Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio. Poiz the picture of paradise. It was a
Speaker 1: magical place. The water was quote so pure it could
Speaker 1: quench any thirst, and as if that weren't enough, chunks
Speaker 1: of gold lined the river beds. The trees were ripe
Speaker 1: with fruit, and the soil was so fertile that a
Speaker 1: farmer could have three maize harvests a year, or grow
Speaker 1: cash crops such as sugar or tobacco without hardship. This,
Speaker 1: according to Scottish swindler Gregor McGregor, could all be yours
Speaker 1: if you considered investing in his property located in present
Speaker 1: day Honduras. He knew about Poiez, you see, because he
Speaker 1: was he claimed the Kazique of the nation, a figure
Speaker 1: similar to a native chief in other Spanish speaking nations nearby,
Speaker 1: and for what it's Earth similarly spelled as well. In
Speaker 1: the early eighteen twenties, Gregor ran one of history's most
Speaker 1: successful and imaginative cons He invented his own country and
Speaker 1: then conned investors into buying the bonds of a country
Speaker 1: that did not exist. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm ranch marquis
Speaker 1: and I'm a holy fry. What Poyez lacked, McGregor stated,
Speaker 1: were willing investors and settlers to develop it and leverage
Speaker 1: its resources to their fullest. British investments in South America,
Speaker 1: which by the way, at this point was this catch
Speaker 1: all term for what is now Latin America, everything that
Speaker 1: was not the United States, essentially South, these investments were
Speaker 1: gaining in popularity. Several countries that had gained independence from
Speaker 1: Spain were looking for help financing their nascent governments. Chile
Speaker 1: and Columbia, for instance, sold bonds totaling roughly between one
Speaker 1: hundred million and two hundred million dollars that's in today's
Speaker 1: money values, promising six percent in annual returns through the
Speaker 1: profits from state m agriculture, and mineral industries. Without any
Speaker 1: current means of revenue such as a mineral industry. Gregor
Speaker 1: assured potential investors that funding would come from the country's
Speaker 1: future inhabitants, and he recruited hard. He published interviews about
Speaker 1: Poiz in national newspapers and magazines, advertising the perks that
Speaker 1: would come from investing in or colonizing his land. He
Speaker 1: engaged publicists to write marketing materials, advertisements and brochures, and
Speaker 1: you heard some of their work in our opening segment.
Speaker 1: While he engaged British investors for cash, he targeted his
Speaker 1: fellow Scots for would be colonists and wrote that quote
Speaker 1: the Scottish Highlanders were known for their heartiness and adventurous spirit,
Speaker 1: and he argued that Poiz would be the quote ultimate
Speaker 1: testing ground, a challenge and gift all in one for
Speaker 1: an adventurer. Poyers, the term Gregor used for those indigenous
Speaker 1: to the land, were described by him as friendly and
Speaker 1: hard working people, and he referred to them as quote
Speaker 1: complimentary labor for the settlers. Now note that these people
Speaker 1: were real people who were not part of his imagination.
Speaker 1: They were not called Poyers, and they were most certainly
Speaker 1: not complimentary labor in reality. And indigenous population known as
Speaker 1: the Misquito, were native to the area, and they weren't
Speaker 1: really part of Gregor's plan. The capital of Poyaz a
Speaker 1: town named Saint Joseph. Gregor described as a European style
Speaker 1: settlement that was so sophisticated it even had an opera house.
Speaker 1: Marketing materials claimed that the land was quote one of
Speaker 1: the most healthy and beautiful spots in the world, and
Speaker 1: to bring it all together, he had Poyaz ballads composed
Speaker 1: and sung along the streets of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Speaker 1: But before we get too far into this con let's
Speaker 1: talk about who this guy, Gregor McGregor was. Gregor was
Speaker 1: a native of Glengale, Scotland, born on December twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty six and raised in a privileged Scottish family.
Speaker 1: He attended top schools. At sixteen, his family purchased him
Speaker 1: a commission in the British Army and he was very
Speaker 1: briefly deployed in the Peninsular War. Mostly His military accounts
Speaker 1: of being in the British Army, though, include a lot
Speaker 1: of waiting. Around. Around this time too, he married a
Speaker 1: woman named Maria Bootter, the daughter of a Navy admiral
Speaker 1: whose family was among Britain's finest. The newly went settled
Speaker 1: in Edinburgh, and Gregor immediately began using his new wife's
Speaker 1: wealth and privilege to fast track his way through the
Speaker 1: ranks of the army. He paid nine hundred pounds to
Speaker 1: become a captain. Without that payoff, that promotion would have
Speaker 1: otherwise taken him several years to accomplish. He and his
Speaker 1: wife often toured the city fashionably dressed in their extravagant coach,
Speaker 1: and Gregor continued to focus on bettering his social status.
