1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: You're listening to American shadows, a production of I heart 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: radio and grim and mild from Aaron Bankey. In the 3 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: eighteen fifties, America was struggling. Carpenters couldn't keep up with 4 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: the daily influx of immigrants, housing shortage loomed, epidemics like 5 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: smallpox and cholera and the lack of jobs further sent 6 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: the country into a depression. Children whose parents died from 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: one of the many diseases running rampant found themselves orphaned. Sometimes, 8 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: families who didn't want or couldn't afford their children abandoned them. 9 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: Of the five dred thousand New York City residents at 10 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: the time, it's estimated that thirty thousand were houseless children. 11 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: Kids sold rags, matches or newspapers to survive. Some worked 12 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: in factories, others who joined street gangs were frequently arrested 13 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: and put into the same jails as adults. Some of 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: these children were just five years old. There were orphanages, 15 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: but not enough, and they rarely provided the education or 16 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: care children needed. One Charles Loring, brace, a Protestant minister, 17 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: thought orphanages amounted to little more than warehouses and wanted 18 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: more for the kids. In eighteen fifty three he founded 19 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: the children's aid society. He provided basic schooling and religious education, 20 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 1: along with teaching kids a trade. Unfortunately, the children's aid 21 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: society didn't have room for all the houseless children. Determined 22 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: to save more kids, brace came up with another solution. 23 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty three, he began sending orphans to farms 24 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. He hoped the children 25 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: would find homes of families where they had a better 26 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: chance of survival and the more promising future. The solution 27 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: cost more than the children's aid society could afford. Undaunted, 28 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: he began a fundraising campaign with the wealthiest city residents. 29 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: The fundraiser was a success and the trains carrying orphans 30 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: branched out to other cities in the Midwest. When the 31 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: orphan train pulled into southwestern Michigan in eighteen fifty four, 32 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: thirty seven of the forty five children on board found 33 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: new homes. The last eight found homes in Iowa. Between 34 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: Eighteen fifty five and eighteen seventy five, an average of 35 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: pre thousand children a year rode the trains. Once they 36 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: arrived at their destinations, a chaperone led them to gathering 37 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: places where couples selected children from the group. In a way, 38 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: the process resembled of livestock auction. The new parents signed 39 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: documents promising to care for and feed the children. In exchange, 40 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: the kids understood that they had to help work on 41 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: the farms. While some children found loving homes, others were 42 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: taken to become manual laborers. When he was just eight 43 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: years old, Elliott boarded a train heading to Arkansas. All 44 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: he had were the clothes he wore in a small 45 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: cardboard box that held everything he owned. He had been 46 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: removed from his abusive and Alcoholic Father and as he 47 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: sat on the train, watching the scenery go past his window, 48 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: it felt like he had his entire future ahead of him. 49 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: Elliott refused to go with the first man who selected him, 50 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: but eventually found a home with a great family of 51 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: fellow orphans like Andrew Burke and John Brady, even went 52 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: on to become governors. These three were among the lucky ones. 53 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: The society didn't vet potential parents and siblings were often separated. 54 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: No provisions were made for the adopted children if their 55 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: new parents died, often rendering them houseless again. The orphan 56 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: trains ran for seventy five years. The children's aid society 57 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: was far from perfect, but it rescued thousands of kids 58 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: from life on the streets and paved the way for 59 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: the foster care system. Charles Brace had the children's best 60 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: interests to heart, but others did not. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. 61 00:03:53,440 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to American shadows. It started with flu like symptoms. 62 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: Kate beyond the kept working, though it wasn't easy. Running 63 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: a restaurant was difficult enough, but being sick in a 64 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: sweltering Tennessee summer made it that much worse. The sickness 65 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: progressed from August one until August of Eight. Kate died, 66 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: becoming the first victim of yellow fever in Memphis. Previously, 67 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: the disease had only struck New Orleans and no one 68 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,799 Speaker 1: understood how yellow fever spread, so they quarantined anyone afflicted. 