1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. It's been 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: about six months since the last time we did an 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: installment of six Impossible episodes, but it's been almost six 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: years since we did one that was dedicated to listener requests. 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: I guess not really six years, for being exact. The 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: last one was on December four, so it's been it's 9 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: been five years since we rounded up listener requests. So 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,159 Speaker 1: were you just fibbing to make it all six is? Yeah? Okay, 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: I wasn't sure. Sometimes I'm slow on jokes. Yeah. When 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,959 Speaker 1: I looked at it on the counter, I was like, well, 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: it's been six years. And then I actually did math, which, 14 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: as we've said, arithmetic is a struggle for me. So anyway, 15 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: we get so many requests from listeners and we love them. 16 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: Y'all bring things to our attention that we might not 17 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: have ever noticed or thought about otherwise. And then sometimes 18 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: something is on our radar, but we get so many 19 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: listener requests for it that it becomes clear that we 20 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: need to make it a priority. Some of our listener requests, though, 21 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: are for topics that just don't have a lot of 22 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: information available, and it's totally possible that the information exists somewhere, 23 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: like maybe an old town hall records or somebody's gigantic 24 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: collection of many linear feet of personal papers that they've 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: donated to an archive, or somebody's attic. Uh. There are 26 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: lots of historians and other researchers who do all kinds 27 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: of original research into these kinds of previously unexamined primary sources. 28 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: But that is really not compatible with putting out two 29 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: new episodes of a podcast every week. Um, Like, we 30 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: cannot take a month off to drive down to a 31 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:09,519 Speaker 1: small town and start combing through somebody's old records. So 32 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: I mean we could, but it would mean you don't 33 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: get a new episode for like months. Yeah, it would. 34 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: It would not work out for continuing to have new 35 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: episodes of the show. So for folks who are new 36 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,119 Speaker 1: to our show, six impossible episodes is when we take 37 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: shorter looks at six topics that, for one reason or 38 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: another aren't really doable as a full length episode, And 39 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: that just lines up nicely with our many listener requests 40 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 1: for topics that are a little bit shorter on the information. 41 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: That's what we're gonna do today, and heads up, even 42 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: though today's six stories are short, that some of them 43 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: are kind of intense. We're going to talk about things 44 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,959 Speaker 1: that involve murders, including the attempted murder of a baby, 45 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: a tomb that included some human and animal sacrifices, and 46 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: there's also some sical and sexual abuse and torture. There's 47 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: just a lot. Just because they're short doesn't mean they're 48 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: all lighthearted. I would say that collectively, like this doesn't 49 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: become an episode that's horrifying to me, But I just 50 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: did want to kind of give that heads up. And 51 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: so first is from an email from our listener Greg, 52 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,799 Speaker 1: which said, in part quote, I don't think you've ever 53 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: covered this one, and it may be a part of 54 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: your six Impossible Episodes episodes because I'm not sure there's 55 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: enough material, But have you ever heard of the Iron 56 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: Mountain Baby? So Greg learned about this story after being 57 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: cast in a musical called Bright Star by Steve Martin 58 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: and Edie Brokell. Bright Star has some of the same 59 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: elements as this story, but the show is set in 60 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: North Carolina in the nineteen twenties and forties, rather than 61 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: when and where this actually happened, which was in Missouri 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen hundreds. It was totally news to 63 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: me that Steve Martin and Edie Brokell had made a 64 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: musical together. I missed that entirely when it happened. It 65 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: was not to me, But I'm not a musicals person, 66 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: so I had not sought it out to know anything 67 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: about it. Sure So. William Helms was a farmer living 68 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: outside Irondale, Missouri, and on August fourteenth, nineteen o two, 69 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: he was near a railroad trestle that crossed the Big River, 70 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: and a train passed by from the St. Louis Iron 71 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: Mountain and Southern Railroad. After the train had gone, Helms 72 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: heard a sound from the vegetation that was growing along 73 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,479 Speaker 1: the river, and when he went to investigate it, he 74 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: found a baby who had apparently been thrown from the 75 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: moving train, tucked inside a satchel, along with a change 76 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: of clothes and some black thread. The baby was probably 77 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 1: just a few days old. Sources contradict each other about 78 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: just how badly this infant was injured. Some say it 79 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: was just minor bumps and bruises. Other accounts say that 80 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: people were arey afraid he was not going to survive. 