1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,759 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. Uh. Today 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: we are picking up our coverage of Charles Chapin and 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 1: heads Up in case you don't recall from the first one, 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: this two part episode involves not only murder, but also 7 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: discussion of suicide and a lot of mental instability. So 8 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: uh know that going in, we are, as I said, 9 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: picking up with the life of Charles Chapin, and we're 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: jumping right back into chapin story. So if you missed 11 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: part one, we highly suggest you go back and start there, 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: or this will have no context whatsoever. You will just 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: spontaneously be working with Joseph Bullitzer out of nowhere, uh 14 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: where we left off. Chapin, after making a name for 15 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: himself in the St. Louis news business, had been summoned 16 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: soon Do York by Joseph Pulitzer in a telegram that 17 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: conveyed a sense of urgency to the whole situation. This 18 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: was March of Pulleitzer had asked Charles Chapin to get 19 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: on a train that very night, if at all possible. 20 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: What Chapin would learn when he got there was that 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: the managing editor of The New York World, Ernest Chamberlain, 22 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: had prematurely run a special edition of the paper, reporting 23 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: in bold headlines that war had been declared. This is 24 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: in the wake of the sinking of the USS Main 25 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: and Havannah Harbor, and most journalists saw the Spanish American 26 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: War as inevitable, but it had not actually begun yet. 27 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: The sinking of the Main and the impending conflict had 28 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: been big news all over the US. Chapin had been 29 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: working on his papers coverage of it when Pulitzer telegrammed, 30 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: but Chamberlain had really jumped the gun here. He had 31 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: been working round the clock and had run himself into 32 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: the ground. He was really not well at this point. 33 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: He died of pneumonia soon after this errant special edition 34 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: had gone to press. But Pulitzer had another problem. In 35 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: addition to that empty editor's chair, he was also in 36 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,079 Speaker 1: the midst of his rivalry with William Randolph Hurst, who 37 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: had moved into the New York journalism scene with a 38 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: lot of money and a desire to dominate park Row, 39 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: and Pulitzer felt like the only person who could keep 40 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: Hurst's papers in check was Charles Chapin. To make this 41 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: daunting task worthwhile. Chapin was offered a salary of one 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: hundred dollars a week. Foster Coates was hired as managing editor, 43 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: and Chapin was the city editor in charge of the 44 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:46,639 Speaker 1: evening editions. As the rivalry between Hurst and Pulitzer ramped up, 45 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: the news business became a frantic, constant stream of extra additions, 46 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: round the clock, staff stealing stories from each other and 47 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: running so many papers that readers just could not keep up. 48 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: Sometimes a new edition was hitting the street almost hourly 49 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: if there was a big story developing. Pulitzer developed an 50 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: elaborate code for his employees, giving different editions code names 51 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: and the editors being nicknamed as well, so that any 52 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: eavesdroppers wouldn't be able to understand what they were hearing. 53 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: No telegraph operators could blab any secrets they heard either. Yeah, 54 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: Pulitzer's code name was Andy's in all of this, and 55 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: Chapin was Pinch. Chapin, though, made the exact same mistake 56 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: that Ernest Chamberlain had. He was working from four am 57 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: until well into the night as the Spanish American war 58 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: finally did begin and play out, and when that conflict ended, 59 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: Chapin was a wreck. He had pneumonia and he was 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: put on bed rest. But Chapin did recover, and he 61 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: returned to work as an editor at New York World. 62 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: Chapin became a legend of journalism. By all accounts, he 63 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: was powerful, terrifying, and really good at his job. Irvin S. Cobb, 64 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: one of the writers who worked for Chapin, once wrote 65 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: of him, quote, Chapin walked alone, a tremendously competent, sometimes 66 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: an almost inspired tyrant, and then even more descriptive. Quote 67 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: in him was combined something of Caligula, something of Don Juan, 68 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: a touch of the Barnum, a dash of Narcissus, a 69 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: spicing of Machiavelli. Similarly, Stanley Walker, who was city editor 70 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: of the Harold Tribune, wrote quote, even his laugh, usually 71 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: directed as something sacred, is part sneer. His terrible curses 72 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: caused flowers to wither, as grass died under the hoofbeats 73 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:47,480 Speaker 1: of the horse of Attila. The hun A chilly, monstrous figure, sleepless, nerveless, 74 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: and facing with ribald mockery, the certain hell which awaits 75 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: him but there were journalists who knew this reputation and 76 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: still desperately wanted to work with him. Despite his brash manner, 77 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: Chapin was so well respected that he was able to 78 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: lure some of the best journalists away from HER's papers. 79 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: To be clear, the people who worked for Chapin did 80 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: not like him, but they got a certain degree of 81 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: clout from working for him. Despite the stress of the 82 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: world's culture and Chapin's unrelenting expectations, he was known to 83 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: fire people with no warning, sometimes for reasons that would 84 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: be an HR fiasco today. On occasion, these were firings 85 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: he had been ordered to make due to budget cuts. 86 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: Although Joseph Pulitzer later told him he could push back 87 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: when he got those kinds of directives, he often did. 88 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: Chapin's approach to running a newsroom was different than other papers. 