WEBVTT - How “Dr.” Samuel Bennett Became the 'King of the Thimbles' 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:07.520 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.360 You can't have a season about confidence artists and their 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.919 games without talking about one of the classics, the shell game. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.560 It's been called a lot of things over the years, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:26.599 and during the time and place we're going to visit 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.440 in this episode, we'll be calling it thimblerigg. Though it's 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.720 often portrayed as a gambling game, it's actually a confidence 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.519 trick used to perpetrate fraud. It is a long popular 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.800 game among confidence artists, some who became famous for using 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:47.040 this shortcun on many many marks. Sophie Smith, for instance, 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:51.040 was a renowned thimble rigger. William Lucky Bill Florington was 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.840 as well, and so was doctor Samuel Bennett, the confidence 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.040 artist in this episode's hot seat Welcome to Criminalia. I'm 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:00.240 Maria Tremarky. 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:06.319 And I'm Holly Frye. Samuel Bennett was one of the 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:11.000 best known so called thimble artists, perhaps ever, depending on 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.760 who you ask, and he made a fortune playing the 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:17.280 game on steamboats along the Mississippi and Red Rivers in 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:21.400 the United States in the nineteenth century. Samuel was one 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:25.160 of thirteen children born in January of seventeen ninety one 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:30.840 in New Hampshire to Thomas and Sarah Bennett. We unsurprisingly 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.760 have very little detail about his childhood, but we do 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:38.960 know that before he turned confidence man, and actually during 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.039 his confidence career as well, he did legitimate work. He 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.760 worked as a fur trader, a merchant, and as a 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.240 tavern keeper. You surely noticed Maria referred to him as 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.240 doctor Samuel Bennett. The thing about that is he was 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.280 never actually a real doctor. He had no training whatsoever, 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.680 but he either tired or self styled the honorific title 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:07.440 at some point early in his adulthood. In eighteen twelve, Samuel, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.120 at that point in his early twenties, became a father. 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.040 He and a woman named Comfort Batchelder had a daughter 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:19.359 named Mary Dole Silly Bennett and nicknamed Bammy in Chichester, 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:22.960 New Hampshire. Mary herself has a big life story of 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.280 her own. She's known as having been a shrewd business 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:30.040 entrepreneur and is known as the mother of Shreveport, Louisiana. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.080 Although Samuel and his daughter had what seems to have 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:38.280 been a pretty good relationship, when her father died, the 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.320 rest of the Bennett sued to have Mary removed from 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:45.760 his will. If you're wondering what the problem was, Samuel 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.440 and Comfort never got married, which meant that Mary was 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.800 born in a non marital union. At the time, she 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.560 would have been called an illegitimate child, and for that reason, 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:02.160 Samuel's family wanted to disallow her inheritance. Samuel's family actually 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:03.079 won their suit. 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.240 So let's go back to Samuel's life, not his death. 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.560 He may have spent the first twenty two years of 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:15.799 his life in New Hampshire, but Samuel was from Shreveport, Louisiana. 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.520 If you get what we mean, he spent most of 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.320 his adult life there and had a significant impact on 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.240 the growth of the city. In fact, he and several 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:28.000 other Bennett family members, including his daughter Mary, all played 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.840 roles in the history of Shreveport over many decades before 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.360 landing there, though, Samuel first moved from New Hampshire to Alabama, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.200 where he became a landowner and enslaver. And for perspective 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:43.040 on the historical timeline, this was still a few decades 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:47.360 before the American Civil War would begin. Small local papers 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.640 occasionally wrote little stories about him, and it didn't take 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.480 long for them to report on the details of his 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.560 growing side gig his com career. To quote the press, 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.920 Bennett played checkers unusually well, and I truly liked to 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.240 play that game. Bennett considered it a wilful waste of 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:06.440 time to play only for the sake of the game, 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.280 and would not play except for a stake of not 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:11.360 less than ten dollars a game. 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.159 In eighteen thirty three, give or take a year, Samuel 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.520 and his brother William found themselves back in New Hampshire, 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.839 and while there, William fell in love with his niece Mary. 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:30.280 By today's standards, that's problematic. Despite Samuel's concerns about the pairing, 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.919 the two did marry and moved to Shreveport. The Caddo 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.240 people called the area home before the arrival of Europeans, 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.480 and William and Mary Bennett were among the earliest white 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.320 inhabitants in the region. They set up post along the 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.520 river and also made money through warehouses they owned on 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:52.280 Cross Bayou. The Bennetts provided food and supplies to travelers 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.799 who were making their way west into Texas. The family 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.680 also operated a ferry to carry travelers across the Red River. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:04.480 Many many early settlers came through this region on their 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.120 Way to the American West. By eighteen fifty, more than 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.400 two hundred wagons per week passed through. 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:16.800 The area to be near his daughter, brother and eventual grandchildren. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:22.159 Samuel too relocated to Shreveport. According to the Weekly Shreveport Times, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:26.440 quote he was engaged in mercantile and farming pursuits, owning 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.520 the valuable body of Richland opposite the city, and for 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.080 a short while ran a private bank here. He may 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.280 have been involved in legit pursuits upon his arrival in Shreveport, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.719 but Samuel was already pretty well known throughout the American South, 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.680 especially in cities in Alabama and Georgia, as a great 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:48.440 trick man a corn artist. The Weekly Shreveport Times began 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.200 to catch on and began to report that he quote 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.760 had the distinguished honor of either inventing or reviving the 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.480 game known as thimblerig, which has been calculated to capture 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:03.159 the ung Way. They continued, quote a recital of his 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:05.880 many sharp practices would fill a volume. 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:09.440 We're going to take a break here for a word 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.800 from our sponsors. When we return, we'll talk about what 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.240 the game known as thimble rig is and how it's played. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.760 Welcome back, to criminalia. Shell game swindles are still in 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:39.040 vogue among con artists today around the world. But let's 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.080 talk about how thimble rig was played in the nineteenth century. 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.880 The definition of a thimble rigger ever since the game's 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.640 popularity in the eighteen hundreds, has been one who manipulates 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:57.720 or controls, generally in deceptive or dishonest ways. The game itself, 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.679 thimblerig is related to another game called cups and balls. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.280 That's a magic trick that's performed as entertainment. It's not 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.880 anything to do with gambling or anything scammy. It's also 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.000 pretty much the same swindle as three card Monty, just 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.160 the substitute for the cards. Some will tell you it's 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.840 a game of skill and not a swindle. Some people 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.520 will tell you it's all just an illusion. So let's 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:26.640 talk about how it's played. 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.760 You'd actually probably recognize it if you saw it. It 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.920 can be identified by its three small overturned containers and 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.600 a small object for hiding. Over the years, the containers 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.000 have been everything from fimbles to walnut shells to bottle caps, 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:48.560 and the small object is usually a small ball, pebble, bead, button, 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.840 You get the picture. There are descriptions of the game 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.320 from the early eighteen hundreds, and though there have been 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:58.520 slight changes over the decades, it's generally run like this. 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.800 For simplicity, we're going to use thimbles and balls as 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.960 our object examples, as that would have been common in 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.840 nineteenth century thimblerig. It begins with the operator and this 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.120 is the con artist inverting the three thimbles on a 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.000 surface such as a mat or a table. A single 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.400 ball is placed under one of those three inverted thimbles, 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:24.680 and then then here's where they get you. The thimblerig 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:28.360 scam works because of an illusion. The secret is a 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.440 second ball. This involves an element of sleight of hand 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.360 to pull off the swindle. The secret ball is placed 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.240 under a second of the three thimbles, and the original 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:41.760 ball is removed from play palmed by the operator. The 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:46.120 operator quickly shuffles the containers with the replacement ball under them, 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.960 while the better otherwise known as the mark, and spectators 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.560 unwittingly look on. In his book Suckers Progress, An Informal 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.679 History of Gambling in America from the Colonies to Canfield, 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.640 Herbert Asbury describes the slow height of hand like this 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.679 quote ten times out of ten, unless the bet was 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:07.920 a come on, the object is between two of the 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.600 thimble rigger's fingers or has been shifted by a confederate 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.400 during the excitement of the betting. Now the action moves 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.760 to the better. The better then chooses which container the 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.160 object is under, and the odds here are super good 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:26.040 that they do not choose correctly. In addition to this 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.199 light of hand part of this scam, thimble artists often 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.240 also had shills, who were people they paid to help them. 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:36.160 Spectators watching shills win the game was often the boost 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.160 they needed to try that game themselves. 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:44.240 Samuel's variation was usually played with three thimbles and a tiny, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.600 rolled up paper ball. He claimed that he had played 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.640 this game since he was just a kid, true or not. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.040 As an adult, he was so proficient at it that 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.400 he was given the nicknames the King of Thimbles and 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:01.719 the Napoleon of thimble Riggers. He was so good at 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.440 the swindle that in the early eighteen forties, in part 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:09.480 because of him, several states passed laws that specifically prohibited 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:14.200 this game. Sometimes he's even credited with inventing the thimble 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.840 rig but for certain he did not. He may have 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.640 popularized it during his lifetime, we will absolutely give him that. 