1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. 5 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 2: my name is Noel. 7 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 3: They called me Ben. We're joined as always with our 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 3: super producer Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you 9 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 3: are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff 10 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 3: they don't want you to know. Twenty twenty five. As 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 3: the humans reckon a calendar Tonight, folks, we're exploring a mystery, 12 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 3: one that may be unfamiliar to many of us here 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 3: in these still somewhat United States, but doubtlessly ringing a 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 3: bell or our Canadian conspiracy realist. Oh my gosh, had 15 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 3: you guys heard of this one before we pitched it internally? 16 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 2: Yeah? I was Roman somewhere around the Gulf of America. Gosh, 17 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 2: years ago. 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 4: Is that like the Gulf of Tonkin. 19 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 3: In that it's made up? 20 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: Yeah? 21 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 4: I got it. 22 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, I remember. We somebody wrote us about 23 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 2: this years ago, and I think it's something that's been 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 2: flying under our radar, just as it had for years 25 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 2: before that. 26 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a twisted tale of intrigue, big business, bad deals, 27 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 3: a disappearance that remains unsolved today, and full disclosure, folks, 28 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 3: it's about a very pillish, uncool guy. The question is 29 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 3: what happened to Ambrose Small. And thank you to our 30 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 3: Canadian conspiracy realist up north and abroad who had written 31 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 3: to us about this before. But we talked often about 32 00:01:54,400 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 3: strange disappearances. It was much easier for someone to disappear 33 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 3: back in the day, with or without their consent. But 34 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 3: some of these cases, amid all the innumerable disappearances throughout history, 35 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 3: some of them still resonate and haunt people today. This 36 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 3: is a question that has been that has been thoroughly analyzed, 37 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 3: and as we'll see, no one as of yet has 38 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 3: proven what happened. No one has cracked the case. So 39 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 3: we're hoping that tonight, with your help, maybe we can 40 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 3: get a little closer to an answer. 41 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, only one hundred and four years ago. We're gonna 42 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 2: find these answers. 43 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 4: Right after a quick word from my sponsor. 44 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 3: You are the facts, all right, Ambrose Joseph Small eighteen 45 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 3: eighty six. That's when he's born. No one knows what's 46 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 3: going to happen to him? It's he's born in Bradford 47 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 3: in modern day on Ontario. Side note, didn't know this one, 48 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 3: you guys. Ontario used to just be called Canada West. 49 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 4: Oh wow, that's so funny. Man in the town I 50 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 4: grew up, Augusta, right across the bridge in South Carolina, 51 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 4: it's just called North Augusta, which I always found very 52 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 4: dismissive to South Carolina. 53 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 3: Yeah. It also calls to mind things like West Virginia 54 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 3: and things like North and South Dakota. There could have 55 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 3: been other names. 56 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 4: I like to refer to them collectively as the Dakotas. 57 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:32,679 Speaker 3: I call them the Carolinas if I don't know where 58 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 3: the town is, and I'm in a conversation, and I 59 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 3: know it's somewhere over there. 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 4: So by eighteen seventy six, the Small family had moved 61 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 4: to modern day Toronto, and by eighteen eighty Small's father 62 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 4: became the manager of a hotel called the Grand Hotel. 63 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 4: It must have been a fine place. 64 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 3: You know, burst of humility, a little bit of a 65 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 3: street level knowledge. Here the hotel is next to a 66 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 3: place called the Grand and Opera House, equally humble name. 67 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 4: There you go with the other. 68 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 2: Well, and it's actually very very cool, guys, because this 69 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 2: is a place where culture moved from the US into 70 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 2: uh into Canada, in parts of Canada where there really 71 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 2: was that thing that we talk about all the time, 72 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 2: the great export of the United States culture, and it's 73 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 2: moving north because as plays and other it's mostly plays 74 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 2: like stage plays. 75 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 3: Musicals maybe as well touring circuit stuff, some Vaudeville stuff. 76 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 4: Yeah, it was more of Vaudeville air in the golden 77 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 4: age of Broadway musicals. Yeah, mostly plays in Vaudeville's and 78 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 4: probably maybe some variety. 79 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 3: Shows all run out of New York to your point, Matt, 80 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 3: So now it's eighteen eighty four, Ambrose Small is still 81 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 3: a teen and he starts working at the bar of 82 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 3: this grand hotel. And while he's working at the bar, 83 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 3: he runs into, of course, a lot of locals. One 84 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 3: of those locals is a guy named Oliver B. Epperd 85 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 3: who is the manager of the nearby Grand Opera House, 86 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 3: and Oliver B. Shepherd, for one reason or another, really 87 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 3: digs and bro Small as a team. 88 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 4: So eventually he migrated just around the way to the 89 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 4: Grand Opera House, where he became an usher you know, 90 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 4: one of those folks that kindly shows you to your seat, 91 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 4: and quickly he kind of worked his way up the 92 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 4: ranks at the Grand Opera House and became the treasurer. 93 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 4: That's kind of a success story right there. That's a 94 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 4: pretty high position. He was generally thought of as a 95 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,359 Speaker 4: pretty solid worker. Small was also from early on someone 96 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 4: who really made no secret about their ambitions. He was 97 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 4: always looking for a little bit of a side hustle. 98 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, always in search of some extra cheddar. The kind 99 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 3: of guy who likes money so much that he gets 100 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 3: upset when other people have it. If we're going to 101 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 3: editorialize and profile a bit, we know that at this 102 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 3: point he was already participating in bookie activities, illegal book 103 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 3: making operations. A guy I love taking bets on horse races, 104 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 3: you know, business in the front, bookie. 105 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 4: In the back, betting on the ponies. 106 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, let those ponies run. Got to you got to. 107 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,119 Speaker 3: But he experienced tragedy as well as mother passed away 108 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,919 Speaker 3: in eighteen eighty seven, and then in eighteen eighty nine, 109 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 3: you know, he had a falling out with Shepherd and 110 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 3: he left. Perhaps this was due to small sometimes prickly 111 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 3: personality perhaps it was due to his constant pursuit of power. 112 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 3: Like you'll see biographers who speculate that Small stab Shepherd 113 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 3: the man who had helped him in the back metaphorically, 114 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 3: not literally, one way or the other. Small ends up 115 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 3: going to work at the Toronto Opera House. So same 116 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 3: kind of thing, different brand name. 117 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, I went from Grand to Toronto because of whatever 118 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 2: was going on with this Shepherd character. 119 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 3: And he gets promoted there as well, at the Toronto 120 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 3: Opera House. And during this time this will be important later. 121 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 3: His father, Small's father, a guy named Daniel, marries Josephine Corman. 122 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 3: Josephine Corman comes from money. She's an heiress. She's the 123 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 3: daughter of a wealthy beer baron named Ignacious, which is 124 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 3: such a wealthy guy named. 125 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 2: And shout out to the Canadian Encyclopedia. How often do 126 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 2: we get to shout out those guys, that's for sure. Yeah, 127 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 2: I just have some of the most I don't know 128 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 2: the best collected information about this case. 129 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 3: I would say they're one of the I would say 130 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 3: they're one of the best least biased sources online. So 131 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 3: you can read a lot of print books about this 132 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 3: investigating the mystery and about the life of Ambrose Small. 133 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,679 Speaker 3: But often, and we say this with great respect, often 134 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 3: the authors are drawing toward their own conclusion what they 135 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 3: think happened, and the Canadian Encyclopedia newspapers at the time 136 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 3: they're taking wild swings, especially the newspapers in the era 137 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 3: of cutthroat muckraking press. 138 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 4: So Small kind of fought his way to the forefront 139 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 4: of the super competitive theater business there in Ontario, and 140 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 4: he eventually found a partnership with Detroit theater mogul Clark J. Whitney, 141 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 4: who was a major player in the Ontario theater circuit. 142 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 4: So when Whitney died in nineteen oh two, Small bought 143 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 4: up tons of theaters and communities across Ontario and least 144 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 4: others to kind of create a network of theaters. And 145 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 4: they all depended on him by his own design for 146 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 4: booking these shows, because he was the sole controller of 147 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 4: the kind of pathway that you mentioned, Matt, from New 148 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:57,719 Speaker 4: York to Canada, the New York kind of theater syndicates. 