WEBVTT - The Thief, the Jewels, and the Dublin Castle Conspiracy 0:00:15.410 --> 0:00:22.370 Pushkin. Tim here with an exciting announcement about the Cautionary Club, 0:00:22.690 --> 0:00:26.850 our Patreon community for Cautionary Tales listeners. So many of 0:00:26.850 --> 0:00:30.210 you joined our live table read earlier this year that 0:00:30.330 --> 0:00:33.610 we're doing it again. Join me and I production team 0:00:33.770 --> 0:00:37.690 for a live reading of an unreleased episode about the 0:00:37.730 --> 0:00:43.410 people who almost invented the iPhone fifteen years early and 0:00:43.450 --> 0:00:46.770 the surprising reasons they failed. This will be a chance 0:00:46.850 --> 0:00:49.010 for you to see how the stories we tell are 0:00:49.010 --> 0:00:53.490 developed in real time and ask your burning questions about 0:00:53.490 --> 0:00:57.010 cautionary Tales. It's on the eighth of July at five 0:00:57.050 --> 0:01:01.090 pm UK or noon Eastern. If you join the Patreon 0:01:01.170 --> 0:01:03.770 before then, or if you're already a member, you'll get 0:01:03.770 --> 0:01:10.170 your exclusive invitation. Head to Patreon dot com slash Cautionary Club. 0:01:10.450 --> 0:01:14.050 That's Patreon, p A T R e O N dot 0:01:14.090 --> 0:01:23.450 com slash Cautionary Club. Dublin Castle nineteen oh three, the 0:01:23.530 --> 0:01:27.770 seat of government in Ireland, then still ruled by Britain. 0:01:28.730 --> 0:01:34.330 Workman dragging a heavy safe across a hallway. It's three 0:01:34.370 --> 0:01:39.410 feet wide, made from sturdy steel by the prestigious ratner 0:01:39.530 --> 0:01:46.050 company thief Proof, or so it says inside the safe. 0:01:46.650 --> 0:01:53.890 The Irish Crown jewels, exquisitely crafted, ostentatiously made from diamonds, 0:01:54.250 --> 0:02:00.650 emeralds and rubies. When the King of the United Kingdom 0:02:00.690 --> 0:02:03.450 of Great Britain and Ireland came to Ireland for some 0:02:03.890 --> 0:02:08.850 grand ceremonial occasion, these jewels would be worn. They were worth, 0:02:08.890 --> 0:02:14.170 in today's money, several million dollars. The workers are heaving 0:02:14.370 --> 0:02:18.330 the safe towards the strong room. They've just built an 0:02:18.530 --> 0:02:22.130 extra layer of protection for the safe and the jewels, 0:02:22.490 --> 0:02:26.850 along with various other valuables and documents. The walls to 0:02:26.890 --> 0:02:31.050 the strong room are thick and reinforced. The door is 0:02:31.090 --> 0:02:35.610 made from steel, two tons of it. Now time to 0:02:35.610 --> 0:02:41.730 put the safe in the strong room. Ah, the safe 0:02:41.970 --> 0:02:45.330 doesn't quite fit through the doorway, at least this way around. 0:02:45.690 --> 0:02:52.730 Let's try swiveling it ninety degrees hmm, not that way either, 0:02:53.890 --> 0:03:02.370 maybe at an angle. Well, this is embarrassing. The plans 0:03:02.450 --> 0:03:07.650 for the strong room are unfolded, and with some trepidation, 0:03:08.530 --> 0:03:12.570 the door is measured. But it's exactly the width that's 0:03:12.610 --> 0:03:17.330 supposed to be. No mistake there. Apparently nobody thought to 0:03:17.450 --> 0:03:22.010 measure the safe before drawing up the plans, or what 0:03:22.170 --> 0:03:25.250 might have been even more sensible to put the safe 0:03:25.290 --> 0:03:28.090 in the space that would become the strong room and 0:03:28.130 --> 0:03:32.730 build the walls around it. The man in charge, Sir 0:03:32.970 --> 0:03:39.490 Arthur Vickers, considers his options. They could take down a wall, 0:03:40.090 --> 0:03:42.770 and they've only just put them up. They could buy 0:03:42.930 --> 0:03:46.610 a narrower safe, but they've already spent a fortune on 0:03:46.730 --> 0:03:50.810 this refurbishment. Maybe they could just leave the safe in 0:03:50.850 --> 0:03:55.610 another room, the library, over the hallway from the strong Room. 0:03:55.810 --> 0:03:59.330 The safe is thief proof after all, and the only 0:03:59.370 --> 0:04:01.730 people who come into this part of the castle are 0:04:01.770 --> 0:04:09.690 the colleagues and friends of Sir Arthur Vickers. It'll be fine. 0:04:09.930 --> 0:04:15.370 Sir Arthur Vickers has some grand titles. He's the Ulster 0:04:15.570 --> 0:04:19.130 King of Arms, the Registrar and night Attendant of the 0:04:19.170 --> 0:04:24.410 most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick. Two years after the 0:04:24.570 --> 0:04:28.810 strong Room door debarcle in nineteen oh five, Vickers is 0:04:28.850 --> 0:04:32.090 making some amendments to the Statute of the Order of 0:04:32.130 --> 0:04:38.010 Saint Patrick, which formally sets out the responsibilities of his role, 0:04:39.410 --> 0:04:44.010 among them to ensure the crown jewels are deposited for 0:04:44.170 --> 0:04:47.770 safe keeping in a steel safe in the Strong Room. 0:04:48.370 --> 0:04:50.930 That had been written when the strong Room was being built. 