81 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: Efforts to find this baby's parents were unsuccessful, and William 82 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: and his wife Sarah took the baby in, even though 83 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: they were both in their later years. They named him 84 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: William Moses Gould Helms. William after the man who had 85 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 1: found him, Moses because he had been found among the 86 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: rushes along the Big River, and Gould after the man 87 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: who owned the railroad. The helms Is legally adopted William 88 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: when he was six, and he grew up and went 89 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: to Southwest State Teachers College in Springfield, Missouri, which later 90 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:39,160 Speaker 1: became Missouri State University. His education was funded by the 91 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: Iron Mountain Railroad, which later became the Missouri Pacific Line, 92 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: and he was basically famous. His story was widely reported 93 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: from the time he was found in the Satchel. An 94 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: Iron Mountain Baby Fund was established to help with the 95 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: expenses involved with his care and upbringing. The St. Louis 96 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: Republic bought a ow and her calf. As part of 97 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: these fundraising efforts. Newspapers updated the public on how the 98 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: so called Iron Mountain Baby was doing at various points 99 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: of his life, and this really went way beyond Missouri. 100 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: For example, there was an illustrated story that was syndicated 101 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,359 Speaker 1: in papers as far away as San Francisco in November 102 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: of nineteen o two, and it wasn't just news reports. 103 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: Shortly after the baby had been found, local minister John 104 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: Barton wrote a ballad called the Iron Mountain Baby. This 105 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: was probably part of an effort to raise money for him. 106 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: The song first appeared in print in nineteen o nine, 107 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: and it starts, I have a song I'd like to sing. 108 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: It's awful, but it's true about a babe thrown from 109 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: a train by a mother I know not who. This 110 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 1: poor little babe a few days old was in a 111 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: satchel lane. It's little clothes around it, fold and thrown 112 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: out from the train. And the song continues from there 113 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: and possibly the most straightforwardly obvious mean couplet's ever written. Yeah, 114 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: I originally had the whole song in here and was like, 115 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: this is embarrassing to have to read one of the 116 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: folk song databases that I was looking at with all 117 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: the lyrics, and it had this notation that was like, 118 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: this song is terrible. It is really bad. I cannot 119 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: believe how, just like Pat Lee, obvious the entire rhyme 120 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: scheme and like it's not a very original song. William, however, 121 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: really didn't like being known as the Iron Mountain Baby. 122 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,000 Speaker 1: He eventually got married, had a child of his own, 123 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: reportedly did not ever tell his son about this part 124 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: of his life. William Moses Gouldhelms died on January thirty one, 125 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: ninety three, at the age of about fifty one. In 126 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: addition to the musical that we already mentioned, there is 127 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: also a novel by evlt Bosworld called The Iron Mountain 128 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: Baby that was published in two thousand six. Moving on, 129 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: we got an e mail from listener Scott that also 130 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: referenced are impossible episodes. Scott included quote a copy of 131 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: my role playing campaign Legion of Liberty Superheroes of seventeen 132 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: seventy six, an alternate revolutionary war with superheroes. The first 133 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: adventure might make a good episode, although it might be 134 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: in the impossible episodes category. Leslie's Retreat the weird and 135 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: comical incident that almost started the war in Salem in 136 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:33,079 Speaker 1: February seventeen seventy five. Leslie's Retreat, also called the Salem 137 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 1: Gunpowder Raid, happened about two months before the Battles of 138 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: Lexington and Conquered. Tensions had been escalating between Britain and 139 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: its colonies in North America for years, and Colonel David 140 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: Mason of Salem, Massachusetts, had started preparing for the possibility 141 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: of war. In seventeen seventy four, he bought some number 142 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: of French cannons. Sources contradict about exactly how many cannons 143 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: there were, and he hid them. When Military Governor Thomas Gauge, 144 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 1: general in the British Army, heard about these cannons, he 145 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: made plans to send troops to Salem to seize them. 146 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: But the people of Salem were prepared for that possibility. 147 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: When Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Leslie and part of the sixty 148 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: four Regiment of Foot arrived in nearby marble Head by 149 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: ship during Sunday morning services on February seventy, they really 150 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: expected to be able to get to Salem and move 151 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: through the town without a lot of resistance. They thought 152 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 1: everybody was going to be busy in church. A lookout 153 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: spotted the ship, though, and raised the alarm. By the 154 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 1: time British troops got to a bridge south of town 155 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 1: that they needed to cross, the residents had already started 156 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: taking that bridge apart. The British soldiers repaired the bridge 157 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: and crossed it, moving roughly north through Salem, but when 158 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: they got to the North River on the other side 159 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: of town, they were stopped again. This time the bridge 160 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: involved it was a drawbridge, and it had been raised 161 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: from the other side, and the other side of the 162 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: river was where the cannons were reported to have been hidden. 