149 00:08:57,720 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 4: I guess you could call them. 150 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 2: Well, and you may yourself. How does the manager at 151 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 2: the Toronto Opera House have enough scratch to buy all 152 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 2: of these properties, right, these are established businesses that cost 153 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 2: lots and lots of money, and he is doing that 154 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,319 Speaker 2: because we mentioned he's a bookie. But you can only 155 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,839 Speaker 2: imagine that there's other stuff going on in the background too, 156 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 2: where he's able to get enough capital to buy major establishments. 157 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 3: Excellent setup. Yeah. In nineteen o two, he marries the 158 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 3: younger sister of his stepmother, So technically he marries his 159 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 3: step aunt. And her name is Teresa Corman, And just 160 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 3: like Josephine Corman, this is the heiress of that beer 161 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 3: baron Ignacious. 162 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 2: Isn't sheilin younger step daughter or something? 163 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, so still technically step aunt. So yeah, 164 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 3: that's what I'm saying. Like it's his stepmother's younger sister, 165 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 3: so technically, right, wouldn't that be his step aunt? Yeah, 166 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 3: So they're combined financial assets. Ambrose Small's growing control of 167 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 3: the theater community there and maybe maybe he bet on 168 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:15,839 Speaker 3: the right ponies. Combined with Teresa Corman's inheritance or her 169 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 3: assets from her family, they make the couple super wealthy. 170 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:23,719 Speaker 3: But money is not always going to equate to happiness, 171 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 3: not every time. They're very different people, like she is 172 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 3: a polyglot, she is super into world travel. She's a philanthropist, 173 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 3: she volunteers everywhere. 174 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 4: And Small, on the other hand, is a philanderer. 175 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 3: And a gambler, like you said, a womanizer. He even 176 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 3: I don't know, he's a real pill. Which is interesting 177 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 3: about this case. He had a semi secret chamber built 178 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,800 Speaker 3: in the Grand Opera House and it was for his 179 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 3: tryst with chorus girls. This is the kind of guy 180 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,280 Speaker 3: that we're talking about in our early days of Hollywood episode. 181 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 3: This guy would literally have young women who wanted to 182 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 3: work with him and he would invite them to that 183 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 3: secret room for an interview. 184 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 4: Casting couch types stuff. 185 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 2: Yeah. 186 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 4: Cool. It's interesting because his wife was such a you know, 187 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,839 Speaker 4: lover of culture and you know, the finer things in life, 188 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 4: and like you said, very well traveled, and he seemed 189 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 4: to be very much a part of culture and importing 190 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 4: it to Canada. And it would seem like, I mean, 191 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 4: I didn't know the guy, but that he was more 192 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 4: concerned about the financial side of it than he was 193 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 4: you know, the beauty of the arts. 194 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, it is weird. According to some of the sources, 195 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 2: we found that secret room there in the Opera House 196 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,679 Speaker 2: for the tryst chamber or whatever we want to call it. 197 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 3: It is. 198 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 2: It isn't found at least according to some sources until 199 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 2: the investigation begins that we're going to explain to you 200 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,719 Speaker 2: or we're going to talk about. But others it's like rumors, right, 201 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,679 Speaker 2: that are just circulating around the office basically, and the 202 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 2: various offices of all of these opera houses and places 203 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 2: of performance. But the guy is definitely viewed. It would 204 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 2: seem ken according to some of the information that comes 205 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 2: out during the era of yellow journalism, that this guy 206 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 2: is a bit of a scoundrel. 207 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 3: Yeah again, a pill. It is an open secret, right, 208 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 3: It's something that his wife seems to be very much 209 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 3: aware of. Now. The small family, Teresa and Ambrosewiming, they 210 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 3: live in opulence. They have a very nice est state, 211 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 3: but they sleep in separate rooms and they appear to 212 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 3: only grow further apart as small pursues, you know, this gambling, 213 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 3: this philandering and success as an entertainment mogul. Eventually he 214 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 3: runs what we could rightly call an empire of thirty 215 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 3: four theaters half or outside of Ontario. So he's expanding. 216 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 3: Any star performer who wants to wants to stroll the 217 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 3: boards at his stage. No matter how popular they are. 218 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 3: This control of the market means they have to in 219 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,959 Speaker 3: some way deal with Ambrose small and Small has a reputation, 220 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 3: he does it. He's not just ruthless and unscrupulous, which 221 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,560 Speaker 3: happens a lot with moguls. He seems to take sadistic 222 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 3: joy in screwing people over. We got to talk about 223 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 3: the business contract thing. 224 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's funny you mentioned the whole Golden 225 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 4: Age of Hollywood episode that we did in terms of 226 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 4: the casting couch. But his iron fisted grasp over this 227 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,839 Speaker 4: market and also perhaps sadistic bent also has a lot 228 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:38,959 Speaker 4: in common with the studio system of those days that 229 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 4: we talk about in the episode. So everyone thought the 230 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:45,320 Speaker 4: Small wasn't just a scoundrel, as you mentioned, Ben, they 231 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 4: also knew that he took great pleasure and pride in 232 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 4: putting one over on just about anybody. He planted business 233 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 4: contracts with little kind of hidden clauses that he called jokers, 234 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 4: that essentially were ways of kind of hiding in plain 235 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:08,000 Speaker 4: sight things that would benefit him and not benefit the 236 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 4: person signing the contract. He was also suspected of using 237 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 4: his influence to actually fix some of these horse races, yeah, 238 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 4: which was totally possible, just to be clear. 239 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 3: And also yeah, people called him at chiseler, which was 240 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 3: a big insult at the time. They called him at cheapskate. 241 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 3: They they did not like him. It reminds me of 242 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 3: that movie. It is an interesting comparison. It reminds me 243 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 3: of that film based on the real life event I 244 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 3: want to see. It was a small town somewhere in 245 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 3: Texas where there was a known bully who eventually got 246 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,320 Speaker 3: killed and everybody knew who killed him but refused to 247 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 3: go to the police. 248 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 4: Yep, movie is called Bully. 249 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 3: Oh it's a bully, ok. Larry Clark. 250 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a gnarly film, not for the faint of heart. 251 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 4: It's it's pretty mean spirited. 252 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 3: Stumbled it to the answer. Yeah, this guy was unpopular. 253 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 3: A lot of people hated him. There's something mentioned. I 254 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 3: believe this isn't the Canadian encyclopedia. It's repeated in several 255 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 3: different places about a quote from a journalist in Toronto 256 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 3: at the time named Hector charles Worth. Hector Charlesworth knows 257 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 3: small personally, and in nineteen twenty eight, after the events 258 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 3: that we're about to really explore, here the stuff they 259 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 3: don't want, you know. Hector comes out with a book 260 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 3: called More Candid Chronicles and he says, if I heard once, 261 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 3: I heard a score of times the ominous words. Somebody 262 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 3: will get to Amby someday. 263 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 4: Right. 264 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 3: They called him Amby as a nickname for Ambrose. I 265 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 3: don't know if he liked the nickname Amby. Even his 266 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 3: longtime assistants did not care for him. Guy named John 267 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 3: Dody Jack to his friends, worked for this guy for years, 268 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 3: and he also seemed to hate the dude, which will 269 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 3: be important later. 270 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 2: So let's talk about movie theaters. These are performance arts theaters, 271 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 2: many of the ones that Small has taken over and 272 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 2: is now running, and he has such control over them. 273 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 2: As we stated before, it's about the players, the actual 274 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 2: human beings that are going to get on stage. I 275 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 2: assume also it's the players who are going to be 276 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 2: underneath the stage, maybe the musicians. Right, He probably is 277 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 2: exerting control over everybody that is going to take part 278 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 2: in any kind of performance in these venues. And we're 279 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 2: talking thirty four or more of them as well, all 280 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 2: across Toronto in different parts of Canada. In eighteen ninety six, 281 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 2: the First movie theater shows up in Toronto. Now that 282 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 2: is a while ago, right, If if we're following through 283 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 2: the timeline here, which we're in, I guess we're in 284 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 2: what the nineteen teens at this point something like that. 285 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 2: Around this time, the concept of movie theaters is a 286 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 2: threat to his business and his way of life, and 287 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 2: it's kind of been looming in the background. But it's 288 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 2: been this technology that has been advancing pretty quickly and 289 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 2: growing a lot, especially to the south. Right in the 290 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 2: United States, movie theaters are becoming the thing, and as 291 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 2: they are now proliferating across Canada. Small things. Maybe there's 292 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 2: something else I need to do here, Maybe there's a 293 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,360 Speaker 2: pivot I can make to either cash out or change 294 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 2: my wealth, change the way I make my wealth. 