1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you so much 3 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 1: as always for tuning in. No before we start today's episode, 4 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: which is a doozy, I have to say, I woke 5 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: up this morning as we were about to record, and 6 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: I realized, holy smokes, it's March again. I woke up 7 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: this moan and it was March again. Was it kind 8 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: of like that? Did you have the blues? That was? Actually? 9 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: That was? Was that? That was really a harmonica situation 10 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: you had going on there? Ben, I have the do 11 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: be as superpower to impersonate a harmon on it? Yeah? No, 12 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: it's good. Um I think the I think the cold, 13 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: the bitter cold of winter may well be behind us. 14 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: Knock on, knock on wood. Yeah, who hopefully, hopefully man. 15 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: But but for me, it was more thinking about just 16 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: how odd it was that we in many ways lost 17 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: a year right on activities of travel, Uh, you and 18 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,639 Speaker 1: I especially because we were always on plates. It's true, 19 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: we were, we were planed up and then all of 20 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: a sudden we were we were grounded. But you know, 21 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: there there was there's a silver lining in all of this. Um. 22 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: I discovered macromay, I learned how to knit. Uh, And 23 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: I've been making music in my home studio a bunch. Okay, 24 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: the third one is true. I was gonna say, I 25 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 1: was gonna say I would love to hear about the 26 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: nitty I know about the studio stuff. Let's see, I 27 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: memorized the periodic table, the Greek alphabet or something else. Yeah, 28 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: I learned a lot of useless knowledge, and a horse 29 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: worked on my pseudo harmonicas skills. But perhaps nobody was 30 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: feeling the heat of the pandemic more so than our 31 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: good pal super producer Casey Pegram, who has not returned 32 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: to his second life as La Boush in some time, right, Yes, indeed, um. 33 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: And you know another thing I think that we may 34 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: have had a pretty good run on during this COVID 35 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: situation is Florida man stories. But today we have a 36 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: particularly historical Florida man story. Dare I say the precedent 37 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: of the Florida man meme? Oh, well, that's just the 38 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: way I'm looking at it. I don't know if anyone 39 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: else thinks of it that way, but it's it's up 40 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: to our fellow ridiculous historians. I am tempted to agree 41 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: with you, my friend. You see, back in eighteen ninety, 42 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: in the spring of eighteen nine, Uncle Sam sent a 43 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: heavily armed ship to get rid of a local despot. 44 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: This is thing that the US does all the time, 45 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: and has done uh in the century or so since. 46 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 1: But this is a little bit different because this military intervention, 47 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: which was okayed by the President of the time, Benjamin Harrison, 48 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,119 Speaker 1: this military intervention was not on the shores of Tripoli, 49 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: wasn't you know, half a world away in the Pacific Theater. Instead, 50 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: it was in our very own US state. That's right, 51 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 1: everyone's favorite peninsula, Florida. Yeah, it turns out, um, they 52 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: had themselves a real tyrant on their hands in the 53 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: form of a mayor by the name of William W. 54 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: Billy Cotrell, who reigned down terror and menace, most foul 55 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:51,839 Speaker 1: on one particular little town in Florida called cedar Key. 56 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: And it really did take the intervention of Washington and 57 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: a full on military coup to remove this man. It's 58 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: so very wild. So just so you get a sense 59 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: of where cedar Key is, it's in the Gulf facing 60 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: side of the Florida Peninsula. It's kind of a little 61 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: north of Tampa and UH little southeast of Tallahassee, uh 62 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: kind of southwest of Gainesville. It looks like a beautiful 63 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: place if you love archipelago's and islands. But today we're 64 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: gonna learn why Billy was the only US mayor so 65 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: far who was ever deposed by a full on military coup. 66 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: So only one of the Cedar Keys way Key is 67 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: inhabited today. There are a bunch of other islands that 68 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: collectively form what we call the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge. 69 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: Just like it's like our earlier story on the Dead 70 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,559 Speaker 1: Pig War. If you look at the map, then these 71 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 1: islands don't seem particularly They don't seem to be a 72 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,839 Speaker 1: big deal until you think of them in the context 73 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: of the time and the area. UH. They are strategic 74 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: during the nineteenth century. They have a supply depot that 75 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: was instrumental during the Second Seminole War. Later, during the 76 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: Civil War, they're occupied by Union troops. They're part of 77 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: a railroad system that makes them a hub for trade 78 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: and transport. It's an important place, even though it's relatively 79 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: new in comparison to some other U. S cities. Because 80 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: it was UH it was only really formed during the 81 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: Civil War in eighteen forty. Yeah. It also makes me 82 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: think of another topic we did on stuff they don't 83 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: want you to know about, the Marshall Islands, which had 84 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: some strategic qualities as well. That we're exploited pretty heavily 85 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: by the United States government in the form of uh, 86 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 1: pretty brutally thoughtless nuclear weapons tests. Absolutely uh and luckily uh, 87 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: as we'll see, we're very lucky that Mayor Cotrell was 88 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,280 Speaker 1: not able to get his hands on some nukes because 89 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: that guy Noll, that guy with some nukes, who buddy. 