69 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: Of course, people continued to fall ill. It had first 70 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: arrived in New Orleans on an incoming ship, the Charles 71 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: B Wood. The captain and engineer's families all fell ill. 72 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: They survived. Unfortunately, a four year old girl living nearby 73 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: did not. The yellow fever reached epidemic proportions in New Orleans. 74 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: On August tenth of that year, the city reported four 75 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: thirty one cases and a hundred and eighteen deaths. Doctors 76 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: couldn't find a cure. The go to treatments of blood 77 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: letting and carbolic acid didn't work. A fifth of the 78 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: city's residents fled. But when the news reached Memphis, the 79 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: mayor shut down the train lines and put the city 80 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: under quarantine, but lawsuits brought on by local business owners 81 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: forced officials to reopen the trade routes. It's possible that 82 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: the trains brought the mosquitoes to Memphis, or at the 83 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 1: least that they brought people already infected with yellow fever 84 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: of the mosquitoes that bit them spread the disease to others. 85 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: The city's swampy environs, with high summer heat and humidity, 86 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: made for the perfect mosquito breeding ground. But when Kate 87 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: Beyonda died, newspapers were quick to report cases and deaths. 88 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: The city officials tried to calm the public despite the 89 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: growing death toll. Within a single day in August, Memphis 90 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: recorded seventy three deaths. In September, the average death toll 91 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: rose to two hundred a day. The funeral bells rang 92 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: almost constantly. Residents fled Memphis by the thousands. When the 93 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: first frost came, yellow fever cases dropped as the mosquitoes died. 94 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: By the end of the year, MEMPHIS had recorded seventeen 95 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 1: thousand cases and five thousand deaths, leaving the city in 96 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: financial ruin. Throughout the southeast, eighty thousand people had become infected. 97 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: Of those, twenty thousand didn't survive. Still believing the disease 98 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: spread from human contact or possibly a lack of sanitary conditions, 99 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: the city embarked on a massive clean up. A people 100 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: became more interested in public health practices and Memphis began 101 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: a slow process of recovery. Those most affected by the 102 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: epidemic were the children, many of whom lost one or 103 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: both parents to yellow fever. A men and women who 104 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: lost a spouse had difficulty making ends meet, and it 105 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: wasn't uncommon for single parents to send their children to 106 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: a relative or an orphanage children without known relatives who 107 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: lost both parents had no one to care for them. 108 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: As difficulties rose, more were a band end, forced to 109 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: find a way to support themselves. Older children searched for jobs. 110 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: Farm hands and factory workers tooking kids as cheap labor 111 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: in exchange for food and a place to sleep. A 112 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: child labor in the United States peaked in the early 113 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: twentieth century, and back then, factory owners often preferred children. 114 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,239 Speaker 1: They had no rights or protections regarding violence or safety 115 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: in the workplace. Kids were also considered more manageable than 116 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: their adult counterparts and far less likely to strike adoption 117 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: in the eighteen hundreds worked differently than it does today. 118 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: There actually was no official method of conducting an adoption, 119 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: no paperwork, no court cases and no way of tracking 120 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: the adopted kids. Society Stigma on on Web Mother's complicated 121 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: the problem. Women were pressured to place children borne out 122 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: of wedlock with orphanages or give them up for adoption 123 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: in order to save their and their child's reputations. Adoptive 124 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: parents chose infants over older kids, preferring to raise a 125 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: child who had no memory of warp ties to a 126 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: previous family. Children from low income families or those who 127 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: weren't white were far less likely to find homes. When 128 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: the adoption of Children Act went into effect in eighteen, 129 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: fifty one courts became more active in a child's well being. 130 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: Charities and private homes provided some care. Eventually these came 131 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: under government control, though they retained certain freedoms in terms 132 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: of a child's treatment or placement in a new home. 133 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 1: The Sisters of St Mary opened a school in eighteen 134 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: seventy four. When the yellow fever epidemic hit in eighteen 135 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: seventy eight, they stayed while most clergymen fled. The city 136 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: authorities asked them to take over the Canfield asylum for orphans. 