295 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,199 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. To be clear, we don't have a sense 296 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 3: that this guy was necessarily a creative participant in the 297 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 3: entertainment industry. Like he was not writing his own plays, right, 298 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,120 Speaker 3: he was not doing a Kevin Costner thing where he 299 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 3: directs and stars and stuff. He is about the money. 300 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 3: So whatever can accelerate his personal wealth is what he 301 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,639 Speaker 3: will look into. The rise of motion pictures sends live 302 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 3: theater into decline, and so it comes to pass. In 303 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:59,719 Speaker 3: nineteen nineteen, Small decides to exit the business. He's going 304 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 3: to sell out. You know, this is like if you 305 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 3: run AMC and you decide to sell AMC. And so 306 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,919 Speaker 3: he says, I'm going to sell my theater Empire to 307 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 3: a competing force, trans Canada Theaters Limited over in Montreal. 308 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,920 Speaker 3: And he says, I got to get the right price, though, 309 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 3: I got to get my big So he sells. In 310 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 3: nineteen nineteen, he strikes a deal to sell off his 311 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 3: entire business for one point the US equivalent of one 312 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 3: point seven million dollars one million dollars up front, the 313 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 3: other seven hundred thousand in installments over time. If we 314 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 3: want to pull a ridiculous history card and do a 315 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:48,399 Speaker 3: little inflation calculator, that is thirty million, eight hundred and 316 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 3: twenty four thousand, nine hundred and thirty dollars and sixty 317 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 3: four cents in twenty twenty four money. 318 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,200 Speaker 4: Oof, my goodness, that is a lot of cash. Then 319 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 4: on the first of December nineteen nineteen, at the law 320 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 4: offices of Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt in the Dominion Bank 321 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:10,159 Speaker 4: building on King Street, Small, Theresa and their attorney E. W. M. 322 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:14,879 Speaker 4: Flock met Trans Canada Theaters representative William Shaughnessy. It's a 323 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 4: great theater man name to sign over those theaters. They 324 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:21,879 Speaker 4: got a check for a million dollars. The check was 325 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 4: deposited at that bank Dominion the next morning, perhaps by 326 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 4: Small but also possibly by Teresa. Then on December twod 327 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 4: he vanished. 328 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 3: So what happened? We'll dive into it after a word 329 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 3: from our sponsor, here's river did's increase to this day? 330 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,920 Speaker 3: No one knows, at least by which we mean, no 331 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 3: one has an official solution to the case. Again, as 332 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 3: I stated earlier, there are a lot of opinions right. 333 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:03,640 Speaker 3: There are things that initial investigators were convinced would solve 334 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 3: the case. There are things that later authors and researchers 335 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 3: are convinced they have discovered. We want to be fair 336 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,400 Speaker 3: to all of them. But you'll see what we mean 337 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 3: when we delve into the theories. So maybe maybe we 338 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 3: step it back forensically into the day of the disappearance 339 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:24,919 Speaker 3: December second, nineteen nineteen. Now no one is one hundred 340 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 3: percent sure of the exact timeline here, and honestly that's 341 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 3: typical for cases of this nature. We know that after 342 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 3: making this sale after getting the initial million dollars just 343 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 3: crazy money. Ambrose small, however distant he and his spouse 344 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 3: may have been. He made some purchases, ostensibly for her, 345 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 3: some kind of celebratory gifts. He bought her jewelry, a 346 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 3: fur coat, a Cadillac that's pretty nuts. And then he 347 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:54,919 Speaker 3: had lunch with the guy who mentioned earlier in Noel Flock, 348 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 3: and with his wife Teresa, and he walked Esa to 349 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 3: a nearby orphan because she regularly volunteered at this orphanage. 350 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 3: And then he went back to his office with his 351 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,679 Speaker 3: buddy Flock. They were having a meeting and they planned 352 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,880 Speaker 3: to get out around five point thirty, at which point 353 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 3: they would maybe go and meet up for dinner. Flock 354 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 3: had a train to catch to London. Side note for 355 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 3: US Yankees in the crowd, that's London, Ontario. If anybody's wondering, WHOA, 356 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 3: that's amazing a train from Canada to London. We thought 357 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 3: so too, but it's not. So we know then that 358 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 3: Flock is gone. He's off to London, Ontario, and his 359 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 3: train leaves at six pm, so he leaves at five 360 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 3: point thirty, which makes him the last person that we 361 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 3: can confirm on record saw Ambrose small. After that, the 362 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 3: trail runs cold, or the trail is actually cold, but 363 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,640 Speaker 3: no one knows about it for two weeks. His own 364 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,479 Speaker 3: family does not report him missing until two weeks have passed. 365 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,119 Speaker 3: It's not till December sixteenth, And I got to ask you, guys, 366 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 3: what's the implication there? Does his wife think he's just 367 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 3: off with a mistress. Maybe do a lot of associates 368 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 3: just say, hey, he made it, you know, he got 369 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,399 Speaker 3: the golden goose. He's kicking back as a newly minted millionaire. 370 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 3: Or did the people who not like him, were they 371 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 3: just happy not to hear from him. 372 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,160 Speaker 2: It's one of two things. Either his wife was aware 373 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 2: that he does this kind of thing, especially when he's 374 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 2: got a windfall, goes and spends some of it and 375 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 2: spends his time with other women, if not his mistress, 376 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,919 Speaker 2: because he did have one longtime mistress that his wife 377 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,439 Speaker 2: was aware of, unfortunately, because she had found some letters 378 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 2: and some other things from that specific person. But she 379 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:56,119 Speaker 2: knew he spent his time with other women, and she 380 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 2: knew that he liked to gamble and he liked to 381 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 2: be away, So maybe she just thought he was out 382 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,960 Speaker 2: of town doing his thing, and she was either embarrassed 383 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 2: about that or has just gotten so used to that 384 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 2: that that's just what she deals with, right right. 385 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 4: I think she was even aware of his casting couch situation. Yes, 386 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,520 Speaker 4: whether it was completely against her will or whether they 387 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 4: had some sort of understanding or whatever, I think is 388 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 4: maybe not fully clear. But she was aware of his 389 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 4: patterns and didn't report him missing to the police because 390 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 4: just figured he was out catting around. 391 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 2: Or or she specifically didn't talk about him and his 392 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:41,160 Speaker 2: disappearance for two weeks because stuff had to get done, okay. 393 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,479 Speaker 3: Which is yeah, like as always saying earlier, there are 394 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 3: a lot of places there, there are a lot of 395 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 3: possibilities that might not involve her as a culprit, right, 396 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 3: we have to remember this, Ley's been through a pretty 397 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:57,080 Speaker 3: tough marriage. I do think it's worth noting that when 398 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 3: investigators do ask her when the family goes public on 399 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 3: sixteenth of December nineteen nineteen, investigators do ask Teresa Small 400 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 3: about this, and she says she had not reported his 401 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 3: disappearance because she wanted to avoid a scandal. She had 402 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,119 Speaker 3: this specific statement that is in the papers of the time. 403 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,919 Speaker 3: It's quoted in every source pretty much. She says, I 404 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 3: believe my Ambi is in the hands of a designing 405 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,000 Speaker 3: woman somewhere and will come back. And this just a 406 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,880 Speaker 3: side note for us here in the US. This finally 407 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 3: explains to me the double meaning, the double entendre of 408 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 3: that sitcom from back in the day designing women, because 409 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 3: they were a crew of interior designers or. 410 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:47,199 Speaker 5: But they were also you know, the amorous Yes, but 411 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 5: that's just as I was saying earlier, I think this 412 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:52,760 Speaker 5: is potentially a statement you would say if you're trying 413 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:55,440 Speaker 5: to cover your tracks because maybe you did something wrong. 