WEBVTT - The Murder of Jane Stanford 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:07.680 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.399 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:15.440 Chuck and Jerry's here too. And this is Stuff you 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:19.640 should know True crime Murder Mystery edition, like in the 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:24.480 purest form in that we do not know who did it? Sorry? 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:25.480 Who done it? 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:26.960 Yeah? 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.200 And we may never know. We probably will never know, 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:31.680 even though we kind of know. 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.080 It seems like, yeah, I don't think we'll ever know. 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:36.320 This was a listener. 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:41.600 Suggestion, okay, and I actually from a year ago, almost 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:42.800 to the day. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:43.960 Oh, that's creepy. 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.279 Sometimes we like to do that, you know. Sure, it's like, yeah, 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:48.680 great idea, We'll do it. 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:49.800 In one year. 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:51.720 Yeah, we're like, great idea. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.400 So this has been sitting in the kitty for a while. 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:59.800 This is from Samuel Krohle, and Olivia helped us out, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.480 and that's it's a real banger about the history of 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.640 in a way, the history of Stanford University. It really is, 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:11.679 and one of its co founders and her pretty obvious murder. 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:17.000 Yeah, and the Stanfords were very much intertwined with the 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.440 early years of Stanford University, because, after all, you can't 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.039 spell Stanford without Stanford. And the reason that this is 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.480 a murder mystery is because one of the Stanfords dies mysteriously. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:29.600 We're not going to say who. You'll figure it out 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.240 towards the end, and I say, we jump in and 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.640 just start talking about Jane Stanford, who is for the 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:39.600 most part the star of our show. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.160 That's right, because she was murdered. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.600 Man, that was the big twist. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:48.880 Did you not hear me or are you just is 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:49.480 this all a bit? 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:55.240 Uh? It's a bit Okay, I didn't hear you, but 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.240 it is still a bit. What did you say that 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:58.320 was so pivotal? 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.600 I said that she was murdered, and he said, we're 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:01.720 not going to say he was murdered. 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.520 Right afterward, Oh, I didn't hear you say that. I see, Yeah, 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.240 well we'll just edit all this up now. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.079 We should leave it. So Jane Stanford was. 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.040 You know, she was sort of the prototypical Gilded age 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.959 wife at the time, supporting her husband. That was kind 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.480 of a job and not kind of it was like 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:26.200 a real job, sort of entertaining, keeping up with like 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.959 large residences when you have tons of money, that kind 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.200 of thing. But she would go on to be a 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:34.200 she was a very demanding person. It seems like I 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.440 want to go on to be a very demanding kind 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.040 of lead trustee at Stanford University. And some might even 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:42.120 say a micromanager. 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.680 Oh yeah, I think she definitely fits that mold for sure. 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:48.440 But as a micromanager, she would just say, I just 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:49.519 want to make sure it's done. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:54.640 Right, right right. She had some very distinct ideas that 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.040 she wanted fulfilled with Stanford, and she had the money 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:57.720 to back it up. 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.440 Basically, yeah, for sure. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.160 But he was born a little background here in upstate 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.760 New York in Albany in eighteen twenty eight. One of 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.280 seven kids. She was born wealthy. Her parents were shopkeepers, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.520 and she would eventually marry a guy named Leland Stanford. 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.840 She was born Jane Lathrop and then would be Jane 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.440 Stanford or Jane Lathrope Stanford. He was also from upstate 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.119 New York and he was an attorney practicing in Wisconsin. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.200 I keep want to say, Wisconsin, you can. 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.040 Say that's all right. People in Wisconsin don't care. 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:32.519 Well, we're going to Madison in April. I can't say 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:34.120 that in front of them. 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.240 I think you can. I really think they'll support it. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:38.440 They are nice people. 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.600 Yes, pretty much too of herson, except for that one 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:44.560 she was. 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:45.880 They knew who they are. 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.360 Jane was twenty two at the time, and they were 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.280 a part for the beginning of their marriage. 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:57.880 Though right geographically, yeah, Jane moved back to Albany after 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:02.320 they got married and they were living in Wisconsin. She 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.960 wanted to care for her father, which put that just 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.120 off to the side. It's not a huge thing, but 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.720 she cared for her father until his death. After he died, 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:17.520 she joined her husband, Leland out west. He was a 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:21.440 gold prospector. Well, actually, I don't think he ever got 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:27.159 into prospecting. He was a goods dry goods shop owner 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:34.360 who outfitted prospectors, and he fulfilled like the quintessential Golden 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:40.159 rule of business in a gold brush, don't prospect, sell shovels. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:41.880 That's exactly what he did. 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.360 Yeah, because you know what, you may not find gold, 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.680 but you can always sell a shovel to a gold miner. 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.520 That's precisely right. But I speculate when you can. I 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:52.440 don't know regulate. 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.280 No, I was about to say, Man, if you don't 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.560 rhyme that thing, I know, I don't even know who 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:57.840 you are. 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.039 I still didn't do a very good job, but at least. 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:01.440 No I thought it was pretty good. 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.800 So he made some pretty good money doing that. But 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.120 he really really got rich when he became one of 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.920 the Big four robber barons that put their money for 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.360 it to finance the Central Pacific Railroad in eighteen sixty one, 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.000 and all of a sudden, they had this big life 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.800 as wealthy people, and he said, well, why not just 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:24.120 get into politics as well? 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.240 Well, the Big Four basically got him into politics to 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.320 represent their interests, basically, like they put up some of 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:35.480 their money, but for the most part, they used Leland 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:39.320 Stanford's ron as the governor of California and then later 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:44.000 on as a senator in the United States Senate to 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.640 basically lean on the government to get the government to 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.960 underwrite the building of the railroad to make connections so 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.440 that you could bribe people more easily. Like it was 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:57.320 a so windle. That's how those dudes made that railroad. 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.600 They ended up with a monopoly. They seek really bought 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.279 the Southern Pacific Railroad, and all of a sudden, Leland 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:09.000 Stanford's the president of that now too, So just to 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.760 just kind of like just painted with a big brush 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:17.720 the Stanford's made their money in very questionable ways. So 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:19.960 just just remember that because this is like such a 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.560 it's such a great example of American myth making where 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:26.600 some guy just basically fails upward and becomes super super wealthy, 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.800 and then you know, very shortly after that he becomes 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:34.159 lionized as like this great heroic builder of America. And 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.040 that's just I'm just so sick of that it still 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:36.760 goes on today. 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:39.240 I mean, haven't most of the Robber Baron's been kind 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:40.080 of kneecapped. 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.279 Uh, yeah, I think so. But I think at least 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:50.880 some of them were legitimately philanthropists. I don't think Leland 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.920 Stanford was legitimately a philanthropist. I get the impression. I've 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.200 actually seen it written that basically they laundered their ill 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:03.440 gotten gains through the university to leave a prestigious legacy 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:04.520 for themselves instead. 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.320 All right, well, they were smart for the first eighteen 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.200 years of their marriage and did not have kids, and 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.880 then they ruined that all kind of later in life 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.720 for them. When little Leland Junior was born. Jane was 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.160 thirty nine at the time, which is especially for the time, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.680 a bit of an advanced stage to give birth certainly, 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:29.840 you know, not without risk. And Leland Senior was, like 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.680 you said, he got involved in politics. They also, I mean, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:34.440 they had their fingers in a lot of pies. They 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.720 ran a few wineries, they raised horses. This is just 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.160 a little kind of fun side note that Livia dug up. 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:47.040 But yeah, you know the very famous Edward Moybridge his 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.880 early motion picture film when he set up twenty four 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.560 cameras and showed like a horse running, which a said like, hey, 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.520 we can have something called motion pictures and also said, hey, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:58.880 look that horse has all of its four feet off 0:07:58.880 --> 0:07:59.239 the ground. 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.960 At the same time. That was done on their. 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.600 Property, the Palo Alto Stock Farm. So just a fun 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.320 little thing, and that's where Stanford University eventually would be. 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:14.119 Did you ever see the Jordan Peele movie. Nope, yep, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:16.880 I thought that was a cool little just a little 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:22.200 line yap where the oh I don't remember his name, 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.440 but he was also in Get Out to the main Guy. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:29.680 yeah where he he's his character is descended from the 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:31.280 jockey that rode that horse. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.400 Yeah. I thought that was cool too, Daniel something right. 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.319 I don't remember. I feel like a total jerk, but. 