0:04:51.690 --> 0:04:54.930 The safe is still very much not in the strong room, 0:04:55.490 --> 0:04:58.970 so mightn't it be wise to strike out those words 0:04:59.010 --> 0:05:04.930 from his actual job description. No need, he decides it'll 0:05:04.970 --> 0:05:09.530 be fine. Two years after that in nineteen ohight seven, 0:05:10.890 --> 0:05:17.210 Well you can probably guess what happens. Then. I'm Tim 0:05:17.290 --> 0:05:48.410 Harford and you're listening to cautionary tales. Arthur Vickers was 0:05:48.570 --> 0:05:54.170 fascinated by the genealogy of aristocratic Irish families, an arcane 0:05:54.330 --> 0:05:58.570 subject to find fascinating, perhaps, but his enthusiasm landed him 0:05:58.570 --> 0:06:02.570 a comfortable job as Ulster, King of Arms, Night Attendant 0:06:02.650 --> 0:06:07.170 and Registrar of the Order of Saint Patrick. Vickers reported 0:06:07.370 --> 0:06:10.890 directly to his Majesty the King, and the job was 0:06:10.890 --> 0:06:15.010 his for life, provided he didn't do anything stupid enough 0:06:15.050 --> 0:06:19.570 to force the King to reconsider. The salary wasn't huge, 0:06:19.810 --> 0:06:23.610 but enough to allow Vickers to lease a grand looking townhouse, 0:06:24.050 --> 0:06:29.010 an employer, cook, a coachman, and a manservant. At forty 0:06:29.050 --> 0:06:33.530 four years old, Vickers was very much the established bachelor, 0:06:34.090 --> 0:06:37.890 which is to say Vickers was widely rumored to be gay. 0:06:39.010 --> 0:06:43.530 He also had a housemate, another bachelor, Although the young 0:06:43.570 --> 0:06:46.570 man spent a lot of time in London on business. 0:06:47.450 --> 0:06:51.890 Vicker's job. He was in charge of tracing family trees 0:06:52.010 --> 0:06:56.730 and deciding who qualified for what privileges in the labyrinthine 0:06:56.770 --> 0:07:02.010 world of Irish gentry, the lords and ladies, earls and barons. 0:07:02.610 --> 0:07:06.210 Who was merely an honorable who got to be a 0:07:06.370 --> 0:07:11.010 right honorable or a most honorable? Who was allowed to 0:07:11.170 --> 0:07:16.850 use a coronet on their family's heraldic crest. Important stuff. 0:07:17.850 --> 0:07:21.890 Vickers was deeply conscious of what distinguished a Knight of 0:07:21.930 --> 0:07:24.850 the Garter from a Knight of the Order of the 0:07:24.890 --> 0:07:29.210 Bath or a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. 0:07:29.770 --> 0:07:35.130 That's what Vickers was himself and proud of it. When 0:07:35.170 --> 0:07:39.010 the King visited the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who governed 0:07:39.050 --> 0:07:43.010 on Britain's behalf, it was Vickers who made sure all 0:07:43.130 --> 0:07:48.730 the ceremonial aspects of the visit ran smoothly. Oh and 0:07:49.570 --> 0:07:52.010 of course he had to make sure that the crown 0:07:52.090 --> 0:07:54.690 jewels were kept in a steel safe in the strong room. 0:07:56.890 --> 0:08:01.050 It doesn't sound too onerous, and Vickers rarely rolled up 0:08:01.090 --> 0:08:04.970 at his suite of rooms in Dublin Castle before eleven am. 0:08:05.690 --> 0:08:09.610 Those rooms included his own office, the strong room, and 0:08:09.690 --> 0:08:14.050 the library. That's where the safe was. The library also 0:08:14.250 --> 0:08:18.290 served as an antechamber for visitors, so people were often 0:08:18.650 --> 0:08:23.010 in and out, not ideal for a room containing the 0:08:23.130 --> 0:08:28.530 Crown jewels, but the office messenger, mister Styvey, sat right 0:08:28.610 --> 0:08:33.930 outside in the hallway. Admittedly, Styvey couldn't actually see the 0:08:34.050 --> 0:08:37.170 safe from where he sat or one of the two 0:08:37.250 --> 0:08:41.570 doors into the library, and he wasn't always there, but 0:08:41.690 --> 0:08:48.570 still it'd be fine. The first sign of trouble came 0:08:48.610 --> 0:08:52.850 on a Wednesday in July nineteen oh seven, one week 0:08:53.010 --> 0:08:56.690 before the King was due to visit on an important matter, 0:08:57.650 --> 0:09:00.970 investing a new lord as a Knight of Saint Patrick. 