89 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,480 Speaker 1: He is sometimes credited for being the first editor to 90 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: assign reporters to specific beats covering a regular territory or 91 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: subject matter, and he initially did this by just drawing 92 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 1: a grid on a map of the city and giving 93 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: each block of the grid to a reporter, and then 94 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: those reporters were held responsible for making sure anything that 95 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: happened in their section of grid that was newsworthy got covered. 96 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:09,479 Speaker 1: But here's what was really unusual. Those reporters didn't usually 97 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: write the stories. They would call into the newsroom with 98 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 1: details they had gathered, and then an assigned writer would 99 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: assemble that information into a story. Those positions came to 100 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: be called rewriters. Chapenhead embraced the telephone. He had telephones 101 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 1: installed in the newsroom to speed up the delivery of 102 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: information to the news desks. Reporters were to call in 103 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: regularly with information as part of their daily routine, and 104 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: because of his telephone relay system, the Evening Paper became 105 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: more and more profitable as it outpaced competitors on scoops. 106 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: People also started calling in with tips, which further expanded 107 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: Shapen's lead over other papers when it came to getting 108 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: stories out first. In nineteen two, Junior, as the Evening 109 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: Paper was called, was making a two hundred thousand dollar profit. Yeah. 110 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: He the news room always had a writer just hanging 111 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,040 Speaker 1: and ready in case anything came in at any hour 112 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: of the day or night. Charles Chapin, though, was not 113 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: only a boss who barked orders. He was perfectly happy 114 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: to take interviews or reports and write up those stories 115 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: himself quickly and with a style that consistently engaged readers. 116 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: He was so good in his role as city editor 117 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: that Pulitzer had been reluctant to promote him and lose 118 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: out on that hands on approach, and this led to 119 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: some friction at times because Chapin got passed over for 120 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: promotions that went to lesser qualified candidates. There was even 121 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: an internal memo that was prepped for Pulitzer that outlined 122 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: the ways in which Chapin got more perks and money 123 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: and took more time off than any other employee. These 124 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: were sort of talking points he could point out to 125 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: Chapin if he made a lot of fuss about it, 126 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: but that memo also acknowledged that Chapin was easily the 127 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: most valuable asset that they had in the newsroom. Chapin 128 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: continued to make his case, but eventually he kind of 129 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: dropped it when he felt like he was just getting nowhere, 130 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: and he also worried he might be risking Pulitzer getting 131 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: annoyed by him. During the nineteen o four General Slocum disaster, 132 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: in which a pleasure cruise charted by St. Mark's Evangelical 133 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: Lutheran church went up in flames on the East River, 134 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: killing almost fourteen hundred people. Chapin was there, taking the 135 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: relay and writing up the grizzly details. The report was 136 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 1: so bad that even the person who called in the 137 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: tip became overwhelmed by the horrors he was seeing and 138 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: hung up. The Evening World was the first paper to 139 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 1: go to print with the story thanks to the telephone account. 140 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 1: While there had been mixed feelings about Chapin's telephone system 141 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: within the organization, the achievement of being first on such 142 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: a big news story justified its use. Chapin's contract was 143 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: renewed with a clause that he wouldn't go to work 144 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: for any other paper for several years. Joseph Pulitzer's son, 145 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,319 Speaker 1: Joseph Jr. Became a new project for Chapin at this point, 146 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: and that was a project that did not go particularly well. 147 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,559 Speaker 1: The younger Pulitzer had been enrolled at Harvard, but he 148 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: had not been bothering to go to class, so his 149 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: father sent him to work in Chapin's newsroom, thinking that 150 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: might be a valuable education, and he instructed Chapin to 151 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 1: show no partiality to his son. He may or may 152 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: not have regretted that. Later Joe Jr. Was sometimes late, 153 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,600 Speaker 1: something Chapin hated, and then on occasion he failed to 154 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: show up at all. And for Chapin, these were fire 155 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: able offenses normally, but because of who this employee was, 156 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: he tried to talk sense into him. And the thing was, 157 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: the younger Pulitzer was apparently a pretty naturally talented reporter, 158 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,679 Speaker 1: so Chapin also kind of wanted to encourage him because 159 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: he did do that with young reporters. He would find 160 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: them and kind of teach them the business. After many 161 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: infractions though of the editor's rules, it was finally a 162 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: week of unexplained absence that got Pulitzer's son fired. Pulitzer 163 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: Senior backed up Chapin on this decision. In a moment, 164 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: we'll discuss Chapin's relationship with as great uncle after his 165 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: return to New York, but first we will pause for 166 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. Shapen