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.199 But people were playing this game or running this con 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.760 dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and of 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.960 course the magic trick even predates that. In Great Britain 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.199 in the early nineteenth century, it got the name thimble 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.040 rig from the words thimble the original containers used in 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:45.079 the game, and rig that's the obsolete term for trick. 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:46.960 You have rigged the game. 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.480 This swindle was very popular throughout the nineteenth century, and 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.560 games were often set up in or around carnivals and 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.360 other large events. Games of chance also became popular on 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.520 America's new steamboats. In eighteen thirty six, historian and writer 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.920 Benjamin Drake, a writer of popular sketches for newspapers at 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.280 the time, introduced his audience to a new character, a 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:15.800 riverboat gambler of sorts, what he called an American rascal, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.520 who rode steamboats up and down the Mississippi to take 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.400 advantage of unsuspecting passengers with various rigged games of chance. 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.359 These men, he wrote, quote, dress with taste and elegance, 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.960 carry gold chronometers in their pockets, and swear with the 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:35.920 most genteel precision. These men were in fact a real thing, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.240 and our Samuel Bennett, based out of Shreveport, was one 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:40.280 of them. 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:42.520 So we're going to take a break here for a 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.760 word from our sponsors. But when we return we will 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.080 talk about the rise and fall of steamboats in America 0:11:49.240 --> 0:12:05.040 and what that meant for riverboat gamblers like Samuel Bennett. 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.120 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about what happened when 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.920 gamblers and con artists got on board those steamboats. 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.680 So we need to talk about riverboats for a minute. 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.520 In the early eighteen hundreds in the United States, this 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:25.160 is of course before rail travel. Transportation was limited. Mostly 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:29.120 you could go by horse and wagon, ox cart, mule train. 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:33.120 In the nineteenth century, rivers became the nation's kind of 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:38.880 unofficial highway system for both traders and travelers. New steam 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.559 powered boats could move upstream nearly as fast as downstream, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.280 and could travel at what were astonishing speeds for the time, 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.080 as fast as five miles per hour or that's about 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:54.920 eight kilometers per hour. The Mississippi River flows through ten states, 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:58.240 and that river has long played a vital role in 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.280 American expansion. In the eighteen hundreds, the river carried just 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.079 about every trade good you might imagine from the time 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.440 first from the Great Lakes and the Missouri River region, 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.679 agricultural staples like corn and wheat from the Midwest, a 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.920 swell as cotton, sugar, and tobacco from the plantations of 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:20.679 the South. Because of its dominance and significance, the Mississippi 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:25.079 has often been called the lifeblood of American industry and commerce. 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.199 So we can probably point a finger at Samuel Clemons, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.440 also known as the legendary author Mark Twain, for the 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:38.319 romanticized Americana image of paddlewheel steam riverboats floating down the 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:42.400 Mississippi River. In his memoir, which was called Life on 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.240 the Mississippi, he wrote of his days as a steamboat 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.360 pilot in the years before the American Civil War. Twain 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.640 described the Mississippi River towns as quote comely clean, well built, 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.319 and pleasing to the eye and cheering to the spirit. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.600 The Mississippi Valley is as a dreamland, nothing worldly about it, 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.680 nothing to hang a fret or worry upon. And he 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.320 described the riverboats as full of passengers playing card games 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:12.559 and enjoying live music and dancing, all true stuff. He 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.760 also wrote of gamblers and thieves, cheating travelers, out of 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:20.160 a bunch of money. Also true, and our subject today, 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.360 Samuel Bennett wasn't there for that live music or that dancing. 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.240 He was there for that bunch of money. 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.360 While that five miles per hour was an astounding riverboat 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:36.520 speed for its time, it was still five miles per hour. 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:42.440 That meant that passengers weren't going anywhere especially fast. So 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.280 to pass the time, people began to enjoy various entertainments 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.920 on board, and with that need for diversion, it was 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.240 kind of as if the steamboats had hung out a 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.360 welcome sign for professional gamblers and swindlers to come aboard, 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.160 and they did go aboard, probably for a few reasons. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.720 It was easy to keep a low profile when traveling 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.560 on the river. Plus there were likely plenty of passengers 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.040 on board who were gullible in the ways of games 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:14.640 of chance, especially when those games are rigged. And also 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.680 it was in part just due to the law certain 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:22.560 states prohibited gambling, but that only applied on land. Twain 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:27.080 once described the riverboat gamblers as quote, rough repulsive fellows. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.360 He wrote of their presence on the river as quote 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.600 I could not help seeing them with some frequency, for 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.760 they gambled in an upper deck stateroom every day and night, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.080 and in my promenades I often had glimpses of them 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.320 through their door, which stood a little ajar to let 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:47.000 out the surplus tobacco, smoke, and profanity. They were an 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.640 evil and hateful presence, but I had to put up 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:50.560 with it. Of course. 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:55.400 Samuel Bennett's name had become so tightly linked to the 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.080 game of thimble rig that curious passengers on the riverboats 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:04.560 he frequented began and to approach him and ask for demonstrations. First, 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:08.800 he quite modestly feigned reluctance to do so. No no, 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:13.400 but thank you for the interest. Pressed a second time, well, 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.760 doctor Bennett would be happy to show off, and, considering 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.360 the passengers knew who he was when they approached him, 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.360 he would ironically walk away with pocketfuls of cash he'd 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:29.480 fleeced from them during his demonstration. In eighteen fifty seven, 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.960 gambler turned con exposer Jonathan Green described in his book 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.560 Gambling Exposed a quote merchant from Philadelphia, who, though a 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.720 very intelligent man and a shrewd businessman, was far above 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:48.000 intrigue and unwittingly lost over sixteen hundred dollars to gamblers 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.560 on the Mississippi to that point. Riverboat confidence man Canada, 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.600 Bill Jones was once quoted saying suckers had no business 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:00.600 with money, a sentiment said perhaps by every con artist 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:02.360 we've talked about so far this season. 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:07.160 I would imagine, as you might imagine, riverboat gambling wasn't 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:12.240 without potential violence and other crime. Historians report people taking 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:16.640 the law into their own hands to punish accused cheaters, thieves, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.400 and other criminals while floating on the river. In eighteen 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:24.960 thirty five, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, for example, five gamblers were 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:30.400 lynched after other passengers discovered them cheating at cards. Gambling 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.320 on a riverboat on the Mississippi, which was mainly unregulated 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.760 waters skirted local laws. 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.680 The era of the steamboat began its rise in popularity 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.040 and prominence at the same time as the popularity and 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.680 prominence of card games, in particular poker. But card games 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.200 were really having a moment. By the eighteen thirties, more 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.720 than twelve hundred steamboats for carrying passengers and products around 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.760 America's waterways, and men like Bennett were eager to run 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.400 rigged games on all of them, and by all of them. 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.800 I mean all of the boats and all of the people. 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.960 Some of the earliest tales of poker games date to 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:18.200 this time period. Many accounts describe all kinds of games 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.680 played on decks, in parlors, bars, and in private rooms 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:25.760 aboard those riverboats on the Mississippi, the Ohio, and other 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:30.240 waterways around the country. After the American Civil War, the 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.760 railroad system grew rapidly. The first transcontinental line was completed 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:39.280 in Running in eighteen sixty nine. Travelers and of course 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.440 the cheats who followed them, began riding the rails, which 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:44.919 was now the fastest method of travel during the final 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.000 decades of the nineteenth century. By nineteen oh four, some 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.480 states began to soften their gambling laws, luring people from 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.840 the river back ashore. It's also the same year the 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.040 first legitimate riverboat casino, called the City of Traverse set 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:03.800 sail on Lake Michigan, and that's generally accepted by modern 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.760 historians as the start of riverboat gambling as an organized 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:12.600 commercial operation. Iowa went on to become the first state 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:16.400 to legalize riverboat gambling, but that didn't happen until nineteen 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:17.399 eighty nine. 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:23.760 But that railroad expansion happened after Samuel's death. In his life, 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.919 he was both a legitimate businessman with an unmistakable influence 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.840 on the growth of Shreveport, Louisiana, and a man who 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.560 got really rich running confidence tricks on the passengers of 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:40.520 American riverboats. He died on September twenty first, eighteen fifty three, 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:44.720 in Shreveport. Aptly written by Twain about life on the 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.640 river and it seems like it might apply to Samuel 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.439 now and then we had a hope that if we 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.919 lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. 0:19:54.920 --> 0:20:06.560 Sometimes you got to go pirate sometimes. So what kind 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.720 of a drink would you bring to this occasion? 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:09.720 It? 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:15.399 Right, we're on riverbod. This is Newfound territory. 