137 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: Eager to help, the sisters took in fifty children in 138 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: four days. Edward crump knew all too well the ravages 139 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: of yellow fever. The disease took his father during the 140 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: outbreak in eighteen seventy eight, leaving his mother to support 141 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: him and his two siblings. While she managed to keep 142 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: the family together, they struggled to keep afloat. The children 143 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: pitched in, however they could. None of them wanted to 144 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: be separated from each other or their mother. At Fourteen 145 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: crump dropped out of school to find work. At seventeen 146 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: he left Mississippi and relocated to Memphis. He couldn't have 147 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: arrived at a worse time. The city was in a 148 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: deep procession and crump had very little to his name. 149 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,319 Speaker 1: His earlier life in struggles influenced him to work hard 150 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: and better himself, and he eventually found employment as a clerk. 151 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: In his free time, he joined social clubs to seek 152 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 1: out contacts that might further his political aspirations. In nineteen 153 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: O two, he went his sweetheart, Bessie, a daughter of 154 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: a prominent socialite. With his father in Law's help, crump 155 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: purchased a saddle and harness company. The company was successful, 156 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,839 Speaker 1: but after eight years he sold the business and dove 157 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: head first into his true calling, politics. His hard work 158 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,319 Speaker 1: and dedication paid off. A crump became the city mayor 159 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 1: in nineteen ten. He worked to clean up the city's 160 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: sanitation issues. In addition, he became a staunch supporter of 161 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: the fire service, helping to create a state of the 162 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: art fire department. Sometime in the early nineteen twenties, crump 163 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: met one Georgia Tan. He quickly became an avid supporter 164 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: of her work in child services. For All the good 165 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: had done for the city, his connection with Georgia would 166 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: remain a dark spot on his reputation. It might have 167 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: looked like Georgia had the children's best interests at heart, 168 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: but she had different motivations. Unlike crump, Georgia grew up 169 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: living a charmed life. She was born Beulah George Tan 170 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:50,720 Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, Mississippi. In her father, George, was a respected 171 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: judge and her mother, Beulah, had been a well educated 172 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: school teacher. George ruled absolute over the household and demanded 173 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,680 Speaker 1: that his wishes take priority over anything else. If Judge 174 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: Tan decided something needed doing, there was no discussion. The 175 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: task must be done quickly and to his liking. So 176 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: when he decided that his daughter would become a pianist, 177 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,080 Speaker 1: Georgia threw herself into practice, even though she despised playing. 178 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: She wanted to become a lawyer, but her father scoffed. 179 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: He didn't think law was a suitable occupation for women. 180 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: He had made up his mind and in nine thirteen 181 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: he sent her to Martha Washington College to major in 182 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,719 Speaker 1: music and despite her father's wishes, Georgia took the bar 183 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: exam and passed. Though a few women had successfully practiced 184 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: law in the United States, Georgia decided on a different 185 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: career path, one her father found more acceptable for women 186 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: of the day social work. There was a conflict, though. 187 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: Georgia firmly believed that wealthy people were far superior to 188 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: the poor, and she thought lower class individuals shouldn't have children, 189 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: mainly because they lacked the money to adequately provide for them. 190 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,439 Speaker 1: Her first job as a social worker was in ninety 191 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: two at the Mississippi Children's Home Society. Georgia took her 192 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: bias too far and her superiors fired her for removing 193 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: children from poor households without cause. Georgia moved to Memphis 194 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: to take advantage of her father's business connections. There she 195 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: took an executive secretary position at the Tennessee Children's home society. 196 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties. References were used instead of background 197 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: checks and no one at the society looked into her past. 198 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: There Georgia settled into domestic life with partner Ann Atwood, 199 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: who had moved with her. They had two children, an 200 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: infant son and had had out of wedlock, and George's 201 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: adopted daughter. But we don't know whether their relationship was 202 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: romantic because same sex relationships were so frowned upon. But 203 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: domestic partnerships between women weren't entirely uncommon, polite society reframed 204 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:56,199 Speaker 1: such pairings as Boston marriages. For two years, Georgia relentlessly 205 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: used her connections to further her career until she had 206 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:04,199 Speaker 1: complete control over the society. Finally, at the Top, Georgia 207 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: focused on her true goal, gaining money and power by 208 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 1: trafficking children. Georgian new intimidation worked. When she entered poor neighborhoods, 209 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: she wore crisp, heavily starched long sleeved shirts and a 210 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: full length skirt. Her position at the school and her 211 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: father's connections insured she received little opposition from authorities. She 212 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: also made her own connections, namely former Mayor Edward crump. 