had, in his time back in 167 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: New York reconnected with his great uncle Russell Sage. We 168 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,679 Speaker 1: talked about him in Part one. That reconnection had been 169 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 1: a little bit tenuous because in the wake of the 170 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: attack on Sage's office that we mentioned in Part one. 171 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: One of Sage's employees who had been seriously injured by 172 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: that blast, had received no financial assistance from his employer, 173 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: and he sued Sage over it. The article that Chapin 174 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: had written after interviewing his great uncle had described him 175 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: as quote vigorous. This article was used against Sage in 176 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: court because he had attempted to deflect the accusations against 177 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: him by saying that he was in his own state 178 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: of difficulty after the incident and that he was not 179 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: aware of his employee struggles. So Charles had avoided any 180 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: discussion and of the entire situation, and that had really 181 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: deeply damaged Sage's reputation. He focused instead on just spending 182 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 1: time with them whenever possible and endearing himself to the 183 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: old man. Chapin recounted in his memoir that he took 184 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: Russell for his first ride in an automobile. For example, 185 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: Chapin believed that Sage was going to leave him a 186 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: fortune when he died, yeah, and allegedly Sage had hinted 187 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,240 Speaker 1: that at as much Russell. Sage died on July twenty 188 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: sCOD nineteen o six. He was ninety all of New 189 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: York wondered what was contained in his will, which was 190 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 1: rumored to have been rewritten just a few years before 191 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: his death. But no one was more expectant about its 192 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: contents than Charlie Chapin, and rumors started to circulate that 193 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: the wealthy finance here had actually left all of his 194 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: fortune to charity. Chapin was tense, and he actually had 195 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,439 Speaker 1: the death announcement of his great uncle rewritten twice by 196 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:00,320 Speaker 1: one of his writers, first casting stage as astute and 197 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: completely in command of his faculties to his last breath, 198 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: then as having been senile and of questionable mental acuity, 199 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: before then going back to the more flattering version, which 200 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:12,959 Speaker 1: apparently had to be pulled out of a trash can. 201 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: After several days of waiting, the contents of the will 202 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 1: were revealed, and it was not what Shapin had hoped. 203 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: Russell Sage had left almost everything to his wife. The 204 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: exception was a few small bequeathments. His sister, who had 205 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,679 Speaker 1: died before him, was left ten thousand dollars. His nieces 206 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: and nephews each got twenty five thousand dollars. That point 207 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: was particularly painful for Tapin because his father, who had abandoned, 208 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: the family was still alive, and he got his inheritance. 209 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: Nothing was left to charity, although Mrs Sage used her 210 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:51,680 Speaker 1: inheritance largely in service of others. When Tapin ran the story, 211 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: he included that the relatives had been left out and 212 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: that some were preparing to contest the will. According to 213 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: the storage shape and ran, each relative had expected a 214 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: million dollars. Of course, this is incredibly inappropriate by today's 215 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 1: journalistic standards. Chapin was reporting his own desires essentially as 216 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 1: though they were fact. Also, just in general, this was 217 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: a story that he had a vested interest in himself 218 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: that he doesn't seem to have disclosed. This was a 219 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: just a widely read and influential paper For this to 220 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 1: be playing out in Earl arranged for his inheritance to 221 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: be dispersed to Chapin's mother and siblings, but nothing to Charles. 222 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: The logic was that he had a fancy, high paying 223 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: job and the rest of them needed money, and Chapin 224 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: had money. He had been putting it away over the years, 225 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: according to his account, although others thought he may have 226 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:51,200 Speaker 1: been paid off for various stories rather than accumulating his 227 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: wealth slowly over time, but in the decade following his 228 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: father's death, which happened very shortly after Russell's stage, Chapin 229 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: started using that money to make investments in the hopes 230 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: of growing his fortunes so he could live the lavish 231 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: life that he always dreamed of. In seven the Champains 232 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: had moved into the Plaza hotel they actually got to 233 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: move in before it was even open, and Charles had 234 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: acquired numerous high price luxuries like a yacht and horses. 235 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: He traveled in elite circles of wealth, and he wore 236 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: custom tailored clothes as he did then. In nineteen o nine, 237 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: during a turbulent time for The New York World in 238 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 1: which Pulitzer was in hot water with Theodore Roosevelt, the 239 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: staff was reorganized. Chapin was put in charge of the 240 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: morning paper, with authority over all the other editions as needed. 241 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: Chapin eliminated the day and night city editor positions and 242 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: filled those spots with assistants who reported to him. He 243 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: also shifted his favorite writers to salaried positions from freelance, 244 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: and he hired a lot of new people. He had 245 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: hired established writers that what were considered very high rate 246 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: of seventy dollars to eighty dollars a week. He also 247 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,880 Speaker 1: hired writers fresh out of school at very low rates 248 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:09,920 Speaker 1: to learn the trade and to be trained at the World. 