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.120 Well, you know, you can't remember everything off the dome. 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:42.960 But it turns out in real life that jockey's name 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:49.559 was Dom do o m m. They think maybe Gilbert Dom. 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:49.440 So you know his name? 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.640 Yeah, but I looked it up this morning. So all right, 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:55.960 that's it. Smart guy. Here. 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:57.600 We're glad everybody knows that guy's name. 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:58.440 Here we go. 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:05.320 So sadly, Leland Junior would not live very long. He 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.680 died at fifteen. He went to Europe with his mom 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.800 and it was pretty sad thing, obviously a tragedy for 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:15.040 the family. But a very interesting thing happened at the 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.000 funeral when a young woman named Bertha Berner was there 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.040 and met Jane. Would later write her a letter and say, Hey, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.720 I think you could use a person like me in 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.760 your life. We'll call it personal secretary or whatever, but 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:32.080 basically your right hand person to kind of help you 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:33.480 with everything that you need. 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:41.240 Yeah, like you said, just the classic Gilded Age wife, right, yeah, okay. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:42.880 Along with a little spiritualism thrown in. 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:45.360 Yeah, that was a big one. And you know that 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.719 gets kind of tossed around quite a bit that the Stanfords, 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:52.920 in particular Jane, were really heavy into spiritualism. Well, all 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.760 out of people were heavy into spiritualism at this time, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.240 so it was generally looked down upon from the halls 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.800 of academia. So in a way it was a little 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.240 awkward for the university for their founders to have been 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:09.520 into spiritualism. But it wasn't just completely out of left field. 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:10.439 No not. 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.360 You know, among especially among the sort of wealthy elites, 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:14.360 they were into that kind of thing. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.640 And also I mean there was the death of Edward 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.559 or the death of Leland Junior was a really huge 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.440 turning point. Apparently they were kind of dabbling in it. 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.840 But after that she kind of devoted herself to getting 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.840 a message from or getting in contact I guess with 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.840 Leland Junior again. And she tried for a long time, 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.560 and then I think in the end she was she 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.480 was dissatisfied. She couldn't find anybody that she considered legitimate 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.559 enough to actually do it, even though she believed it 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.360 was possible. She found that everyone she came in contact 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:47.600 with was a fraud or huckster. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.600 So and she's probably right. So Berner gets this job. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.120 You know, people from the outside were like, man, she 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.800 really works hard for Jane Stanford, like she doesn't seem 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:03.560 to have any time off. She kind of is run 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:05.800 by Jane Stanford, but they were very close and she 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:09.640 would be with her until the day she died. Put 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.200 a pen in that and in fact would get quite 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:17.199 rich from her death. I think she got fifteen grand. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.160 The other household staff got a thousand dollars each in 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.800 the will, but Berner got fifteen grand, which is about 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:23.760 half a million today. 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.040 So not too bad, No, not bad at all. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.840 I Also, I just want to say before we move on, 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:30.640 the actor's name is Daniel Caluja. 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:31.600 Great. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.679 So it was Leland Junior's death that actually inspired the 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:38.359 founding of Stanford University. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:40.520 There are a couple of stories about how that might 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:40.960 have happened. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:47.840 I think Leland took maybe the more acceptable mainstream version, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.000 which is, hey, it came to me in a dream 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.280 after my son's death. But there was a medium, maud 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.720 Lord Drake, who said, no, that actually happened in a 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.199 seance with me. It was a visitation from the afterworld 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.240 that I mediated, and he just didn't want to say 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:04.800 that out loud, so he just called it a dream. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.440 Yeah. Her famous quote was who has two thumbs? And 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.400 was the medium who got Leland junior to tell his 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.920 parents that he wanted them to found a university, and 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:15.600 she said me. 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:17.319 Yeah, maud Lord Drake. 