0:09:01.970 --> 0:09:04.170 It was the kind of occasion for which Vickers had 0:09:04.210 --> 0:09:07.130 to be on top of all the MINUTIAI, such as 0:09:07.250 --> 0:09:09.930 making sure the engraving was up to date on the 0:09:10.010 --> 0:09:13.010 gold collars worn by the Knights of the Order of 0:09:13.010 --> 0:09:19.050 Saint Patrick. Vickers had a lot on his mind. Vickers 0:09:19.130 --> 0:09:23.330 arrived at his usual leisurely hour and was accosted by 0:09:23.330 --> 0:09:27.090 a worried mister Stivee. He'd been talking to the cleaning 0:09:27.210 --> 0:09:31.450 lady when she had arrived that morning. She was always 0:09:31.490 --> 0:09:34.970 the first she had found that the front door into 0:09:34.970 --> 0:09:41.010 the office building hadn't been locked, Vickers absently replied, did 0:09:41.050 --> 0:09:47.170 you Yes, said Stivee, but Vickers did not appear concerned. 0:09:48.330 --> 0:09:52.650 Stivee was nonplussed. He'd expected his boss to alert the 0:09:52.730 --> 0:09:58.410 police and investigate if anything had been taken, but Stivee 0:09:58.490 --> 0:10:02.130 was an ex navy man who understood chains of command. 0:10:03.050 --> 0:10:05.450 He'd told his boss it was up to the boss 0:10:05.490 --> 0:10:08.570 to decide what, if anything, to do with that information. 0:10:10.170 --> 0:10:14.850 Three days later, four days before the King's visit, the 0:10:14.930 --> 0:10:19.490 cleaning lady had an even bigger shock. This time she 0:10:19.650 --> 0:10:22.690 arrived to find that the huge steel door to the 0:10:22.810 --> 0:10:28.450 strong room was hanging open once again. She informed Styvee. 0:10:29.810 --> 0:10:35.010 When Vickers turned up, Styvey passed on the alarming news, 0:10:35.130 --> 0:10:39.130 or at least Styvey thought it was alarming. Vickers, though, 0:10:39.490 --> 0:10:45.450 seemed distracted. That's so he said, and went straight into 0:10:45.530 --> 0:10:51.530 his office. It was Saturday. Styvee always left early on 0:10:51.570 --> 0:10:54.690 a Saturday, but not before checking if Vickers had any 0:10:54.770 --> 0:10:58.970 last job that needed doing. Can you put this in 0:10:59.010 --> 0:11:02.810 the safe, says Vickers. He hands Stivey one of the 0:11:02.890 --> 0:11:07.010 newly engraved golden collars of the Order of Saint Patrick 0:11:07.650 --> 0:11:10.810 just received back from a low called jewler. He also 0:11:10.890 --> 0:11:15.290 hands him the key to the safe. Stivey is surprised. 0:11:16.010 --> 0:11:20.810 He's never before been asked to open the safe. He 0:11:20.930 --> 0:11:24.490 goes into the library, slides the key into the lock 0:11:25.530 --> 0:11:32.050 and tries to turn it. It doesn't move. Hmm. He 0:11:32.170 --> 0:11:36.850 tries the other way, and now the key turns. He 0:11:36.930 --> 0:11:44.410 pulls the handle, the door doesn't open. He understands he 0:11:44.530 --> 0:11:53.010 hasn't just unlocked the safe, He's just locked it. Stivey 0:11:53.250 --> 0:11:55.650 rushes back to tell Vickers that the safe had been 0:11:55.850 --> 0:12:01.730 unlocked this time. Vickers pays attention, what do you mean. 0:12:02.890 --> 0:12:06.330 Vickers hurries to the safe, unlocks it and pulls the 0:12:06.370 --> 0:12:13.130 door open. My god, he says, they're gone. The jewels 0:12:13.170 --> 0:12:19.970 are gone. When the police arrived to investigate, Vickers tells 0:12:20.010 --> 0:12:23.570 them he has no idea how this could have happened. 