163 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: Let's turned into a stalemate, with Lieutenant Colonel Leslie faced 164 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: off against Captain John Felt, who was in charge of 165 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: the Salem militia. Leslie demanded that the bridge be lowered, 166 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: and Felt refused, backed up by a whole bunch of 167 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: locals who were just jeering at the soldiers from the 168 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: other side of the river. People have compared this to 169 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: that scene and Monty Python and the Holy Grail where 170 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: they're yelling at the French and they have the whole 171 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: Fishop of ash seen. And this went on for the 172 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: better part of the day, so imagine the Holy Grail 173 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: is eight hours long. When Leslie trying to convince Felt 174 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: and his supporters to let him cross, finally promising that 175 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: he and his troops would go no farther than fifty rods, 176 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: would not harm any person or property, and then would 177 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: go back to marble Head. That way, he could honestly 178 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: say he had crossed the bridge and looked for the cannons, 179 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: but found nothing. Finally, the two sides did reach an agreement. 180 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: Leslie and his troops were allowed to cross the bridge. 181 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: They marched for a little bit, then they turned around 182 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: and went back to marble Head and from there back 183 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: to Boston. Very little property was damaged during all of this, 184 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: aside from the bridge that had already been repaired. There 185 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: were three gondolas that the people of Salem scuttled so 186 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: that the troops could not use them. It's believed that 187 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: the only person injured in all of this was Joseph Witcher, 188 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: who was foreman of the local distillery and was ordered 189 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: to stop scuttling those gondolas, but refused. Instead, he bared 190 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: his chest and dared the soldiers to stab him with 191 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: their bayonets, and the words of a nineteenth century account 192 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:51,959 Speaker 1: by Charles m Endicott quote, they pricked his breast so 193 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,320 Speaker 1: as to draw blood. He was very proud of this wound, 194 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: and afterward in life was fond of exhibiting it. Yeah, 195 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 1: I got a night fight with a bayonet. Run show 196 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: that to everybody. It is possible there could have been 197 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: a whole episode on this one. There is a book 198 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: about it, but that book is also very short, uh, 199 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: not counting things like the index and notes, It's only 200 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: about a hundred and twenty pages, and only one chapter 201 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: is actually on the retreat itself. A lot of the 202 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: book is more focused on kind of picking through all 203 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: the contradictory accounts of the day than laying out one 204 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: single narrative. Yeah, books like that can be fascinating to read, 205 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: but it's trickier to make that information into a narrative 206 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: structure for an audio podcast. There are at least two 207 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: historical markers related to this in Salem. One is a 208 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: marker for Leslie's retreat, calling it quote the first open 209 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: resistance to the king by the colonials and the first 210 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: blood shed in America's War for Independence. And then about 211 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: five feet away there's another one that marks quote the 212 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: first armed resistance to the royal authority. We've also and 213 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: various re enactments of this carried out over the years. 214 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: We will get to a couple of totally different stories 215 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: after we take a quick sponsor break next. At least 216 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: two listeners have asked for an episode on Lady How, 217 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: also called Foo How for being an honorific roughly meaning 218 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: the same thing as Lady. Most recently, Mimi came across 219 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 1: her name in The New York Times, not in an 220 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: article about her, but as more of an aside in 221 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,719 Speaker 1: a review of a book called The Greatest Invention, A 222 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: History of the World in nine Mysterious Scripts. Who How 223 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: lived during the thirteenth century b c. And, as is 224 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: often the case when someone lived that long ago, tracking 225 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 1: down specific information on her is rather hard. A lot 226 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: of what we know about her comes from objects that 227 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: were found in a tomb that is believed to be hers. 228 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:07,199 Speaker 1: The Tumbe was rediscovered in nineteen seventy six, and at 229 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: that point it was still intact. That sets it apart 230 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: from other Shan dynasty tombs, most of which were looted 231 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: long before they were rediscovered. In particular, we know about 232 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 1: the How from inscriptions on bones and shells that were 233 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: used for divination purposes. These ceremonies involved large flat bones 234 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: and shells like ox scapula or tortoise shells. These would 235 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: be inscribed with statements that described something either going well 236 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: or going poorly, or stating something as an affirmative or 237 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: a negative, and then the shell or the bone would 238 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: be held to a piece of hot metal until it cracked. 