213 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: Though he no longer held office, he still had plenty 214 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 1: of influence and power in Memphis. When complaints about George's 215 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 1: practices rolled in, crump helped to change Tennessee's adoption laws 216 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 1: in her favor. One Abe Waaldour, who had served under crump, 217 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: became George's attorney and the attorney for the Tennessee Children's 218 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: home society. While other homes were required to get licenses, 219 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: Georgia and Waldour refused. With their connections, the laws simply 220 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: didn't apply to them. A license would have cost money 221 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: and cut into their profits. Each adoption would have cost 222 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: an additional seven dollars. Georgia charged up to five thousand 223 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: dollars per adoption. With so much money to be made, 224 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: those connected to the society's adoptions had motivation to hide 225 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: the scheme. Georgia had plenty of high powered people in 226 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: her pocket, from politicians and police chiefs to the underworld. 227 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: She became so successful that Waldour often referred to the 228 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: orphans as the merchandise. Acquiring new children was easy. All 229 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: Georgia had to do was visit low income housing districts. 230 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 1: She often sweet talked poor families out of their kids 231 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: or told the family that she had to remove the 232 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: child due to a complaint, even if no such complaint 233 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: had been filed. Scouts helped to keep an eye out 234 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 1: for attractive and healthy kids, preferably those who were white 235 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: with blonde hair and blue eyes. Scouts Times stole these 236 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: children from their yards or daycare or kidnap them from 237 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: churches or homes, and Georgia drove through poor neighborhoods looking 238 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: for the most attractive kids and offered them a ride 239 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: in her fancy car. Then should whisk them away to 240 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: the society where they had never see their parents again. 241 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: Unwed mothers made easy targets and Georgia's scouts kept an 242 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,560 Speaker 1: eye out for them too, especially at hospitals and prisons. 243 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: Without support from the fathers or the state, the women 244 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: often accepted her offer of help. She would offer to 245 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: pay for medical treatment for sick kids and take them 246 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 1: to the hospital for care. When women tried to collect 247 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: their children, Georgia presented them with an enormous bill. When 248 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: the mother couldn't pay, the child was taken away and 249 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:47,560 Speaker 1: placed in George's care. In another tactic, Georgia would offer 250 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: an unwed mother a temporary place to keep her kids 251 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: while she found a home or a job. Once the 252 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: mother finally established herself and tried to collect her children, 253 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: she was told they had been adopted. The mother had 254 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: no report. Part of the laws crump helped form were 255 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: sealed adoptions. Hospital maternity wards also became a favorite place 256 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: to find kids. While new mothers were still sedated, Georgia 257 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: asked them to sign routine paperwork. The paperwork turned out 258 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: to be adoption papers. The society nearly served as a 259 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: temporary holding station. Conditions were deplorable. Infants were drugged to 260 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: keep them from crying. Neglect and abuse were common and 261 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: the children were kept entirely indoors. They received little to 262 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: no medical treatment or schooling. Over five hundred kids died 263 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,720 Speaker 1: in her care. Georgia paid for advertisements in newspapers from 264 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: New York to Los Angeles. Children were auctioned to the 265 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: highest bidder. She took great care to ensure most children 266 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: were adopted out of state. Actress Joan Crawford adopted twins 267 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: Kathy and Cynthia. Film stars June Allison and her husband 268 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: Dick Powell adopted a son. New York Governor Herbert Lehman, 269 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: who also signed a law sealing adoption records in his 270 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: eight adopted a kid from the home. Between nineteen four 271 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:08,639 Speaker 1: and nineteen fifty, Georgia arranged over five thousand adoptions. Older 272 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: Children's birth certificates were altered to make them more adoptable 273 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: and to prevent birth parents from finding them. The end 274 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: finally came when crump's Nemesis, Gordon Browning became governor in 275 