414 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 2: I'm just saying, and we're taking people at their word, 415 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 2: that's all. That's all I was saying. 416 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'm just saying that these are different possibilities, 417 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 3: man like, like there's no proof, there's no smoking gun. 418 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 3: Maybe she was waiting for a two week time window. 419 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 3: But the disappearance does go public. And when it goes public, 420 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,360 Speaker 3: what does what does Teresa Small do? She offers a reward. 421 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 4: Yes, five hundred dollars I believe, which at the time 422 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,360 Speaker 4: would have been no small reward. I guess we better 423 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 4: inflation calculator that too. While we're at it. 424 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,479 Speaker 3: Oh, yes, sir, that is going to five hundred dollars 425 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 3: US equivalency in nineteen nineteen, Well would be nine thousand, 426 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 3: sixty six dollars and sixteen cents in twenty twenty four. 427 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,199 Speaker 4: Well, she should have gone for an even five oh 428 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,119 Speaker 4: four to make it an even ten grand and twenty 429 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 4: twenty four numbers. You know what was she thinking? No, 430 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,880 Speaker 4: but this was a big deal. This was the kind 431 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 4: of money that would get things done. Yeah. 432 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, And this is not for returning him, right, this 433 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 3: is information on his whereabouts. In addition to the five 434 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 3: hundred dollars reward. I believe she has missing persons flyers 435 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 3: distributed across Canada and across the United States. And the 436 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 3: investigators welcome this. They need the help. Honestly, they're flummoxed. 437 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 3: Everything they're looking at for this guy, at least again, 438 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 3: as you were saying, according to what the investigators say, 439 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 3: according to their word, is a dead end. He has 440 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 3: im packed any suitcases, by which they mean none of 441 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 3: the suitcases he previously possessed are missing. It doesn't seem 442 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 3: like he pulled that million dollars out of the bank. 443 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:38,880 Speaker 3: There's no track record or no trail, I should say 444 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,920 Speaker 3: of him using a check to pay for a train 445 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 3: ticket or to get a hotel somewhere. They go to 446 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 3: the usual spots he hangs out at, including we can 447 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 3: only imagine some of his gambling connections. He's not there. 448 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 3: No one there is speaking to the police. And I guess, 449 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 3: to be fair, the police burst into a gambling hall 450 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 3: or a den of iniquity, people aren't going to say, oh, yeah, yeah, 451 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:09,600 Speaker 3: that guy was here. They're just not going to talk 452 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 3: to the authorities in general. 453 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 2: Well, especially if it's the big spender of that establishment. Right, 454 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 2: if it's one of the bosses that hangs out of 455 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 2: that establishment, you're never going to speak a word about 456 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,920 Speaker 2: that person and what they're doing. 457 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 4: It's just bad business. 458 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to reward your loyal customers, right, they do. 459 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 3: To that note about the longtime mistress, we know of, 460 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 3: authorities reach out to Clara Smith. Clara Smith is living 461 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:41,639 Speaker 3: in Minneapolis in nineteen nineteen, and she says, look, I 462 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:46,399 Speaker 3: don't know what happened to Aby. I'm over here in Minneapolis, 463 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 3: and they could prove that she was there, so maybe 464 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 3: did they surveil her, right, maybe he was hiding out 465 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 3: or something like that. That's a valid question at this point, Well. 466 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 4: This dude is a serious public figure in this scene 467 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 4: at this point, correct. I mean he is a player, 468 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 4: so he's known, and this would not have gone unnoticed. 469 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 4: This was a pretty big news item. 470 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:13,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the big thing to notice here in this story. 471 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 2: Nothing is missing besides the man. It's not as though 472 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 2: the money was taken out, right. He wasn't walking around 473 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,439 Speaker 2: with a million dollars. He wasn't even walking around with 474 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 2: a couple hundred thousand dollars. He was just gone. 475 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 3: Vanish, as if into thin air. Look, this is to 476 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 3: the point you were making. This is such a public figure. 477 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,720 Speaker 3: This is kind of like Harvey Weinstein going missing. Even 478 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 3: though his I'm going to say it, doubtlessly he coerced 479 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,480 Speaker 3: some women, right, even though that may not be front 480 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 3: of mind for the public sphere or the press at 481 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 3: the time. It's unescapable or inescapable reality. All sorts of 482 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 3: rumors pop up. Eventually, Teresa Small increases the reward for 483 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 3: information to fifty thousand dollars if found alive. Fifteen thousand 484 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 3: just for the body of Ambrose Small. The story goes global. 485 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 3: This guy's the Elvis Presley of his time, or the 486 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 3: Bigfoot if you like. There are all sorts of people 487 00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 3: claiming that they have seen him. People were claiming they 488 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 3: were using their psychic powers or pseudo scientific powers to 489 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 3: be the last hope to find this guy, and none 490 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 3: of these things worked. Do we want to talk about 491 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 3: Arthur Conan Doyle. 492 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 4: He shows up in this Oh yes, mister Sherlock Holmes himself. 493 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's just a side note. You can read more 494 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 3: about it. But he's reporters in again this muckraking era 495 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 3: of newspapers. They reach out to other celebrities. This becomes 496 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 3: a celebrity story and they say, hey, will you help 497 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,959 Speaker 3: the Canadian police find Ambrose small. 498 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 4: Right, And that included a Viennese criminologist by the name 499 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 4: of mac Similian A. Langsner. He had a method that 500 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 4: I'm with pat or trademarked or whatever, but that's a 501 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 4: pretty cool name. It's called the thought wave system that 502 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,280 Speaker 4: he believed could help locate this person. It sounds like 503 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 4: a bit of quackery to me. Yeah. 504 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 3: The thought wave system, whatever the efficacy may be, did 505 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 3: not work in this regard. And, as often happens in 506 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 3: a case of this magnitude, multiple people from across Canada 507 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 3: and the US and later the world started claiming to 508 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 3: have seen Small And some of these were claims made 509 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 3: in good faith for sure, some were made for attention, 510 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 3: all were apparently incorrect. There were also people claiming that 511 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:46,720 Speaker 3: they were in fact Ambro Small. They were coming forward. 512 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 3: It maybe was I don't know, maybe it was all 513 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 3: the money on the line. What do you guys think 514 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 3: had to be I mean. 515 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 4: Like I said that five hundred bucks and you know 516 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 4: it was enough to get stuff done. What I'm saying 517 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 4: is like this would have been a massive motivator, all 518 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 4: of these top people showing up trying to get on 519 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 4: the publicity wagon. It just seems like if something was 520 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 4: going to be found, that there was something out there 521 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,719 Speaker 4: at clue of any kind, that it would have turned up. Well. 522 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, and once it became fifty thousand dollars going on, 523 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:13,280 Speaker 2: that's like lobbery. 524 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 4: And that five hundred turning into fifty thousand, five hundred 525 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 4: already being a mega respectable reward. You would think that 526 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 4: if there was something out there to be found, with 527 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:22,720 Speaker 4: all of these top people coming in to jump on 528 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 4: the publicity wagon, it was going to be found. 529 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, there were so many false claims, including people who 530 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 3: said I am Ambrose small, very like I am Spartacus. 531 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 3: They eventually the Attorney General keeps a folder for all 532 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 3: these reports they don't take seriously, and they called it 533 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 3: letters from cranks, Comma, et cetera. This search is initially, yes, 534 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 3: aided by newspapers, but I think we can make a 535 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,959 Speaker 3: strong argument it's only partially aided by newspapers. In this 536 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,880 Speaker 3: mad rush to grab headlines to grab attention, just like 537 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 3: a precedent of social media today, there were a lot 538 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 3: of unscrupulous public They were super happy to print any 539 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 3: and all outrageous claims because if you got the right headline, 540 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 3: you sold the paper and they bought that instead of 541 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 3: you know, your competitor's news outfit. So newspaper readers also 542 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,320 Speaker 3: got Can we talk about the cryptogram? I'm still so 543 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 3: confused about this. How would we pronounce this? Would it 544 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 3: be one p eb eighty six. 545 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 4: And sounds like an aim handle? 