1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky'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 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Make enough people mad and they'll associate your 7 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: name with whatever awful thing you did forever. When the 8 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: Civil War and the abolition of slavery wiped out much 9 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: of his tobacco business, Dr Samuel Mud teamed up with 10 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: John Wilkes Booth. It was Dr Mud who fastened a 11 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: splint around Booth's broken leg and helped him escape. Although 12 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: the saying did not originate with him, the doctor is 13 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: often linked to the insult your name is Mud. Charles 14 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: Cunningham was another man with an unfortunate name, and he 15 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,679 Speaker 1: had only himself to blame. Cunningham was a land agent, 16 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: a high ranking member of an estate who managed the 17 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: landowner's property by collecting rents and supervising maintenance. Cunningham worked 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,559 Speaker 1: for a man named John Creighton, third earl arn Lord. 19 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: Aaron had come from a family dripping with aristocracy. He 20 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: was also a member of the House of Lords as 21 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: well as a Knight of the Order of St Patrick, 22 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: but he would go on to be remembered most as 23 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: the man who hired Charles Cunningham. Cunningham was a well 24 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: educated man who had joined the military when he was 25 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,320 Speaker 1: only sixteen. His travels with the thirty ninth Foot Regiment 26 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: took him from London to Belfast and finally to Dublin 27 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: around eighteen fifty. He married shortly after that and decided 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: to stay in Ireland permanently. Cunningham lived all over the 29 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: country too, but he eventually found a more permanent home 30 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: in County Mayo. Lord Aaron owned a home there. He 31 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: had hired Cunningham to be his agent, which gave him 32 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: oversight over fifteen hundred acres. Cunningham was now in charge 33 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: of farmers, servants and other household staff, the kind of 34 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: power that he believed had been ordained by God and 35 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: passed on to those who deserved it. That sort of 36 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,079 Speaker 1: classism didn't sit well with the estates, tenants, the farmers, 37 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: who resented the rules and regulations their new boss had 38 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 1: put in place. They also hated the exorbitant rents that 39 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: Cunningham was tasked with collecting for the Lord. Tenant farmers 40 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: had almost no rights, and although they had least the land, 41 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: the land's owner could evict them without notice, even if 42 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: the rent was current and paid on time. The farmers 43 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: had tried before to organize against landowners. They called for 44 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: the three f's, fair rent fix, city of tenure and 45 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: free sale. In other words, they were tired of paying 46 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: a lot of money for no security. When a member 47 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 1: of Parliament named Charles Stewart Parnell heard about their plight, 48 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: he stepped into help. It wasn't just about helping the underdog, though. 49 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: He needed the farmers on his side to further his 50 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,399 Speaker 1: agenda for Irish independence. Parnell and the newly formed Land 51 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: League went to work. He gave speeches and riled up crowds, 52 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: laying the groundwork for an uprising that had been years 53 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 1: in the making. Cunningham was set to collect the rents 54 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: from the Lord's tenants in September of eighteen eighty. The 55 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: crops had not been as plentiful as in past years, 56 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: so the Lord gave them a ten percent discount as 57 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: a show of good faith. But it wasn't good enough, 58 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: it was still too high. The farmers demanded at least 59 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: twenty five percent off their rent, but Lord Aaron scoffed 60 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: at them. Either his farmers would pay or they would 61 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: be forced to leave. Cunningham got to work securing eviction 62 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: notices against eleven tenants who refused to pay. After three 63 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: notices had been delivered, though one tenant named Mrs Fitzmorris 64 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: turned them away, she waved a red flag outside her 65 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: home to let everyone else know what was going on. 66 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: Her neighbors joined her and started throwing rocks and manure 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: at the men until they left. Soon all of Cunningham's 68 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: servants quit. No shops in the nearby town would serve him. 69 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: He wasn't beaten or intimidated. His punishment was far worse. 70 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: He was ignored ostracized by the community, and he didn't 71 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: exactly do himself any favors when his letter to the 72 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: Times was published, in which he referred to his tenants 73 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: as a howling mob. Soon September turned into October, and 74 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: Cunningham was in danger of losing a fortune in crops 75 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: if they weren't harvested soon. Since the farmers and laborers 76 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: had all left and had threatened anyone who dared help him. 77 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: The Irish government deployed a small army of fifty men 78 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: to help pull the crops. The endeavor ended up costing 79 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: Cunningham his job with the estate, as well as several 80 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: thousand pounds. He left County Mayo for Dublin, where he 81 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: stayed for a few days before heading to England. Now 82 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: he would have stayed longer, but his hotel had received 83 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: numerous letters from potential guests who swore they would never 84 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: stay there again if he was given a room. A 85 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: year later, a new law was introduced, titled the Land 86 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: Law Act of eighteen eighty one. It stated that landlords 87 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: could no longer evict tenants on a whim, and establis 88 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: fixed terms of fifteen years for rent the people at 89 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: one As for Cunningham, he slipped into the United States 90 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:10,840 Speaker 1: to visit some friends, the few he still had left 91 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: who lived in Virginia. He had to use his middle name, however, 92 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: as his last name had come to symbolize the treatment 93 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: he'd endured back in Ireland, not Cunningham. Cunningham was his 94 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: middle name. No, Charles real last name would go down 95 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: in history as the term for the process of ostracizing 96 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: bad businesses Charles Cunningham Boycott. To become an expert in 97 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: one's field takes serious devotion. Hundreds, even thousands of hours 98 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: must be spent practicing and perfecting. Attorney Judith Cogan studied 99 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: harp at Juilliard School in New York City, and experience 100 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: she documented in her nineteen eighties seven book Nothing but 101 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,600 Speaker 1: the Best. In the book, Cogan discussed the long hours 102 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: spent by students practicing their art until late into the night. 