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:24.400 So yeah, you could actually make a case that if 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.719 the university was true to form at the time, it's 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.160 quite possible that they the Stanford's claimed that it was 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.880 from this seance, but the university just basically whitewashed that 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:39.760 over and it became a dream instead. That's right, so, Chuck, 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.600 Regardless of how it came about, the Stanfords said that 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:46.800 although they had lost their son, now the children of 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.800 California would become their children, and to do that, they 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.840 founded Stanford University. For those of you who aren't familiar, 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.720 it's one of the most prestigious universities in the world 0:12:55.760 --> 0:13:00.200 as far as I know, certainly in the US. Is 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:06.720 the cradle for our current tech explosion, and it's just 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:10.840 a really great university. Its official name is Leland Stanford 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:15.800 Junior University after Leland Stanford Junior. Still today, that's what 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.600 it's called. And if you look at the details of 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.040 how it was founded and what its mission was when 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.880 it was open, it's like the Stanford's definitely did a 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.880 good job of opening a public university. 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.600 Yeah, it was pretty unique. Tuition was free first of all, 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.679 so that was fairly unique. So it you know, they 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.040 led in students that couldn't afford to go to college otherwise. Yeah, 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.240 Jane said, I want to make it a co ed school. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:44.840 There were just a handful of those in the in 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.120 the United States at the time. 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:51.400 And also, I'm doing Sergio, You're what I'm doing, Sergio, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:52.560 Jane said. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:53.000 Oh, I got you. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.000 The other sort of odd thing was that it was 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:03.079 not associated with a church. It was a Christian university, 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.800 but it wasn't like, you know, Jane again was dabbling 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.240 in the occult, so she she had sort of loose, 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.760 sort of a loose association with particular denominations. So it 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:19.200 was a non denominational Christian school, very much kind of 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.880 a liberal arts thing at first. It would later and 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.240 in fact, you know, it was part of the friction 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.200 between Jane and the eventual president on what kind of 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.640 school it would be. She wanted it more liberal arts 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.360 and he wanted it more science and research, research based. 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:37.480 Yeah, but even out of the gate, apparently it was 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.800 for preparing students for personal success and direct usefulness in life. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:43.960 One of the things they did was they created an 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.360 extension service for local farmers to find out the latest 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:51.840 agricultural techniques. They accepted high school shop classes as credits. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.480 Like it they were. It wasn't just this. It wasn't 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:59.000 an elite institution meant to create a new generation of 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.560 elites like say Harvard was at the time, just at 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:02.920 the time. 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:08.120 By the way, in my defense, I didn't recognize your 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:13.120 Jane's addiction line because I think that lyric is wrong. 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:15.360 I think it's I'm done with Sergio. 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:21.360 Well, I think that's the second verse, is it. I 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.680 will say anything to make myself right. 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.280 Okay, I just wouldn't. He said. Doing Sergio was like, 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:27.760 who the hell is Sergio? 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.280 She was? That's the point. 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:33.320 Okay. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.000 He treated her like a rag doll. 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:38.520 Well see now you're getting back on the good side 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:39.160 of history. 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:45.400 Well die, thanks all right. So Stanford is opening up. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.720 It's October first, eighteen ninety one. Leland gives a great 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.400 speech Leland senior, of course, and Jane apparently had a 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.440 real banger of a speech written, and she said that 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.120 she didn't have the courage to actually do it, but 0:15:57.280 --> 0:15:59.440 had she, it would have gone over pretty well, I think, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.680 because in it there was a plea to the students, like, hey, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.520 we're a new school. You know, got to work out 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.120 the kinks here. Maybe be a little patient, and hey, 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.360 if you're a young male student here, you know you 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.240 have girls around, Please treat these young ladies with great deference. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.680 And you might have some kids who don't come from 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.680 wealthy backgrounds because it's a free school, and maybe treat 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.600 them well as well. So you know, she has this 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.280 great letter written and never says it publicly, unfortunately, No. 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:30.920 But I mean all of these points support our overall point, 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:32.960 like we said, which is they did a pretty good 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.840 job of founding a university. Like to mission was great. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:37.200 The details are pretty. 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.760 Great, better than we've done. 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.920 For sure. Ours is still kind of getting off the ground. 