Speaker 1: In eighteen eleven, the couple moved to London, where he
Speaker 1: began calling himself Sir Gregor McGregor, with the bart designation
Speaker 1: after it, so he could falsely identify himself as a baronet,
Speaker 1: and added false claims of dukes and barons in his
Speaker 1: family tream. But the thing was, he was starting to
Speaker 1: receive the level of respectability that he desired among London's
Speaker 1: high society. He routed it from any high society relief.
Speaker 1: But then in December of that year, Maria passed away,
Speaker 1: and upon her death Gregor lost the financial support of
Speaker 1: her well healed family. His only real experience other than
Speaker 1: spending his in law's money was as an officer in
Speaker 1: the military, so after his wife's death, he turned his
Speaker 1: interest back to battle, this time though in the colonial
Speaker 1: revolts against Spanish rule in South America, particularly fighting in
Speaker 1: and around Venezuela. Britain supported the independence of the South
Speaker 1: American colonies from Spain, knowing it would destabilize Spanish power
Speaker 1: and Venezuelan revolutionary general Francisco de Miranda had been celebrated
Speaker 1: during a recent visit to London. It was on the
Speaker 1: heels of those circumstances when McGregor imagined a new exotic
Speaker 1: adventure for himself. Cut off from his former in laws
Speaker 1: in spirit and in finances, he sold the Scottish estate
Speaker 1: he'd inherited and sailed for Venezuela via Jamaica in early
Speaker 1: eighteen twelve. His plan was to offer himself as a fighter,
Speaker 1: a mercenary in the Venezuelan War of Independence against Spain,
Speaker 1: and he did. Upon arrival, he introduced himself as Sir
Speaker 1: Gregor McGregor, a former British Army officer. He was given
Speaker 1: the rank of colonel and given command of a cavalry battalion,
Speaker 1: a command he held between the years eighteen twelve and
Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen. The same year he arrived in Venezuela, Gregor
Speaker 1: married again and again to a wealthy family. His bride,
Speaker 1: Donia Josepha Antonia Andrea Aristagietta Ilovea, was the daughter of
Speaker 1: a prominent Caracas family, and she was a cousin of
Speaker 1: the revolutionary Venezuelan military and political leader Simon Bolivard. Gregor
Speaker 1: quickly rose to the rank of General General of Division
Speaker 1: in the Army of Venezuela under Bolivard and led a
Speaker 1: series of independent military campaigns in the Caribbean. One of
Speaker 1: his most notorious actions came in eighteen seventeen, when he
Speaker 1: raised a small army and briefly captured Florida's Amelia Island
Speaker 1: from the Spanish. He proclaimed it to be, albeit very
Speaker 1: short lived, the Republic of the Florida's In eighteen nineteen,
Speaker 1: he oversaw two operations in New Grenada, now part of Venezuela,
Speaker 1: each one its own calamity. It was there where he
Speaker 1: made a name for himself, not as a revolutionary or
Speaker 1: a legendary fighter. Rather, he made a name as a
Speaker 1: coward when he not once but twice abandoned his troops,
Speaker 1: leaving them to be killed in battle or executed while
Speaker 1: he fled to safety. In eighteen twenty, Michael Rafter, the
Speaker 1: brother of William Rafter, who was one of the soldiers
Speaker 1: who served under McGregor's command in Venezuela, published a tell
Speaker 1: all book that told all of the details of McGregor's
Speaker 1: military ineptitude. Basically, if you wanted to write a book
Speaker 1: that would make McGregor look like a bad leader, this
Speaker 1: book did just that, stated Michael quote that any person
Speaker 1: could be induced again to join him in his desperate
Speaker 1: projects would be to conceive a degree of madness and folly,
Speaker 1: of which human nature, however fallen, is incapable. Despite his
Speaker 1: rapid climb in ranks in the Venezuelan Army, there is
Speaker 1: no record that McGregor was a particularly good military leader,
Speaker 1: but there's plenty on record that he was good at deception.