249 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: Chapin status is temporary or permanent in the job was 250 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: definitely something that seemed to be up in the air 251 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: and discussions between him and Pulitzer, and there was definitely 252 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: friction and resistance within the staff of the Morning Edition 253 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: who were just not as eager to bend to Chapin's 254 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: will as the Evening Edition staff had been. Nine months 255 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: into the job, Chapin moved back to the Evening World 256 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: In Chapin once again seemed to be standing where lightning 257 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: metaphorically struck, at least in terms of news scoops. Mayor 258 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: William J. Gaynor had recently been elected with the backing 259 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: of Tammany Hall, and as part of coverage of the 260 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: new mayor, Chapin had a reporter interview him just before 261 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: he left on a European trip, and he sent a 262 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: photographer named William Warnicky to photograph the mayor at the 263 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: Hoboken Pier where he was to depart. Because of that 264 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: random assignment, more nicky in the Evening World got exclusive 265 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: photos of Mayor Gainer as he was shot by an 266 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: angry city employee. Chapin is famously quoted as saying when 267 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: he saw the photos, quote look blood all over him 268 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: and exclusive too. Had Gainer not survived that shooting, that 269 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: would have been even more callous and grim than it was. 270 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: Pulitzer died the following year, in nineteen eleven, on his 271 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: yacht as it was anchored off the South Carolina coast. 272 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: During the funeral, the World Offices shut off all the 273 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: presses and phones and observed a five minutes silence in 274 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 1: the dark. Chapin later wrote that he felt that his 275 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: spirit had been buried with Pulitzer. Even so, he continued 276 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: in his role with the paper. When the Titanic sank, 277 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 1: Chapin had, by random happenstance, known a reporter who was 278 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: on board the Carpathia, which took on survivors of the 279 00:16:55,720 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: Titanic tragedy. Carlos F. Heard and his wife Kathleen spoke 280 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: with the survivors, and they were able to assemble the 281 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 1: first detailed account of what had happened on board the 282 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: doomed ship. But the captain of the Carpathia forbid any 283 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: telegraph communication from going out, and he also didn't want 284 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: their rescued passengers to be bothered, so he issued an 285 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: order that the herds were not to be given any papers, 286 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 1: so they couldn't write anything down. Still, they worked to 287 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: document everything that unfolded on whatever scraps they could find 288 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 1: New York newsrooms. At this point, we're running kind of 289 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: on pure speculation because information had been limited to one 290 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:38,639 Speaker 1: Associated Press bulletin that was very thin on details. It 291 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: mentioned that it had struck an iceberg, but basically nothing else. 292 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: It had nothing about the face of anyone on board. 293 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: And as the Carpathia returned to New York, papers actually 294 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: sent out boats to meet them in the water to 295 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: try to get this story. No wires were leaving the Carpathia, 296 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: but a wire did go out to Carlos Herd to 297 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 1: tell him Chapin was coming to meet a boat. Heard 298 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,200 Speaker 1: never actually got that wire, but he knew Chapin's reputation 299 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: and correctly assumed that he was coming to meet him. 300 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,719 Speaker 1: To be safe, he bundled his five thousand words story 301 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:17,719 Speaker 1: into waterproof canvas and attached champagne corks to it. So 302 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: that if he had to throw it to Chapin and 303 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,679 Speaker 1: it hit the water, it wouldn't sink. Chapin's tug was 304 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: racing a similar boat that was carrying reporters from Hurst's papers. 305 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: Although there were a lot of close misses, Chapin did 306 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: take possession of the story when it was flung overboard, 307 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: marked it up for the type setters while the tug 308 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,719 Speaker 1: made its way to the docks, so the World's extra 309 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: edition covering the tragedy was being handed out to readers 310 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,480 Speaker 1: before the Carpathia even docked. No other reporters even had 311 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,280 Speaker 1: a chance to get a quote. At that point. Heard 312 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: was able to purchase a copy of his own story 313 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: as he left the ship and headed into the city. Yeah, 314 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: this is that story of all of the newspapers trying 315 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: to get out to the Carpathia is bananas. There are 316 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: literally ships ramming each other as they try to get 317 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: out there. Even when Heard had thrown his bundle overboard, 318 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: it got caught on a wire and one of the 319 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: sailors went out to get it, and the Carpathias captain 320 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 1: is yelling at him to bring it back, and the 321 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: passengers are yelling no, throw it down, and he the sailor, 322 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,960 Speaker 1: threw it down to Chapin, and like the ink was 323 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,400 Speaker 1: not even dry on the additions they were handing out 324 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 1: there at the dock. It was like one of those 325 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: like watershed moments in journalism for a lot of people, 326 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: because it uh it was astonishing that it happened. So 327 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 1: while Chapin's life was seemingly one success after another, he 328 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: was spending the fruits of his labor far faster than 329 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: they were coming in. His debt was mounting, Several of 330 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,800 Speaker 1: his investments had sunk, and he was losing money in 331 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,280 Speaker 1: the stock market, but he continued to live the life 332 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: of a millionaire. And one of the things that he 333 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: had done in all of this was take assets from 334 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: the trust that was intended for the estate of his 335 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: youngest sister, Edna. That was a daughter that his father 336 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: had after he had started his second family. But at 337 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: this point Edna was almost twenty one. That was the 338 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: age when her trust and its investments would be assessed 339 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,879 Speaker 1: and accounted for and handed over to her, and Chapin 340 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,879 Speaker 1: had no way to replace what he had taken. Additionally, 341 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: creditors were coming after him. He had such good instincts 342 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: for news, but none of that transferred over to finances. 343 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: He had no instincts in that space. Chapin resolved to 344 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: end his life. He put in a call to the 345 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,479 Speaker 1: police station where he had friends, and said that he 346 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 1: needed a revolver. He had no permit for one, but 347 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,879 Speaker 1: he was told to come down to the nearby police 348 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: office where he would be set up with one. He 349 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,400 Speaker 1: and Nellie went to Washington via train. Charles came down 350 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,800 Speaker 1: with the flu on the way and was confined to bed. 351 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:00,159 Speaker 1: Once they arrived, he started to think about Nellie. What 352 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,040 Speaker 1: would happen to her if he was dead. She had 353 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: no real support system and she wasn't in good health, 354 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: and he believed he would have to end both of 355 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: their lives to spare her the misery of destitution without 356 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: him to support her. She had no idea what their 357 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: financial situation was. The night Shapin intended to do this, 358 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: He had the revolver under his pillow as Nellie slept 359 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 1: beside him. When he put his hand on the gun, though, 360 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:31,120 Speaker 1: he had a vision of his mother, young and beautiful, 361 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 1: shaking her head at him, so he abandoned the plan, 362 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: at least for a moment. As the following days played out, 363 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: Chapin became increasingly paranoid. He believed he was being followed, 364 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: and he finally, in a park, told Nellie all of 365 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: their problems and about his intention to end his own life. 366 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: He did not share with her that he had also 367 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,919 Speaker 1: planned to kill her. Nellie was surely shocked by this information, 368 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: but she seems to have really kept quite a level head. 369 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: She told her husband that he had probably doably magnified 370 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: his troubles by keeping them to himself and letting them stew, 371 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: and that they just needed to return to New York 372 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: and meet with a lawyer friend and talk this whole 373 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 1: thing through, and Chapin did just that. He also reached 374 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 1: out to a friend in the tobacco industry for help, 375 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 1: who told him instantly he would do anything to get 376 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: Chapin out of trouble. And the lawyer had advised him like, 377 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: just come clean, say you used money from that estate 378 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:24,879 Speaker 1: and that you were going to pay it back. And 379 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,440 Speaker 1: so this tobacco friend basically enabled Charlie to replace the 380 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: missing trust funds with a financial gift, and then he 381 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: was able to wrap up his sibling and his trust 382 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: and be free of it, which was a huge burden 383 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:39,360 Speaker 1: off his back, and life for a time went back 384 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: to normal. But several years later, and as the summer 385 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: of nineteen eighteen came to an end, Chapin was once 386 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,679 Speaker 1: again in hot water. Financially. He had sold off a 387 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,120 Speaker 1: lot of his luxury items to try to stay afloat. 388 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: He was still deeply in debt and creditors were threatening 389 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,120 Speaker 1: to garnish his wages. He knew he would be fired 390 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 1: once this story he went public, and so once again 391 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: he decided that he needed to end his life and Nellie's. 392 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,120 Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of September six, nine eighteen, 393 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:14,639 Speaker 1: Charles shot Nellie as she slept. In addition to the 394 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,199 Speaker 1: note that he wrote Carlos Sites, which we read at 395 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: the beginning of the first part of this he wrote 396 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: another to a friend, Harry Stimpson, confessing what he had done, 397 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,640 Speaker 1: writing quote, for a long time, I have been unable 398 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: to sleep. My nerves are unstrung. I am tortured with pain. 399 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,479 Speaker 1: My wife died this morning in a few minutes, I 400 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: also shall be dead. After writing these letters, Tapin got 401 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: dressed and put a do not disturb sign on the 402 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: hotel door and left with his revolver in his pocket. 403 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: He posted his letter to Sites and headed to Central 404 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: Park when that's where he intended to take his own life, 405 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:55,160 Speaker 1: but he started having hallucinations. He saw hands reaching out 406 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: to grab him and thought they were reaching into his 407 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,120 Speaker 1: pocket to take the gun. He kept wandering, eventually making 408 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: his way to Brooklyn, although he wasn't totally aware of 409 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: where he was. He had the gun pointed at himself 410 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: when a policeman walked by him, and he panicked and 411 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: put the weapon back in his pocket. Then he headed 412 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: for the subway. At one point, as he rode the train, 413 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: he described coming to the belief that he was already dead, 414 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: and in the meantime, as he was having this walk 415 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: about around New York, his letter to Sites had been delivered. 