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.240 It's just basically a grift right now, right, but hopefully 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.400 we'll be able to build it into something real. Yeah, 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.600 there is an issue with finding a president. Apparently the 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.880 presidents they were looking for were like, I'm good here, 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:57.960 I don't feel like moving out west. I think that 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.400 was a big part of it. Like CALIFORNI you was 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.880 not like California as it is now. The Stanford University 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:09.000 helped make northern California. What it is now, so it 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.919 was still rugged. You know. They couldn't get any just 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.640 any Eastern college president to hop from his college out 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.359 to Stanford. They finally found a former president of Indiana 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:25.120 University named David Starr Jordan, who was also an ichthyologist 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.639 by training and trade. He finally took them up on 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:30.159 the offer. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:31.200 That's right. 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:36.320 And he also had a lot of pretty gross views 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:41.639 on things, yeah, like super in retrospect. He was into eugenics. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.600 He thought scientific racism was pretty great in that if 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.439 you're unfit, like if you're disabled or if you're in prison, 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:50.440 maybe we should. 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:51.000 Just sterilize you. 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.959 And yeah, women should get educated, but just so they 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.640 can be smarter in the home as homemakers. 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.960 He was also like a vocal pacifist, which you're kind 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.920 of like, oh, okay, that's not bad. The reason why 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.320 he was a pacifist was because he felt war promoted 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.120 racial degradation because you send the fittest young men off 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.480 to die, that leaves the week to stay home and procreate, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.320 and it degenerates the racer society back home. That was 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.080 the reason he was a pacifist in anti war. Yeah, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.600 there was nothing he could do right basically with that 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:26.480 set of views. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.760 Yeah, I agree, I think we should probably take a break. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.600 Yeah, set the stage for Stanford's founding. Sure, and we'll 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:35.240 be right back with more on Jane Stanford. 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.960 If you want to know then you're in luck. Just 0:18:39.200 --> 0:19:04.040 listen to joshcher Suffus stuffus. No, Okay, So we're whittling 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:06.800 down the people who could possibly have been murdered because 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:11.119 Leland Junior's dead. Now, now Leland Senior dies, there are 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.640 very few people left of the Stanfords. Two have been 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.440 the murder victim. Now it's just Jane. If that gives 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:19.000 anything away, that's right. 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:23.200 So Jane was left as the basically the only trustee 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.520 of the early university, and she had a situation going 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.679 on with the US government where they were like it 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.600 was a lawsuit fifteen million bucks and eighteen ninety three dollars, 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:38.160 and the kind of central point of it was they 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:42.320 the government was like, hey, because you or your husband 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.159 and your family was part you know, like founded and 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:48.439 has ownership stairs of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, you 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.679 should also be responsible for that company's debts and we 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:53.880 helped finance this thing, so like you need to pay 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.159 us back for these bonds that we sold, right, and 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.080 she actually won that case, which all of a sudd 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.960 and you know, they kind of had frozen her assets. 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:04.959 So all of a sudden, these assets were open, and 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.360 she gave a huge chunk of eighteen ninety nine dollars 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.440 to Stanford and to the tune of ten million bucks. 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.840 Yeah, and we should say to her credit before that. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.040 So this went on for six years. From what I 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:20.440 can tell. During that six year time, the court gave 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.360 her a three hundred in today's dollars about a three 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:27.400 hundred and sixty five thousand dollars a month allowance, and 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:29.399 she spent most of it. She gave most of it 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.920 to Stanford to run Stanford with. So she wasn't just like, well, 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.920 I'm good, good luck Stanford. So and then yeah, after 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.240 her assets were on frozen, she was like, hey, how 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.040 about ten million dollars? And everyone said, God, this is great, 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.600 how wonderful. And she's like, wait a second, there's a 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.239 couple of strings I'm going to attach to this. And 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.720 they were strings that you would find hard to swallow, 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.040 like the kind of strings you would put down your 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.600 nose and pull out your mouth at the same time, 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:00.000 back and forth, they were those kind of strings. 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:00.840 Yeah. 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.760 I mean she basically had total and complete control of 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.840 what happened there, including like how many trustees there would 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:10.760 even be, so she wouldn't get a lot of pushback. 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.720 Like I said, she was a micromanager, but not to her. 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.879 To her, she just wanted things done right, and she 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:23.600 basically had complete control over the university, said, you know, 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.080 like who could get in, who could get out, what 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.080 teachers they could hire as staff. 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:31.240 She said that they capped. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:32.200 Even though it was her idea to make it a 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.359