546 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 2: You got no idea? 547 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 3: This is I can't remember if this mentioned in every source, 548 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 3: but in the Toronto Star if you if you look 549 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 3: at their reporting of this, apparently there was this cryptogram 550 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 3: that was released to newspaper readers and people were invited 551 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 3: to analyze it, and so a bunch of people tried 552 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 3: to crack the cipher and the going public opinion was 553 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 3: that this meant Ambrose Small was alive, but he was 554 00:32:55,760 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 3: trapped in a limehouse kill there a place called Brampton Junction, 555 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:05,520 Speaker 3: and he was suffocating as you read this paper to. 556 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 4: The cryptogram was just something that was sent by some 557 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 4: kind of crank that I was just trying to get 558 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 4: some attention. 559 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 3: There's a book that I'm hoping to read by Katie Dobbs, 560 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 3: who wrote for the Toronto Star. It will hopefully have 561 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 3: more about the cryptogram, but we're honestly going to have 562 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 3: to dig into that. 563 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 4: One. 564 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 2: Book's called The Missing Millionaire, The True Story of Ambrose Small. 565 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, and in full disclosure. I don't think any of 566 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 3: us have read that in full yet. 567 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 2: Okay, not yet. 568 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 3: So this cryptogram spelled spelled like it sounds, it leads 569 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 3: nowhere and this is where we get to. I don't 570 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 3: know if we want to talk about some of the 571 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 3: weird alleged sightings. One that stands out is the work 572 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,880 Speaker 3: of a private detective named John J. Brothy And pardon 573 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 3: my cat there, everybody say hey to doctor. 574 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 4: Vankmin Hey, doctor V. Looking good. 575 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,760 Speaker 3: So this guy brought He says, Look, I found Small 576 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 3: and I found him doing poorly as they would say 577 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 3: at the time. This is nineteen twenty one. He says, 578 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 3: this guy, the real Ambrose Small, was a victim of 579 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,319 Speaker 3: a hit and run in Des Moines, Iowa. And he 580 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 3: was dropped off by the person who had hit him. 581 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 3: So someone hit this guy in the road and then 582 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 3: they dropped him off and left. And this PI says 583 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 3: Small or the guy he believes as small as a 584 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 3: gunshot wound in his neck. He's got a crazy concussion 585 00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 3: and both his legs have been amputated. 586 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:41,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, like, what could that have been from? Was he 587 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 2: in war? Did he hop a train incorrectly? 588 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 4: Yes, I've never heard that put quite like that, Matt, 589 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 4: I love it. 590 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 3: And apparently this guy is non responsive, at least nonverbal 591 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 3: for three weeks, so the better part of a month. 592 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 3: And when he finds speaks up, he says, I am 593 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,959 Speaker 3: John Dowdy. I came here from Obaha. That is all 594 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 3: I remember. Oh yeah, we remember though the name John 595 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 3: Dowdy or Jack to his friends, the longtime assistant slash 596 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:17,600 Speaker 3: secretary of Ambrose. 597 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 2: Small oh, James, right, yeah. 598 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,719 Speaker 3: James, that's correct. Sorry, I just called him Jack because 599 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 3: we're friends. 600 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,759 Speaker 4: Of course, so we should hold onto this. Put a 601 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,919 Speaker 4: pin in this fact for a little later, and we'll 602 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,600 Speaker 4: see as well why this couldn't possibly have been the truth. 603 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:36,720 Speaker 4: So moving forward in the timeline, the private investigator claimed 604 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:42,879 Speaker 4: he showed this this man very unfortunate case, a photograph 605 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 4: of Ambrose Small, and the man allegedly replied, yes, that 606 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 4: is me. 607 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 3: Okay, we'll switch of the story. 608 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 4: There's like a Memento man type situation, you know. 609 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, sorry, I'm editorializing when I'm pointing that out. The 610 00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:59,840 Speaker 3: guy does get taken into custody in Des Moines, we 611 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 3: know that for sure, but we also know from that 612 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,719 Speaker 3: point the trail falls cold. All we can assume is 613 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,920 Speaker 3: that this very troubled individual was not in fact the 614 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 3: missing theater Agne. Because there's no other real reporting about them, 615 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 3: and despite all of this kerfuffle, this bruhaha, no one 616 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,200 Speaker 3: can find the actual Ambrose Small. None of the people 617 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 3: claiming to be Ambrose Small turned out to be Ambrose Prime. Further, 618 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,760 Speaker 3: no one can find a solid lead or a clue 619 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 3: that goes anywhere. And because there are no solid leads 620 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 3: because there are no solid clues. There are these wild rumors, theories, speculation, 621 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,080 Speaker 3: these people. As I mentioned, I think I keep mentioning 622 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,160 Speaker 3: it too much, but I just can't imagine. I have 623 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:51,279 Speaker 3: a difficult time imagining deciding to go to the media 624 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 3: or to police and saying that you are the missing person. 625 00:36:55,360 --> 00:37:00,160 Speaker 3: It reminds me a little bit of those unscrupulos as 626 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,440 Speaker 3: crazy scams where people would say they were a missing 627 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 3: kid would be gone for years. You know. Also, maybe 628 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,479 Speaker 3: there's mental instability involved, and maybe some people just begin 629 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:16,600 Speaker 3: to believe that they are, in fact Ambrose Small. That's 630 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 3: the magnitude of this case. 631 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 2: Well, Ambrose is still missing, but the question remains, was 632 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,279 Speaker 2: there foul play? We'll return after a word from our 633 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 2: sponsor and explore that very thought. 634 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 4: And we're back. So why don't we start by jumping 635 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:40,320 Speaker 4: into some theories and a handful of suspects. Theory number 636 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 4: one we've alluded to quite a few times already, and 637 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,319 Speaker 4: certainly seems credible that Small ran off with one of 638 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:53,279 Speaker 4: his many lady friends paramoors. Unfortunately, each lead in that 639 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:57,759 Speaker 4: particular genre turned out to not hold water. If he 640 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 4: did leave with one of his ladies was someone completely 641 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:06,720 Speaker 4: unknown or unsuspected to police. In addition to Small's friends, 642 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,759 Speaker 4: quote unquote, his circle of associates, let's call them. 643 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm calling circle of associates because I'm not sure 644 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,319 Speaker 3: if they would consider each other friends, you know what 645 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 3: I mean, based on the infamy of his business dealings. 646 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 3: The second theory is murder by employee, the guy we've 647 00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:30,280 Speaker 3: mentioned before, James Jack Doty, who I'm mistakenly called John 648 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,439 Speaker 3: a second ago, but we introduced him at the top. 649 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,839 Speaker 3: He was their primary suspect. He's the first person they 650 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 3: look at because Dottie has worked with Small for years, 651 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 3: and Dottie is often complaining to his friends, because he 652 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:46,680 Speaker 3: does have friends. He's complaining about his salary. He says, 653 00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,440 Speaker 3: my salary is let me put it in an extremely 654 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,759 Speaker 3: diplomatic way. He tells people his salary is insufficient. And 655 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,480 Speaker 3: he makes something like I want to say, forty bucks 656 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:58,359 Speaker 3: a week, forty three something like that. 657 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:00,120 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and he does a lot of work, a 658 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,920 Speaker 2: guy who makes a lot of money, and he likely 659 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,400 Speaker 2: watches his boss do all kinds of unscrupulous things, knowing 660 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,839 Speaker 2: that he's making money in other ways. And he still 661 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:09,800 Speaker 2: gets paid that much. 662 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,759 Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's feeling like a dog's body, which is 663 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,400 Speaker 3: just a fancy word for pretty much a servant or 664 00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:20,920 Speaker 3: a man of all needs, you know, like a valet, 665 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 3: a secretary. He's a fixer, and he feels unappreciated, and 666 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,480 Speaker 3: you know, everybody feels unappreciated at some point. But this 667 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 3: went on for years for this guy. And initially the police, 668 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:39,360 Speaker 3: well they can't get Jack's opinion because Jack disappears pretty 669 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 3: much right after Ambrose is gone. 670 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:45,320 Speaker 2: Uh oh, that seems suspicious. 671 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, not the best thing to do. Really. 672 00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,040 Speaker 2: Well, Well, he just went on vacation, just like Ambrose. 673 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,200 Speaker 3: Right, sure, why not? And when he went on vacation, 674 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 3: he took a lot more money than Ambrose appeared to take, 675 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:03,440 Speaker 3: because Dowdy made off with the equivalent of one hundred 676 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:07,360 Speaker 3: thousand to one hundred and five thousand US dollars worth 677 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 3: of victory bonds from the Ambrose small safety deposit over 678 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:14,040 Speaker 3: at Dominion Bank, which you mentioned earlier. 679 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 2: Nor is this World War One victory bonds? 680 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 3: Stealing victory bonds? That feels I mean, I guess it 681 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:23,279 Speaker 3: was a different time, you know what I mean? 682 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:25,719 Speaker 2: Now, Hold on, guys, correct me if I'm wrong here. 683 00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:30,000 Speaker 2: Those victory bonds. Let's say Daughtry. It's such a weird 684 00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:33,240 Speaker 2: doug h t Y Dotty. 