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,440 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty. Browning learned about the trafficking from an investigator 276 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: on September twelfth of that year, Browning stood before the 277 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: press and disclosed the horrors behind the Tennessee children's home 278 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 1: society and the charges against Georgia ton. Three days later, 279 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: Georgia died from undiagnosed cancer. Those working alongside her quietly 280 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:55,159 Speaker 1: resigned and no one else was ever charged. One evening 281 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: in nine Alma's sipple sat down after a long day 282 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: to enjoy a few TV shows. After flipping through the channels, 283 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:07,159 Speaker 1: she decided to watch NBC's Popular Program unsolved mysteries. The 284 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: show had a large following and people enjoyed helping solve 285 00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 1: cold cases. At the end of each show, host Robert 286 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: Stack asked for the audience's help and gave them a 287 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,560 Speaker 1: hotline to call with any information that might bring killers 288 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 1: and other criminals to justice or help locate missing persons. 289 00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 1: It was late and Alma was sleepy, but when a 290 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 1: woman's face splashed across the screen, she jolted upright and 291 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,479 Speaker 1: let out a scream. The woman's smug features had been 292 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: etched in her memory and the woman in the photo 293 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: had stolen her daughter decades before. Back in Alma lived 294 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,119 Speaker 1: in a one room apartment with her toddler son and 295 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: infant daughter. She was just another young mother struggling to 296 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: make ends meet. A woman claiming to be from the 297 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,360 Speaker 1: Tennessee Children's home society visited her, insisting a neighbor had 298 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: filed a complaint of child abuse. Stunned, Alma allowed the 299 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 1: woman in to show that the children were perfectly fine, 300 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,199 Speaker 1: though Irma had fallen slightly ill. The woman took special 301 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,399 Speaker 1: interest in Little Irma, a beautiful child with reddish blonde 302 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:13,680 Speaker 1: curls and cute dimples. Alma recalled how calm and confident 303 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,160 Speaker 1: the woman was, how she seemed concerned over Irma's health. 304 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: She offered to take Irma to the doctor, which required 305 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 1: Alma to sign papers granting permission to the society. Without 306 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 1: money to pay for a doctor, Alma agreed, and then 307 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,679 Speaker 1: the woman swept up her baby daughter and left. Alma 308 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 1: arrived at Memphis general a few days later and watched 309 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: Irma Sleeping peacefully, and when she tried to take her 310 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: daughter home, the hospital told her that Irma belonged to 311 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: the society. She called the home over and over for 312 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: days until Georgia finally answered. Alma Sat in stunned silence 313 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: when Georgia coldly told her that little Irma had died 314 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: from complications of pneumonia. Alma couldn't believe it. Her daughter 315 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: had been fine just days before. Georgia told her that 316 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,280 Speaker 1: the city had buried Irma in an unmarked grave and 317 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 1: hung up for years. Alma searched for a grave that 318 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: might be her daughters. Now, sitting in her chair, she 319 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: paid close attention to Robert Stack. He asked potential victims 320 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,480 Speaker 1: to come forward and contact Tennessee's right to now agency. 321 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: Alma called immediately. Months later, Danny Glad, the volunteer agency's president, 322 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: contacted her. Not only was Irma still alive, but had 323 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: also found her adoption papers, though the address for the 324 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: adopted parents was blank. Alma's heart fell. It looked like 325 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,719 Speaker 1: a dead end. Then an independent searcher found her. Irma, 326 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: now Sandra Kimbrel, was in Cincinnati working as a registered nurse. 327 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: When Alma contacted her, Sandra was somewhat surprised. While she 328 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 1: knew she was adopted, she had no idea she had 329 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: been stolen as a baby. The two talked for hours 330 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,320 Speaker 1: and began to plan their reunion. Alma and her daughter 331 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: were fortunate. We may never honestly know how many families 332 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: Georgia Tan destroyed. There's more to this story. Stick around 333 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 1: after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. 