90 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: Uh So Cedar Key is named Cedar Key because of 91 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: a fifteen forty two Spanish map that described as the 92 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: Cedar Islands. You can probably guess why, folks. One of 93 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:24,279 Speaker 1: the first things the early European explorers noticed was that 94 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:28,160 Speaker 1: there were a ton of cedar trees all over the archipelago, 95 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: and so, as you might imagine, lumber becomes a primary 96 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: industry totally. I mean, they're also is fishing. They also 97 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: exported cotton, but the island was dotted with sawmills and 98 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: pencil factories, which I love the idea of a pencil factory, 99 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: that's something you think of today, but it was a 100 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: big deal at the time. It's churning out pencils in 101 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: the eighties, and the pencil plants didn't farewell as the sawmills. 102 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: The cedar was eventually depleted and it became much more 103 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: of an important strategic location as far as the rail 104 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 1: system went. Cedar Key was a very important port city 105 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,039 Speaker 1: until eighteen eighties six, when the Port of Tampa nearby 106 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: started to draw shipping business away from cedar Key. It 107 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: was a real upset about residents lost their jobs when 108 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: those mills closed. And then adding insults to injury, you 109 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: had a hurricane and an accompanying tidal wave that absolutely 110 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: obliterated much of the area. So you know, this was 111 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: it was. It really does make me think of the 112 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: kinds of situations that often lead to tyrannical rule, right. 113 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: I mean, you had Hitler coming into power after the 114 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: devastation that Germany saw during World War One. The you know, 115 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: people who had lost their jobs, been demoralized in the 116 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: face of the world, and then you got someone coming 117 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: in to take advantage of that economic strife and um 118 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: kind of just generalized anxiety. Right. Yeah, when it rains, 119 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: it pours and the town itself became a fundamentally different place. 120 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: The population plummeted. There were barely two thousand people there. 121 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: There was only one road, one in and out area 122 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: right a parallel the very thin section of the Central 123 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: and Peninsula Railway. And this made the town's population easy 124 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: to control. And in this chaos, it was a little 125 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: fingering game of Thrones, says, chaos is a ladder. In 126 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: this chaos, someone climbed the ladder. A thirty three year 127 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 1: old William W. Cotrell. In eight eight nine, he had 128 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: been elected mayor of Cedar keys Uh. He was elected unanimously, 129 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: which seems pretty unusual until you realized only a hundred 130 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: and one people voted. He wasn't just the mayor, he 131 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: was also the customs inspector. I know, on the face 132 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: of it that sounds incredibly corrupt, but you have to 133 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: remember in a lot of small towns, even a day uh, 134 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: the same individual will end up taking multiple positions in governance, 135 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: not not necessarily out of corruption, just out of necessity. Anyway, 136 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: here's the thing with Cantrell. He is a terrible and 137 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: super sketchy mayor. When he was first elected, he disappeared. 138 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: He just straight up ghosted off the grid for more 139 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: than a month, and then when he came back, people 140 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: were like, dude, you were a better mayor when you 141 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: were not here. Yes, some really really strange, unpredictable behavior. 142 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: He did appear to set a pretty nasty precedent from 143 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: the start. For example, he was a big fan of 144 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:52,439 Speaker 1: carrying around firearms and using them, brandishing them to intimidate 145 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: his constituents. It was reported at the time that he 146 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: had used a install uh to force a black man 147 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: to beat a telegraph operator brutally in the streets in 148 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: front of you know, just pastors by um. There were 149 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: women who were reportedly shopping at the nearby dry goods 150 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: store who he held hostage at gun point, seemingly for 151 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: his own amusement. There was a place called the Schlemmer 152 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: House Hotel, which actually was riddled with bullet holes from 153 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: when the mayor, drunken lee let off a volley of 154 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: shots in pursuit of someone he had a beef with. 155 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,199 Speaker 1: The guy was an absolutely like the very definition of 156 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:43,480 Speaker 1: a loose cannon. He's he's like the Tasmanian devil from cartoons. Also, 157 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,559 Speaker 1: you know, obviously the policy of ridiculous history is there's 158 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: nothing wrong with one or three good cocktails. But this 159 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: guy was wasted in office continually, and he was quite 160 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: a belligerent person when inebriated. Uh, It's it's strange because 161 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: he also he physically assaulted, intimidated, and threatened everybody in town. 162 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: Social class didn't matter, and he verbally abused them. But 163 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: he got support in his shenanigans because his own goons 164 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:23,440 Speaker 1: were elected to be the police force. Drinking buddies became 165 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: the cops. You mean that's he literally had a goon 166 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: squad at his disposal, hiding behind the legitimacy of of 167 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: the badge, you know. Um town Marshal j R. Mitchell 168 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: was one of Cotrell's loyal followers, and it was said 169 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:43,040 Speaker 1: of of the time, you know, in hindsight perhaps that 170 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: he only really stuck with Mitchell because he himself was 171 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: afraid of being shot. Yeah, and this guy, this guy 172 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 1: was essentially like a Boss Tweed type figure, but like 173 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: worse literally like almost like a Wild West kind of 174 00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: you know, just ruling with an iron fist kind of 175 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: pine of terror type dude. Yeah, you know, I was 176 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: thinking about this. I was looking over this past week 177 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 1: or so. He's not quite a Colonel Kurtz because the 178 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: people Colonel Kurtz ruled supported him, which is weird if 179 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: you are you are losing a popularity test with the 180 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: villain of apocalypse. Now, yeah, his goons would have gun parties. 