Speaker 1: Going to take a break for a word from our sponsor,
Speaker 1: and when we return, we'll talk about how he scammed
Speaker 1: enough people to fill multiple ships with potential Poiez settlers.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. Okay, let's talk land. In talking
Speaker 1: about the imaginary country of Poiez, it's really easy to
Speaker 1: forget that there was real land involved here. So where
Speaker 1: and when and how did McGregor come upon the land
Speaker 1: he called Poiez. Some sources suggest he purchased acreage from
Speaker 1: the Mosquito or from other unnamed interested parties. There's not
Speaker 1: a lot of detail in those accounts. Most accounts, though,
Speaker 1: explain how he came to find Poiez as so while
Speaker 1: fighting in Venezuela, Gregor did a man named George Augustus,
Speaker 1: who also happened to be known as George Frederick Augustus,
Speaker 1: the first king of the Mosqatoo people. The king gifted
Speaker 1: to Gregor acre upon acre of land and his Mosquito
Speaker 1: Coast territory. According to most reports, the Moskatoo people knew
Speaker 1: the land was crap. It was very pretty, but it
Speaker 1: was inhospitable. Gregor officially looked on as King. George Frederick Augustus,
Speaker 1: the first of the Mosquito Coast, at Cape Gracia Sadios,
Speaker 1: in April of eighteen twenty, signed a document granting McGregor
Speaker 1: and his heirs a swath of territory in exchange for
Speaker 1: not money, no, in exchange for rum and jewels. But
Speaker 1: there's a catch here. The land didn't belong to him,
Speaker 1: not really. It fell under the dominion of the British
Speaker 1: aligned Mosquito government. George couldn't give it to him, and
Speaker 1: Gregor didn't own what he got. But on that day
Speaker 1: in April, no one cared, and McGregor named the land
Speaker 1: poiez Upon returned to a civilian life in England in
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty one. Gregor continued to build his reputation among
Speaker 1: London's high society based on a lot of fabricated stories,
Speaker 1: stories like he was the head of Plan McGregor or.
Speaker 1: He was also known as His Serene Highness Gregor, the
Speaker 1: first Sovereign Prince of the State of Poiez and its Dependencies,
Speaker 1: and Kazique of the Poyer Nation. Gregor's wife began using
Speaker 1: the self styled title Princess of Poiez to the London elite.
Speaker 1: Poiz sounded just far away enough to be a plausible
Speaker 1: place and one that absolutely needed colonizing. Gregor and his
Speaker 1: wife quickly became honored dinner guests. At one point they
Speaker 1: were in such demand that they were invited to attend
Speaker 1: an official reception at the Guildhall, hosted by the Lord
Speaker 1: Mayor of London. While in London, though McGregor did not slack,
Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't all meats and sweets. There, he
Speaker 1: opened for business, and he worked hard to make his
Speaker 1: story credible. He organized a parliament for his invented country,
Speaker 1: as well as a banking system. He reportedly got British
Speaker 1: newspapers to detail bond prices for Poiz as they did
Speaker 1: for real countries, and he even orchestrated the issue of
Speaker 1: a Poiesian government loan on the London Stock Exchange. Gregor
Speaker 1: could produce documents very convincing documents about Poys, including a
Speaker 1: handwritten land grant, an illustration of its national flag which
Speaker 1: featured two unicorns, charts and maps showing the country's borders,
Speaker 1: and a copy of the proclamation he had made to
Speaker 1: those native to the region before he left for Europe.
Speaker 1: These faked documents worked particularly well on getting investors to invest.
Speaker 1: Gregor began selling land titles to Britain's who were hoping
Speaker 1: to find fortune in a new colony, while he pedaled
Speaker 1: bonds to the wealthy across the salons of London. As
Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, he sought and found his potential settlers
Speaker 1: in Scotland, where he sold land at a shilling and
Speaker 1: acre to interested parties, although as excitement about Poyez spread,
Speaker 1: he increased the price of land from one shilling per
Speaker 1: acre to four shillings per acre. By autumn, investors had
Speaker 1: claimed two hundred thousand pounds worth of bonds at a
Speaker 1: six percent rate of return. That is not adjusted for
Speaker 1: today's equivalent, but if we tried to, it'd be more
Speaker 1: than two million pounds. In addition to land for sale,
Speaker 1: Gregor had jobs also for sale. For instance, a cobbler
Speaker 1: from Edinburgh bought himself the title of Official Shoemaker of Poiez.
Speaker 1: Commissions in the Poyez military were also for sale for
Speaker 1: those who were among the wealthier settlers. Others were lured
Speaker 1: with good jobs, such as bankers, merchants and government employees.
Speaker 1: What they all had in common was that most of
Speaker 1: them had invested their life savings into this venture. Some
Speaker 1: had converted all of their cash into Poia's currency, which
Speaker 1: McGregor had started printing in Scotland from eighteen twenty one
Speaker 1: to eighteen thirty seven. McGregor attempted to draw British and French,
Speaker 1: but we're going to get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1: Investors and settlers to his imaginary little corner of the world.
Speaker 1: The economist noted that McGregor quote had some very dangerous
Speaker 1: personality traits. He was a dreamer, convinced that he was
Speaker 1: descended from an Inca princess. This made his plan to
Speaker 1: lead a country feel quite normal, even a birthright. He
Speaker 1: was narcissistic, He was grand use, and he was fond
Speaker 1: of bestowing grand titles, medals, and other decorations on himself.