416 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: As a consequence, Nellie's body had been found, and alert 417 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: was put out that Chapin was either dead or he 418 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 1: was wandering the city armed and dangerous. When Chapin got 419 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: off the train near his office in the morning, he 420 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,199 Speaker 1: bought a copy of the New York Times, and he 421 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,879 Speaker 1: saw in its pages the headline wife of editor shot 422 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,640 Speaker 1: dead in bed. He read in that paper the very 423 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 1: note that he had sent to Sites, and then after 424 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: vacillating over whether to turn himself in or kill himself, 425 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,199 Speaker 1: Chapin went to the West sixty eight police station and 426 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: demanded to see the captain. When it seemed that he 427 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: was not going to be taken to the captain, he 428 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 1: told the lieutenant at the desk quote, I am Mr 429 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 1: Chapin of the New York Evening World, and I have 430 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,760 Speaker 1: just killed my wife. We'll get to the aftermath of 431 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: this entire upsetting event after we take a break to 432 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: hear from the sponsors that keep stuffy missed in history 433 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:34,880 Speaker 1: class going. When Chapin turned himself in, it was unsurprisingly 434 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,920 Speaker 1: very big news, but in the case of a man 435 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: who had been the scourge of so many of New 436 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,159 Speaker 1: York City's journalists, it was kind of a heyday hearst. 437 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: Papers were eager to run the story as fast as 438 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 1: they could, and in the case of the New York 439 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,400 Speaker 1: Evening Journal, they ran the story of Chapin's confession right 440 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: next to the story that police were still looking for 441 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: Chapin because they didn't take the time to remove the 442 00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: first one. In his statements to police, Chapin continue need 443 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: to insist that he had killed Nellie because he wanted 444 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: to save her from a pauper's life, insisting quote, I 445 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,239 Speaker 1: idolized my wife. She was the only thing I lived for. 446 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: She was my life, my religion, and the only thing 447 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: I lived for. Chapin confessed everything, all the money he 448 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: had borrowed, his overdrawn accounts, his attempts to hide his 449 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: financial ruin, and his decision to end everything. The paper 450 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,600 Speaker 1: sent their lawyer to represent him. Chapin asked the district 451 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: attorney if he could attend Nelly's funeral and offered to 452 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,360 Speaker 1: waive his right to a trial and to go directly 453 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,440 Speaker 1: to the execution. That offer was not accepted. He would 454 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 1: make that request repeatedly in the days before Nellie was buried, 455 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:47,200 Speaker 1: but he was denied every time. In his cell, Chapin 456 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: asked to see the papers, and he read all of 457 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: the coverage of his crime and declined all interview requests. Meanwhile, 458 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: reporters were trying to piece together Chapin's last days and 459 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: figure out just how bad is financial situation was. There 460 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: were even requests posted in the papers that his creditors 461 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: should contact reporters because Chapin had destroyed most of his 462 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: personal papers, so they had nothing to go on. Interestingly enough, 463 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: no creditors ever came forward to reporters. Chapin's legal team 464 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,879 Speaker 1: insisted that their client was not in his right mind 465 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: and was in no state to stand trial. This claim 466 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: was supported by the fact that Chapin continually said he 467 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: wanted to go to the electric chair. He insisted that 468 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 1: he was perfectly sane and that he didn't want a 469 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:38,440 Speaker 1: sanity commission. One was assigned, though, in mid October, papers 470 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,199 Speaker 1: around the country ran the findings of the commission. On 471 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:45,080 Speaker 1: December seventeen, quote Charles E. Chapin, former city editor of 472 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: the New York Evening World, who confessed to having shot 473 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: and killed his wife at the Hotel Cumberland September six, 474 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,119 Speaker 1: has been found legally sane, according to the report of 475 00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:00,119 Speaker 1: a Lunacy commission filed today. As trial was set to 476 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: begin on January twenty, nineteen nineteen, Chapin, however, consented to 477 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: a plea deal, which was submitted on January fourteenth. He 478 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,199 Speaker 1: confessed to the murder and was sentenced to prison and 479 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,159 Speaker 1: hard labor for a minimum of twenty years and a 480 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: maximum of his natural life. The press had been anticipating 481 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:22,360 Speaker 1: a trial, and all of the stories that it would generate, 482 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,360 Speaker 1: but Chapin had cut them off one last time. When 483 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: Chapin was recorded as an incoming inmate at Austining Correctional 484 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,640 Speaker 1: Facility known even then as Sing Sing which is its 485 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 1: name today, he was listed as a widower. His prison 486 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: term started two days after he had received his sentence, 487 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: and he was sixty years old. Chapin's prison time was 488 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: vastly different from other Sing Sing inmates. He and the 489 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: warden Lewis Laws had become fast friends when Chapin began 490 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: his incarceration, and as a consequence, over time, Charles was 491 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: allowed