 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.720 all term for what is now Latin America, everything that 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:41.520 was not the United States, essentially South, these investments were 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.679 gaining in popularity. Several countries that had gained independence from 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:50.480 Spain were looking for help financing their nascent governments. Chile 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:55.120 and Columbia, for instance, sold bonds totaling roughly between one 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:59.040 hundred million and two hundred million dollars that's in today's 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:04.040 money values, promising six percent in annual returns through the 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:09.480 profits from state m agriculture, and mineral industries. Without any 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.920 current means of revenue such as a mineral industry. Gregor 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.400 assured potential investors that funding would come from the country's 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:22.000 future inhabitants, and he recruited hard. He published interviews about 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.640 Poiz in national newspapers and magazines, advertising the perks that 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.840 would come from investing in or colonizing his land. He 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:34.480 engaged publicists to write marketing materials, advertisements and brochures, and 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.840 you heard some of their work in our opening segment. 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.200 While he engaged British investors for cash, he targeted his 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.800 fellow Scots for would be colonists and wrote that quote 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:49.200 the Scottish Highlanders were known for their heartiness and adventurous spirit, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.720 and he argued that Poiz would be the quote ultimate 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.480 testing ground, a challenge and gift all in one for 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:01.440 an adventurer. Poyers, the term Gregor used for those indigenous 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.400 to the land, were described by him as friendly and 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.040 hard working people, and he referred to them as quote 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:13.400 complimentary labor for the settlers. Now note that these people 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.400 were real people who were not part of his imagination. 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.840 They were not called Poyers, and they were most certainly 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:25.320 not complimentary labor in reality. And indigenous population known as 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.800 the Misquito, were native to the area, and they weren't 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:33.320 really part of Gregor's plan. The capital of Poyaz a 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.240 town named Saint Joseph. Gregor described as a European style 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.000 settlement that was so sophisticated it even had an opera house. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.160 Marketing materials claimed that the land was quote one of 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.680 the most healthy and beautiful spots in the world, and 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.280 to bring it all together, he had Poyaz ballads composed 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.640 and sung along the streets of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.080 But before we get too far into this con let's 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:04.080 talk about who this guy, Gregor McGregor was. Gregor was 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.560 a native of Glengale, Scotland, born on December twenty fourth, 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.760 seventeen eighty six and raised in a privileged Scottish family. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.760 He attended top schools. At sixteen, his family purchased him 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.880 a commission in the British Army and he was very 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:25.280 briefly deployed in the Peninsular War. Mostly His military accounts 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.040 of being in the British Army, though, include a lot 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.719 of waiting. Around. Around this time too, he married a 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.120 woman named Maria Bootter, the daughter of a Navy admiral 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.680 whose family was among Britain's finest. The newly went settled 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.560 in Edinburgh, and Gregor immediately began using his new wife's 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.599 wealth and privilege to fast track his way through the 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:50.120 ranks of the army. He paid nine hundred pounds to 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.039 become a captain. Without that payoff, that promotion would have 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.280 otherwise taken him several years to accomplish. He and his 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:02.719 wife often toured the city fashionably dressed in their extravagant coach, 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.920 and Gregor continued to focus on bettering his social status. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.359 In eighteen eleven, the couple moved to London, where he 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:15.479 began calling himself Sir Gregor McGregor, with the bart designation 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.880 after it, so he could falsely identify himself as a baronet, 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.080 and added false claims of dukes and barons in his 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:27.160 family tream. But the thing was, he was starting to 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.760 receive the level of respectability that he desired among London's 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.520 high society. He routed it from any high society relief. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.160 But then in December of that year, Maria passed away, 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.840 and upon her death Gregor lost the financial support of 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:47.040 her well healed family. His only real experience other than 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.400 spending his in law's money was as an officer in 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.000 the military, so after his wife's death, he turned his 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.360 interest back to battle, this time though in the colonial 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.680 revolts against Spanish rule in South America, particularly fighting in 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.599 and around Venezuela. Britain supported the independence of the South 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.640 American colonies from Spain, knowing it would destabilize Spanish power 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:13.800 and Venezuelan revolutionary general Francisco de Miranda had been celebrated 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.440 during a recent visit to London. It was on the 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.680 heels of those circumstances when McGregor imagined a new exotic 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.839 adventure for himself. Cut off from his former in laws 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.440 in spirit and in finances, he sold the Scottish estate 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.039 he'd inherited and sailed for Venezuela via Jamaica in early 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.839 eighteen twelve. His plan was to offer himself as a fighter, 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.480 a mercenary in the Venezuelan War of Independence against Spain, 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.120 and he did. Upon arrival, he introduced himself as Sir 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:47.159 Gregor McGregor, a former British Army officer. He was given 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.440 the rank of colonel and given command of a cavalry battalion, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.039 a command he held between the years eighteen twelve and 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.720 eighteen sixteen. The same year he arrived in Venezuela, Gregor 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:02.440 married again and again to a wealthy family. His bride, 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:07.960 Donia Josepha Antonia Andrea Aristagietta Ilovea, was the daughter of 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.400 a prominent Caracas family, and she was a cousin of 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:17.080 the revolutionary Venezuelan military and political leader Simon Bolivard. Gregor 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.400 quickly rose to the rank of General General of Division 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.800 in the Army of Venezuela under Bolivard and led a 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.480 series of independent military campaigns in the Caribbean. One of 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.080 his most notorious actions came in eighteen seventeen, when he 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.640 raised a small army and briefly captured Florida's Amelia Island 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.520 from the Spanish. He proclaimed it to be, albeit very 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:45.400 short lived, the Republic of the Florida's In eighteen nineteen, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:50.239 he oversaw two operations in New Grenada, now part of Venezuela, 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:54.000 each one its own calamity. It was there where he 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.200 made a name for himself, not as a revolutionary or 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.920 a legendary fighter. Rather, he made a name as a 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.560 coward when he not once but twice abandoned his troops, 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.400 leaving them to be killed in battle or executed while 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:12.640 he fled to safety. In eighteen twenty, Michael Rafter, the 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.240 brother of William Rafter, who was one of the soldiers 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.440 who served under McGregor's command in Venezuela, published a tell 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.960 all book that told all of the details of McGregor's 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.000 military ineptitude. Basically, if you wanted to write a book 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.520 that would make McGregor look like a bad leader, this 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:34.000 book did just that, stated Michael quote that any person 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.040 could be induced again to join him in his desperate 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.760 projects would be to conceive a degree of madness and folly, 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:47.280 of which human nature, however fallen, is incapable. Despite his 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.480 rapid climb in ranks in the Venezuelan Army, there is 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:54.760 no record that McGregor was a particularly good military leader, 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.079 but there's plenty on record that he was good at deception. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.040 Going to take a break for a word from our sponsor, 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.760 and when we return, we'll talk about how he scammed 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.160 enough people to fill multiple ships with potential Poiez settlers. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:29.720 Welcome back to Criminalia. Okay, let's talk land. In talking 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.640 about the imaginary country of Poiez, it's really easy to 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:38.720 forget that there was real land involved here. So where 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.400 and when and how did McGregor come upon the land 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:46.760 he called Poiez. Some sources suggest he purchased acreage from 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.920 the Mosquito or from other unnamed interested parties. There's not 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.040 a lot of detail in those accounts. Most accounts, though, 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:58.160 explain how he came to find Poiez as so while 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.800 fighting in Venezuela, Gregor did a man named George Augustus, 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.680 who also happened to be known as George Frederick Augustus, 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:09.600 the first king of the Mosqatoo people. The king gifted 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.119 to Gregor acre upon acre of land and his Mosquito 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:17.560 Coast territory. According to most reports, the Moskatoo people knew 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.600 the land was crap. It was very pretty, but it 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:26.960 was inhospitable. Gregor officially looked on as King. George Frederick Augustus, 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.120 the first of the Mosquito Coast, at Cape Gracia Sadios, 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.640 in April of eighteen twenty, signed a document granting McGregor 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.400 and his heirs a swath of territory in exchange for 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:43.160 not money, no, in exchange for rum and jewels. But 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.959 there's a catch here. The land didn't belong to him, 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.800 not really. It fell under the dominion of the British 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.880 aligned Mosquito government. George couldn't give it to him, and 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.439 Gregor didn't own what he got. But on that day 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.480 in April, no one cared, and McGregor named the land 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:03.440 poiez Upon returned to a civilian life in England in 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.640 eighteen twenty one. Gregor continued to build his reputation among 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:12.079 London's high society based on a lot of fabricated stories, 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.880 stories like he was the head of Plan McGregor or. 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.840 He was also known as His Serene Highness Gregor, the 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.160 first Sovereign Prince of the State of Poiez and its Dependencies, 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:29.040 and Kazique of the Poyer Nation. Gregor's wife began using 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:33.720 the self styled title Princess of Poiez to the London elite. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:37.439 Poiz sounded just far away enough to be a plausible 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:42.200 place and one that absolutely needed colonizing. Gregor and his 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.880 wife quickly became honored dinner guests. At one point they 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.240 were in such demand that they were invited to attend 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.959 an official reception at the Guildhall, hosted by the Lord 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:56.640 Mayor of London. While in London, though McGregor did not slack, 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.000 I mean, it wasn't all meats and sweets. There, he 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.640 opened for business, and he worked hard to make his 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.880 story credible. He organized a parliament for his invented country, 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.880 as well as a banking system. He reportedly got British 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.400 newspapers to detail bond prices for Poiz as they did 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.960 for real countries, and he even orchestrated the issue of 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:21.480 a Poiesian government loan on the London Stock Exchange. Gregor 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:27.720 could produce documents very convincing documents about Poys, including a 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.480 handwritten land grant, an illustration of its national flag which 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:36.120 featured two unicorns, charts and maps showing the country's borders, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.760 and a copy of the proclamation he had made to 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.319 those native to the region before he left for Europe. 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:46.199 These faked documents worked particularly well on getting investors to invest. 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.080 Gregor began selling land titles to Britain's who were hoping 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.480 to find fortune in a new colony, while he pedaled 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.280 bonds to the wealthy across the salons of London. As 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.120 we mentioned earlier, he sought and found his potential settlers 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.959 in Scotland, where he sold land at a shilling and 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:08.760 acre to interested parties, although as excitement about Poyez spread, 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.959 he increased the price of land from one shilling per 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:16.920 acre to four shillings per acre. By autumn, investors had 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.400 claimed two hundred thousand pounds worth of bonds at a 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.920 six percent rate of return. That is not adjusted for 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.079 today's equivalent, but if we tried to, it'd be more 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:31.000 than two million pounds. In addition to land for sale, 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:36.800 Gregor had jobs also for sale. For instance, a cobbler 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.880 from Edinburgh bought himself the title of Official Shoemaker of Poiez. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.520 Commissions in the Poyez military were also for sale for 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:49.880 those who were among the wealthier settlers. Others were lured 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:54.120 with good jobs, such as bankers, merchants and government employees. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.760 What they all had in common was that most of 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.880 them had invested their life savings into this venture. Some 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.040 had converted all of their cash into Poia's currency, which 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:10.319 McGregor had started printing in Scotland from eighteen twenty one 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.960 to eighteen thirty seven. McGregor attempted to draw British and French, 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:16.480 but we're going to get to that in a minute. 