239 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: Those cracks would be interpreted as revealing which of those 240 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: statements was true. Based on these inscriptions and other objects 241 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: from the tomb, we know that the How as a 242 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: queen and royal consort of Woo Ding twenty one king 243 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: of the Shoan dynasty. He is recorded as having sixty 244 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: four wives. One story around this number is that he 245 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: married one woman from each of the tribes in his 246 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: kingdom to try to maintain peace among them. Fou How 247 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: was one of the highest ranking women among these wives. 248 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: She was mother to the heir apparent and also a 249 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: high ranking military general, second in command to Woo Ding. 250 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: This was not a ceremonial position. There were generals under 251 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: her command who she led into battle. Divination records reveal 252 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: these little glimpses of her life, like when she was pregnant, 253 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: trying to divine whether things would go well when she 254 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: gave birth, or whether a battle she was leading was 255 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: going to go favorably or unfavorably. One set of divination 256 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: questions involves Woo Ding asking if the How should be 257 00:15:55,600 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: allowed to lead thirteen thousand soldiers into battle. The records 258 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: suggest that the answer was yes, but there are also 259 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: some questions about this because Shung dynasty army units were 260 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: usually more like a third of that size, So it's like, 261 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: was this force really that big, and if so, why 262 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 1: was it so much bigger than normal? We don't really know. 263 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: Based on some of the inscriptions, she was also likely 264 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 1: a high priestess and a diviner herself. In terms of 265 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: her tomb's other contents, there were at least sixteen hundred 266 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: burial objects, as well as sixteen people and six dogs 267 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: who were buried with her as a ritual sacrifice. The 268 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: objects included items made from bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ivory, 269 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: about two hundred bronze ritual vessels, sacrificial axes and daggers, 270 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: and more than one thirty other weapons. The tomb also 271 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: contained about six thousand cow reshells, which were used as 272 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: currency for How died at the age of thirty three, 273 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: and the cause is not noted anywhere, so there's speculation 274 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: that she may have been injured in a battle, or 275 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: that she died due to complications from childbirth. After her death, 276 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,399 Speaker 1: she was deified, and it's believed that the area above 277 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,760 Speaker 1: her tomb was an open air shrine for people to 278 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: leave weekly offerings and sacrifices to her. Given her status, 279 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:24,040 Speaker 1: It's really not totally clear why her tomb was not 280 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,199 Speaker 1: close to others that belonged to Shan dynasty royalty, but 281 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: the fact that it was not is almost certainly why 282 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 1: it was still intact by ninety six. And honestly, this 283 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: seems like someone who could be a fascinating full length 284 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: podcast or a two parter or even something like a 285 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,400 Speaker 1: TV mini series, But gleaning all of that information just 286 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: from burial objects and divination records is so so tricky. 287 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: I feel like if it were adapted for TV, it 288 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 1: would be a lot of speculation and fictionalized expansion of 289 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: the story, and then people might be sugar and it's 290 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: not accurate, sort of like we have an assortment of 291 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:08,160 Speaker 1: pieces from a jigsaw puzzle, but like not the complete picture. 292 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: Moving on, Listener Grant sent an email and the comment 293 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:18,160 Speaker 1: on one of our Facebook posts asking if we had 294 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: ever done a podcast on Bae Tricti Chenchi, who most 295 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: English speakers would pronounce as Beatrice. You're thinking these letters 296 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: aren't adding up to a name for me. It's spelled 297 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: the same way as Beatrice. We had not done an 298 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: episode on her, and she and her story have been 299 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,959 Speaker 1: depicted in a lot of literature and artwork and music 300 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: and theater, and a lot of that has at this 301 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: point really overshadowed what's actually documented about this story. Count 302 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: Francesco Cenchi lived in Rome in the sixteenth century and 303 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 1: was very widely disliked. He had a reputation for being abusive, 304 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: including physically and sexually abuse of and one of the 305 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: targets of his abuse was his daughter beatric and she 306 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: and others had reported his behavior to authorities in Rome, 307 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: but Francesco was rich and powerful and had not faced 308 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:19,119 Speaker 1: any kind of consequences. In fift reportedly, after learning that 309 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,159 Speaker 1: Batricci had gone to the authorities, Francesco moved her to 310 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: a castle fortress outside of Rome, and he moved her 311 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: along with his wife, Lucrezia, who was Francesco's second wife 312 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: and Baetracci's stepmother. This castle was isolated, especially compared to 313 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: living in Rome, and he became even more abusive there 314 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: on September nine, Plata Calvetti, the castle's housekeeper, heard screaming 315 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: and went to investigate. She found Baetricchise silently looking down 316 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: from her bedroom window. The screaming was coming from her stepmother. 