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:15.639 Yes, but this is one of those ones that I 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.040 knew the second I looked at this what I wanted 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.440 to do excellent. So this is a drink that we're 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.160 just gonna call the thimble rig. And of course all 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.480 this talk of thimbles made me have to make a shot, 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:29.760 which we don't do very often. 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:31.480 I think have we done one? 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.040 Perhaps one? Maybe two? May so I wanted to make 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.800 a shot in reference to the cups or thimbles. But 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.760 I also wanted something that's very Louisiana. So I wanted 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.080 to do a drink that's very popular in Louisiana, and 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.440 there are several, but the one I focused on was 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:52.280 a sidecar. Okay, but in this case, it's a shot 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.640 version of a side car that also can transform into 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.280 something new as a cocktail, just as Samuel kind of 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:03.800 transitioned from role to role in his life. From legitimate 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:10.000 business too not so much. Yes, so this is a 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.000 very easy shot to make. You are just gonna pour 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.920 an ounce and a half of cognac and a half 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.640 ounce of lemon cello into your shaker with ice. You're 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:25.800 gonna shake. I add this is an optional a splash 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:28.960 of vanilla syrup or simple syrup. It just takes the 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:30.880 bite out of it and it makes it a little 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.800 smoother to drink. So you'll shake that all with ice, 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.080 strain it into a pre chilled shot glass, and you're 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:38.919 ready to go. This is where I mentioned it is 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.240 perfectly okay to sip a shot. You do not have 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.560 to down it all at once. If anyone tells you 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:47.920 you have to, there being a jerk. But the other 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.600 thing is that this is also a thing that you 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:56.560 can make into a proper cocktail that will be something 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.639 different from a sidecar but unique on a own. So 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.800 you can take this shaken up magic, pour it into 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.320 a glass with rocks, and then top it with ginger ale, 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:13.879 and it becomes this incredibly simpable drink, like just the 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.040 easiest drink on earth to drink. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.280 A very bright drink to have too. Like as spring starts, 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:21.520 I start thinking this has citrusy flavors in it. 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.840 The citrus is light. The cognac is really driving the 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:31.120 flavor profile because there's so much more of it. It's 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:33.960 one part of the lemon cello to three parts of 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:38.840 the cognac. A nice, really full bodied but yet not 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:42.000 heavy drink once you add ginger ale to it. I 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:46.160 loved it. The mocktail is involves a couple extra steps, 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:50.520 nothing crazy, but to make a version of a substitute 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:54.560 for cognac. Here, we're going to actually start with a 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:59.439 very light version of syrup, similar to a simple but 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:03.119 not quite I boiled two cups of water with a 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.800 quarter cup of molasses. Oh okay, and let that just 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.640 all simmer a little bit and get incorporated. And then 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:13.440 I dropped a tea bag of English breakfast in there, 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:16.720 and I let that steep for a little while, and 0:23:16.760 --> 0:23:19.280 then I pulled the tea bag out. That way you 0:23:19.359 --> 0:23:22.560 have that little bit of sweetness that cognac can often have, 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.280 but it's not overwhelming. The flavor of the English breakfast 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.920 gives that sweetness a little more, a little more of 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:33.359 a layered flavor. It's not just like, oh, that tastes 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:35.520 like a little bit like molasses. It's the I can't 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:39.360 realize there's something else, but it's also not too terrific. 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:43.760 That's how you make your substitute for cognac in this version, 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:47.000 in lieu of lemon cello, you can use a lemon syrup. 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:50.760 You can't find a lemon syrup. Simple syrup, one cup 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:53.280 of water, one cup of sugar, some cut up lemons. 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:55.119 Let that simmer for a little bit, and then you 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:57.760 strain it off and you're good doo, and then you 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:01.159 can do everything else the same. So that is the 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:04.760 thimble rig, a drink that I think might carry me 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:09.120 through spring this year because it's easy to make. It 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:12.800 tastes really different and unique, but not in a way 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:16.240 that's especially as salted. Nothing is nothing. There are no 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:19.000 heavy flavors about it once you've made it into a cocktail, 0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:21.920 and I quite enjoyed it for that reason. The shot 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:24.400 is also great. But if you don't want that much 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:30.879 concentrated ABV in your mouth, and you just back it 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:33.360 off with a little bit of jigger ale, and you're golden, 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:38.240 both literally and figuratively. As we sip our magical cocktails, 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:41.080 we're going to enjoy this one. We would like to 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:43.320 make sure we thank you for spending this time with us. 0:24:43.720 --> 0:24:45.679 We will be right back here again next week with 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:49.240 another tail of a scoundrel who might want to take 0:24:49.280 --> 0:25:02.560 your money and a yummy, delicious drink. Criminalia is a 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:06.600 production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more 0:25:06.640 --> 0:25:11.680 podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:13.760 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.