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:21.240 Investors and settlers to his imaginary little corner of the world. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:27.240 The economist noted that McGregor quote had some very dangerous 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.120 personality traits. He was a dreamer, convinced that he was 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.600 descended from an Inca princess. This made his plan to 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:38.720 lead a country feel quite normal, even a birthright. He 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.720 was narcissistic, He was grand use, and he was fond 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.880 of bestowing grand titles, medals, and other decorations on himself. 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.480 His biographer David Sinclair, in the book The Land That 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.560 Never Was, describes McGregor as a man who quote never 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.120 led a good idea with her away because of a 0:14:55.160 --> 0:15:01.560 few technical difficulties. Because this was white a con Let's 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.960 take a look at Gregor's skill in con artistry techniques. 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.560 He used reciprocity, which basically means he convinced people that 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.480 if they invested with him, he would give them in 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.720 return the opportunity of a lifetime. He also used a 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.800 technique that experts call social validation. In this instance, he's 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.800 selling his victims on the fact that we're paraphrasing him here, 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.440 they will be the most Scottish of Scottish and the 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:33.920 most respected among Scottish. He also used scarcity, a technique 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.040 that often sounds like act now before you miss out 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.600 on this great deal. No one wants to miss out 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.040 on the deal of a lifetime. And if you, the victim, 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.960 don't secure your land, someone else is going to get 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.160 it first, and then there goes your chance at greatness. 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:54.680 And finally, he brought in an authority, a captain Thomas 0:15:54.720 --> 0:16:00.600 Strange Ways, who should be trusted because well just trust him. Listen, 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.280 We're going to talk about Thomas in just a minute. Additionally, 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:08.720 writing for the BBC, author Maria Kannakova has discussed McGregor's 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.560 use of two specific techniques common among Khan artists, and 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:17.960 describes them as so the first, make whatever your selling 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:22.040 look really appealing. So for McGregor that meant selling palm 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.240 trees and white sandy beaches to people living among the damp, 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:30.280 heather covered moors of Scotland. The second overcome any resistance 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:35.640 by taking action. According to Khnakova quote, McGregor published interviews 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.120 in national papers, for instance, touting the perks that would 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.720 come from investing or settling in Poyez. He highlighted the 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.320 bravery and fortitude that such a gesture would demonstrate you 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.920 would be a real man. Potential investors with lingering doubts 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.440 were pointed in the direction of a three hundred plus 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.680 page guidebook called Sketch of the Mosquito Shore, which told 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.960 the story of English settlers establishing the of Saint Joseph 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:05.040 and prospering on the territory of Poiez in the seventeen thirties. 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.760 Its author concluded the new country would quote rapidly advance 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:15.800 and prosperity and civilization. It was written by Captain Thomas 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.680 Strange Ways, who was described as quote Captain first Poyer 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.160 Regiment and aide de camp to his Highness Gregor Kazik 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.119 of Poiz. But there was no Captain strange Ways. He 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:32.320 was actually just Gregor using a pseudonym. He contacted everyone 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:34.480 he could think of in London who had the means 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.320 to invest in the phony Poyez territory. In June of 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.240 eighteen twenty one, Gregor penna note to a mister Nathan 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:45.040 Mayer Rothschild. And before we read this letter, you're going 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.960 to see that it has some problematic language dating from 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.679 its time period. But you're also going to see Gregory 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.760 using some very classic fraudster tricks like the ones we 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.359 just discussed, including appealing to known interests of his target 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:02.440 while remaining deliberately vague about the details of his request. 