317 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: Francesco was dead on the ground below a with part 318 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: of the wooden balcony he had apparently been standing on 319 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 1: when it collapsed. He had landed in a rocky steep 320 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 1: area below the window, and ladders were needed to bring 321 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: his body up. As his body was being cleaned, it 322 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: became obvious that he had not just died in a 323 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: balcony collapse. His body was already cold, and his injuries 324 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,720 Speaker 1: didn't line up with having fallen from a great height. 325 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: Among other things, that looked like he had been stabbed 326 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,920 Speaker 1: through the eye. The sheets in his bedroom were clean 327 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: they seem to have actually been changed, but an investigation 328 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:40,640 Speaker 1: found blood spatters on the walls. Soon there were rumors 329 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 1: that Beatrice had conspired to have her father murdered. She, 330 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: her stepmother, and her brother's Jacomo and Bernando, were all arrested, 331 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: so was the castle's castellan or warden, Olympio Calvetti, who 332 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: was the housekeeper's husband. Apparently Beatrice and Olympio had been 333 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: having an affair and she had convinced him to help 334 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,680 Speaker 1: with this plan. There was also a hired hitman involved, 335 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: who fled when the conspiracy was discovered and was later 336 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: killed by one of the count's relatives. So, as we 337 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:15,640 Speaker 1: said earlier, people did not like this man. He had 338 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 1: a reputation for cruelty and abuse, and in some accounts 339 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,160 Speaker 1: he had even been suspected of multiple murders and had 340 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: bribed his way out of being charged with committing them. So, 341 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,880 Speaker 1: yet and her family had a lot of popular support 342 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: and sympathy. People demanded that they all be set free, 343 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: but Pope Clement the Eighth ordered them all to be tortured. 344 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: Olympio Calvetti died under that torture, and while being tortured 345 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: via Tricci's brother Jacomo, confessed everything that had happened. Today, 346 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,159 Speaker 1: confessions under torture are not considered to be reliable, but 347 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: this confession ultimately led to Batrice, Lucrezia, and Jacomo all 348 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:04,919 Speaker 1: be being executed on September eleven. Her brother Bernardo was 349 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,879 Speaker 1: only twelve at the time, and after seeing his family 350 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,640 Speaker 1: members executed, he was spared from it. Himself. Instead, he 351 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: was made a galley slave. The church sees the Cenchi 352 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: family's property, and there is speculation that this had been 353 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: the reason for having them executed. As we said, there 354 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,439 Speaker 1: are so many written and visual depictions of this, and 355 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,879 Speaker 1: at this point all of those depictions and their fictionalized 356 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:35,880 Speaker 1: elements are remembered way more than the historically substantiated details. 357 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: There is an oil painting believed to be of the 358 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,959 Speaker 1: atride j, possibly painted while she was imprisoned for this crime. 359 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: It's been variously attributed to different painters over the years, 360 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: including Guido Renny. It is a Beta Sirianni or Generva Knafoli. 361 00:22:55,080 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: An eighteenth century account by Ludovico Antonio Maratoni is the romanticized, 362 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: especially in its treatment of bat Ra g as this 363 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:09,399 Speaker 1: like purely innocent teenager. This plus this painting that shows 364 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: her as kind of a wistfully tragic person like that, 365 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: has formed the template for how other people have approached 366 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: her story. That together, the painting and that earlier work 367 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 1: became a source for a lot of other literature, including 368 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: Percy Shelley's verse drama The sent Sheet. There's also speculation 369 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: that Caravaggio was at the execution and that it informed 370 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: his painting of Judith and hollow fernies. We're going to 371 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: talk about more impossible episode topics after we first paused 372 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:53,480 Speaker 1: for a little sponsor break. Next up, we have the 373 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: comment that really inspired this whole episode and made me go, 374 00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: it's time for a six impossible episodes. That's just these 375 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: listener requests that we need more information on. Sie commented 376 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: on one of our Facebook posts asking for an episode 377 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: on Ella Williams, also known as Oboma the Giant Test. 378 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,359 Speaker 1: She had a link to an article on Aboma the 379 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,119 Speaker 1: Giant Test that was written by Jada Hampton at the 380 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: Uncle Junior Project. The Uncle Junior Project is dedicated to 381 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: the lives and histories of black circus performers, and most 382 00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: of what I was able to find about Ella Williams 383 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 1: was also in that article. There may be other records 384 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: on her somewhere, but what we know about her at 385 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: this point is mainly gleaned from things like newspaper articles, advertisements, 386 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: and pamphlets about her appearances. According to most sources, Ella 387 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,280 Speaker 1: Williams was born Ella Griggsby in South Carolina, and her 388 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: family had been enslaved prior to the U. S Civil War. 389 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,679 Speaker 1: Ella reportedly changed her last name from Griggsby to Williams 390 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: because Griggsby was the name of her family, these and Slavers. 