Speaker 1: His biographer David Sinclair, in the book The Land That
Speaker 1: Never Was, describes McGregor as a man who quote never
Speaker 1: led a good idea with her away because of a
Speaker 1: few technical difficulties. Because this was white a con Let's
Speaker 1: take a look at Gregor's skill in con artistry techniques.
Speaker 1: He used reciprocity, which basically means he convinced people that
Speaker 1: if they invested with him, he would give them in
Speaker 1: return the opportunity of a lifetime. He also used a
Speaker 1: technique that experts call social validation. In this instance, he's
Speaker 1: selling his victims on the fact that we're paraphrasing him here,
Speaker 1: they will be the most Scottish of Scottish and the
Speaker 1: most respected among Scottish. He also used scarcity, a technique
Speaker 1: that often sounds like act now before you miss out
Speaker 1: on this great deal. No one wants to miss out
Speaker 1: on the deal of a lifetime. And if you, the victim,
Speaker 1: don't secure your land, someone else is going to get
Speaker 1: it first, and then there goes your chance at greatness.
Speaker 1: And finally, he brought in an authority, a captain Thomas
Speaker 1: Strange Ways, who should be trusted because well just trust him. Listen,
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Thomas in just a minute. Additionally,
Speaker 1: writing for the BBC, author Maria Kannakova has discussed McGregor's
Speaker 1: use of two specific techniques common among Khan artists, and
Speaker 1: describes them as so the first, make whatever your selling
Speaker 1: look really appealing. So for McGregor that meant selling palm
Speaker 1: trees and white sandy beaches to people living among the damp,
Speaker 1: heather covered moors of Scotland. The second overcome any resistance
Speaker 1: by taking action. According to Khnakova quote, McGregor published interviews
Speaker 1: in national papers, for instance, touting the perks that would
Speaker 1: come from investing or settling in Poyez. He highlighted the
Speaker 1: bravery and fortitude that such a gesture would demonstrate you
Speaker 1: would be a real man. Potential investors with lingering doubts
Speaker 1: were pointed in the direction of a three hundred plus
Speaker 1: page guidebook called Sketch of the Mosquito Shore, which told
Speaker 1: the story of English settlers establishing the of Saint Joseph
Speaker 1: and prospering on the territory of Poiez in the seventeen thirties.
Speaker 1: Its author concluded the new country would quote rapidly advance
Speaker 1: and prosperity and civilization. It was written by Captain Thomas
Speaker 1: Strange Ways, who was described as quote Captain first Poyer
Speaker 1: Regiment and aide de camp to his Highness Gregor Kazik
Speaker 1: of Poiz. But there was no Captain strange Ways. He
Speaker 1: was actually just Gregor using a pseudonym. He contacted everyone
Speaker 1: he could think of in London who had the means
Speaker 1: to invest in the phony Poyez territory. In June of
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty one, Gregor penna note to a mister Nathan
Speaker 1: Mayer Rothschild. And before we read this letter, you're going
Speaker 1: to see that it has some problematic language dating from
Speaker 1: its time period. But you're also going to see Gregory
Speaker 1: using some very classic fraudster tricks like the ones we
Speaker 1: just discussed, including appealing to known interests of his target
Speaker 1: while remaining deliberately vague about the details of his request.
Speaker 1: Quote from Gregor McGregor of Poyez to N. M. Rothschild Esquire,
Speaker 1: written from Donnahee, Ireland. I have the honor to equate
Speaker 1: you that I arrived here with my family from South
Speaker 1: America about three weeks ago, my letter book being on
Speaker 1: board of another vessel with my papers, I am unable
Speaker 1: to refer to the date of my letter to you
Speaker 1: from Santa Martha enclosing the little deed for the grant
Speaker 1: of land upon the Zacossilian River in the territory of Poiz,
Speaker 1: the proposed situation of the projected Hebrew colony. I shall
Speaker 1: not at present enter into any details upon this subject
Speaker 1: until I learn from yourself you approve of the plan.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I propose, from procuring in Germany and Poland,
Speaker 1: some twenty or thirty industrious agricultural Hebrew families to send
Speaker 1: out to Poiz, supplying them in the same time with
Speaker 1: provisions and everything else they may want. For the first
Speaker 1: twelve months. It is proper to observe that the state
Speaker 1: of Poiez is disposed to remain perfectly neutral during the
Speaker 1: existing contest between Spain and her colonies. I propose making
Speaker 1: the harbor of port royal of Freeport, which will immediately
Speaker 1: give it a considerable trade, as there is no port
Speaker 1: to Leeward of Jamaica for reception of American produce. So Rothschild,
Speaker 1: The recipient of this letter was a top tier financier,
Speaker 1: and there is no evidence he ever invested in, or promoted,
Speaker 1: or was even interested in McGregor's scam. But that can't
Speaker 1: be said for hundreds of others who did probably get
Speaker 1: missives like this and invested their savings in fake Poiesian
Speaker 1: government bonds and land certificates. Altogether, Gregor sold enough land
Speaker 1: to fill multiple ships with settlers, and every scent that
Speaker 1: people put into Poiez lined his pockets. We are going
Speaker 1: to take a break for a word from our spots
Speaker 1: are right now, and when we return, we will talk
Speaker 1: about when Gregor decided to take the Kazika Poiez scam
Speaker 1: to France. Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the
Speaker 1: destiny of the vessels chartered to take settlers to their
Speaker 1: new home in Poyez and the destiny of the settlers themselves.
