1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. As countries grow and change, they often put 7 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: laws on the books that don't age well. That's even 8 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: more evident at the state and local levels. For example, 9 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: in Arizona, there's a law that makes it illegal for 10 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: donkeys to sleep in bathtubs. Now, how could such a 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: thing ever come to be, you might ask, Well, despite 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: the silliness of the law today, it's origin is based 13 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: in a tragic disaster back in nineteen a damn burst 14 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: that released devastating floodwaters into the town of Kingman. A 15 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: donkey had taken to sleeping in an abandoned bathtub, and 16 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: it floated away in the flood, prompting the town to 17 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: have to step in and save the donkey from drowning. 18 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: But the rescue effort was costly and dangerous, and so 19 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: Kingman residents voted to outlaw donkeys from sleeping in bathtubs. Ever, again, 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: to clarify, donkeys were still allowed to stand in bathtubs, 21 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: but sleeping in them was strictly forbidden. Go even further back, though, 22 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: in the laws of the past make even our wildest 23 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: legislation look like the Ten Commandments. Take, for example, the 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: town of Halifax in West Yorkshire and England. Several hundred 25 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: years ago, there was a law on the Halifax books 26 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: known as the Halifax Gibbit Law. It allowed the Lord 27 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: of the Manner to execute thieves caught in town by 28 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: way of a swift and speedy trial, and the threshold 29 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: for killing them was pretty low. If what they stole 30 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: was worth thirteen and a halfpence or about ten dollars today, 31 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: they were eligible for the death penalty. Suspected felons were 32 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: held by the Lord of the manners bailiff along with 33 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: the property in question, but the aggrieved party wasn't allowed 34 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: to recover the stolen goods, even if they had captured 35 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: the thief in the act, until the bailiff had taken 36 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: possession of it first. Once the suspect was apprehended, the 37 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,839 Speaker 1: bailiff would survey the richest and most well respected men 38 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: from the nearby towns and select sixteen of them to 39 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: sit on a jury, you know, a jury of peers. Everyone, 40 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: including the defendant, the accuser, and the jury then gathered 41 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: at the bailiff's home. There was no courtroom or even 42 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: a judge to preside over the trial, and the accused 43 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: wasn't allowed their own defense counsel. The rules were simple, 44 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: though both parties, the plaintiff and the defendant, told their 45 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: sides of the story. If the jury of wealthy men 46 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 1: who would never have stolen anything believe they accused thief 47 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 1: was innocent, they were released. But if the person was 48 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: declared guilty, then they were sentenced to death. And Halifax 49 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: had a unique way of punishing its criminals was called 50 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: the Halifax gibbet. Their gibbet was a device made of 51 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: two fifteen foot tall wooden posts set parallel to each other. 52 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: Grooves were carved into one side of each beam to 53 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: allow the vertical movement of a four ft long wooden 54 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: block between them. Then on the underside of that block 55 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: a seven pound axe head. The whole thing sat on 56 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: a stone platform and even required a small staircase to reach. 57 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: The axe head was then raised by pulling a rope 58 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: and securing it with a pin to the stone base. 59 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,399 Speaker 1: The prisoner was then lowered so his or her neck 60 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: was just underneath the blade, at which point the pin 61 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: was removed and the axe head was released. The rest well, 62 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: I'm sure you can use your imagination, and if the 63 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: guilty party had been accused of stealing cattle or a horse, 64 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: then a length of rope was attached to that pin, 65 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: while the other end was tied to these stolen animal 66 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: or one of the same species. The beast was then 67 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: set loose to run and pull the pin out, sealing 68 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: the criminal his fate. But there was a loophole in 69 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: the system. If the thief somehow managed to escape the 70 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: gibbets and the forest in which it had been erected, 71 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: then they were free to go. Only two men, ever, 72 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: managed to make it out alive, though one man was 73 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: smart and never came back. The other tried his luck 74 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: seven years later by returning to Halifax, only to find 75 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: himself once again under the Gibbet's blade. It turns out 76 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: he wasn't so lucky after all. The thing about the 77 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: Halifax Gibbet was that it was simultaneously ahead of its 78 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: time and antiquated. Other towns had already moved on from 79 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: using the gibbet for their executions by the seventeenth century, 80 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: but Halifax kept up the tradition until sixteen fifty, having 81 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: started it all the way back in twelve eighties, six 82 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: five years before France introduced their own version and took 83 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,239 Speaker 1: credit for the invention. The name for that same device, 84 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: the guillotine. M The Old West in America actually isn't 85 