0:12:23.770 --> 0:12:27.610 He never lets the keys out of sight, well except 0:12:27.650 --> 0:12:30.650 when they're in his coat pocket and he takes his 0:12:30.730 --> 0:12:33.570 coat off and leaves it somewhere, Or that one time 0:12:33.650 --> 0:12:36.370 he forgot his keys at home and his coachman brought 0:12:36.370 --> 0:12:40.730 them in for him. He doesn't mention what's later reported 0:12:40.770 --> 0:12:44.010 to have happened one night a few months earlier, at 0:12:44.090 --> 0:12:47.970 one of the after hours parties he sometimes threw in 0:12:48.050 --> 0:12:53.250 his office for other young men. Vickers passed out drunk 0:12:53.810 --> 0:12:58.050 and one of the men proposed a practical joke. They 0:12:58.090 --> 0:13:02.930 took vickers keys from his pocket, removed the Crown jewels 0:13:02.970 --> 0:13:07.970 from the safe and put the keys back. The next morning, 0:13:08.530 --> 0:13:11.810 a hung over a Vicars received a parcel through the 0:13:11.930 --> 0:13:18.210 post and opened it to find, to his astonishment, the 0:13:18.330 --> 0:13:23.570 Crown jewels. No, he doesn't mention that to the police, 0:13:24.090 --> 0:13:27.850 but he does say hopefully I would not be a 0:13:27.890 --> 0:13:30.770 bit surprised that they would be returned to my house 0:13:30.850 --> 0:13:39.770 by parcel post tomorrow morning. Well maybe, Sir Arthur, maybe 0:13:39.810 --> 0:13:48.330 cautionary tales will be back after the break. Sir Arthur 0:13:48.450 --> 0:13:53.010 Vickers was widely rumored to be gay, not that gay 0:13:53.170 --> 0:13:56.850 had its current meaning in nineteen oh seven. Even the 0:13:56.890 --> 0:14:02.170 word homosexual wasn't widely used. Whatever you called it, consensual 0:14:02.250 --> 0:14:05.610 sex between adult men was very much against the law. 0:14:06.330 --> 0:14:10.650 A generation earlier, in eighteen eighty four, Sir Arthur's own 0:14:10.770 --> 0:14:14.890 workplace had been the center of the Dublin Castle scandal. 0:14:15.290 --> 0:14:19.370 A senior official and army captain were among a group 0:14:19.410 --> 0:14:23.450 of men who stood criminal trial for their homosexual activities. 0:14:24.410 --> 0:14:30.170 The scandal rocked the British administration. Dublin Castle was portrayed 0:14:30.210 --> 0:14:34.850 as a hotbed of this terrible vice, this crime that 0:14:35.090 --> 0:14:41.570 was loathsome, impure and revolting the lowest depth of detestable depravity. 0:14:43.530 --> 0:14:48.370 A decade later, in eighteen ninety five, the celebrated Irish 0:14:48.410 --> 0:14:54.130 playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted in London of gross indecency 0:14:54.770 --> 0:15:00.090 and sentenced to two years hard labor. And yet Sir 0:15:00.210 --> 0:15:04.290 Arthur Vickers shared his house with another man who was 0:15:04.410 --> 0:15:08.730 well known to be gay. He employed servants who has 0:15:08.770 --> 0:15:13.690 served do knew exactly what was happening. So Arthur frequently 0:15:13.730 --> 0:15:17.570 held after work drinks in his office with more gay men. 0:15:18.610 --> 0:15:24.450 Wasn't he taking a terrible risk? Well, yes and no. 0:15:25.650 --> 0:15:30.650 The sociologist Ari Addut points out that homosexuality norms were 0:15:30.730 --> 0:15:36.490 only rarely and reluctantly enforced. For many years before Oscar 0:15:36.530 --> 0:15:39.890 Wilde's trial, it was common knowledge that he was gay. 0:15:40.330 --> 0:15:44.050 He hardly tried to hide it with his flamboyant dress 0:15:44.130 --> 0:15:50.530 and green carnation buttonniere public flirting and waxing lyrical about 0:15:50.730 --> 0:15:56.290 male beauty and Socratic love. Yet his plays were wildly popular, 0:15:56.690 --> 0:16:00.330 and he moved in the most fashionable high society circles. 0:16:01.130 --> 0:16:04.610 As a adute says, on the face of it, that's 0:16:04.650 --> 0:16:09.690 a puzzle. Why would audiences and authorities a commodate those 0:16:09.730 --> 0:16:14.010 who are widely known to commit a transgression deemed repulsive 0:16:14.090 --> 0:16:19.970 by society and criminal by law. Allow me to set 0:16:20.010 --> 0:16:23.930 that puzzle aside for later, and invite you first to 0:16:24.050 --> 0:16:28.210 spend some time with one of Oscar Wilde's great friends, 0:16:28.850 --> 0:16:34.010 Lord Ronald Gower, an inspiration for Wilde's character Lord Henry 0:16:34.050 --> 0:16:39.570 Wootton in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Lord 0:16:39.690 --> 0:16:42.970 Ronald Gower made some attempt to be discreet about his 0:16:43.050 --> 0:16:48.490 homosexuality by legally adopting his much younger lover to give 0:16:48.490 --> 0:16:52.570 them an ostensible reason for living together. At his country house. 