Speaker 1: Through his legation of Poyez, Gregor chartered vessels to take
Speaker 1: settlers to their new colony. But let's back up just
Speaker 1: a quick minute though, because con games are typically financially
Speaker 1: ruinous for the victim, but they don't usually play at
Speaker 1: a level like this one did, where deaths are involved.
Speaker 1: Gregor McGregor's swindle led to the deaths of nearly two
Speaker 1: hundred people. If you want to know why he would
Speaker 1: take his scam as far as actually moving real people
Speaker 1: to a place that he knew was not a place
Speaker 1: they could live, we want to know that too, But
Speaker 1: experts in such matters only have speculation for assault. After
Speaker 1: his death, some have theorized that perhaps he came to
Speaker 1: believe the fabrications of his cons as real. Another theory
Speaker 1: out there is that he saw his colonists as pawns
Speaker 1: and not as people. But we just don't and we
Speaker 1: just can't know. So those ships, there were fourign total
Speaker 1: that Gregor readied four poiz On September tenth, eighteen twenty two,
Speaker 1: a ship called the Hondura's Packet was the first vessel
Speaker 1: to depart, and it sailed from London carrying seventy settlers
Speaker 1: on board. Among those passengers included doctors, lawyers, and one banker.
Speaker 1: Just a few months later, on January twenty second, eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty three, the Kennersley Castle left Leith Harbor in Scotland,
Speaker 1: carrying almost two hundred settlers. According to some passenger reports,
Speaker 1: McGregor greeted the passengers aboard the Kennersley Castle and allegedly
Speaker 1: gave free passage to the women and children making the voyage.
Speaker 1: A passenger named James Hasty, who was moving to Poiez
Speaker 1: with his wife and two children, recalled at his memoir quote,
Speaker 1: we gave him a salute of six guns and three cheers.
Speaker 1: Little did we anticipate the misfortunes which were afterwards to
Speaker 1: befallow us. The third ship, the Albion, never made it
Speaker 1: to Poiz. It diverted to Belize upon discovering that the
Speaker 1: settlers from the first two ships had abandoned their encampment.
Speaker 1: The Skein, the fourth ship, was loaded with arms and supplies,
Speaker 1: and it also diverted to Belize for the same reason.
Speaker 1: The Honduras Packet and the Kennersley Castle made it directly
Speaker 1: to Poiz Two months after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaker 1: Passengers gathered on the deck of the Kennersley Castle for
Speaker 1: their first view of their new home, and it appeared
Speaker 1: to be immaculate. The sun was glistening in the shallow
Speaker 1: blue waters. Mahogany trees drooped themselves over sandy beaches, wrote
Speaker 1: Hasty quote, it had a very beautiful appearance from the sea.
Speaker 1: As had many of his fellow passengers, Hasty had signed
Speaker 1: a contract with the Poisian government to work as a laborer.
Speaker 1: Other passengers had cashed in their belongings in Europe for
Speaker 1: the opportunity to establish themselves as wealthy colonists in the
Speaker 1: Caribbean Sea. But as Hasty and his fellow colonists very
Speaker 1: quickly discovered, Poiz was not a paradise. Imagine the overwhelming
Speaker 1: disappointment that must have hit them when they saw the
Speaker 1: reality that was their new home. They were expecting Eden,
Speaker 1: but this promised land was a waste land. It was desolate.
Speaker 1: It was nearly impossible, maybe totally impossible, to cultivate. There
Speaker 1: were no roads or ports or infrastructure. There was no town,
Speaker 1: There were no development. Where was Saint Joseph's Where were
Speaker 1: the promised banks and schools and the opera house. The
Speaker 1: land's actual name, they learned, wasn't even Poiz, but rather
Speaker 1: they had been brought to the Mosquito Coast territory. At first,
Speaker 1: the colonists assumed that they had perhaps been accidentally brought
Speaker 1: to the wrong location, but no remaining passengers from the
Speaker 1: Honduras packet were seen surviving in makeshift huts. Instead of
Speaker 1: what Gregor had promised, they found only dense, insect infested jungle.