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.320 Quote from Gregor McGregor of Poyez to N. M. Rothschild Esquire, 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.520 written from Donnahee, Ireland. I have the honor to equate 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.920 you that I arrived here with my family from South 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.719 America about three weeks ago, my letter book being on 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.680 board of another vessel with my papers, I am unable 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:22.639 to refer to the date of my letter to you 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:26.000 from Santa Martha enclosing the little deed for the grant 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:30.040 of land upon the Zacossilian River in the territory of Poiz, 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:34.919 the proposed situation of the projected Hebrew colony. I shall 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.440 not at present enter into any details upon this subject 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.600 until I learn from yourself you approve of the plan. 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:46.680 In the meantime, I propose, from procuring in Germany and Poland, 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:51.320 some twenty or thirty industrious agricultural Hebrew families to send 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.520 out to Poiz, supplying them in the same time with 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.640 provisions and everything else they may want. For the first 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.359 twelve months. It is proper to observe that the state 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.760 of Poiez is disposed to remain perfectly neutral during the 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:10.160 existing contest between Spain and her colonies. I propose making 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.639 the harbor of port royal of Freeport, which will immediately 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.639 give it a considerable trade, as there is no port 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:22.120 to Leeward of Jamaica for reception of American produce. So Rothschild, 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.200 The recipient of this letter was a top tier financier, 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:29.480 and there is no evidence he ever invested in, or promoted, 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.960 or was even interested in McGregor's scam. But that can't 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:37.440 be said for hundreds of others who did probably get 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.840 missives like this and invested their savings in fake Poiesian 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:47.120 government bonds and land certificates. Altogether, Gregor sold enough land 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:51.800 to fill multiple ships with settlers, and every scent that 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:57.960 people put into Poiez lined his pockets. We are going 0:19:58.000 --> 0:19:59.879 to take a break for a word from our spots 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.640 are right now, and when we return, we will talk 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:06.560 about when Gregor decided to take the Kazika Poiez scam 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:25.000 to France. Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.360 destiny of the vessels chartered to take settlers to their 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.800 new home in Poyez and the destiny of the settlers themselves. 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.680 Through his legation of Poyez, Gregor chartered vessels to take 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.919 settlers to their new colony. But let's back up just 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.880 a quick minute though, because con games are typically financially 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:49.080 ruinous for the victim, but they don't usually play at 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.280 a level like this one did, where deaths are involved. 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:56.240 Gregor McGregor's swindle led to the deaths of nearly two 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.240 hundred people. If you want to know why he would 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.040 take his scam as far as actually moving real people 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.480 to a place that he knew was not a place 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.560 they could live, we want to know that too, But 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:11.800 experts in such matters only have speculation for assault. After 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.760 his death, some have theorized that perhaps he came to 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:19.040 believe the fabrications of his cons as real. Another theory 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.399 out there is that he saw his colonists as pawns 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.560 and not as people. But we just don't and we 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:31.439 just can't know. So those ships, there were fourign total 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:36.520 that Gregor readied four poiz On September tenth, eighteen twenty two, 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:40.000 a ship called the Hondura's Packet was the first vessel 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.080 to depart, and it sailed from London carrying seventy settlers 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:49.399 on board. Among those passengers included doctors, lawyers, and one banker. 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.359 Just a few months later, on January twenty second, eighteen 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:57.520 twenty three, the Kennersley Castle left Leith Harbor in Scotland, 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:03.080 carrying almost two hundred settlers. According to some passenger reports, 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:07.920 McGregor greeted the passengers aboard the Kennersley Castle and allegedly 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:11.560 gave free passage to the women and children making the voyage. 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:16.120 A passenger named James Hasty, who was moving to Poiez 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:19.560 with his wife and two children, recalled at his memoir quote, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.080 we gave him a salute of six guns and three cheers. 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.480 Little did we anticipate the misfortunes which were afterwards to 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.520 befallow us. The third ship, the Albion, never made it 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:35.159 to Poiz. It diverted to Belize upon discovering that the 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.680 settlers from the first two ships had abandoned their encampment. 