0:16:53.330 --> 0:16:58.090 Gower and his adopted son through weekend parties for his 0:16:58.210 --> 0:17:03.450 close friends, mostly men, though a wealthy widow was also 0:17:03.530 --> 0:17:08.610 a much loved fixture. Lord Ronald Gower was a sculptor. 0:17:09.290 --> 0:17:13.410 He labored for twelve years on an installation that still 0:17:13.490 --> 0:17:18.090 overlooks the river in Stratford upon avon bronze sculptures of 0:17:18.130 --> 0:17:23.410 William Shakespeare and four of his major characters. Gower didn't 0:17:23.450 --> 0:17:27.370 get paid for this. He financed it himself. He could 0:17:27.370 --> 0:17:30.930 do that because he was an aristocrat and very rich. 0:17:31.690 --> 0:17:36.850 At least he was very rich until he met Frank Shackleton. 0:17:39.090 --> 0:17:45.250 Francis Frank Shackleton was the brother of the famous Antarctic explorer, 0:17:45.610 --> 0:17:51.010 Sir Ernest Shackleton. Thirty years younger than Gower, Frank was 0:17:51.050 --> 0:17:53.530 an irishman who spent a lot of time in London. 0:17:54.490 --> 0:17:58.050 He did something finance related in the city and frequented 0:17:58.090 --> 0:18:02.890 all the fashionable London clubs. One who knew him described 0:18:02.930 --> 0:18:10.330 Shackleton as extremely good looking and extremely Depravedackleton became part 0:18:10.410 --> 0:18:15.530 of Lord Gower's intimate circle, a regular at his weekend parties. 0:18:16.490 --> 0:18:20.090 Gower became so close to Shackleton that he bestowed upon 0:18:20.170 --> 0:18:27.930 him a pet nickname, My Old Foozle. In nineteen oh seven, 0:18:28.330 --> 0:18:33.690 Gower's investment manager died. He asked his Old Foozle to 0:18:33.770 --> 0:18:37.850 take over. Why not, young Shackleton, it seemed was good 0:18:37.890 --> 0:18:42.730 at business. Gower's wealthy widow friend also entrusted Shackleton with 0:18:42.770 --> 0:18:46.490 her money. She had taken a shine to him. Dear 0:18:46.570 --> 0:18:50.610 little Francis, she writes in one letter, you are very 0:18:50.650 --> 0:18:53.850 dear to me. She later said she thought she and 0:18:53.930 --> 0:19:01.170 Shackleton enjoyed a relationship akin to mother and son. Much 0:19:01.170 --> 0:19:05.450 of their money, many millions in today's terms, was invested 0:19:05.490 --> 0:19:10.930 in railway shares. It gave a steady income, But Shackleton said, 0:19:11.490 --> 0:19:15.170 what about the rise of the motor car? They trusted 0:19:15.210 --> 0:19:20.570 Shackleton to invest in something better instead. Gower found money 0:19:20.610 --> 0:19:25.570 matters tedious, so he gave Shackleton power of attorney. That 0:19:25.690 --> 0:19:29.970 way he wouldn't have the hassle of approving every last transaction. 0:19:32.970 --> 0:19:38.090 Frank Shackleton had a secret. He'd risked all his own 0:19:38.130 --> 0:19:41.810 money on a tract of land in Mexico. He was 0:19:41.850 --> 0:19:44.610 sure it had the resources to make him rich, but 0:19:44.890 --> 0:19:50.370 it needed more upfront investment, more than Shackleton himself could raise. 0:19:51.250 --> 0:19:54.650 He put Gower's and the widow's money into an elaborate 0:19:54.770 --> 0:19:58.730 scheme of worthless shell companies to try to convince his 0:19:58.890 --> 0:20:03.770 bank and brokers to keep extending his credit and underwriting 0:20:03.850 --> 0:20:09.010 his risks. Lord Gower had no idea he was back 0:20:09.370 --> 0:20:14.410 rolling Shackleton's Mexican adventure until in nineteen ten he received 0:20:14.450 --> 0:20:20.570 a summons for unpaid debts. Shackleton had mortgaged Gower's properties. 0:20:21.090 --> 0:20:25.370 He had been intercepting Gower's mail to stop him finding out. 0:20:26.850 --> 0:20:32.970 Soon after Shackleton's brokers pulled the plug, Gower's adopted son 0:20:33.090 --> 0:20:38.850 and wealthy widow friend went to Shackleton's bankruptcy hearings. If 0:20:38.890 --> 0:20:43.650 they'd expected contrition, they were in for a shock. Shackleton 0:20:43.730 --> 0:20:49.170 walked up to them and grinned. The adopted son was furious. 