391 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: Some accounts say that she was born in eighteen sixty five, 392 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,120 Speaker 1: not long after the end of the U. S. Civil War, 393 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: but an article about her was published in the Devon 394 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: and Exeter Daily Gazette in nineteen fourteen that gives her 395 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,440 Speaker 1: age as thirty two. That would put her birth year 396 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: almost two decades later, in eighteen eighty two. Now, it 397 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: is not unusual for a performer to disguise their age 398 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: a bit, but that is almost a twenty year difference. 399 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,919 Speaker 1: During Ella's teenage years, it became clear that she was 400 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: going to be very tall. There are some accounts that 401 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,359 Speaker 1: say her family attributed this to her having about with 402 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: malaria just before she was about to enter puberty, but 403 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: it's not totally clear who said that, whether they believed it, 404 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,360 Speaker 1: or whether this was more part of the myth making 405 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,400 Speaker 1: around her stage persona as a Lady Giant. Several newspapers 406 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:56,400 Speaker 1: across South Carolina ran an article on Williams in nineteen fifteen, 407 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: and a reporter had interviewed her directly for it. She 408 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: is quoted as saying, I was born near cross Hill 409 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,200 Speaker 1: in Lawrence County. None of my sisters your brothers are 410 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: unusually large. For years, every time a showman saw me, 411 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,439 Speaker 1: he would want me to sign a contract, but I 412 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: never could make up my mind to leave Columbia. Finally, 413 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: in the fall of eight while I was cooking for 414 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: a prominent family in Columbia, manager FC Bostock got me 415 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: to sign up for a tour. That article also described 416 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: her this way quote. Ella is probably the largest woman 417 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: in the world. She said yesterday that she has heard 418 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 1: of only one woman in the show business whose height 419 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,119 Speaker 1: was anywhere near her seven and one half feet, and 420 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: some newspaper articles and advertisements she's described as even taller 421 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: than that, measuring almost eight feet. When Williams started performing 422 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,439 Speaker 1: as a Giant Test, she went to Europe, likely with 423 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: the hopes of escaping some of the racism that she 424 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: faced in the US. She became a celebrity, making multiple 425 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: tours through Europe as well as performing in Australia, New 426 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: Zealand and South America. Her stage name of a Boma, 427 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,199 Speaker 1: which is sometimes written as our Boma, is said to 428 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,640 Speaker 1: have been for Aboma Capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey, 429 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: which was home to the Agoge. That's the women's fighting 430 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 1: force who Europeans nicknamed the Amazons. We have talked about 431 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: both the kingdom and the fighting Force in two prior 432 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: episodes of the podcast. Some promotional material even implied or 433 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: flat outstated that she was one of the Amazons. And 434 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: she seems to have taken this stage name both for 435 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 1: publicity reasons and because there was a white woman also 436 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 1: named Ella, doing similar performances. That was Ella Ewing, the 437 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 1: Missouri Giantess, according to that right up in the Devon 438 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:47,840 Speaker 1: and exit are Daily Gazette. In addition to her stage 439 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: work as a Giantess, Williams loved to play the piano 440 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: and to do needle point, and she was quote exceedingly 441 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: clever and in addition to speaking English as a native, 442 00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 1: she can also converse in French, Spanish, German, and Italian. 443 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: Ella Williams had to return to the US at the 444 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:07,880 Speaker 1: start of World War One as her bookings were canceled 445 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: and travel became more dangerous. It's possible that she hoped 446 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,000 Speaker 1: to return overseas once the war was over, but in 447 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: an interview that ran in South Carolina newspapers. In nineteen fifteen, 448 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: she said that after spending about fifteen years away, quote, 449 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: I will never stay away from Columbia and my people 450 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,439 Speaker 1: as long as that. Again, she mentioned that she was 451 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: planning to open a dressmaker's shop. We really don't know 452 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: what happened to her after this, though. We don't know 453 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,920 Speaker 1: if she married or had children, although in the nineteen 454 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,600 Speaker 1: teams various British newspapers reported that she was trying to 455 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: find a husband before going back to the United States. 456 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: Really not clear though, whether she was looking for a 457 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: husband and hoping to get married, or whether this was 458 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: more of an attempt to draw people in to see 459 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: her performances. Multiple photos of Ella exist, many of them 460 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: with someone else in the pit, sure, sometimes with one 461 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: of her arms extended straight out from the shoulder, with 462 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,000 Speaker 1: the other person standing under it, or at least appearing 463 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: to stand under it. Some of these photos look like 464 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: there's maybe a little shift in perspective going on, although 465 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: others very clearly look like she's a head and shoulders 466 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: taller than the people in the photo. She is always 467 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 1: very elegantly dressed. In one picture, she is in what 468 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: looks like a wedding gown and our last request was 469 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: from Amanda. I think this was on Twitter. Maybe. When 470 