103 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: There was no time or tolerance for goofing off at Juilliard, 104 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: but the dedication paid off in the end. Robin Williams, 105 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: Yo Yo Ma and Nina Simone are just some of 106 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,799 Speaker 1: the school's famous former students who went on to great 107 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: success later in life. Jean Baptiste Lally also dedicated his 108 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: life to his passion music, and in a way, it 109 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: was this passion that would inevitably kill him. Lally was 110 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: born in Florence, Italy, in sixty two. While the rest 111 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: of his family didn't show much interest in music, he 112 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: devoted a love for it with the help of a 113 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: Franciscan friar who taught him how to play guitar. From there, 114 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: Lally went on to study the violin, which enabled him 115 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: to entertain crowds on the street during Mardi Gras when 116 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: he was only fourteen years old. He would play his 117 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: violin and dance while dressed up as a harlequin. A 118 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: French aristocrat named Rodre de Lorraine was taking with Lally 119 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: street performances. He offered to bring him back to France 120 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: to work with his niece on her Italian It was 121 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: a wise decision for Lally, who found himself studying with 122 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: the popular composers of the day who spent time at 123 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: the young woman's home. Lally quickly made a name for 124 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: himself among the French elites to his musical abilities and dancing. 125 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: It had earned him the nickname Baptiste and great street artist. 126 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: After de Lorraine's niece was exiled in sixteen fifty two, 127 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: Lally also left. He continued to study music and perform, 128 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: eventually becoming a composer himself. A young Louis the fourteenth 129 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: had performed with him in a production of the Ballet 130 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: Royal de la Louis, after which he hired him as 131 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: his royal composer. Lally demonstrated such musical acumen that he 132 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: was made the Superintendent of Royal Music. Once Louis took 133 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: over the government, he was taken with writing new pieces, 134 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: such as instrumentals, vocal arrangements, and operas to be performed 135 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: for the court by royal musicians and dancers. Lally was 136 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: prolific during the years that he wrote for King Louis. 137 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: He was also quite animated. Musical performances were different in 138 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century than they are today. Conductors didn't often 139 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,559 Speaker 1: use small batons to direct the tempo of their arrangements. Instead, 140 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: they wielded giant staffs that they would slam into the floor, 141 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: making loud sounds to mark the speeds the musicians had 142 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: to follow. Seven was a difficult year for the royal family. 143 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: Louis had lost his affection for Lally due to the 144 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: composer's sexual orientation, which went against the king's beliefs. Still, 145 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,439 Speaker 1: Lally held him in high regard, so when Louis underwent 146 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: surgery for an infection, the composer celebrated his recovery with 147 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 1: a performance of today Um, a hymn based on the 148 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: Apostles creed. Composers such as Mozart and Verde had done 149 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: their own renditions, but only lullies ended with a bang. 150 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: He conducted with gusto, bringing his staff down hard on 151 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: the floor beneath him. It rang out among the royal 152 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: courts like thunder. Now I think we can all agree 153 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: that music is special. It can consume us unlike anything else. 154 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: It is all encompassing. Our other senses take a back 155 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,439 Speaker 1: seat as we listen to the melodies that churn our 156 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,599 Speaker 1: emotions inside us. Perhaps that's what happened to Lally. He 157 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: got lost in his music as he banged his staff 158 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: pointed and down onto the floor, but instead of striking 159 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: the floor, the sharp staff pierced something else, his own foot. 160 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: In the heat of the moment. Consumed by the music, 161 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: he had accidentally impaled himself with his conducting staff. Before long, 162 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: an abscessed formed, which turned into gang green. Lally was 163 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: given one of two options. He could either have his 164 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: leg amputated to save his life, or he could let 165 00:09:44,679 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: the illness take him. Lally refused the amputation, telling doctors 166 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: that he would rather die than give up what he 167 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: called his dancing leg. Two months later, he got his wish. 168 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: The gang Green spread throughout the rest of his body 169 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: into his brain, eventually killing him. His death wasn't in vain, though, 170 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: as the incident helps spawn the search for alternatives to 171 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: the heavy and now deadly conducting staff. Small sticks, sheets 172 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: of paper rolled into thin tubes, and even bare hands 173 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,679 Speaker 1: were used in lieu of the instrument that had killed 174 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste Lali. Lali's death might have been tragic, but 175 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: one thing is clear. At least he died doing what 176 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: he loved. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 177 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 178 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,119 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 179 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,319 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 180 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 181 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 182 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 183 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 184 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.