to kind of do more or less as he 492 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: pleased within the walls of the prison. He had been 493 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 1: assigned of the prison library as his job rather than 494 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: actual hard labor, and he was given a pension from 495 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: the paper which enabled him to purchase things in the 496 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: prison store. On the suggestion of a friend, he started 497 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,960 Speaker 1: writing his autobiography. That book, Charles Chapin Story Written in 498 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: Sing Sing Prison, was published in He also became the 499 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,360 Speaker 1: editor of the prison newspaper, and for that job he 500 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: got in office. A colleague who once visited him noted 501 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: that that was a nicer office than the one he 502 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,480 Speaker 1: had had at The New York World. The move into 503 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: the paper's office reinvigorated Chapin from the years before he 504 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: murdered Nelly. Up through his arrest and sentencing, he'd been 505 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: in sort of a torpor, but being back in the 506 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 1: business of editing a paper, even just the Sing Sing 507 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: Bulletin brought out some of Chapin's former energy. That meant 508 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: he also wrote most of it, because he found the 509 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: writing of his fellow inmates was not up to his standards. 510 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: The paper lasted less than a year and a half 511 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: before it was shut down by the state superintendent, but 512 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: Chapin was allowed to keep the office. Chapin found penpal 513 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: romance in prison twice. The first of his prison romances 514 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 1: was with a woman named Viola Irene Cooper. She had 515 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: written him first, wanting to learn more about him, and 516 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: he had responded with a startling level of vulnerability, writing quote, 517 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: I am more lonely than any person you may know, 518 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: so lonely that I am even now reaching out my 519 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: arm to clasp your hand, hoping you will let me 520 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 1: hold it in mind for just a little while. Chapin 521 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: sent Cooper, who was twenty four, his book. Although he 522 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: feared that once she read it, she would lose interest 523 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: in him, but she did not. She saw him in 524 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: her own word, as an olympian of writing, which was 525 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: her chosen profession as well. The two traded letters, and 526 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: they built dreams of living together in a cabin in 527 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: the woods. Viola came to visit him numerous times, but 528 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: it didn't last. Their relationship ended when Viola, still young 529 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: and still very much seeking adventure, set sail for Fiji 530 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: aboard the wind jammer bouguin Villa. The second woman Chapin 531 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: had a penpal romance with was Constance are Nelson, who 532 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She had 533 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: reached out to him after reading his autobiography. She asked 534 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: him to help with editing stories about banking. As with Cooper, 535 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: Chapin quickly took a familiar and romantic tone with Constance, 536 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: and before long the two of them were trading their 537 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 1: favorite novels. He was putting her photo across from him 538 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: at dinner and writing her passionate love letters. Nelson first 539 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: visited him in June of n and this was the 540 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,960 Speaker 1: first of many visits. Constance was greeted by the warden 541 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 1: for lunch, almost as if she was visiting family, and 542 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: she and Chapin had time together in the morning. In 543 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,680 Speaker 1: the afternoon, Constance also made a point to reach out 544 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: to Charles's family and even to visit Nellie's grave and 545 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,880 Speaker 1: put flowers there. Yeah, she really seemed fairly committed to 546 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: this whole idea that she wanted to be in his life. 547 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,280 Speaker 1: But perhaps the most surprising thing that Chapin did at 548 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 1: Sing Sing was gardening. The prison yard at Sing Sing 549 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,360 Speaker 1: was large. It's been described as about the same area 550 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: of two football fields, and for a long time it 551 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,479 Speaker 1: was very empty. There was a small garden at one 552 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: point near one of the buildings, but that was it. 553 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: And when Chapin had seemed extremely sullen one day, the 554 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: prison chaplain who he had become friends with, had suggested 555 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: he tried digging a little garden to get some fresh 556 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: air and possibly feel a little better. Chapin told him 557 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: he wasn't interested, but Father Cashion brought him gardening tools anyway, 558 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: and Chapin grudgingly used them, only to discover he really 559 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: enjoyed gardening and found it therapeutic. Soon he asked the 560 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: warden if he could be assigned to care for the 561 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: prisons lawns, and before long Chapin was drawing up designs 562 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: to fill the empty barren space of the prison yard. 563 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: When a local nursery discovered that he was trying to 564 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: expand the prisons green space, they sent a truckload of plants. Soon, 565 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: Chapin was reaching out to other people who might be 566 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:08,480 Speaker 1: able to donate bulbs, seedlings, and supplies. Horticulturalists shared Chapin's 567 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: needs and wish lists among their various groups and friend circles, 568 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: and they eventually created a network of donators. Chapin's designed 569 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 1: for the prison yard to be transformed into a rose 570 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 1: garden was published by the American Rose Society, and their 571 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: annual there was a call with that for plant donations. 