181 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: They would get drunk and party and then they would say, 182 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: let's make everybody in town come out and dance, and 183 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,920 Speaker 1: then they would, like, under the threat of being shot, 184 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: they would make these people dance. The guy had so 185 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 1: many grudges. He was like an evil elephant that never forgot, 186 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 1: and a lot of his grudges. I think this is 187 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: a good argument for maybe late stage alcoholism, because a 188 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: lot of his grudges were things that nobody understood, like 189 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,840 Speaker 1: including the people out of grudge for including the people 190 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: who knew both parties. One time he tried to kill 191 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: a guy who worked at the railroad for some reason, 192 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,959 Speaker 1: and then another time he tried to stab a dude. 193 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: He wounded him, but he didn't kill him over an 194 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: insult that no one was aware of, and it seemed 195 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 1: like the mayor himself could not explain what happened. This 196 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: was like, I know, I know local politics can be 197 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: a sticky situation, but I think having a mayor that 198 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: randomly stabs people is a municipal issue that takes precedence 199 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: over party affiliation. Hopefully that's not a hot take. The 200 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,439 Speaker 1: town was riddled with bullet holes all over the buildings 201 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: because he was he was just so gunhappy. I'm laughing, 202 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: but I probably shouldn't be, because he also reportedly killed 203 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,320 Speaker 1: his own brother in law and then cursed out his 204 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: sister for quote unquote being poor. He would hit children 205 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: while their mothers were carrying them. This is nuts at 206 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: this point, it's like a Roman emperor. How much of 207 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 1: this is true? Oh yeah, exactly, it's It's a really 208 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: good point, Ben, And that really applies to a lot 209 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,119 Speaker 1: of the Roman emperor stories when you had their political 210 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: opponents being the ones who were writing the history books. 211 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: Uh and possibly either you know, obviously, where there's smoke, 212 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: there must be some fire most of the time. But 213 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: exaggerations did certainly happen. I think at the very least 214 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: we can assume with some level of certainty, this man 215 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: had a serious drinking problem, a serious lea violent temper, 216 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: and not much respect for any form of human dignity 217 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 1: at all. Uh So, like you said, Ben, the town 218 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: was absolutely riddled with bullet holes that were kind of 219 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: little reminders of these uh temper tantrums that he would throw. 220 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: And we have accounts that when taken with the you know, 221 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: descriptions of of how he would behave when he was 222 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: you know, older and and uh actually in charge of 223 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: the town, along with some stories of his youth, and 224 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: those stories kind of portrayed him as a young man 225 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 1: completely unhinged. Uh. There's a quote from James L. Jim Cotrell, 226 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: the great grand nephew of Billy even you know in 227 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: the family, it's completely willing to throw his relative under 228 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: the bus and saying when people talk about him when 229 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: he's not intoxicated, he's a normal person. He behaves, he 230 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: gets along, and then you throw some whiskey in him 231 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: and he turns into Billy the Kid, which is a 232 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: hilarious and astute reference there. Totally. So yeah, there are 233 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: signs here that he was a son of privilege and 234 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: things that cast a bit of ominous foreshadowing on his 235 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: life story. So he was racing to his family's schooner 236 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: called Nanny in Tampa Bay when another boat pulled ahead 237 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: and he got angry that he wasn't the first place 238 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: in the race. So he ran below deck, grabbed a 239 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: firearm and was trying to shoot the competition, shoot the 240 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: people on the other boat before the crew was able 241 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: to restrain him. This is the big question, folks as well. 242 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: This is one of the big questions. How on earth 243 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: was Bill getting away with all of this? Well, like 244 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: we just said, son of privilege. Turns out his father, 245 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: one J. L. F. Co Trell, was a state senator 246 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: and one of his siblings was also an owner of 247 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: a store on the main street drag, so he had juice, 248 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: he had political and economic connections. And also remember this 249 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: is somewhat of an isolated place this time, there's one 250 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: way in, one way out. The population is plummeted due 251 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: to economic turmoil as you described earlier, Noal and the 252 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: entire town of cedar Key is kind of in an 253 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: abusive relationship with this dude. And what happens in abusive 254 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: relationships a lot of threats. So the majority of the 255 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: citizens are not talking about this hellish stuff happening in 256 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: their town because they have received death threats. In fact, 257 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: three of his he had three brothers, and when they 258 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: joined his campaign, part of their platform, part of the 259 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: stuff they declared was that they would explicitly hunt down 260 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,239 Speaker 1: and murder anyone who talked trash about their brother or 261 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 1: tried to harm him. Yeah. More additions to the goon Squad, 262 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:24,359 Speaker 1: the bully patrol. Uh and these actually had legitimate skin 263 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 1: in the game, you know, being of blood relation, I imagine. Uh, 264 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: really you know, believed were true believers of of their brother, 265 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: possibly from you know, years of of their own bullying 266 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: at his hands. Again just editorializing here a bit, but 267 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 1: as opposed to like the marshal who was you know, 268 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: possibly based on reports that we read going along with 269 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: him specifically because he was afraid of him himself of 270 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: actual you know, physical harm coming to him or his family. Yeah. Now, 271 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:55,200 Speaker 1: of