685 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,960 Speaker 3: Don't you keep saying Dotty or dough Yeah. 686 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 2: Sorry, there's another person in the story like Doughty or 687 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,640 Speaker 2: it's very close and my brain keeps like smashing them together. 688 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 2: But this guy takes these victory bonds, right, Those bonds 689 00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:51,359 Speaker 2: have to mature before you can cash them out, right, 690 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:53,200 Speaker 2: or maybe you can cash them out. They're just not 691 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:54,960 Speaker 2: worth what they would be. 692 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:56,320 Speaker 3: They haven't matured. 693 00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I guess you would just hold on to 694 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,400 Speaker 2: them and is a long game. 695 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 3: Or maybe he thought it was different from just taking cash. 696 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,520 Speaker 3: Or maybe he opened the safety deposit box because he 697 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:10,880 Speaker 3: did have access to it and just took what he found. 698 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:15,960 Speaker 3: That might be a maybe more opportunistic. But this is 699 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,879 Speaker 3: our second disappearance, and in the wake of the second disappearance, 700 00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:26,040 Speaker 3: investigators learn more troubling stuff about Jack. According to what 701 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 3: are loosely called informants, Jack had multiple times spoken of 702 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,800 Speaker 3: what it would be like if he kidnapped or murdered 703 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,239 Speaker 3: Ambrose small Now where they just mad at each other 704 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 3: after a business dealing. Was he, you know, rubbed raw 705 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 3: about something and said I wish I could just you know, 706 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:47,680 Speaker 3: strangle this guy or something, or did he have an 707 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:50,719 Speaker 3: actual plan? Either way, it doesn't look great. He's a 708 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,640 Speaker 3: person of interest. You have to talk to him, definitely. 709 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:59,040 Speaker 3: He's a guy you need to reach out and touch exactly, 710 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:02,680 Speaker 3: and anyone could get touched, right. We know that's for 711 00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:05,600 Speaker 3: sure in this case. Because the law does catch up 712 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 3: to Jack. He's not in London, Ontario, he's not in Toronto. 713 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:14,600 Speaker 3: He is arrested in Oregon on charges of theft and 714 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:20,600 Speaker 3: conspiracy to kidnap Small, but not on murder, just to you. 715 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:23,040 Speaker 2: Know, hang on to him for a while, as he 716 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:28,440 Speaker 2: had said earlier, which again, don't say that stuff out loud, please. 717 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:33,400 Speaker 4: The kidnapping charges were eventually dropped because of lack of evidence, 718 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:35,720 Speaker 4: and he wasn't able to be charged with the murder 719 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,480 Speaker 4: because no one had confirmed Small's death in the first place. 720 00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 4: He was still simply missing. 721 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, and he went away for six years. I want 722 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,960 Speaker 3: to say he was extradited to Canada. Again, a crime solved. 723 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,560 Speaker 3: That's a good thing, the theft of the bonds. But 724 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:56,120 Speaker 3: this does not solve the disappearance. And police become convinced 725 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,279 Speaker 3: over the course of their investigation that Jack could not 726 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:02,920 Speaker 3: have done this. The Jack is not the prime mover 727 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:07,120 Speaker 3: of Ambrose Small's disappearance, which leads us to the third theory. 728 00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:11,719 Speaker 3: Sometimes it's the one's closest to you who betray you. Right. 729 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:17,000 Speaker 3: What if his family did it? What about his wife? Right? 730 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,839 Speaker 3: And they're what seems to be, by many accounts, an 731 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:27,399 Speaker 3: unhappy marriage. Ambrose Small has sisters, Gertrude and Florence. They 732 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,160 Speaker 3: are the initial proponents who say, we think our sister 733 00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:34,960 Speaker 3: in law pay to have our brother killed. 734 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,120 Speaker 2: It's kind of whoa whoa, I. 735 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,080 Speaker 3: Mean awkward Thanksgiving labor for sure. 736 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:47,919 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's one of the primary things in any investigation. 737 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 2: Who benefits from this person no longer being here or 738 00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:56,919 Speaker 2: from this person being dead? Right? The primary beneficiary in 739 00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:01,000 Speaker 2: this situation would be the spouse because all of that 740 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:05,280 Speaker 2: money just got deposited into their accounts, right, A million 741 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,600 Speaker 2: dollar check got deposited and then he goes missing immediately afterwards. 742 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,799 Speaker 2: That's it's just suspicious. And if this person, this other 743 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 2: person Jack high tailed it with a bunch of money 744 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:20,399 Speaker 2: as well that was also his, that's weird. It does 745 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,720 Speaker 2: make you wonder if it wasn't some kind of maybe 746 00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:24,880 Speaker 2: a combo meal. 747 00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:30,960 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, because Jack doubtlessly knew Teresa. Right, Yeah, that's 748 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 3: inescapable and it's proven. Yeah, Gertrude and Florence are convinced that, 749 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 3: or they are convinced enough. They clearly seem to believe 750 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:44,279 Speaker 3: this enough that they pony up some of their own 751 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:48,520 Speaker 3: funds and they hire a private detective named Patrick Sullivan. 752 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:54,680 Speaker 3: Patrick Sullivan is solid at his detective work, we could argue, 753 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:59,480 Speaker 3: but he's even better at getting press. He loves pr 754 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:03,319 Speaker 3: a good headline. He does not find any trace of 755 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,600 Speaker 3: Ambrose Small that we know of. But along the way, 756 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,200 Speaker 3: he's talking to every reporter that he can put get 757 00:45:10,239 --> 00:45:12,680 Speaker 3: on the horn, you know, everybody he can button a 758 00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:17,759 Speaker 3: hole into talking about this, and he's publishing in these tabloids, 759 00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:22,960 Speaker 3: in these what we call yellow journalist rags, where he's 760 00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:28,120 Speaker 3: accusing multiple people. Sometimes he's saying, well, it might be 761 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:31,840 Speaker 3: the Catholic church who Adam kidnapped because they hate theater 762 00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 3: or whatever, or the reason the police can't find this 763 00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 3: guy is because the police killed him and they're pretending 764 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,759 Speaker 3: to look for him and now they're covering it up. 765 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:44,719 Speaker 3: So this is the kind of stuff you see in 766 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:49,080 Speaker 3: you know, a lot of talk shows or different even 767 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:52,919 Speaker 3: podcasts today, that kind of speculation. None of it led anywhere, Oh. 768 00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:54,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, but the way he talked about it, he ended 769 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:57,680 Speaker 2: up in a bunch of lawsuits himself, a bunch of libel, 770 00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:02,120 Speaker 2: obscenities stuff that he trouble for it, because again, that 771 00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:04,719 Speaker 2: type of writing in papers was so common, but the 772 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:08,279 Speaker 2: law was catching up on. This is what happens when 773 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:12,240 Speaker 2: you say clearly false things in newspapers about public folks 774 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:13,640 Speaker 2: or the Catholic church. 775 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:17,279 Speaker 3: Right right, which was a big deal then and still 776 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:19,799 Speaker 3: is a big deal today. And it's similar to the 777 00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:24,239 Speaker 3: earlier investigation of the assistant. The police eventually say, all right, 778 00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:30,360 Speaker 3: Teresa's small didn't have it in her character right to 779 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 3: murder her husband herself, but we are still concerned she 780 00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:37,799 Speaker 3: may have hired some unseemly gents to do the. 781 00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 4: Deed, which certainly seems in line with her station, you know, 782 00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:44,920 Speaker 4: I mean, being a moneyed and cultured person certainly wouldn't 783 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:49,360 Speaker 4: be the one to wield the knife herself. And probably, 784 00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,840 Speaker 4: you know, even if she didn't know unscrupulous characters directly, 785 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:56,200 Speaker 4: there's a guy for that, you know, there's people around. 786 00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:58,239 Speaker 4: If you're powerful and have enough money to spend, you 787 00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:00,800 Speaker 4: can find someone who will help you, the right people 788 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:01,479 Speaker 4: to do the job. 789 00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:06,879 Speaker 3: You'll know someone who knows someone. Yes, yeah, and there. 790 00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:12,040 Speaker 3: This is a serious thing. There's a valid line of questioning. Still, 791 00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:17,520 Speaker 3: after investigation, law enforcement says, we don't think it's her. 792 00:47:18,239 --> 00:47:21,680 Speaker 3: She is never convicted of any crime related to the 793 00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:25,800 Speaker 3: disappearance of Ambrose Small, which leads us to our fourth theory, 794 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:28,080 Speaker 3: back to the racetrack. 795 00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:32,160 Speaker 4: That's right, what if Small, who was famously a philandering 796 00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:36,200 Speaker 4: pill and a degenerate gambler, And finally, you know made 797 00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:38,680 Speaker 4: enemies are the wrong people. Let's not forget that newspaper 798 00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,280 Speaker 4: writer quote was saying, one day someone's gonna get amby, 799 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:45,480 Speaker 4: whether it be a business partner, someone he had wronged financially. 800 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:48,840 Speaker 4: More likely, though, once you get into the unseemly world 801 00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:52,400 Speaker 4: of professional betting and bookmaking, that's when people will actually 802 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:55,840 Speaker 4: come for you, and maybe you know, decap you to start, 803 00:47:56,200 --> 00:47:57,480 Speaker 4: give you a little bit of time, but then if 804 00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:59,680 Speaker 4: you don't pay its curtains. 