1
00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480
Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

2
00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is

3
00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,

4
00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

5
00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet

6
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,879
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Some soldiers only feel at home on the battlefield.

7
00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,520
Speaker 1: They know peace when a weapon is in their hand

8
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,160
Speaker 1: and pointed at their enemy. Those who make it out

9
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,040
Speaker 1: of the military still carry a piece of it with

10
00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:52,479
Speaker 1: them forever. It's etched onto them like a tattoo. For William,

11
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,400
Speaker 1: the battlefield was more than a home. It was everything.

12
00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,880
Speaker 1: He was born in Wiltshire, England, in six twenty and

13
00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,320
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to become soldier. At the age of just thirteen,

14
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,280
Speaker 1: he enlisted and fought for King Charles the First. By

15
00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,279
Speaker 1: the time he turned twenty two, William had already become

16
00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,880
Speaker 1: a seasoned fighter. In October of sixteen forty two, the

17
00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,880
Speaker 1: young soldier joined fifteen thousand of his brothers to fight

18
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,679
Speaker 1: in the first battle of the English Civil War, known

19
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,160
Speaker 1: as the Battle of Edge Hill. The first day of

20
00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,520
Speaker 1: fighting left hundreds dead, and wounded. After a chilly night

21
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,080
Speaker 1: of rest, both sides reconvened the next morning to continue

22
00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:33,320
Speaker 1: the fray. Unfortunately, nobody felt like fighting any longer. The

23
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,360
Speaker 1: Battle of Edge Hill didn't bode well for the rest

24
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,039
Speaker 1: of the Civil War, which ended almost a decade later

25
00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,640
Speaker 1: with King Charles's execution, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell would rule

26
00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,720
Speaker 1: the new English Republic for the next eleven years. William,

27
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,920
Speaker 1: now thirty one, retired to a peaceful life until Cromwell's

28
00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,360
Speaker 1: death in sixteen fifty eight. The age of the Republic

29
00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,720
Speaker 1: was now over, and Charles's son, Charles the Second, had

30
00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,720
Speaker 1: become king. Like his father. The new Charles led his

31
00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,880
Speaker 1: kingdom for almost thirty years. His passing in sixteen eighty five, however,

32
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,600
Speaker 1: left the throne vacant, as he had not produced an

33
00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:12,040
Speaker 1: air during his reign. Instead, his brother James the Second

34
00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,560
Speaker 1: took his place. This put Parliament on edge. James was

35
00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,160
Speaker 1: a Roman Catholic, and with him as king, there was

36
00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,800
Speaker 1: a possibility of England rejoining with Rome. To prevent this

37
00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,359
Speaker 1: from happening, Parliament asked William the Third, the Dutch Prince

38
00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,960
Speaker 1: of Orange, to take the throne. He obliged, moving in

39
00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,240
Speaker 1: and forcefully taking England, Ireland and Scotland away from James.

40
00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:36,720
Speaker 1: But King James wasn't about to go down without a fight.

41
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,440
Speaker 1: He planned an invasion of Ireland as a way to

42
00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:44,040
Speaker 1: reclaim what he felt was rightfully his. Meanwhile, William was ready.

43
00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,080
Speaker 1: He joined William of Orange's forces to take on the

44
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,919
Speaker 1: former king. In March of sixteen eighty nine, King James

45
00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,160
Speaker 1: marched into Ireland with France's help, which kicked off the

46
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,440
Speaker 1: Williamite War in Ireland. He managed to hold Ireland for

47
00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,560
Speaker 1: a short time through several key battles, hoping to spin

48
00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,040
Speaker 1: his victory into a takeover of England and Scotland as well,

49
00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,640
Speaker 1: but William of Orange's army was too much for James,

50
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,480
Speaker 1: and William was there for all of it. For two

51
00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:13,880
Speaker 1: and a half years, the seventy two year old soldier

52
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:16,400
Speaker 1: fought on behalf of the Republic and helped them win

53
00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,880
Speaker 1: the war. And then another age of peace broke out

54
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:24,200
Speaker 1: and William retired again, but not for good. His services