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: as old as we think. Despite the common belief that 86 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: it ended toward the close of the nineteenth century, the 87 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: Old West actually lasted until about nineteen twenty. But it 88 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: wasn't all outlaws and gun slingers everywhere. Real progress was 89 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: being made in places all over the country. Take Wyoming, 90 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: for example. On May eleventh of nineteen twenty, three months 91 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: before the United States would grant women the right to vote, 92 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: a historic election took place in the small town of Jackson. Now, 93 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: early on, Jackson had garnered a reputation for itself as 94 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:46,280 Speaker 1: a haven for the criminal element. Cattle thieves and murderers 95 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: had often hid there due to its relatively remote location 96 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: in the mountains, But in nineteen twenty, the town's residents 97 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: had other matters to attend to an election. Up for 98 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: grabs was the position of mayor, as well as a 99 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: few seats for a council men. Well, councilmen were what 100 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: most people expected. Instead, the town went in a different direction. 101 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: Grace Miller, Rose Crabtree, Genevieve van Vleck, May Deloni, and 102 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: Faustina Height had put their names on the ballot that year. 103 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: Each of them were up against a rival male candidate. Then, 104 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: in the case of Mrs Crabtree, her opponent was actually 105 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: her husband, and much to everyone's surprise, each of the 106 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: women won their respective roles, with Grace Miller becoming Mayor 107 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: of Jackson, while all the rest joined the council. From there, 108 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: they appointed several other women to serve underneath them in 109 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: various positions within the local government. One such woman was 110 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: Pearl Williams. At only twenty two years old, Pearl had 111 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: been tasked with the daunting job of town Marshall. The 112 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:47,919 Speaker 1: job was exactly what you might think it was too. 113 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: She was responsible for apprehending the unsavory characters in town 114 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: and putting them in jail, a building by the way 115 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: that lacked doors at the time, In a role that 116 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 1: would have given anyone pause, she stepped up to the task. Thankfully, 117 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: there weren't many outlaws to deal with. Despite Jackson's early reputation, 118 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: it hadn't been a criminal heightout for some time, but 119 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: the few bandits that she did come across treated her 120 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: with respect and followed her orders. The press, of course, 121 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: wrote numerous articles about the town run entirely by women, 122 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: including one in the Jackson Hole Courier titled women now 123 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: rule Bad Men's Town. And the thing they had an 124 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: especially hard time believing was that it had a woman marshal. 125 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: But Pearl proved all of them wrong. She got so 126 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: sick of answering the same question from the media that 127 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: one day she finally told them that she had earned 128 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: the job by killing three men and burying them herself. 129 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: It wasn't true, of course, but it certainly shut the 130 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: reporters up. It took almost no time for the new 131 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: console to get to work improving Jackson. They noticed that 132 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: very little had gotten done while the men were in charge, 133 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: and their new strong arm tactics earned them the nickname 134 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: the Petticoat Rulers. First on their dockets taxes. When Grace 135 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: and her colleagues took office, They found that only two 136 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: d dollars were in the town's coffers. It wasn't nearly 137 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: enough to push through their new agenda, so they started 138 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: collecting taxes from everyone in town. The money was put 139 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: toward a variety of expansive projects, including graded roads, a 140 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: new cemetery, and the installation of electric wiring. In two weeks, 141 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: they had over two thousand dollars available. They had also 142 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: passed ordinances meant to beautify the town and reduced the 143 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: noise pollution caused by fireworks. The women had been placed 144 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: in their roles thanks to progress, and in turn, they 145 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: were going to bring progress back to Jackson. But if 146 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: the Nineteenth Amendment wasn't ratified until August of nineteen twenty, 147 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: how were a group of women elected to run a 148 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: small western town once besieged by criminals. That's because states 149 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: and towns all across the country had already been giving 150 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: women the right to vote, and Wyoming, the equality state, 151 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: accomplished it in eighteen sixty nine. Grace Miller and her 152 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: counsel did a great job. They were elected again for 153 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: a second term. Some even stayed on for longer. They 154 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: had proven that women had every right to serve in 155 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: politics right alongside men, and more importantly, they proved that 156 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: women get the job done. I hope you've enjoyed today's 157 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free 158 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 159 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:31,319 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 160 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I 161 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 162 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 163 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com. 164 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.