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: I went to try to find it again to like 471 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: fill in these details, I could not find any indication 472 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: of this message anywhere, so it's a little bit of 473 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: a mystery. This is artist Jannita Scherbakova, who was born 474 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: Jennida Lancer on December twel four. At the time this 475 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 1: was in the Russian Empire's Kursk province, but today this 476 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:56,479 Speaker 1: is part of Ukraine. Janda was of both Russian and 477 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: French ancestry, part of the prominent Benois family. They were 478 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: descended from Louis Jules Benois, who had fled to Russia 479 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: after the French Revolution. There were a lot of artists 480 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: and cultural figures in this family. Jeneida was the youngest 481 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: of six children, and her parents were both artists, although 482 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,520 Speaker 1: her father, who had been a sculptor, died when she 483 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: was only two, Her uncle was a stage designer for 484 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: the Balletus, and some of her siblings were artists in 485 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: their own right. Jeneida showed both skill and interest in 486 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: art from a very early age, and unsurprisingly, given the 487 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: family's background, they really encouraged her This included relocating to St. 488 00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: Petersburg so she could have access to broader cultural resources 489 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: and more prominent teachers. She attended Princess Tennishevka Art School 490 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: and later studied under realist painter Uset Bras. Jeneieda married 491 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: her cousin Boris Cherabrikova in nineteen o five, and after 492 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: they went to France for a time so she could 493 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: continue her study of artistic masterpieces in Paris. She also 494 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: had two sons you have Guinea and Alexander, born in 495 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,640 Speaker 1: nineteen o six and nineteen o seven. At this point, 496 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: Jeneida Cherbakova was coming into her own as an artist, 497 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: and most of her work was in the tradition of 498 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: Russian realism. She painted landscapes of the places she lived 499 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: and visited, and lots of pictures of people, with many 500 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: of those pictures focused on women, so she painted peasant 501 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: women and workers in a way that gave them a 502 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: lot of dignity, pride, and beauty. She also painted lots 503 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: of pictures of her children. In addition to her sons, 504 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: She later had two daughters, Titania in nineteen twelve and 505 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 1: at Katerina in n A lot of her work during 506 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: these years suggests kind of a quiet joy and a 507 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 1: sense of really finding beauty and everyday people and things. 508 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: Her most famous work maybe self Portrait at the Dressing Table, 509 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: which she finished in nineteen o nine. The perspective of 510 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,920 Speaker 1: this painting is as though you're looking out from inside 511 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: the mirror as Jaabrikova brushes her long brown hair in 512 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,600 Speaker 1: front of it. She is in a bright homye room 513 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: with an array of bottles, pins, jewelry, and two candles 514 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: spread around the dressing table. Although she had really established 515 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: a reputation as an artist, Cheribrikova's career went into decline 516 00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: after the Russian Revolution of nineteen seventeen, also known as 517 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:31,240 Speaker 1: the Bolshevik Revolution. She and her family moved to Moscow, 518 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: and in the wake of the social and economic changes 519 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,600 Speaker 1: that followed the revolution, they had to live in an 520 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: apartment with a group of actors. She tried to take 521 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: advantage of this living situation, which to her and the 522 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,720 Speaker 1: family was really not ideal, by doing more paintings of 523 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: these performers, but she was still really struggling financially. This 524 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: was especially true after her husband was arrested and then 525 00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,000 Speaker 1: he died of Typhus while imprisoned. While much of her 526 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,959 Speaker 1: earlier work had seemed optimistic or serene, some of her 527 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: work from this period is darker. For example, her nineteen 528 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: twenty painting House of Cards shows her children, whose father 529 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: had died the year before, building a house of Cards. 530 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 1: The color palette is subdued, and their facial expressions all 531 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 1: seemed to suggest that they're waiting on bad news. In 532 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: nine Sheerbicalva sold some paintings for a traveling exhibition in 533 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: the United States, and she used the money to go 534 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: to Paris with the hope of being able to earn 535 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: a better living as an artist. But after she left, 536 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union tightened its border policies and she was 537 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: not allowed to return. Although two of her children were 538 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: eventually allowed to join her in France, she never saw 539 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: her mother or some of her other family members again. 