55
00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,000
Speaker 1: would be required again in seventeen o nine, during the

56
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,200
Speaker 1: War of the Spanish Succession. Spain and France were going

57
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,080
Speaker 1: to unite, which would have threatened England's power. In what

58
00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,680
Speaker 1: would become his final and most important fight, William and

59
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,000
Speaker 1: one hundred sixty one thousand other troops gathered on the

60
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,120
Speaker 1: French border for the Battle of mal Paquet. He joined

61
00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:47,320
Speaker 1: up with the Royal Scots Regiment and fought alongside one

62
00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,320
Speaker 1: of the youngest participants he'd ever seen, the three week

63
00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,240
Speaker 1: old son of one Private McMain, who fought with his

64
00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,960
Speaker 1: baby on his back. The eighty nine year old Williams

65
00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 1: valiant efforts helped Great Britain defeat France and stop the Union.

66
00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,360
Speaker 1: It seemed that the time had finally come for the

67
00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,920
Speaker 1: octogenarian to hang up his uniform for good. As thanks

68
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,720
Speaker 1: for his service, William was made a sergeant and given

69
00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,120
Speaker 1: a comfortable pension of two crowns per week, not a

70
00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,119
Speaker 1: bad legacy for a man who literally spent his entire

71
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,120
Speaker 1: life fighting in wars. But it didn't stop there. William

72
00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:24,159
Speaker 1: found love several years later. He married a much younger

73
00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: woman when he was one hundred and three. Their time

74
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,240
Speaker 1: together was short, though, as she passed away before him

75
00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,760
Speaker 1: in the early seventeen thirties. He wouldn't grieve for long, though.

76
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000
Speaker 1: The super soldier himself died not long after, at the

77
00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:41,640
Speaker 1: ripe old age of one eleven. William Hesslin had cheated

78
00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,080
Speaker 1: death for over one hundred years, but his time had come.

79
00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,080
Speaker 1: He might have had more love for the battlefield than most,

80
00:04:48,839 --> 00:05:05,560
Speaker 1: but no soldier can fight forever. Be careful what you

81
00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,640
Speaker 1: put out into the world. A careless statement can spell

82
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,480
Speaker 1: disaster down the road. James was a humble shoemaker from

83
00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:15,680
Speaker 1: the town of Leamington in Warwickshire, England. He owned a

84
00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,560
Speaker 1: small shop in town and enjoyed a regular drink at

85
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,440
Speaker 1: his local pub. Unfortunately, James suffered from two bad habits.

86
00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,599
Speaker 1: He liked to drink and he liked to gamble. The

87
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,400
Speaker 1: problem was that he only gambled when he drank. On

88
00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,839
Speaker 1: the afternoon of September three, seventy three, James was in

89
00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,280
Speaker 1: the pub with a few of his drinking buddies. He'd

90
00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,039
Speaker 1: already had a few pints when he started bragging about

91
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,560
Speaker 1: what a great athlete he was. He bet that he

92
00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,359
Speaker 1: could run from Leamington to Coventry and back again on

93
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:46,400
Speaker 1: the same day. It would be a round trip of

94
00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,640
Speaker 1: forty miles, but James didn't care. He was ready to

95
00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,200
Speaker 1: prove himself for the Grand prize of one sovereign a

96
00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,640
Speaker 1: gold coin worth about one British pound. James headed out

97
00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:00,359
Speaker 1: toward Coventry, with three men from the pub following behind

98
00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 1: him in a horse drawn cart. There was the unknown

99
00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,000
Speaker 1: man that he had made the bet with, as well

100
00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,880
Speaker 1: as a merchant named Barnum Wise and a photographer by

101
00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,960
Speaker 1: the name of Hammerson Burns. James seemed to be doing

102
00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,240
Speaker 1: pretty well for the first few miles. He was bright

103
00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,839
Speaker 1: and alert, showing no signs of slowing down, not bad

104
00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,760
Speaker 1: considering how drunk he had been when he started the contest.