course there are legal mechanisms that exist. The Levy 272 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: County Grand Jury had issued some eighteen indictments against him, 273 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: but this never came to anything. None of those indictments 274 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:10,200 Speaker 1: were served. The Revenue Cutter Services Lieutenant Cardon later said 275 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: that any of the eighteen charges he got hit with 276 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:17,920 Speaker 1: would have carried a hanging or life sentence in New York. However, 277 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: Cantrell's father still has a lot of political influence, and 278 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,120 Speaker 1: he's the one who contacts the other patricians or members 279 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 1: of the political class, like the governor of Florida at 280 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: the time, Francis P. Fleming District Attorney Joseph Stripling, and 281 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:39,360 Speaker 1: tells them specifically that his son is untouchable. And although 282 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: his father, the elder Senator Cantrell's last term was five, 283 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,479 Speaker 1: he had enacted a special bill that placed a time 284 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: limit on his son's indictments. So they were like, you 285 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: can eventually touch him, but not now. And so one 286 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 1: thing he is really good at is levery gene this 287 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,680 Speaker 1: kind of nepotistic power, because he's certainly not a good mayor. 288 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: How did he leverage this power well? In I think 289 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:13,119 Speaker 1: just after he took office on January second, eight nine, 290 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: he found a bride. He married a woman named Carolina Freer. 291 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: She also came from a heavily politically connected family. So 292 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:26,439 Speaker 1: he's just like racking up insurance policies in between bouts 293 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 1: of getting black out, drunk and shooting at people. Yeah, 294 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: more of the same. So we know what you're thinking, folks, 295 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:38,199 Speaker 1: This is America. This guy is a cartoon. What an 296 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: unfortunate thing to happen to the good people of cedar Key. 297 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: Thank God who was only a one term mayor. Right yeah, no, 298 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: uh no, no, uh, I don't even It must just 299 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: be more intimidation, I suppose, or some form of Stockholm 300 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,919 Speaker 1: syndrome perhaps. Like literally, it feels like this man was 301 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: holding the town hostage and he was able to get reelected. 302 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:11,160 Speaker 1: His behavior was damning the town to further economic loss. Uh. 303 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,919 Speaker 1: He was terrifying the few businessmen that were willing to 304 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: kind of come into Cedar Keys to try to help 305 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: maybe revitalize the town hopefully, or looked at it as 306 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: a business opportunity. I mean, the streets were literally again 307 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 1: riddled with bullets. It was like a Wild West situation. 308 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: His own brothers, Eugene and James, had a business, a 309 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,920 Speaker 1: mercantile business that had to close itself because of lack 310 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: of customers because nobody wanted to come through town. He 311 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: did have methods of kind of coercing townspeople to shop 312 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: at his brother's store, but even that wasn't enough. It 313 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: was so bizarre, as was his brother's behavior. They were 314 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: just completely inconsistent. Uh. They wasn't clear whether they fully 315 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: wanted to support him or whether they were in it 316 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: to make money for themselves. It was just a very 317 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: very strange relationship. There were newspaper reports at the time 318 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: that the business in town was almost entirely d o 319 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: a uh. There were you know, long lines of storefronts 320 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: closing down, one firm after another having sold their assets. 321 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: The business owners were either afraid to hang around in 322 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: such a terrifying place, or they just gave up in 323 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: utter despair when they saw this decline continuing. You know. 324 00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: But despite his terrible and clearly illegal behavior, he still 325 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:45,960 Speaker 1: had some support from a minority of the people in town, 326 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,640 Speaker 1: a minority of the white towns folks, because they were 327 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: able to, i think, glean some benefits from this corrupt system. 328 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: And they had all the typical rationalizations and dismissals. You know, 329 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: they would say, look, he's a great i you know 330 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,159 Speaker 1: when he's sober, or he's a dashing young man. Maybe 331 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: just a little spoiled, but he comes from a wonderful family, 332 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 1: and we're friends with that family. So as a result, 333 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 1: anybody would have been opposition and had the means to leave, 334 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: just left. Why would you stay in a place that 335 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: it's not good for business, it's not good for families, 336 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: it's not great for education. So why why stay in 337 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: cedar Key. That's how he gets re elected. But this 338 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: time it's not unanimous, and twenty four people vote, he 339 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,280 Speaker 1: gets sixty seven of the votes and the remainder go 340 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: to his opponent, One Samuel G. Reddick. But I would 341 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:43,720 Speaker 1: also argue this vote was probably fixed. I'm just guessing. 342 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: I'm just assuming here. Uh, the votes weren't secret. Remember 343 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: we talked about in the famous episode the importance of 344 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 1: secret polls. So the votes aren't secret, especially in a 345 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: place like this, a lawless and insane you know, God, 346 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,119 Speaker 1: I can't even imagine be terrified. Yeah, not to not 347 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,720 Speaker 1: vote for the guy with the gun. Yeah, and to 348 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: know that he knows who you voted for. And so 349 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: he is going crazy because he holds all these grudges. Right, 350 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,919 Speaker 1: So he's in his mind the people who voted for 351 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: his opponent, Reddick, have essentially put themselves on a kill list. 352 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:25,159 Speaker 1: And that's when our hero of the story steps in 353 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:30,480 Speaker 1: her name, Mrs rose Bell. Uh. She is the person 354 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: that we mentioned the very top who looks for help, 355 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,640 Speaker 1: and she knows, she's well aware that Florida's political system 356 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,679 Speaker 1: is what we would sometimes call food bar. So she 357 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,199 Speaker 1: doesn't right to the governor of Florida. She doesn't right 358 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: to other local mayors, she doesn't write to other local 359 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: law enforcement. Instead, she writes to the President of the 360 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 1: United States on August four, eight ten nine, and she says, 361 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: this guy is a loony tune. He is an habitual drunkard. 