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:42.840 The Skein, the fourth ship, was loaded with arms and supplies, 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.240 and it also diverted to Belize for the same reason. 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.560 The Honduras Packet and the Kennersley Castle made it directly 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:54.520 to Poiz Two months after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.320 Passengers gathered on the deck of the Kennersley Castle for 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:00.640 their first view of their new home, and it appeared 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:04.880 to be immaculate. The sun was glistening in the shallow 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:09.679 blue waters. Mahogany trees drooped themselves over sandy beaches, wrote 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:14.240 Hasty quote, it had a very beautiful appearance from the sea. 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:17.520 As had many of his fellow passengers, Hasty had signed 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.639 a contract with the Poisian government to work as a laborer. 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:24.760 Other passengers had cashed in their belongings in Europe for 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.119 the opportunity to establish themselves as wealthy colonists in the 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:32.720 Caribbean Sea. But as Hasty and his fellow colonists very 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:39.400 quickly discovered, Poiz was not a paradise. Imagine the overwhelming 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:41.840 disappointment that must have hit them when they saw the 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:45.840 reality that was their new home. They were expecting Eden, 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:49.919 but this promised land was a waste land. It was desolate. 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:55.000 It was nearly impossible, maybe totally impossible, to cultivate. There 0:23:55.000 --> 0:23:58.560 were no roads or ports or infrastructure. There was no town, 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:03.160 There were no development. Where was Saint Joseph's Where were 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.359 the promised banks and schools and the opera house. The 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:10.960 land's actual name, they learned, wasn't even Poiz, but rather 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:15.400 they had been brought to the Mosquito Coast territory. At first, 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:19.640 the colonists assumed that they had perhaps been accidentally brought 0:24:19.720 --> 0:24:24.320 to the wrong location, but no remaining passengers from the 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:29.000 Honduras packet were seen surviving in makeshift huts. Instead of 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:33.760 what Gregor had promised, they found only dense, insect infested jungle. 0:24:34.440 --> 0:24:37.280 They also discovered that the land titles that were sold 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:41.360 to them by Gregor were completely fraudulent. Remember that part 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:43.800 we talked about earlier, about how the land was under 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:47.159 the dominion of the British aligned Mosquito government when it 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:50.200 was gifted by the king to Gregor. Yeah, that's a 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:53.600 little problem. Gregor did not have permission to sell this land, 0:24:53.720 --> 0:24:57.240 and that meant that those colonists were actually there illegally. 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:01.040 Some of the settlers survived for a short time on 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:04.199 the provisions that were remaining on the ships, but when 0:25:04.320 --> 0:25:07.320 rainy season brought with it even more insects, they knew 0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:11.960 they were in serious trouble. Yellow fever, malaria, and other 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:17.159 tropical diseases really destroyed the community. Colonist Hasty shared quote, 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:20.960 sickness and despondency was so general that few were able 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:25.720 or willing to make any exertion. Roughly two thirds of 0:25:25.760 --> 0:25:29.960 the original colonists died before help came. That finally arrived 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:32.600 in May of eighteen twenty three, when a British ship 0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:36.439 arrived from a nearby colony in Belize. By the end 0:25:36.480 --> 0:25:40.520 of August eighteen twenty three, newspapers across Britain began to 0:25:40.520 --> 0:25:45.040 publish reports that Poiez may not be what everyone had thought, 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:48.359 and that the ballby Paradise looked like it was actually 0:25:48.760 --> 0:25:54.280 an investment scam. Though some survivors resettled in local, more 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:58.600 livable areas, most were returned to England by the Royal Navy. 0:25:59.000 --> 0:26:01.800 Hasty and his wife's survived that their children did not 0:26:02.840 --> 0:26:06.120 of the settlers, reported one Scottish newspaper quote, they had 0:26:06.160 --> 0:26:10.119 evidently undergone extreme suffering and illness, as their appearance was 0:26:10.200 --> 0:26:14.720 ghastly and cadaverous. When the survivors of the Poyaz Khan 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:18.000 returned to Britain, though they didn't blame the guy who 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:22.080 had swindled them. In fact, when passengers from the Kennersley 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:25.440 Castle read news coverage about Poias, they became angered about 0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:29.120 the story that was being told. They reportedly marched into 0:26:29.200 --> 0:26:31.720 Mansion House, a seat of the London government, and signed 0:26:31.720 --> 0:26:35.439 an affidavit stating they believed Gregor McGregor had done nothing 0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:39.800 wrong and had in no way deceived them. They believed, 0:26:39.920 --> 0:26:43.120 according to their document, that he too was a victim. 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:47.560 McGregor and his wife left London in October of eighteen 0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:50.920 twenty three, saying that they planned to winter in Italy 0:26:51.160 --> 0:26:56.119 for Josepha's health. Their actual destination was Paris, where Gregor 0:26:56.160 --> 0:27:01.080