334 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 1: It's normal for parents to worry about how their kids 335 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 1: will turn out as adults. Even more normal to wonder 336 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: if children are shaped more by nature or nurture. The 337 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: debate has gone on for decades how much of a 338 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,400 Speaker 1: child's personality is formed by treatment and environment, and how 339 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: much is influenced by genetics. In the nineties it seemed 340 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,959 Speaker 1: that parents and researchers just might get some answers. Robert 341 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 1: Schaffran spent his first year at a college in upstate 342 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: New York. He wondered why people often acted as though 343 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: they knew him. He quickly learned that he resembled another 344 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: student named Eddie Galland Eddie supposedly could have passed for 345 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,919 Speaker 1: his twin. Although Eddie no longer went to the same school, 346 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 1: Robert was intrigued. He trapped down an address and went 347 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: to visit his doppelganger. Eddie ants heard and the two 348 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: stared at each other. It was as though the men 349 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: were looking into a mirror. They shared the same build 350 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,360 Speaker 1: and facial features. They had identical complexions in the same 351 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: dark hair a quick comparison of birthdays revealed that they 352 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,680 Speaker 1: were both born on July twelfth of nineteen sixty one. 353 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,199 Speaker 1: Eddie and Robert knew that they had been adopted but 354 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 1: had no idea that they were twins. The stranger than 355 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: fiction story spread across the country. People were fascinated and 356 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: wanted to know how two identical twins had randomly come 357 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:32,679 Speaker 1: into contact with each other. They'd grown up just hours apart. 358 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:36,400 Speaker 1: The story seemed unbelievable, but was about to get weirder. 359 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,679 Speaker 1: Miles away at another college student, David Kellman, couldn't believe 360 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 1: the photo in the paper. He stared at the two 361 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 1: men who looked exactly like him. After reading the story, 362 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: he immediately tracked down Eddie Gallant's home phone number, and 363 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: Mrs Gallan answered and heard what sounded like her son's voice. 364 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,159 Speaker 1: She was astounded to learn that her son, who she 365 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: had no idea had one brother, now had two. In 366 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one, a teenage girl had given birth the 367 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: three boys at Hillside Hospital in New York. She gave 368 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,679 Speaker 1: them up for adoption and the triplets were taken to 369 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: the Louise Wise Services Adoption Agency. The boys were separated 370 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 1: while living at the agency. For the next six months, 371 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: three couples living less than a hundred miles apart each 372 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: applied to adopt a child. The agency told the parents 373 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,480 Speaker 1: that the infant they were interested in was part of 374 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: a study on childhood development. They were also led to 375 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: believe that promising to comply with future visits would increase 376 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: the chances that they'd be selected to adopt. For Ten years, 377 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: Doctor Peter Newbauer and his assistants visited the families several 378 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: times a year after the study ended. Researchers have suggested 379 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:47,200 Speaker 1: that new Bauer and his team still monitored the children 380 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: from a distance and during the initial visits, Newbauer and 381 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: his staff performed cognitive tests. The boys were asked to 382 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: draw and solve puzzles and answer questions while assistants filmed 383 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: the visit. The parents were also Shton it turned out 384 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: that each of the boys often banged their heads against 385 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: the bars and their crips. The families learned the adoption agency, 386 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,959 Speaker 1: which had since shuttered its doors, had been part of 387 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,440 Speaker 1: the study. They assisted new Bauer in placing the triplets 388 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:18,199 Speaker 1: into three families, each with a different economic status. The 389 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: three brothers exchanged stories of their childhood. In Teen Years, 390 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,440 Speaker 1: David and Eddie had spent time in psychiatric hospitals. Robert 391 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: was on probation stemming from his connection to a murder 392 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: in robbery in night. The boys weren't the only children 393 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 1: in Dr New Bauer's study on nature versus nurture. He 394 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: ran similar experiments on sets of twins, and none of 395 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: whom randomly came into contact with their siblings. All the 396 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: twins had been separated in the name of research. Academics 397 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: and the affected families have so many questions, but no 398 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: one will see doctor new Bauer's research results anytime soon. 399 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,200 Speaker 1: Yale has all of his papers locked in a vault 400 00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: until twenty six six, long after everyone involved in the 401 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 1: study will no longer be living, and new Bauer died 402 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:13,440 Speaker 1: in two thousand eight. His study remains controversial. American shadows 403 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 1: is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by 404 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: Michelle Muto, researched by Ali steed and produced by Miranda 405 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:25,760 Speaker 1: Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex 406 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: Williams and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, 407 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,399 Speaker 1: visit grim and mild dot com. From more podcasts from 408 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: IHEART radio. visit the IHEART radio APP, apple podcasts or 409 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,160 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.