Speaker 1: They also discovered that the land titles that were sold
Speaker 1: to them by Gregor were completely fraudulent. Remember that part
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, about how the land was under
Speaker 1: the dominion of the British aligned Mosquito government when it
Speaker 1: was gifted by the king to Gregor. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: little problem. Gregor did not have permission to sell this land,
Speaker 1: and that meant that those colonists were actually there illegally.
Speaker 1: Some of the settlers survived for a short time on
Speaker 1: the provisions that were remaining on the ships, but when
Speaker 1: rainy season brought with it even more insects, they knew
Speaker 1: they were in serious trouble. Yellow fever, malaria, and other
Speaker 1: tropical diseases really destroyed the community. Colonist Hasty shared quote,
Speaker 1: sickness and despondency was so general that few were able
Speaker 1: or willing to make any exertion. Roughly two thirds of
Speaker 1: the original colonists died before help came. That finally arrived
Speaker 1: in May of eighteen twenty three, when a British ship
Speaker 1: arrived from a nearby colony in Belize. By the end
Speaker 1: of August eighteen twenty three, newspapers across Britain began to
Speaker 1: publish reports that Poiez may not be what everyone had thought,
Speaker 1: and that the ballby Paradise looked like it was actually
Speaker 1: an investment scam. Though some survivors resettled in local, more
Speaker 1: livable areas, most were returned to England by the Royal Navy.
Speaker 1: Hasty and his wife's survived that their children did not
Speaker 1: of the settlers, reported one Scottish newspaper quote, they had
Speaker 1: evidently undergone extreme suffering and illness, as their appearance was
Speaker 1: ghastly and cadaverous. When the survivors of the Poyaz Khan
Speaker 1: returned to Britain, though they didn't blame the guy who
Speaker 1: had swindled them. In fact, when passengers from the Kennersley
Speaker 1: Castle read news coverage about Poias, they became angered about
Speaker 1: the story that was being told. They reportedly marched into
Speaker 1: Mansion House, a seat of the London government, and signed
Speaker 1: an affidavit stating they believed Gregor McGregor had done nothing
Speaker 1: wrong and had in no way deceived them. They believed,
Speaker 1: according to their document, that he too was a victim.
Speaker 1: McGregor and his wife left London in October of eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty three, saying that they planned to winter in Italy
Speaker 1: for Josepha's health. Their actual destination was Paris, where Gregor
Speaker 1: intended to continue running his fake country. He immediately got
Speaker 1: back to work on the Kazique of Poyez scam. He
Speaker 1: published a new constitution and he secured a new bank
Speaker 1: loan as his initial investment had evaporated, and just as before,
Speaker 1: he began recruiting investors and settlers. But when the French
Speaker 1: government saw a flood of applications requesting travel to a
Speaker 1: country that no one in the government had ever heard of,
Speaker 1: a commission was formed to look into it. Gregor's fictional
Speaker 1: country did not pass scrutiny, and he was arrested. He
Speaker 1: was tried for fraud and conspiracy, but was acquitted due
Speaker 1: to lack of evidence. McGregor continued using his Poiez swindle
Speaker 1: and continued getting away with it for years. In eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty seven, so four years after he sent those people
Speaker 1: on ships to nowhere, he resurfaced in London issued a
Speaker 1: new bond and started selling bogus Poyez land certificates again.
Speaker 1: This time he was arrested, but he was not jailed.
Speaker 1: After a brief return to Edinburgh, he fled once more,
Speaker 1: pursued not by authorities but by the wrath of the
Speaker 1: original Poyas surviving bondholders see in the middle of Gregor's Khan.
Speaker 1: South American bonds faltered. Countries were spending their money financing
Speaker 1: military conflicts rather than paying back their debts, and Poia's
Speaker 1: investors grew skeptical of their promised financial return. In fact,
Speaker 1: many declined to pay the new installments they owed for
Speaker 1: their bond purchases. The overall big picture here, though, is
Speaker 1: that this wasn't just something that impacted Gregor. This was
Speaker 1: a contributing factor to what became known as the Financial
Speaker 1: Panic of eighteen twenty five. Just two years later, nearly
Speaker 1: every Central and South American bond issued had fallen into default.