540 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,280 Speaker 1: She did manage to find more patrons and sell more 541 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: art while in Paris, including taking a six week trip 542 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: to Morocco in December of nine under the patronage of 543 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: Baron Jean de Blu, a Belgian industrialist. She took other 544 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,760 Speaker 1: trips as well, but things once again became more difficult 545 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: as World War two began when Germany occupied Paris in 546 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,279 Speaker 1: nineteen forty, She had to renounce her Russian citizenship and 547 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: stop all contact with her family in Russia under the 548 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,360 Speaker 1: threat of being sent to a concentration camp. After the 549 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:26,719 Speaker 1: war was over, she remained in France and became a 550 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: French citizen, but years passed before she was able to 551 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: contact her family back in what was at that point 552 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,839 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. She lived in France for the rest 553 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:40,319 Speaker 1: of her life. The Soviet government offered to allow her 554 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,040 Speaker 1: to return in nineteen fifty seven, but at that point 555 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 1: she was in her seventies and really wasn't well enough 556 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,719 Speaker 1: to make the journey. Her children came to visit her instead, 557 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: and one of her daughters helped arrange exhibitions of her 558 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: work in the Soviet Union in nineteen sixty five, the 559 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,360 Speaker 1: first time her work had been shown there in decades. 560 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: She died in Paris two years later on September ninety seven. 561 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: Janida zabra Kova made a name for herself and reached 562 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,399 Speaker 1: a level of prominence in respect that really were not 563 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: common for women artists living in the Russian Empire in 564 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, but her work and life have not 565 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,440 Speaker 1: had nearly as much attention as some other women from 566 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who had similar artistic careers. 567 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:27,040 Speaker 1: She was honored with a Google doodle in Russia and 568 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 1: a couple of other countries on December twenty for her 569 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: on thirty sixth birthday. So I went through about a 570 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 1: year of emails while working on this, along with going 571 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 1: through some of our Twitter mentions and Facebook comments, but 572 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: those are just way harder to try to go through 573 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: en mass than email is. I gathered up various requests 574 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:53,120 Speaker 1: beyond this one, so uh, we obviously got more. We've 575 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:56,800 Speaker 1: gotten more requests um for things that would be shorter, 576 00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,799 Speaker 1: uh than could really fit under this umbrella. So they 577 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:04,320 Speaker 1: are maybe other six impossible listener requests in the future 578 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:09,759 Speaker 1: just already from what I gleaned together while working on this. Uh, 579 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,240 Speaker 1: there's enough for like two more episodes in the future. Bomb. 580 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 1: Do you have a listener email to go with all 581 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 1: these listener requests? I knew this is from Greta, and 582 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:23,719 Speaker 1: Greta wrote, Dear Holly and Tracy, I'm one of those 583 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: longtime listeners who finally decided to write in. I started 584 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: listening as a student worker in my university archives about 585 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: seven years ago and never stopped. I recently listened to 586 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 1: your Unearthed episode and have a funny story related to 587 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: the second old canoe found in Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. 588 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,000 Speaker 1: I live in Madison, and about two months ago I 589 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,759 Speaker 1: went on a tour of the State Historical Society archival 590 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 1: storage facility. While I was there, I saw the twelve 591 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,480 Speaker 1: hundred year old canoe. Our tour guide, an archivist for 592 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: the organization, talked about how difficult it is to store 593 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,239 Speaker 1: because of its size and the fact that it's being 594 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:05,799 Speaker 1: kept completely submerged for preservation reasons. He went on to 595 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:07,839 Speaker 1: say it was worth figuring out a place for it 596 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,520 Speaker 1: because it's not like you find a canoe that old 597 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 1: more than once in your life. It was hardly a 598 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,919 Speaker 1: week later when they found the three thousand year old 599 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: canoe in the same lake. I'm sure they were scrambling 600 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: to find another place to assemble a water tank. As 601 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: a funny aside, it's being kept in the same room 602 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:30,239 Speaker 1: as a weener mobile packers, ice fishing shack, and a 603 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: giant brewing barrel. It's quite a range of Wisconsin history 604 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:36,879 Speaker 1: in one room. I hope you'll consider doing a live 605 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,680 Speaker 1: show in Madison someday. Uh. And then Greta had two 606 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: episode suggestions, one the Pastigo Fire obviously this is the 607 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: email that inspired our most recent Saturday classic, and the 608 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 1: other is the history of Workers Camp, which yes, that 609 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,759 Speaker 1: could indeed be interesting. Greta signed off, Sincerely, Greta. And 610 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 1: then also with the pictures kitty cat pictures. We always, always, 611 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: always love the kittie gap pictures. Thank you so much 612 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: for this. I find this to be a delightful story. Like, Yeah, 613 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: how often are you going to find it? Can do that? Old? 614 00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:14,440 Speaker 1: Apparently more often than you would expect. Uh. If you 615 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 1: would like to send us a new about this or 616 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,520 Speaker 1: any other podcast where History podcast at i heart radio 617 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,560 Speaker 1: dot com. We're all over social media miss in History, 618 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,279 Speaker 1: which is where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 619 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to our show on the iHeart 620 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,760 Speaker 1: Radio app or wherever you like to get your podcasts. 621 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of 622 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 623 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:46,800 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 624 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.