0:20:50.050 --> 0:20:55.490 He yelled at Shackleton, thief. Before anyone could sue Shackleton 0:20:55.610 --> 0:21:04.650 for defrauding them, he skipped the country. Frank Shackleton then suave, plausible, 0:21:05.610 --> 0:21:12.170 secretly desperate for money, and utterly without moral scruples. Oh 0:21:12.490 --> 0:21:17.410 and one other thing about Shackleton. Back in nineteen oh seven, 0:21:18.130 --> 0:21:21.970 he used to split his time between London and Dublin, 0:21:23.010 --> 0:21:26.370 where he shared the lease on a grand looking townhouse 0:21:26.530 --> 0:21:35.090 with his good friend, Sir Arthur Vickers. Sir Arthur Vickers 0:21:35.210 --> 0:21:40.410 waited anxiously for the arrival of the parcel post Alas 0:21:40.810 --> 0:21:45.090 it did not contain the Irish Crown jewels, the local 0:21:45.130 --> 0:21:50.850 police continued their investigation. They asked Vickers when was the 0:21:50.970 --> 0:21:54.850 last time he had opened the safe? Just over three 0:21:54.970 --> 0:21:58.530 weeks earlier, he worked out the jewels could have been 0:21:58.570 --> 0:22:02.810 taken at any point in that time. The police brought 0:22:02.850 --> 0:22:06.250 in experts to examine the locks on the safe and 0:22:06.330 --> 0:22:10.090 the strong room door. They said if the locks had 0:22:10.090 --> 0:22:15.530 been picked there'd be telltale scratches. There were none that 0:22:15.690 --> 0:22:20.010 meant they'd been opened with a key. Only one man 0:22:20.410 --> 0:22:25.010 possessed the original keys to the safe, Sir Arthur Vickers. 0:22:27.570 --> 0:22:30.090 There were two ways one might make a copy of 0:22:30.130 --> 0:22:34.010 a key. You could quickly make a wax impression of 0:22:34.050 --> 0:22:36.930 the original, or you could take the original to a 0:22:36.970 --> 0:22:41.170 locksmith and have them take their time about it. If 0:22:41.170 --> 0:22:43.810 the safe had been opened by the kind of crude 0:22:43.850 --> 0:22:47.410 copy you might get from a wax impression, they'd again 0:22:47.690 --> 0:22:52.570 be telltale signs. There were none. Whoever had opened the 0:22:52.650 --> 0:22:56.570 safe had either used an original key, or at some 0:22:56.730 --> 0:23:00.410 point had gained possession of an original for long enough 0:23:00.450 --> 0:23:06.890 to make a perfect copy. Who might that be? Vickers 0:23:06.930 --> 0:23:12.330 thought for a moment, and unwise suggested his coachman, After 0:23:12.370 --> 0:23:15.650 all that one time he did have access to the keys. 0:23:15.970 --> 0:23:20.410 When Vickers forgot them at home, police interrogated the coachman, 0:23:21.010 --> 0:23:25.130 who was outraged that his boss had accused him. They 0:23:25.170 --> 0:23:28.490 found nothing to suggest the coachman had done it. But 0:23:28.570 --> 0:23:33.410 the coachman did tell them lots of interesting information about 0:23:33.450 --> 0:23:37.970 the comings and goings of men in the vicar's Shackleton household. 0:23:40.570 --> 0:23:45.010 The British Government sent in an inspector from Scotland Yard, 0:23:45.330 --> 0:23:50.810 their top crime investigation agency. He quickly zeroed in on 0:23:50.970 --> 0:23:55.850 another suggestive piece of evidence. What had been left behind 0:23:56.210 --> 0:24:00.370 in the safe. A ribbon was there. It had been 0:24:00.410 --> 0:24:03.570 attached to the Crown jewels and would have taken quite 0:24:03.650 --> 0:24:09.050 some time to remove. Several gold collars were also stuff 0:24:09.330 --> 0:24:12.970 and from the safe. They had been wrapped in tissue 0:24:12.970 --> 0:24:17.690 paper and stored in boxes, and the boxes and tissue 0:24:17.730 --> 0:24:22.890 paper had been neatly put back. Whoever took the jewels 0:24:22.930 --> 0:24:28.730 clearly hadn't been in a rush. This was no opportunistic heist, 0:24:29.250 --> 0:24:33.530 said the inspector. Any regular thief would swipe the valuables 0:24:33.530 --> 0:24:38.370 and get away. Whoever took the jewels was not only 0:24:38.530 --> 0:24:41.890 close enough to Vickers to have access to his keys, 0:24:42.690 --> 0:24:47.050 but also comfortable enough in Dublin Castle to take their time. 0:24:49.610 --> 0:24:53.770 It had to be one of vickers colleagues or friends 0:24:55.090 --> 0:25:02.610 or housemate. Cautionary tales will be back in a moment. 