362 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:04,159 Speaker 1: He's threatening everybody. And then she describes in details some 363 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: of the terrible stuff he does. And thank God for 364 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: Mrs rose Bell, you know, the one person with the 365 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: stamina and the courage to to stand up to this 366 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: man um. She described the good Christian men of the 367 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: town as being too timid to put a stop to 368 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 1: this psychotic behavior, and ended the letter by saying that 369 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,159 Speaker 1: she had quote no son or husband for him to 370 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: fuss with and shoot I expose his character. Yeah, Which 371 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: that's such an interesting sentence to me there, because it's 372 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: almost as if she's saying, I have nothing to lose here, 373 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: so you can kill me, but I want to save 374 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: this town. And then President Harrison is to a degree 375 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:51,120 Speaker 1: touched by this. Smithsonian Magazine reports that he later noted 376 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: it was a grim commentary upon the condition of social 377 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 1: order at Cedar Keys that only a woman had the 378 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: courage to file charges against Counturroll. So he's Harrison is 379 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,439 Speaker 1: being you know, a fair bit misogynistic there, but also 380 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: he is asking the question many of us asked ourselves 381 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,440 Speaker 1: when first learned of this story, which is how did 382 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: he get this far? How did it happen? So Harrison 383 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: figures out quickly. He says, okay, we need to get 384 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 1: some boots on the ground. When you get some eyes 385 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,399 Speaker 1: in the streets here, figure out how this mayor is 386 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: keeping this town in a tyrannical death grip. It seems 387 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:36,880 Speaker 1: like it is family connections, fear and isolation. And so he, uh, 388 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:42,200 Speaker 1: he gets his main man, J. H. Pinkerton to get involved, 389 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: and you know the Pinkerton Agency, and Pinkerton himself tremendously 390 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:50,360 Speaker 1: controversial figures. Pinkerton had been named the new customs collector 391 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: and he had the oversight of revenue generation in maritime law. 392 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,400 Speaker 1: This is a pretty this is a catbird seat kind 393 00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,920 Speaker 1: of position. And so as soon as he gets to 394 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: cedar Key, he runs head to head up against Mayor Cartrell, 395 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:09,880 Speaker 1: and they have problems right from the beginning. So because 396 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: Cartrell was already mayor and customs inspector, customs inspector was 397 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: a positioned by the way outranked by the job Pinkerdon had. 398 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 1: But because Catrell was already serving these two different government positions, 399 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: he pretty much thought he deserved the promotion to customs collector. 400 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,439 Speaker 1: He was like, I should do this, It's my town. 401 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 1: So finally Coutrell seems to have met his match. Like 402 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: you said, Pinkerton was a tough dude and was not 403 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: going to be pushed around by this rogue mayor, so 404 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: of course he threatened him. He sent him a telegram 405 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: to Washington as soon as he felt like it was 406 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,640 Speaker 1: safe to do that, and their feud had already kind 407 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: of escalated in previous weeks um when Pickerton insisted the 408 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: Coutrell resigned from this post as inspector because of his 409 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: erratic behavior, and he was ultimately removed from that inspector's post, 410 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: at which time he approached Pinkerton in town on May nine, 411 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: asking him if he could go get his personal belongings 412 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: that he had left behind in the customs house. But 413 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: it was after office hours, so Pinkerton says, uh, no, 414 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: we're not open. So how does Mayor Contrell respond? He says, 415 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: watch out, Pinkerton, I better not see you on these 416 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: streets or I'm going to kill you and uh. And 417 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,160 Speaker 1: Pinkerton knows this threat was serious, and so he stayed home. 418 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: He actually stayed off of the streets. He was kind 419 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: of in quarantine or a house arrest will be a 420 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: better word. And this frustrates the mayor, and so the 421 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:53,479 Speaker 1: mayor is like, why won't this guy come out of 422 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,160 Speaker 1: his house so I can shoot him like I said 423 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: I would. So he tried to force someone else to 424 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,159 Speaker 1: go into Pinkerton's home and then drag him physically into 425 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: the street. This guy was like, no, you're crazy. You 426 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,920 Speaker 1: are a terrible mayor, dude, and then the mayor beat 427 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,680 Speaker 1: the crap out of him. Yeah, as was his way. 428 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,680 Speaker 1: So you know, there was a telegram that Pinkerton's sent 429 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,440 Speaker 1: on May to the Treasury Department that really does a 430 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: fabulous job outlining the situation and how dire it was. 431 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: He refers to the situation where he refused to open 432 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: the customs house store after hours and that is when um. 433 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,199 Speaker 1: In addition to threatening him himself, Contrell also ordered the 434 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: town Marshal j R. Mitchell to quote shoot the goddamn 435 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: Republicans son of a bitch if he failed to open 436 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: the doors to him. He then called me him in 437 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: his in his dispatch, called me vile names he could 438 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 1: think of in a loud and angry voice, and said, 439 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 1: I will make it a hell for you, and you're 440 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: set as long as you stay in cedar keys and 441 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: many other vile things, equally bad, using all the time 442 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: the most profane oaths and vile epithets. Yeah, so he's 443 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:14,120 Speaker 1: a potty mouth too. The marshals found themselves out gutten 444 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: by what essentially had become a gang terrorizing the town. 445 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: And so at this point Pinkerton requested assistance. Casey, can 446 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: we get some like history appropriate going to war music? Perfect? 