1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Greetings everyone, welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: where we bring you a new tidbit from history. Every day. 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: Today is at The day was a eight seventy Stella 5 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: Clinton and Fanny Winifred Park were arrested as they left 6 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: a performance at the Strand Theater in London. The pair, 7 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: along with Hugh Alexander Mundale, were taken to the Bow 8 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 1: Street police station. The next day, Fanny and Stella were 9 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: charged with quote conspiring and inciting persons to commit an 10 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: unnatural offense. Fannie and Stella, also known as Frederick William 11 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: Park and Ernest Bolton, respectively, we're cross. Jesser's dressing as 12 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: a woman is not a crime at the time, but 13 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: sodomi was against the law, and police had been surveilling 14 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: Stella and Fanny for a year. Later. Hearings and the 15 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: trial that Bolton and Park went through in eighteen seventy 16 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: one were highly publicized and attracted a considerable amount of attention. 17 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: Bolton and Park were both born in the late eighteen forties. 18 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: Bolton was a bank clerk and Park was a law student. 19 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: Since he was a child, Bolton showed a fondness for 20 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,919 Speaker 1: dressing and clothing typically considered feminine, and using the name Stella. 21 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,479 Speaker 1: By the eighteen sixties, Bolton and Park had become close. 22 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: They began touring together, performing in theaters as Stella and Fannie. 23 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: As performers, they were popular, but they also dressed in 24 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: women's clothing outside of the theater and war makeup when 25 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: dressed as men. As they hung out at the Strand, 26 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: Lyceum and Surrey Theaters, they picked up men one of 27 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: their bows. Hugh Mundale said he thought they were too 28 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: gay women dressed as men. They had already been kicked 29 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: out of establishments like the Alhambra Theater and Burlington Arcade 30 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: on more than one occasion. For nearly a year, the 31 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: police had spies observed Bolton in Park at thirteen Wakefield Street, 32 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: where they rented a room for changing and where their 33 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: landlady Martha Stacy, ran a so called house of accommodation. 34 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: When their apartments were searched, love letters from John Stafford 35 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: Fisk were found. On April eighteen seventy, Stella and Fanny 36 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: were at the Strand Theater with a party of men. 37 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: They were wearing women's clothing and they were reportedly seen 38 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: flirting with some of the men. Around eleven o'clock that night, Stella, Fanny, 39 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: and Hugh Mundale were arrested. Initially, Stella and Fanny were 40 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: arrested for public mischief, a charge that was often given 41 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: to people who cross dressed. While at the police station, 42 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: a police surgeon performed an intrusive examination in on the 43 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: two of them to check for signs of sodomy. The 44 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: next day, when they went to Magistrates Court, they were 45 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: still wearing women's clothing. Crowds gathered outside the court and 46 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: newspapers covered the proceedings. Stella and Fanny were charged with 47 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: conspiracy to commit sodomy and to quote disguise themselves as women, 48 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: and to frequent places of public resort so disguised, and 49 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: to thereby openly and scandalously outraged public decency and corrupt 50 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: public morals. Outraging public decency was a misdemeanor, but buggery 51 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: carried a charge of penal servitude for life. Bolton and 52 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: Park stayed in jail for months before they were released 53 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: on May nine one. The trial began at the Court 54 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: of Queen's Bench with a special jury, Lord Chief Justice 55 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: Sir Alexander Cockburn presided over the case. The court also 56 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: indicted other people who were in the party, including Louis 57 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: Hurt and John Fisk, but many of the men who 58 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: were indicted had absconded. Lord Arthur Clinton, Bolton's lover and 59 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: a son of the Duke of Newcastle, died before he 60 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: could go to court, purportedly of scarlet fever, though he 61 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: was rumored to have committed suicide. In court, Stella and 62 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: Fanny's dresses, jewelry and makeup were presented. The prosecution had 63 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: at least six doctors examined Fanny and Stella. More than 64 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: thirty witnesses were called for the prosecution. A whole day 65 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: in court was dedicated to reading the letters the defendants 66 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: had written and received. Bolton's mother testified that her son's 67 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: lifestyle was no secret. In the end, no conclusive evidence 68 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: had been presented and there was no proof of conspiracy 69 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: to commit a felony. The jury found Fanny and Stella 70 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: not guilty after deliberating for only fifty three minutes. All 71 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: the other defendants were acquitted. To Cockburn said the following 72 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: the act of the police surgeon in examining the person 73 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: of the prisoner as he did without any legal authority 74 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: was wholly unjustifiable. He had no more right to do 75 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: it than he would have to inflict such an indignity 76 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: on any person in custody or any person he met 77 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: in the street. The seizure of the letters of the 78 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: other defendants also appears to have been without any legal 79 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: warrant or authority. Bolton soon left England, began using the 80 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: last name Fine, and found moderate success performing in New York. 81 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: Park also went to New York, but he died around 82 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 1: the age of thirty three. Bolton died decades later, in 83 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: nineteen o four. I'm Eve Steff Coo and hopefully you 84 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 85 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 86 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: t D i HC podcast. Thanks for listening, and we'll 87 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: see you again tomorrow. 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