0:25:09.170 --> 0:25:14.290 Sociologist Ariy Adute posed a puzzle, why did London high 0:25:14.330 --> 0:25:19.410 society accept and celebrate Oscar Wilde when everyone knew he 0:25:19.530 --> 0:25:25.290 was gay? That puzzle has a flip side. After years 0:25:25.290 --> 0:25:29.970 of acceptance, why was wild suddenly punished so harshly for 0:25:30.290 --> 0:25:35.050 something that everyone already knew about? In eighteen ninety five, 0:25:35.930 --> 0:25:39.490 the father of one of Wilde's lovers publicly called him 0:25:39.490 --> 0:25:44.610 a sodomite. Wild chose to sue for libel. He thought 0:25:44.610 --> 0:25:50.170 the allegation would be hard to prove. He lost. That 0:25:50.290 --> 0:25:54.330 put pressure on the government to put wild on criminal trial. 0:25:55.290 --> 0:25:58.050 They didn't want to. The Prime Minister at the time 0:25:58.290 --> 0:26:02.730 was thought to be gay, who knew what embarrassing details 0:26:02.810 --> 0:26:07.090 might come out. They quietly encouraged wild to leave the 0:26:07.210 --> 0:26:11.850 country in the hope that it all blow over. Wild 0:26:11.970 --> 0:26:18.730 refused and ended up in prison. Our Adute used Wilde's 0:26:18.770 --> 0:26:23.570 case to develop a general theory of scandal. It's one 0:26:23.650 --> 0:26:27.210 thing for a transgression, such as being gay in the 0:26:27.290 --> 0:26:31.690 eighteen nineties, to be commonly known. It's another thing for 0:26:31.770 --> 0:26:37.610 the transgression to be actively publicized. Publicity creates costs for others. 0:26:38.370 --> 0:26:41.170 It makes the authorities look weak. If they don't act, 0:26:41.450 --> 0:26:46.410 but if they do act, perhaps some inconvenient information will 0:26:46.570 --> 0:26:52.130 end up being exposed. A Dute defines scandal as the 0:26:52.210 --> 0:26:58.010 disruptive publicity of transgression. His theory helps to explain why 0:26:58.130 --> 0:27:03.410 well connected individuals can behave transgressively for years in ways 0:27:03.450 --> 0:27:08.290 that are hardly a secret. Then something happens to trigger publicity, 0:27:09.170 --> 0:27:12.370 and suddenly there's a scandal with fallout that can be 0:27:12.450 --> 0:27:17.970 hard to control. The week before the King's visit to 0:27:18.050 --> 0:27:22.370 Dublin in nineteen oh seven, Frank Shackleton was at a 0:27:22.450 --> 0:27:27.010 high society dinner party in London. So Arthur Vickers came 0:27:27.130 --> 0:27:31.530 up in conversation and the Irish Crown Jewels were mentioned. 0:27:32.610 --> 0:27:36.890 Shackleton chipped in, I should never be surprised to hear 0:27:36.930 --> 0:27:41.010 that they were stolen someday. What makes you say that, Frank, 0:27:42.130 --> 0:27:46.370 I have never considered them safe and what do you know? 0:27:47.050 --> 0:27:51.210 Just a couple of days later, the Crown Jewels were 0:27:51.250 --> 0:28:01.210 reported stolen with hindsight. Shackleton's remark raised some eyebrows. Back 0:28:01.250 --> 0:28:04.890 in Dublin, Shackleton was happy to expand on what it 0:28:04.890 --> 0:28:10.250 had meant. At a private inquiry into vickers security measures. 0:28:10.530 --> 0:28:16.050 He was his usual urbane and confident self. Certainly I 0:28:16.130 --> 0:28:18.050 could have gone into his room when he was in 0:28:18.090 --> 0:28:21.170 the bath and taken those keys. I could have walked 0:28:21.170 --> 0:28:24.490 away with that key and replaced it quite easily. Anyone 0:28:24.490 --> 0:28:29.050 could have done that. He explained why he thought security 0:28:29.250 --> 0:28:33.410 was lax at Dublin Castle. Often he'd gone to visit 0:28:33.490 --> 0:28:37.610 Sir Arthur and walked into the suite of rooms unnoticed 0:28:38.010 --> 0:28:42.250 as mister Stivey wasn't there. One could then sneak down 0:28:42.330 --> 0:28:46.010 to the cellar to hide, sift through the contents of 0:28:46.050 --> 0:28:50.210 the safe at one's leisure overnight, and simply walk out 0:28:50.250 --> 0:28:55.530 again the next daytime. Provided your face was familiar, no 0:28:55.610 --> 0:29:02.730 one would suspect a thing, Shackleton added, with a disarming smile. 0:29:03.610 --> 0:29:06.930 I don't want to pile up a case against myself. 0:29:08.130 --> 0:29:13.050 Not that Shackleton himself could be accused. He had alibis 0:29:13.570 --> 0:29:16.970 before the jewels were stolen. He had been in England 0:29:17.250 --> 0:29:25.330 for weeks. As the police investigation continued, Sir Arthur Vickers 0:29:25.410 --> 0:29:29.610 asked if he could borrow the safe key back. He 0:29:29.730 --> 0:29:33.930 explained that he had received an interesting message from a psychic. 