447 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: It's crazy how we can just describe that stuff and 448 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: you always know what it is. Case, but this is it. 449 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: Pinkerton asked for federal and intervention as well as our 450 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: earlier letter writer, and this request was granted through that 451 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,400 Speaker 1: revenue cutter service. They sent a ship called McClean to 452 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:56,840 Speaker 1: the islands on May nine. The Captain Thomas S. Smith 453 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 1: and his crew arrived just a few days later, and 454 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: they were appalled. We have to remember they were outsiders. 455 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: They realized how abnormal this was, and the captain Captain 456 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: Smith said, quote the newspaper reports are not only not exaggerated, 457 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: but do not tell what half of this man Cartrell's crimes. 458 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: The fact is the people here are in a perfect 459 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: state of terror and are unable to obtain assistant to 460 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: all protection from the state authorities owing to the influence 461 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: wielded by Cartrell and the methods resorted to when frightening 462 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 1: and terrorizing witnesses. So because they have this ship with them, 463 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: the captain and his crew and some additional marshals start 464 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: searching Sea heer Key for the mayor sort of like 465 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: I get the sense, snol that this is like house 466 00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: by house knocking on doors, like you know, a man hunt. 467 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: Almost right, yes, yeah, but as you know, big bads 468 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: in many stories are wont to do uh. He did 469 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:02,080 Speaker 1: escape Contrell, Eva did capture. He made his way up 470 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:08,080 Speaker 1: the Swannee River and out of the reach of his pursuers. 471 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: And even after this escape, Pinkerton requested that the cutter 472 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: remained nearby to you know, give people a little bit 473 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: of comfort, right, to make sure that they knew that 474 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: they were going to be taken care of, and that 475 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: Catrell could not just you know, come back as big 476 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: bads are also want to do and undeterred and just 477 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: continue his reign of terror. So, uh, the McClain remained 478 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: docked and continued firing blank rounds, and that sound could 479 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: be heard throughout the keys. But despite being absolutely terrorized 480 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 1: by this guy for over a year, Uh, they didn't 481 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: care for the idea of federal intervention either. In fact, 482 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: they may have disliked it even more. They saw the 483 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: docking of this federal vessel on their shores as a 484 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: sign of a lack of their own autonomy and of 485 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: big government sort of swooping in. And keep in mind 486 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: with the twenty five years after the Union had left, 487 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,719 Speaker 1: so there was still, you know, as don't we know, 488 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: there remains today in some pockets of the South, this 489 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: kind of hostility, this kind of sense of an identity 490 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: separate from the rest of the country. Right. Uh. There's 491 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: a really great quote from the New York Times from 492 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: that era saying, quote, the people here have lived so 493 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: long in an unreconstructed condition that the appearance of the 494 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 1: United States seamen in the streets intent on forcing order 495 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: and obedience is especially galling. Captain Smythe was actually threatened 496 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: by a resident who threatened to shoot on site anyone 497 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: who attempted to come into his home. This is also ironic, Ben, 498 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: considering that he's you know, we know that that Billy 499 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: Catrell and his goons often would enter people's homes, forcing 500 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: them out into the street and making them dance like 501 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:11,000 Speaker 1: little puppets. And yet the the idea of any outside 502 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 1: force coming in and doing the same in the name 503 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: of keeping order and maintaining their safety. This is serious 504 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: Stockholm syndrome stuff here, right, So there's a lot to 505 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: be said here with bed side manner. First off, we 506 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 1: have to understand these people have endured a lot of abuse. 507 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: And then secondly, we have to understand that the way 508 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:38,800 Speaker 1: the FEDS are approaching this situation is not particularly like 509 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: touchy feely or helpful. They're on a man hunt and 510 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: so they're doing kicked doors house by house, clearing the block. 511 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 1: So of course you would react adversely to that because 512 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: it's like terrifying tactics, if not terrorism itself, because they're 513 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: like kicking doors in, they're hitting people with rifle butts, 514 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,720 Speaker 1: tearing apart houses. So they're like talking, I guess you 515 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,560 Speaker 1: would call it tossing. You know, they're looking for any closet, 516 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:09,440 Speaker 1: under any floorboards where somebody might be hiding. And to me, 517 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: it's kind of silly that Smythe and his team don't 518 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: understand why people would react adversely to busting in their 519 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:22,359 Speaker 1: house and tearing apart their stuff. But these people were 520 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: complaining about these house searches. So the telegrams complaining about 521 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:30,120 Speaker 1: this made their way back to Washington, and uh. This 522 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: gave the the folks of the Revenue cutter Service increased scrutiny, 523 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 1: and Congress started to argue about it. One special deputy said, look, 524 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,719 Speaker 1: we have to keep our eyes on this situation. We 525 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,600 Speaker 1: have to ensure that homes haven't been entered unlawfully or 526 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: without permission. But he did include a very classic line 527 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: where he said, otherwise, quote the rabbi will tell and bluster. 528 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 1: So it came down to President Benji Harrison, who said 529 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: on June six that he had decided it just didn't 530 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: make sense to appeal to local authorities. They were all corrupt. 531 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: They would have to do something else. So we actually 532 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:13,920 Speaker 1: we have a full quote from his written statement. That's right. 