805 00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:02,879 Speaker 2: I've seen peaky blinders world, just like. 806 00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:06,400 Speaker 3: Wearing the hat. Now we're big fans. 807 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:09,439 Speaker 2: Exactly, but The whole point is like that it could 808 00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 2: be anybody in that world, because we already stated at 809 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:15,080 Speaker 2: the top there he was using his wealth and influence 810 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:19,239 Speaker 2: in that world to fix racing. So if somebody, the 811 00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:23,480 Speaker 2: wrong person loses enough money, uh, in one of those scenarios, 812 00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:25,600 Speaker 2: you could have a real problem on your hands. And 813 00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:28,799 Speaker 2: if you make enemies of the wrong folks in that 814 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:32,200 Speaker 2: realm uh. We've mentioned before how expensive it is to 815 00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:34,920 Speaker 2: keep horses and to train horses to race like that 816 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,920 Speaker 2: and to you know, be in that world. It is expensive. 817 00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:40,359 Speaker 4: Not to mention the fact that he was capable of 818 00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,000 Speaker 4: fixing these races, which I don't even fully then you 819 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:45,120 Speaker 4: mentioned is doable. I guess it would have to do 820 00:48:45,239 --> 00:48:49,040 Speaker 4: with injuring a horse or something, or having a jockey 821 00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:52,319 Speaker 4: that was, you know, on your payroll who perhaps you 822 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,359 Speaker 4: know hold back is that the idea. 823 00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:55,680 Speaker 2: Get that horse through the jockey. 824 00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,080 Speaker 4: That makes it a little more sense. But what if 825 00:48:58,080 --> 00:49:01,120 Speaker 4: he fixed the wrong race and you know it, it 826 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,239 Speaker 4: deprived somebody of some serious money, Even if it wasn't 827 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:06,240 Speaker 4: him owing money, you know that that could have happened 828 00:49:06,239 --> 00:49:06,600 Speaker 4: as well. 829 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:11,040 Speaker 3: Or what if you just what if you just betrayed 830 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:15,600 Speaker 3: somebody else in the entertainment business, and I'm also very powerful. 831 00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:19,359 Speaker 3: These things could happen. The reason we include this speculation 832 00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:22,879 Speaker 3: with no hard proof is because it is possible. It's 833 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:27,840 Speaker 3: it's very possible. We know that similar situations have occurred 834 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,520 Speaker 3: in the past. So could he have could he have 835 00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:34,799 Speaker 3: just pushed the envelope too far and gone off the 836 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:37,840 Speaker 3: deep end, like literally murdered and tossed away in a 837 00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:42,240 Speaker 3: ravine somewhere for gambling debts, Or could someone have thought, 838 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:46,120 Speaker 3: you know, this guy screwed me over so much, I'm 839 00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:48,680 Speaker 3: not going to let him have a happy ending with 840 00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:53,560 Speaker 3: his one point seven million dollars, right, And you know then, 841 00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:57,520 Speaker 3: as now, law enforcement does often have a very difficult 842 00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:02,520 Speaker 3: time investigating the real powerful people. And the really powerful 843 00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:06,000 Speaker 3: people aren't the ones cavorting on stage, right, The really 844 00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,960 Speaker 3: powerful people are the ones who owned the stage. Or 845 00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,440 Speaker 3: what's that old Chris Rock quote about rich versus wealthy, 846 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:17,759 Speaker 3: Like the star athlete and your favorite sports team is rich, 847 00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:21,520 Speaker 3: but the guy who signs his checks is wealthy. So 848 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:26,560 Speaker 3: the idea then would be that maybe law enforcement got stonewalls. 849 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:31,600 Speaker 3: You know, maybe there was some kind of some kind 850 00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:35,640 Speaker 3: of cover up, some kind of conspiracy from the wrong 851 00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:38,600 Speaker 3: person in the world of gambling or organized crime, or 852 00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:41,760 Speaker 3: even the world of entertainment. But there's the fifth theory, 853 00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:44,280 Speaker 3: which may be a little happier, maybe a little Shawshank 854 00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:49,680 Speaker 3: redemption esque. What a small squirreled away another nest egg 855 00:50:49,719 --> 00:50:53,200 Speaker 3: of money that no one knew about, and he skipped down, 856 00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:55,160 Speaker 3: you know what I mean, It was easier to skip 857 00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:57,920 Speaker 3: town back then. We just shave your mustache or whatever. 858 00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:00,360 Speaker 4: I wanted a fresh star. He was gonna live a 859 00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:03,120 Speaker 4: new life where he wasn't a total jerk. Doubtful. 860 00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:05,719 Speaker 3: Maybe people can turn over a new leaf. I mean 861 00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:09,040 Speaker 3: that one's possible, but I don't know if it fits 862 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:12,600 Speaker 3: what we know about his psychological profile. It's a guy 863 00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:18,960 Speaker 3: who loves money, right, loves money. What would compel you 864 00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:23,480 Speaker 3: to willingly leave a million dollars and the chance of 865 00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:25,880 Speaker 3: another seven hundred thousand dollars. 866 00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:29,840 Speaker 2: Behind unless he had more money, like black market money 867 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:33,279 Speaker 2: squirreled away somewhere else. I mean, that's really the only reason, right, 868 00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:37,600 Speaker 2: And maybe he would feel okay about leaving his wife 869 00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:40,640 Speaker 2: that large sum of money that's going to continue. There's 870 00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:43,520 Speaker 2: another well, at the time, the equivalent of seven hundred 871 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:45,680 Speaker 2: thousand dollars that would be doled out to her over 872 00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:48,400 Speaker 2: the course of however, many years right to that deal. 873 00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:51,440 Speaker 2: So my wife is all set. Now I've got all 874 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:53,880 Speaker 2: this other money that's way more actually, and I'm going 875 00:51:53,960 --> 00:51:57,799 Speaker 2: to go do my thing. I can imagine that. Yeah, ye. 876 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:02,120 Speaker 3: Possibly. The think is none of these theories have been 877 00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:05,960 Speaker 3: conclusively proven even now in twenty Oh my gosh, you guys, 878 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:08,480 Speaker 3: I did it. I put twenty twenty four instead of 879 00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:09,319 Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. 880 00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:10,440 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's okay, it happens. 881 00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:12,960 Speaker 3: Has that happened to you guys? Yet? 882 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:16,480 Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah, for sure, there wasn't. The Supreme Court in all, 883 00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:18,160 Speaker 4: the Supreme Court of Ontario at least. 884 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:23,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nineteen twenty three, time passes, they say, okay, 885 00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:27,160 Speaker 3: for legal purposes, we're gonna have to say it. We're 886 00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:31,120 Speaker 3: going to call it he is dead, which means that 887 00:52:31,239 --> 00:52:34,600 Speaker 3: we will enact his will as it stands on record, 888 00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:39,080 Speaker 3: and the will leaves most of his estate to his wife, 889 00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:43,640 Speaker 3: Teresa Small. Fast forward to nineteen thirty five. Again, never 890 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:45,880 Speaker 3: convicted of anything, she passes away. 891 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:49,920 Speaker 4: After the estate was rated for all those back taxes 892 00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:53,799 Speaker 4: that were owed. Most of the remaining funds went to 893 00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:59,400 Speaker 4: various Catholic charities. The Toronto Police, however, officially closed the 894 00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:03,400 Speaker 4: small case in nineteen sixty, almost half a century after 895 00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:04,879 Speaker 4: the initial disappearance. 896 00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:07,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's an important point to note, right, because as 897 00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:13,040 Speaker 3: student listeners, we'll all hear that weird discrepancy. Nineteen twenty 898 00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:19,840 Speaker 3: three declared dead, nineteen sixty, case closed. That's a long 899 00:53:19,880 --> 00:53:20,480 Speaker 3: time window. 900 00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:23,200 Speaker 2: Isn't it weird to have the case closed and still 901 00:53:23,239 --> 00:53:26,200 Speaker 2: not have an answer. That's a little weird. Yeah, case 902 00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:26,799 Speaker 2: is still open. 903 00:53:26,840 --> 00:53:28,759 Speaker 4: I didn't think you're supposed to close cases unless you 904 00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:30,560 Speaker 4: found out you've done it. 905 00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:34,839 Speaker 3: You just call them cold, right, But they closed it, 906 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:38,880 Speaker 3: and as a result, people have still been speculating about 907 00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:42,600 Speaker 3: this over time. In fact, there have been calls for reinvestigations, 908 00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:45,200 Speaker 3: new investigations. I mean, we know there was a second 909 00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:48,799 Speaker 3: investigation in nineteen thirty six that also went nowhere. That 910 00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:51,400 Speaker 3: was part of the impetus to declare the case closed 911 00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:55,880 Speaker 3: in nineteen sixty. You can see countless again magazine articles, 912 00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:59,520 Speaker 3: some great books. Even there was a play in twenty 913 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:01,760 Speaker 3: twenty two that I don't think any of us have seen, 914 00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:06,200 Speaker 3: but I'm very curious to see what it what it entails. 915 00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:10,920 Speaker 3: Or what conclusions it draws. There is one thing though, 916 00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:13,120 Speaker 3: There's one piece we have to mention, right, it's the 917 00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:17,840 Speaker 3: letter from Reuter's not the news organization from Ruder. 918 00:54:18,600 --> 00:54:20,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe it is Reuter. I don't know. 919 00:54:20,239 --> 00:54:23,200 Speaker 3: I like saying Reuter. Just yeah, yeah, it makes a joke, 920 00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:24,160 Speaker 3: it makes sense. 921 00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:29,200 Speaker 2: But it also looks like it looks like, yeah, this 922 00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:32,520 Speaker 2: is weird. This is a letter that allegedly came through 923 00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:37,960 Speaker 2: that had had some information in it. It was allegedly 924 00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:44,920 Speaker 2: pinned by the wife, right by Teresa, allegedly, and it 925 00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:47,440 Speaker 2: was basically a deathbed confession. 926 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:50,759 Speaker 4: Yeah. I'll read a little bit of it if I could. 