0:29:34.970 --> 0:29:39.370 She'd been having visions about the Crown Jewels if she 0:29:39.410 --> 0:29:43.970 could touch something related to the case, she said she 0:29:44.090 --> 0:29:48.130 might be able to locate them. As Sir Arthur later 0:29:48.210 --> 0:29:51.050 mentioned that he had been discussing the case with a relative, 0:29:51.610 --> 0:29:58.050 another Irish Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous author of 0:29:58.090 --> 0:30:03.450 the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and a great believer in supernatural phenomena. 0:30:04.370 --> 0:30:08.890 The mystic came to vickers home, held the key and 0:30:09.170 --> 0:30:15.530 heard into a trance state, and announced the missing jewels 0:30:15.810 --> 0:30:21.250 are hidden near a tombstone, not far from the entrance 0:30:21.410 --> 0:30:29.290 to an old and disused churchyard in the direction of Clonsilla. 0:30:29.610 --> 0:30:33.290 The next day, the police accompanied Vickers on the road 0:30:33.330 --> 0:30:38.970 to Clonsilla, a village outside Dublin. They passed two churchyards 0:30:39.050 --> 0:30:42.890 which might fit the psychic's description, and spent the whole 0:30:43.090 --> 0:30:48.370 day searching in vain for any signs of recent digging. 0:30:49.370 --> 0:30:55.050 A newspaper described this line of inquiry as an outrageous 0:30:55.090 --> 0:31:03.330 display of utter stupidity. While the local police were exploring tombstones, 0:31:04.010 --> 0:31:11.330 the inspector from Scotland Yard was writing up his report, said, well, 0:31:11.330 --> 0:31:14.610 we don't know what it said because the report was 0:31:14.690 --> 0:31:19.250 never made public. The inspector never talked about it, and 0:31:19.330 --> 0:31:25.970 no copies exist, the jewels were never found. Nobody was 0:31:26.010 --> 0:31:32.050 ever brought to trial. Historians still debate who did it. 0:31:32.250 --> 0:31:35.690 Some think the heist was related to politics. The Irish 0:31:35.770 --> 0:31:40.530 Nationalists were pushing for home rule, the Unionists determined to 0:31:40.610 --> 0:31:46.210 keep Ireland ruled from Britain. Various motives are conceivable, but 0:31:46.810 --> 0:31:52.130 others inclined to the theory that seems most obvious. It 0:31:52.170 --> 0:31:56.370 was Frank Shackleton, the man who was later revealed to 0:31:56.410 --> 0:32:01.130 be in desperate financial straits and a moral enough to 0:32:01.330 --> 0:32:06.010 steal from a wealthy widow who loved him like a son. 0:32:07.610 --> 0:32:12.410 But hold on, how did Shackleton do it? If he 0:32:12.530 --> 0:32:18.970 was in London. Shackleton had a lover, an army officer. 0:32:20.010 --> 0:32:24.970 Both were reportedly present at that drinks party in Vicker's office, 0:32:25.370 --> 0:32:29.650 where another man had played the prank of taking Vicker's keys, 0:32:30.010 --> 0:32:33.890 removing the jewels from the safe and sending them back 0:32:33.930 --> 0:32:39.530 through parcel post. The lover was well known around Dublin Castle. 0:32:40.210 --> 0:32:44.650 He'd have attracted no attention, slipping in and out of 0:32:44.770 --> 0:32:49.130 vickers rooms and hiding out in the cellar overnight, just 0:32:49.170 --> 0:32:55.610 as Shackleton himself had brazenly described. This theory would explain 0:32:55.810 --> 0:33:02.210 the otherwise curious detail of the unlocked doors. Shackleton was 0:33:02.330 --> 0:33:05.610 due to travel back to Dublin for the King's visit. 0:33:06.530 --> 0:33:10.170 The theft of the jewels had to be discovered while 0:33:10.290 --> 0:33:14.330 Shackleton was still in London, so he'd be above suspicion. 0:33:15.610 --> 0:33:20.210 When Vickers initially failed to notice the theft, the lover 0:33:20.690 --> 0:33:24.930 slipped back in to unlock the front door. Surely that 0:33:24.970 --> 0:33:28.450 would precipitate a search that would reveal the jewels were missing. 0:33:29.530 --> 0:33:33.090 When it didn't, he left a more obvious hint by 0:33:33.170 --> 0:33:37.610 opening the strong room door. Do we have proof that 0:33:37.650 --> 0:33:42.690 the lover did it well? He did confess years later, 0:33:43.610 --> 0:33:47.530