105
00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,360
Speaker 1: But he was also egged on by the three men

106
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:24,840
Speaker 1: behind him, who did their best to motivate him by

107
00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,680
Speaker 1: poking fun. Then, without warning, James tripped over something in

108
00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,000
Speaker 1: the road. He fell forward and shouted out. The men

109
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:34,960
Speaker 1: got out of their cart to check on their friend,

110
00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:40,039
Speaker 1: but they couldn't see anything. James was gone. He hadn't

111
00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,120
Speaker 1: left an imprint in the dirt where he had landed,

112
00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 1: because he had never landed in the first place. It

113
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,520
Speaker 1: was as though he had evaporated instantly. Burns, Wise and

114
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,440
Speaker 1: the unnamed third man searched the area for some time

115
00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,799
Speaker 1: before accepting that James was gone and gone for good.

116
00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:58,479
Speaker 1: They climbed into the carts and rode back the town,

117
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,240
Speaker 1: unsure of what they were going to tell everyone. The

118
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,240
Speaker 1: police heard their story, but they didn't buy it. Instead,

119
00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,279
Speaker 1: they arrested the men for James's disappearance and possible murder.

120
00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:13,360
Speaker 1: The trio were questioned again. The police conducted an investigation,

121
00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,800
Speaker 1: talking to character witnesses and other people in town, hoping

122
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,760
Speaker 1: to find some kind of motivation for the killing. But

123
00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,920
Speaker 1: the authorities couldn't find anything, and because the men had

124
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,680
Speaker 1: no prior records and were thought highly of in town,

125
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,840
Speaker 1: the charges were dropped and the men were released. Sadly,

126
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,560
Speaker 1: James Warson was never found, which makes sense seeing as

127
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,480
Speaker 1: how he had never existed in the first place. He

128
00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,000
Speaker 1: was the main character of a short story written in

129
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:44,720
Speaker 1: eight by author and journalist Ambrose Beers. Throughout Beers's seventy

130
00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:47,440
Speaker 1: two years on Earth, he produced almost two hundred fifty

131
00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,040
Speaker 1: short stories and over a thousand other works. It's fair

132
00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:54,080
Speaker 1: to say that he was prolific. He was also ahead

133
00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,440
Speaker 1: of his time, so to speak. Beers had fought for

134
00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 1: the Union Army during the American Civil War fifty years

135
00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: and many published works later. In nineteen thirteen, he took

136
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,480
Speaker 1: a trip down through Louisiana in Texas on a tour

137
00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,280
Speaker 1: of old Civil War battlegrounds before anding up in Mexico.

138
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,160
Speaker 1: While south of the border, Beers saw war once again

139
00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,400
Speaker 1: during the Mexican Revolution as part of Poncho Villa's army.

140
00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,840
Speaker 1: He didn't fight, though, he was merely an onlooker, watching

141
00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,640
Speaker 1: VIA's rebellion overcome state forces during the Battle of Tierra Blanca. Afterward,

142
00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: he followed Villa for several months, eventually arriving in the

143
00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,720
Speaker 1: city of Chihuahua. It was during his stop there in

144
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,600
Speaker 1: December of nineteen thirteen, when Beers wrote a letter to

145
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,240
Speaker 1: a colleague back home, Blanche Partington. He ended his letter

146
00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,960
Speaker 1: with these words, as for me, I leave here tomorrow

147
00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,200
Speaker 1: for an unknown destination. It was the last thing he

148
00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:52,199
Speaker 1: ever wrote. Just like his character of James Warson Ambrose,

149
00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,360
Speaker 1: Beers disappeared and was never heard from again. Stories spread

150
00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,199
Speaker 1: throughout Mexico as to what might have happened to him,

151
00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,720
Speaker 1: but no one us the definitive answer. He simply vanished

152
00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,560
Speaker 1: into thin air. And if that's not a case of

153
00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:13,640
Speaker 1: foreshadowing coming true, I don't know what is. I hope

154
00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,960
Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities,

155
00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,400
Speaker 1: subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about

156
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,959
Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show

157
00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,480
Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how

158
00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,120
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,

159
00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,960
Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and

160
00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,199
Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World

161
00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:43,720
Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,