927 00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:54,279 Speaker 4: Poor Ambrose was killed on December second, nineteen nineteen. And 928 00:54:54,320 --> 00:54:57,480 Speaker 4: I know that part of his body, the trunk, was 929 00:54:57,520 --> 00:55:01,440 Speaker 4: buried in the Rosedale Ravine dump and other parts of 930 00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:05,560 Speaker 4: the body were burned in the Grand Opera House furnace. 931 00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:07,800 Speaker 4: This is very specific. 932 00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:08,440 Speaker 2: Mm hmm. 933 00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:13,960 Speaker 3: It continues, You will be surprised, my dear Florence. 934 00:55:13,560 --> 00:55:15,680 Speaker 2: And Gertrude, that the sisters, right. 935 00:55:16,120 --> 00:55:19,320 Speaker 3: The sisters of Ambrose Small. You will be surprised, my 936 00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:21,839 Speaker 3: dear Florence and Gertrude, to learn that I am more 937 00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:27,480 Speaker 3: responsible for your brother's death, God forgive me, Reuter Comma 938 00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,720 Speaker 3: the news agency. No, that last part, that last Comma 939 00:55:30,840 --> 00:55:33,000 Speaker 3: part is not true, but the but I thought it 940 00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:36,080 Speaker 3: was worth the joke. So this comes out after Teresa's 941 00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:41,160 Speaker 3: small passes away, and this is coming from Ambrose's small sister, Florence, 942 00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:45,520 Speaker 3: the person at least the way they identify in the letter, 943 00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:48,120 Speaker 3: the way it's signed is just again Reuter. 944 00:55:49,120 --> 00:55:53,319 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very weird. And in the the concept here 945 00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:57,520 Speaker 2: is that after Teresa is dead, this letter would prove 946 00:55:57,560 --> 00:55:59,840 Speaker 2: that Teresa had something to do with the death of 947 00:55:59,880 --> 00:56:02,640 Speaker 2: a Ambrose, or at least was involved in some way, 948 00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:05,880 Speaker 2: so that the sisters now should be fully in control 949 00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:10,560 Speaker 2: or be the beneficiaries of other monies that were out there. 950 00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:13,000 Speaker 2: Even though most of the money in the fortune there, 951 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,320 Speaker 2: as we said before, was given away to Catholic charities 952 00:56:15,400 --> 00:56:19,319 Speaker 2: and was tied up in legal stuff. The thought was 953 00:56:19,320 --> 00:56:22,880 Speaker 2: that the sisters came up with this idea and forged 954 00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:25,520 Speaker 2: a letter they would say that kind of thing. That's 955 00:56:25,560 --> 00:56:29,200 Speaker 2: the speculation, the speculation about it, guys. I want to 956 00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:33,400 Speaker 2: go back to the combo meal. What if, please, what 957 00:56:33,480 --> 00:56:37,440 Speaker 2: if the secretary who is there suffering through every day 958 00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:40,759 Speaker 2: with Ambrose right as he states, you know, I can't 959 00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:42,360 Speaker 2: believe I'm having to do all this stuff for so 960 00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:44,759 Speaker 2: little money. For this guy's doing all this crap. I 961 00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:46,919 Speaker 2: don't like him at all, but I need this job. 962 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:49,160 Speaker 2: I got to do this check Dowdy. Then you got 963 00:56:49,160 --> 00:56:52,640 Speaker 2: the wife who is living at the house. Oh my gosh, 964 00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:54,360 Speaker 2: I can't believe I'm living with this guy. I know 965 00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:57,279 Speaker 2: we have this business partnership, you know, marriage thing going on, 966 00:56:57,360 --> 00:56:58,920 Speaker 2: but I know all the stuff he's doing and the 967 00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:01,280 Speaker 2: way he treats me and all this other stuff. Don't 968 00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:05,240 Speaker 2: you think those two wouldluded some kind of trauma bond 969 00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:08,839 Speaker 2: that we mentioned before in other episodes. Don't you think 970 00:57:08,920 --> 00:57:11,239 Speaker 2: maybe there's something in there where the two of them 971 00:57:11,560 --> 00:57:15,959 Speaker 2: conspire to, uh, you know, take the money basically after 972 00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:16,880 Speaker 2: that huge windfall. 973 00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:19,200 Speaker 4: I don't know, Matt, I think that's a pretty pretty 974 00:57:19,200 --> 00:57:20,400 Speaker 4: solid alternative theory. 975 00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:26,040 Speaker 2: Well, when what what is the secretary doing when he's 976 00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,120 Speaker 2: in his Heidi hole that he made, you know, for 977 00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:31,520 Speaker 2: his trysts or whatever. Maybe he's at the house with 978 00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:36,080 Speaker 2: Teresa just and again that's all complete utter bs speculation 979 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:38,280 Speaker 2: on my part, but I can just imagine the two 980 00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:41,280 Speaker 2: of them being closer than soult. 981 00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:46,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll play these reindeer games further. What if like, 982 00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:48,840 Speaker 3: what if you say, Okay, for a big enough payoff, 983 00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,360 Speaker 3: I'll sacrifice six years of my life in the pen. 984 00:57:51,680 --> 00:57:53,560 Speaker 3: You know people have cracked that deal before. 985 00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:53,880 Speaker 4: Sure. 986 00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:55,360 Speaker 2: Well, and he was just trying to get away to 987 00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:56,760 Speaker 2: the US. He was in Oregon. 988 00:57:57,720 --> 00:58:00,320 Speaker 3: But like, I don't know, Yeah, I'm saying, but that 989 00:58:00,320 --> 00:58:04,000 Speaker 3: that could explain to the speculation. That could explain why 990 00:58:04,040 --> 00:58:07,240 Speaker 3: he didn't squeal because he thought he would be made 991 00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:10,600 Speaker 3: whole toward the end of Uh, toward the end of 992 00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:14,800 Speaker 3: the conspiracy. Uh. These these are great questions. And yes, folks, 993 00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:18,080 Speaker 3: we know law enforcement at the time was asking these 994 00:58:18,160 --> 00:58:23,200 Speaker 3: questions as well. But whatever they found, they did not 995 00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:26,560 Speaker 3: go forward with it, right, They did not release an 996 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:29,840 Speaker 3: official conclusion. And that leads us to ask the question 997 00:58:29,880 --> 00:58:32,480 Speaker 3: we asked at the beginning, what happened to Ambrose Small? 998 00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:34,920 Speaker 3: There are tons of people who, for one reason or another, 999 00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:37,240 Speaker 3: are certain they've cracked the case. But despite all the 1000 00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:43,880 Speaker 3: investigations over over decades, decades, decades, no one has universally 1001 00:58:43,920 --> 00:58:45,040 Speaker 3: agreed on anything. 1002 00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:48,080 Speaker 4: Well, do we do we feel like this deathbed confession 1003 00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:51,640 Speaker 4: is sincere or Is this just another bit of a 1004 00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:53,000 Speaker 4: kind of smoke. 1005 00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:56,040 Speaker 3: That's a great question, and it's it's tough. You know, 1006 00:58:56,160 --> 00:59:00,440 Speaker 3: at some point it's almost like a rorshack because they 1007 00:59:00,440 --> 00:59:04,840 Speaker 3: didn't have the same forensic methods available. Now, you know, 1008 00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:09,080 Speaker 3: like if this came out this we're twenty or post 1009 00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:14,720 Speaker 3: two thousand case, people will be checking DNA, right, that's 1010 00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:17,360 Speaker 3: the reality of it. It reminds me of our earlier conversation 1011 00:59:17,480 --> 00:59:21,280 Speaker 3: we had about DNA found on the belongings of a 1012 00:59:21,320 --> 00:59:24,479 Speaker 3: victim of Jack the Ripper. Right now we ask about 1013 00:59:24,560 --> 00:59:27,800 Speaker 3: chain of custody. Was this kept sacra saying that might interfere? 1014 00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:32,280 Speaker 3: We know that nothing yet has led us closer to 1015 00:59:32,280 --> 00:59:36,320 Speaker 3: figuring out the truth, unless that is, you have a lead, 1016 00:59:36,440 --> 00:59:40,280 Speaker 3: fellow conspiracy realist. If so, what a coincidence, because we 1017 00:59:40,360 --> 00:59:43,320 Speaker 3: have an email address and a telephone number and ways 1018 00:59:43,320 --> 00:59:45,000 Speaker 3: to contact us online. 1019 00:59:45,160 --> 00:59:47,600 Speaker 4: That's right. You can find us at the handle conspiracy 1020 00:59:47,760 --> 00:59:50,240 Speaker 4: Stuff where it exists all over the internet. On Facebook, 1021 00:59:50,280 --> 00:59:52,120 Speaker 4: we have a Facebook group Here's where it gets crazy. 1022 00:59:52,160 --> 00:59:55,800 Speaker 4: On YouTube, we have video content color for your perusing enjoyment. 1023 00:59:55,960 --> 01:00:00,160 Speaker 4: And on x FKA, Twitter, on Instagram and TikTok. For 1024 01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:03,160 Speaker 4: the time being, we are conspiracy stuff show. If you 1025 01:00:03,200 --> 01:00:05,200 Speaker 4: wish to contact us as individual human beings, you may 1026 01:00:05,240 --> 01:00:08,200 Speaker 4: do so. I am on Instagram at how now Noel 1027 01:00:08,320 --> 01:00:11,160 Speaker 4: Brown and Bolin How about yourself? Ah? 1028 01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:14,640 Speaker 3: Yes they do call me ben bullin here A big 1029 01:00:14,680 --> 01:00:18,880 Speaker 3: thanks to Hidulgo for reaching out. Maybe it was a 1030 01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:21,680 Speaker 3: U tree. Maybe these were willow bows if you want 1031 01:00:21,720 --> 01:00:24,080 Speaker 3: to find If you want to find or interact with 1032 01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:27,200 Speaker 3: me online, any questions, comments, love a limerick or a 1033 01:00:27,240 --> 01:00:31,640 Speaker 3: picture of corvids at ben Bulan where people use ats, Instagram, 1034 01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:33,520 Speaker 3: you can find me the air. You can also check 1035 01:00:33,520 --> 01:00:37,000 Speaker 3: out the website Bembolin dot com. Matt, Matt, what's kicking? 1036 01:00:37,080 --> 01:00:38,160 Speaker 3: What's ticking? What's talking? 1037 01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:39,320 Speaker 4: Uh? 1038 01:00:39,560 --> 01:00:43,160 Speaker 2: Just want to point out guys. For Monster the Zodiac Killer, 1039 01:00:43,200 --> 01:00:47,760 Speaker 2: we interviewed this author and historian Peter Vronsky about the 1040 01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:52,240 Speaker 2: Zodiac case. He is from Canada and specifically has written 1041 01:00:52,280 --> 01:00:55,840 Speaker 2: a book titled The Disappearance of Ambrose Small case closed. 1042 01:00:56,240 --> 01:01:00,000 Speaker 2: Huhh And I just didn't even think about that until 1043 01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:03,400 Speaker 2: I stumbled upon his book in research for this episode. 1044 01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:07,760 Speaker 2: So shout out to Peter Vronsky and check out his socials. 1045 01:01:08,960 --> 01:01:13,600 Speaker 2: That's vr o n Sky. Yeah. Hey, we also have 1046 01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:15,840 Speaker 2: a phone number. If you want to call us, our 1047 01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:19,920 Speaker 2: number is one eight three three st d WYTK. It 1048 01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:22,280 Speaker 2: is a voicemail system. When you call in, you've got 1049 01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:24,640 Speaker 2: three minutes. Give yourself a cool nickname and let us 1050 01:01:24,640 --> 01:01:26,120 Speaker 2: know if we can use your name and message on 1051 01:01:26,160 --> 01:01:28,000 Speaker 2: the air. If you've got more to say than can 1052 01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:29,960 Speaker 2: fit in that three minute voice fail, maybe some links, 1053 01:01:29,960 --> 01:01:32,520 Speaker 2: maybe some images? Why not use our email. 1054 01:01:32,680 --> 01:01:36,280 Speaker 3: We are the entities who read every piece of correspondence 1055 01:01:36,320 --> 01:01:39,280 Speaker 3: we receive. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes the void 1056 01:01:39,320 --> 01:01:43,000 Speaker 3: writes back, we cannot wait to hear from you overdue 1057 01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:46,400 Speaker 3: with some uh, with some excellent correspondents. We can't wait 1058 01:01:46,440 --> 01:01:49,120 Speaker 3: to share with you in an upcoming listener mail. Do 1059 01:01:49,160 --> 01:01:50,760 Speaker 3: you want to be a part of it? Do we 1060 01:01:50,840 --> 01:01:53,640 Speaker 3: really write back? There's one way to find out. Step 1061 01:01:53,680 --> 01:01:55,800 Speaker 3: a little further from the light. Join us here in 1062 01:01:55,840 --> 01:02:15,840 Speaker 3: the dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 1063 01:02:15,960 --> 01:02:18,040 Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't Want You to Know is a production 1064 01:02:18,120 --> 01:02:22,680 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1065 01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:25,600 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.