Speaker 1: South American countries stabilized and started making interest payments again
Speaker 1: by the eighteen forties, but of course that doesn't include
Speaker 1: Poias since it wasn't a real place. McGregor, though, had
Speaker 1: spent enormous amounts of money on marketing Poyez on voyages
Speaker 1: to the Mosquito coast and on his own extravagant lifestyle
Speaker 1: in general, and if his investors stopped payments, his cash
Speaker 1: flow was cut off. By eighteen twenty eight, McGregor, selling
Speaker 1: certificates entitled the holders to quote land in Poyez proper,
Speaker 1: suddenly found himself with competition. Other con artists had jumped
Speaker 1: into his game, and some had even set up their
Speaker 1: own Poisian offices offering land devonshires in Poyes. That's right,
Speaker 1: they didn't even bother to make up their own countries.
Speaker 1: They'd just piggy packed off of McGregor's lie. He couldn't
Speaker 1: exactly call him on it. Six years later, in eighteen
Speaker 1: thirty four, McGregor was living in Edinburgh and he was
Speaker 1: still selling fake land titles. His wife, Josefa, died on
Speaker 1: May fourth, eighteen thirty eight, and that seems to be
Speaker 1: around the same time that Gregor finally abandoned his fake
Speaker 1: country story and left it as that land was. When
Speaker 1: he found it desolate and undeveloped. He returned to Venezuela,
Speaker 1: where he applied for citizenship as well as for restoration
Speaker 1: to his former rank in the Venezuelan Army, including back
Speaker 1: pay and a pension. Simon Bolivar had died years earlier.
Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty, the Venezuelan State ruled in his favor,
Speaker 1: and he was confirmed as a Venezuelan citizen with a
Speaker 1: military pension for his participation in the country's wars of independence.
Speaker 1: When McGregor died in eighteen forty five, he had never
Speaker 1: been found guilty of a single crime. Not one. Please
Speaker 1: tell me that you named his drink desolate and undeveloped. No,
Speaker 1: I thought of many names for it. I bet there's
Speaker 1: a lot of good naming stuff in here. So I'm
Speaker 1: curious what comes with our scam sauce this week. I
Speaker 1: almost called it the self delusion. I almost wanted to
Speaker 1: call it ghastly and cadaverous. Yes, good turn of Braith.
Speaker 1: But what I ended up calling it was Poiesian nectar.
Speaker 1: This one is one of those things that is intended
Speaker 1: to be a little bit unexpected, as you'll see by
Speaker 1: one ingredient the sand. Sorry, No, the trick is you
Speaker 1: want to keep it delicious, right right, not crunchy. I
Speaker 1: thought about how funny it would be to make just
Speaker 1: an awful tasting drink, but that's no fun, and that's wasteful.
Speaker 1: Poiesian nectar is pretty easy to throw together, and there's
Speaker 1: a version of it you don't have to include the
Speaker 1: ingredient that makes it go and pertinent to our story.
Speaker 1: So it starts with an ounce of rum. You can
Speaker 1: use spiced rum if you want, but if you just
Speaker 1: have regular rum, that's fine, an ounce of vamoretto, four
Speaker 1: ounces of pineapple juice, and just like a splash of
Speaker 1: a gave nectar or a simple syrup. Because basically we're
Speaker 1: making a delicious tropical drink. You can drink it just
Speaker 1: like that if you want. You can throw some club
Speaker 1: sold or ginger ale on top, if you want to
Speaker 1: make like more of a long sipper than a tighter cocktail. However,
Speaker 1: what I really wanted to do was take this drink
Speaker 1: that tasted very much like what you would imagine a
Speaker 1: delicious drink in some sort of Caribbean wonderland to taste like,
Speaker 1: and then make it go in a slightly strange direction
Speaker 1: that was still yummy, but you're like, something doesn't fit here,
Speaker 1: Like it still taste good, but this is not a tropical,
Speaker 1: delicious drink. It's just a it's an odd, difficult to
Speaker 1: play drink. So to that list that I just gave you,
Speaker 1: you're gonna add a half ounce and you want to
Speaker 1: be careful. Don't go any farther than that of espresso. Wow,
Speaker 1: huh okay. My first reaction to that isn't yuck or
Speaker 1: you or what am I gonna do? No, it's it's
Speaker 1: not yucky. It's delicious. But if you're expecting a yummy
Speaker 1: pineapple beverage, it becomes something completely different. And you really,
Speaker 1: really really want to give this a very aggressive shake.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when you're shaking pineapple anyway, it gets a little
Speaker 1: bit bubbly, like it froths up a little bit, and
Speaker 1: you want to get it to that point for sure,
Speaker 1: because that helps. It's so weird. You can't really pluck
Speaker 1: out the taste of espresso in there. So let's go
Speaker 1: through this. So we've got spiced from pineapple juice, amaretto,
Speaker 1: and a little sweetener espresso, as I often do, and
Speaker 1: lately I've been taking a different tack when I test
Speaker 1: things on my beloved because I don't give him any
Speaker 1: clue what's in there. I did mention there's a thing
Speaker 1: in here that you normally would not drink, so he's
Speaker 1: not a coffee drinker. He tasted it and he was like,
Speaker 1: I can't figure out what's in this drink at all,
Speaker 1: And I was like, great, perfect. I was like, is
Speaker 1: it yucky or is it just strange? He's like, it's
Speaker 1: odd to my palette, But I it's not bad. I
Speaker 1: just I can't figure out what it is, which is
Speaker 1: exactly what I wanted standing on the deck of a
Speaker 1: ship and looking at your new home and being confused,
Speaker 1: what the hell is going on over there? This is
Speaker 1: beautiful and tropical weight. Something's hut that is Poisian nectar.