533 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 1: He says, quote it will be agreeable to me if 534 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,440 Speaker 1: the local authorities. This is how he talked clearly, acting 535 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: upon their own sense of duty, maintain the public order 536 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: in such a way that the officers of the United 537 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: States shall have no occasion to appeal for the intervention 538 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 1: of the general government. But when this is not done, 539 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 1: I shall deem it my duty to use the adequate 540 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: powers vested in the executive to make it safe and 541 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:44,360 Speaker 1: feasible to hold and exercise the officers established by the 542 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: Federal Constitution and the Lyre. So what he's saying there 543 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:56,320 Speaker 1: is that, look, the local system isn't working, so Uncle 544 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,439 Speaker 1: Sam is going to have to bring the hammer down 545 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: and restore order. I, as president, considered that part of 546 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,479 Speaker 1: my job based on just how far out of hand 547 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 1: this has gone totally. I mean, and you got to 548 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 1: think too, Ben, there had to have been a collective 549 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,560 Speaker 1: more than PTSD. But also just like they lived in 550 00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:16,320 Speaker 1: this weird violent bubble, and when you're governed by violence, 551 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 1: violence probably becomes kind of an undercurrent of of day 552 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,719 Speaker 1: to day life. So even like left with this vacuum 553 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,799 Speaker 1: of this iron fisted you know, despot people didn't know 554 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,640 Speaker 1: how to govern themselves. You know, they were probably you know, 555 00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,840 Speaker 1: kind of freaking out. And I and I understand nobody 556 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: wants the FEDS coming into their house to search their stuff, 557 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,759 Speaker 1: but I understand the need for this level of intervention. 558 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,719 Speaker 1: What do you think then, Yeah, well I think it's 559 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,680 Speaker 1: weird because I I would be hesitant to say that 560 00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:49,359 Speaker 1: the townsfolk who are being victimized had some kind of 561 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: Stockholm syndrome. It's just like these are two now, these 562 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,600 Speaker 1: are two different gangs carrying up our town essentially. And 563 00:36:56,719 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: also we have to remember everybody who could have left, 564 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,640 Speaker 1: who was not part of the goon squad already left. 565 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,800 Speaker 1: So the people there are probably don't have the means 566 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 1: to relocate or they're part of this brutal gang structure. 567 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:17,759 Speaker 1: And people still hadn't found Mayor Billy. He made his 568 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: way up the Swannee River. He's heading hot headed towards 569 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,280 Speaker 1: the Georgia border, traveling onward to Alabama. He learned nothing 570 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,800 Speaker 1: from this. From his narrow escape, he did not change 571 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,279 Speaker 1: his behavior, but this kind of stuff doesn't fly in 572 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,680 Speaker 1: the rest of the US. So on July same year, 573 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:40,640 Speaker 1: he was arrested in Alabama for you know, being a lunatic, 574 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:46,080 Speaker 1: and he posted a two thousand five bond. He had 575 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,040 Speaker 1: a trial set for Jacksonville, but he never made the trial. 576 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:55,239 Speaker 1: On November five, he got intensely intoxicated, picked a fight 577 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: with a guy at a restaurant who owned the restaurant, 578 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:04,319 Speaker 1: and then, according to the newspaper, the police chief of Montgomery, Alabama, 579 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:09,800 Speaker 1: Adolph Gerald, got on Cantrell's bad side by not allowing 580 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:11,960 Speaker 1: him to do whatever the hell he wanted, and so 581 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,840 Speaker 1: Catrell like picture this picture, like pointing at him and going, 582 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:20,760 Speaker 1: you've made a powerful enemy. We're gonna have a duel. 583 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,080 Speaker 1: I swear vengeance upon you. And then he told all 584 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:26,400 Speaker 1: the people he knew or anyone who was listening, like 585 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,560 Speaker 1: I'm going to kill the police chief. It's just scheduling. Now, 586 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:31,880 Speaker 1: we just have to get our schedules to align for 587 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,600 Speaker 1: the duel. I think he's got a thing at three, 588 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: but maybe maybe four thirty, So just past eleven in 589 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:41,360 Speaker 1: the morning. The next day, Cattrell showed up at police 590 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:47,280 Speaker 1: headquarters um exiting a horse drawn buggy, and Cherald didn't 591 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,719 Speaker 1: wait for the like the duel to begin for you know, 592 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,360 Speaker 1: pistols at dawn. Right as Cantrell was getting out of 593 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:59,319 Speaker 1: the carriage, Gerald walked up and just blasted him with 594 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:03,160 Speaker 1: both earls of a double barreled shotgun got him once 595 00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: in the torso and once right in the eye, leaving 596 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,120 Speaker 1: him bleeding out in the street, and what was described 597 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 1: as a bloody and ghastly spectacle by the Montgomery Advisor 598 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:20,520 Speaker 1: fitting fitting in. I mean, from bloody beginnings come bloody endings. 599 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 1: Uh and gerald s He surrendered himself to the county sheriff, 600 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,799 Speaker 1: claiming self defense, which I don't know how that would 601 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 1: work out in court. I guess, can you act preemptively 602 00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:34,840 Speaker 1: in self defense? Well? Was it preemptive because the guy 603 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: had explicitly told multiple people he was going to kill 604 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 1: the police chief. He showed up Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, 605 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:44,839 Speaker 1: he showed up intending to kill him. So like, look, 606 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:49,440 Speaker 1: also it didn't hurt that Catrell was just a massive jerk. 607 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:54,560 Speaker 1: So the next day the coroner says, okay, we we 608 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:57,840 Speaker 1: accept that this was self defense because everything about this 609 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,719 Speaker 1: man's life proves that he definitely was there to kill you. 610 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,959 Speaker 1: So in the end, President Harrison, his intervention didn't really matter, 611 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 1: not not too much, and the coast Guard didn't really matter. 612 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 1: But it was a shootout in Alabama that ultimately put 613 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 1: an end to this guy's reign. Of terror, and newspapers 614 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:23,360 Speaker 1: across the country carried the story. The New York World 615 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,319 Speaker 1: called it the bloody end of a bloodthirsty monster, and 616 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: the New York Times even ran this headline by way 617 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:34,640 Speaker 1: of obituary, Cultrell killed at last. Can you imagine people 618 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,279 Speaker 1: hate you so much that your obituary basically as yea 619 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:42,400 Speaker 1: in the headline. I would argue that our buddy Robert 620 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,840 Speaker 1: Evans ought to consider this guy for an episode of 621 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,160 Speaker 1: Behind the Bastards. Yes he was absolutely that, Yes he 622 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,920 Speaker 1: was a bastard. Indeed. Uh, Luckily, folks who may be 623 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,919 Speaker 1: glad to know that the town of Cedar Keys still 624 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:59,160 Speaker 1: around today. It is way more chill than it was 625 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,080 Speaker 1: in the eighteen nineties. Fishing is still a big industry. 626 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,760 Speaker 1: I think the pencil factory closed. And uh, the local 627 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,880 Speaker 1: historical Society has a lot to tell you about, a 628 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: lot to talk about. And nowadays, if you if you 629 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:17,680 Speaker 1: ever find yourself down that way, do stop by. It 630 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:23,000 Speaker 1: seems like a quiet, wonderful place to relax. Maybe they 631 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,120 Speaker 1: have a sign in the town square that says, you know, 632 00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: like X amount of years or days since the mayor 633 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:32,640 Speaker 1: shot someone, or maybe it's still too soon to joke about. 634 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:34,719 Speaker 1: But I I would visit cedar Key, you know, I'm 635 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,080 Speaker 1: I'm a fan of road trips. I would love to 636 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:38,799 Speaker 1: check it out. I know I would too. I got 637 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:41,279 Speaker 1: I gotta wonder too, Ben the the You know how 638 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,279 Speaker 1: Florida has these standard ground laws, you know, like if 639 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: anyone's coming at you or encroaching upon your property or 640 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,840 Speaker 1: what have you, you know, fair game for you to 641 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:52,759 Speaker 1: blast them. Do you think this is I mean, I'm 642 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:54,399 Speaker 1: sure it was more than just this, but this does 643 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 1: seem like kind of a precedent for that, you know what? 644 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:02,120 Speaker 1: That is an interesting question wondering. Let's see, the standard 645 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:06,200 Speaker 1: ground law was that in two thousand five. It was passed. 646 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,120 Speaker 1: I don't recall exactly. I just know it was very controversial. Um, 647 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:12,160 Speaker 1: and you know, I just it just I wonder if 648 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 1: just there's something in the history of Florida that led 649 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 1: to it being one of the only states that has 650 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,799 Speaker 1: such a law. True. Uh, and maybe this was not 651 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: the only incident of its type. But regardless, it's tough 652 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:28,840 Speaker 1: to have much sympathy for this mayor, even though he 653 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:31,759 Speaker 1: did die in a very painful way. Uh. He is 654 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 1: estimated to have murdered himself anywhere from five to ten people. 655 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:37,959 Speaker 1: So he was a big bully, uh and the town 656 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:42,320 Speaker 1: was inarguably better off without him. Thus ends the story 657 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,680 Speaker 1: of the tyrant Mayor of cedar Key. And that's our 658 00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:50,640 Speaker 1: episode for today. Think you as always to super producer 659 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:56,640 Speaker 1: Casey Pegram thinks also to Gabe Louisier, who we've been 660 00:42:56,640 --> 00:42:59,000 Speaker 1: teasing for so long, but we you know, we did 661 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:02,520 Speaker 1: have a great talk with him. Um, we're gonna take 662 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,200 Speaker 1: him to the circus? Can I say that as a spoiler? 663 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,839 Speaker 1: Is that enough of a teaser? Maybe? I think that's 664 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:11,400 Speaker 1: perfect Ben? Uh, Now you know, not literally, we're not 665 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:13,759 Speaker 1: quite there yet and and these are COVID time but 666 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:17,279 Speaker 1: hopefully soon everybody, hopefully so hopefully your loved ones are 667 00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:19,799 Speaker 1: getting that vaccine. And by the way, I want to 668 00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:22,239 Speaker 1: say this, I think just for everyone's benefit. Um. I 669 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,120 Speaker 1: have a friend who pointed out to me that you 670 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,239 Speaker 1: can actually call places like Walmart, for example, this may 671 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,440 Speaker 1: be the only one around here that's doing it, and 672 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:33,759 Speaker 1: get on a waiting list for leftover doses of the 673 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,439 Speaker 1: vaccine because it's all appointment based and sometimes people don't 674 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,560 Speaker 1: turn up and they expire if they're not used the 675 00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:42,520 Speaker 1: day that they're taking out a cold storage or put 676 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:46,480 Speaker 1: into the actual syringes for distribution, you know, for inoculation. 677 00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: So if anyone is interested, you can call local Walmart 678 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:52,440 Speaker 1: and actually get on a waiting list. And my my 679 00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:55,359 Speaker 1: friend got the first dose of the vaccine and she 680 00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:58,680 Speaker 1: is uh not an elderly person at all. Yeah, yeah, 681 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,600 Speaker 1: yeah you can. The vaccine situation in the US is 682 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:06,840 Speaker 1: going state by state. Please do be safe, folks, Uh, 683 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: please take care with yourself and your loved ones. We'll 684 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:14,480 Speaker 1: get that through this together. If Cedar Key can survive 685 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:17,000 Speaker 1: a tire at mayor that we can weather a pandemic. 686 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:22,600 Speaker 1: Thanks of course to our favorite audio infection, Jonathan Strickland, 687 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:25,680 Speaker 1: a k a. The Quisted. Yeah for sure, I think 688 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: we'll be hearing from both him and UH hero of 689 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,360 Speaker 1: the day, Gabe Luzier in the very near future. Huge 690 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: thanks to Alex Williams, who composed our theme. Christopher haciois 691 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,719 Speaker 1: here in spirit. He's Jeff Coach. Check out this Day 692 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:41,680 Speaker 1: in History class on a podcast platform near you. And 693 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,839 Speaker 1: of course, thanks to the Cedar Keys Board of Tourism, 694 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,360 Speaker 1: a thing that I just made up. We'll see you 695 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:58,879 Speaker 1: next time. Books for more podcasts. For my heart Radio, 696 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio, ap Apple podcasts, or wherever 697 00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:03,280 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.