Speaker 1: You can't quite place it, but it's still pretty tasty. Also,
Speaker 1: if you make this version and then put a little
Speaker 1: club soota on top or a little light ginger ale, delicious.
Speaker 1: Here's the easy way to make the mocktail in lieu
Speaker 1: of rum. One of the things that people often substitute
Speaker 1: for rum. I've noticed is white grape juice, which is great. Really.
Speaker 1: That seems so strange to me, But I've never tried
Speaker 1: substituting for rum, so what do I know. My thing
Speaker 1: is that if you substitute that, it just ups the
Speaker 1: sweetness so much that like, I feel like it needs
Speaker 1: a cut. So here's what I do instead, and play
Speaker 1: around because you might want something slightly different, or this
Speaker 1: may give you a different idea I would do in
Speaker 1: lieu of the four ounces of I would mix it
Speaker 1: at a four ounce amount. And the reason is you're
Speaker 1: not going to need all that save it for you know,
Speaker 1: make multiple drinks. But I find if you go too
Speaker 1: much lower, it's really easy to screw up, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, As you make your proportions smaller, one
Speaker 1: little overpour will really like make it weird. So you're
Speaker 1: going to do two ounces of white grape juice two
Speaker 1: ounces of flat tonic water like we've done before, yea,
Speaker 1: because it gives it a little bit more of that
Speaker 1: bite that alcohol would have, and it undercuts that that
Speaker 1: sweetness of white grape juice. And then you're just going
Speaker 1: to add like a couple drops of vanilla extracts and
Speaker 1: it just makes it a more complex fluid. It has
Speaker 1: a more complex flavor. And that's why when you're getting
Speaker 1: down to adding things in drops, if you have this
Speaker 1: even you would be in it would be difficult to
Speaker 1: pull up off. That's what I would use in lieu
Speaker 1: of your rum, in lieu of the amoretto. And another
Speaker 1: reason that I would say, let's not go a straight
Speaker 1: white grape juice there. I would use an almond syrup,
Speaker 1: but I would use either half the amount or I
Speaker 1: would maybe do like a three quarters and dilute it
Speaker 1: with like water and maybe even a little lemon juice,
Speaker 1: and then the rest of it is the same. You're
Speaker 1: still going to do your four ounces of pineapple juice,
Speaker 1: your splash of You could probably leave the simple syrup
Speaker 1: or gava, and then you're half ounce of espresso. If
Speaker 1: you're scared of the espresso because it does significantly change it,
Speaker 1: you could drop that down to a quarter ounce. Taste
Speaker 1: it see if you like it, and then you can
Speaker 1: always add more if you want. If you add more
Speaker 1: to go too far, just pour some more pineapple juice
Speaker 1: in there. It'll pour it out. I feel like I
Speaker 1: just did a lot of fancy footwork explaining that mocktail.
Speaker 1: It was a little bit more complicated to turn this
Speaker 1: one into a mocktail than some of them. Just like
Speaker 1: Gregor McGregor. Yeah, but it is quite a yummy sip.
Speaker 1: It was another one of those cases where often when
Speaker 1: I make them, like, I'll make them in the morning
Speaker 1: the day we're recording, and so I don't drink the
Speaker 1: whole thing because I got work to do. But this
Speaker 1: time I realized I had had almost the whole thing done,
Speaker 1: like as I was writing it up, and I was like,
Speaker 1: that's a good drink, A good drink right there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So we hope that if you try Poiasia nectar you
Speaker 1: enjoy it. I mostly just want to encourage everybody to experiment.
Speaker 1: But things that you know are maybe a little unusual
Speaker 1: in a drink. The worst that happens is that it's
Speaker 1: bad and you pour it out. This is very little
Speaker 1: shame in that game. Somebody else might like it and
Speaker 1: drink it for you, right you know, you never know.
Speaker 1: We are definitely so thankful that you spend this time
Speaker 1: with us learning about this interesting Scottish scam artists. We
Speaker 1: hope we'll see you right back here next week because
Speaker 1: there's going to be more scam artists and more scam
Speaker 1: Sauce Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit
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