572 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:33,000 Speaker 1: Chapin's efforts had so successfully transformed the prison that the 573 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,680 Speaker 1: warden arranged for a greenhouse to be built. As winter 574 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: approach that year, Chapin called it the Rosary and started 575 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: taking his meals there. One of the really interesting details 576 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 1: of Chapin's makeover the prison grounds was the thoughtful way 577 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: that the landscaping had been planned, as it led to 578 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: what was called the death house. That was the area 579 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: of the facility where executions were carried out, and Chapin 580 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: had designed this space so that year round, a condemned 581 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: man's last view of the rolled outside that building would 582 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: be filled with beautiful flowers. In the gardens were coming 583 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: together so nicely that they were photographed by House and Garden. 584 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:12,840 Speaker 1: Japan was in the papers again, but this time only 585 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: for his flowers. They had frequent visitors in the form 586 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:22,120 Speaker 1: of horticulture enthusiasts and reporters for gardening magazines. Chapin started 587 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: to hope that all the positive publicity might help him 588 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,600 Speaker 1: gain a pardon so that he, in Constance could start 589 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,320 Speaker 1: a life together, and they had a lot of supporters 590 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: who lobbied for this on his behalf. Chapin wrote during 591 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,200 Speaker 1: this time about how very much he had changed and 592 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,720 Speaker 1: pondered how gardening had been the key to that change quote, 593 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 1: roses respond to me when all else fails. Park Row 594 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:46,920 Speaker 1: would never recognize me. I don't even know myself. And 595 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,120 Speaker 1: to think I have changed in so short a time, 596 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:53,319 Speaker 1: do you think that growing flowers did it. As his 597 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 1: gardens had grown, people had started bringing him birds as well, 598 00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: which he kept in the greenhouse, and he started showing 599 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 1: the birds to visitors with the same delight that he 600 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: shared his gardens. By the time Chapin had been incarcerated 601 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: for several years, he seemed to have gained a perspective 602 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,319 Speaker 1: on his persona within the New York news scene. When 603 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,359 Speaker 1: Irvin Cobb asked for a visit, the former editor initially refused, 604 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,800 Speaker 1: but then he acquiesced, and he wrote a letter to 605 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: a friend about having done so. He wondered if Cobb 606 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,040 Speaker 1: was looking for a way to quote get even for 607 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 1: the hard knocks he had when I was his boss. Yeah, 608 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,880 Speaker 1: he realized he was a jerk um, whether or not 609 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 1: he regretted any of that. As another matter, Chapin's relationship 610 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: with Constance Nelson went through some strain. Chapin's assistant in 611 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,759 Speaker 1: prison had been paroled, and that man turned to Constance 612 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,919 Speaker 1: for help figuring out kind of how to fit into 613 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: the world outside, and she helped him out with money 614 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: and with clothing. But when Charles heard about this, he 615 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: assumed that there was something romantic between the two, and 616 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: he became very angry and jealous. He later told Constance 617 00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,480 Speaker 1: the jealousy was just part of passion. But they struggled 618 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,839 Speaker 1: to find their former closeness again, and Chapin replied less 619 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: and less frequently to Constance's letters. In July of nine six, 620 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,920 Speaker 1: Chapin became very ill and was diagnosed with acute guest stritis. 621 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:19,320 Speaker 1: His health declined rapidly. At the same time, the prison 622 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:22,640 Speaker 1: had become far too attractive to visitors who wanted to 623 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,360 Speaker 1: see the gardens, and the warden had to end the 624 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:29,360 Speaker 1: flower tours because there simply wasn't enough staff to watch 625 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,839 Speaker 1: the tourists and the residents, although occasionally journalists are still 626 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 1: allowed to visit for stories. As Chapin approached his seventieth 627 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,799 Speaker 1: birthday in late nine he seemed to have abandoned the 628 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,279 Speaker 1: idea of a partner parole. When a reporter asked him 629 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: if he had thought about what would happen to his 630 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: birds and flowers if he were to be released, Chapin 631 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,239 Speaker 1: told him quote, I do not believe I would care 632 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:56,040 Speaker 1: to leave here if I could. He occasionally wrote letters 633 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,839 Speaker 1: to Constance, but they seemed more critical and chastising than 634 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: conciliatory in nature. Yeah, he basically blamed her for their strains. 635 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,920 Speaker 1: When an unknowing contractor drove a steam shovel through Chapin's 636 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:13,840 Speaker 1: Rose Garden as part of a new drainage project for 637 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,040 Speaker 1: the prison in late nineteen thirty. It destroyed some of 638 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: his work, and it really devastated Shapin. He had been 639 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 1: in poor health already with a stomach ailment, but this 640 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:26,880 Speaker 1: moment where he saw his garden destroyed, seemed to be 641 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: the straw that broke the camel's back when it came 642 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: to his spirit. His health degraded rapidly, although he refused 643 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,160 Speaker 1: to go to the prison hospital, and after several months 644 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,480 Speaker 1: of being confined to bed visibly weakening, Chapin died on 645 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:44,799 Speaker 1: December nine, thirty of bronchial pneumonia. His last words, which 646 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,759 Speaker 1: he spoke to the warden, were quote, I want to die. 647 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:50,960 Speaker 1: I want to get it over with. Chapin had laid 648 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 1: out his desire as at a letter to the warden 649 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:56,080 Speaker 1: to be opened after his death. He didn't want a 650 00:37:56,120 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: funeral service. He wanted the least expensive coffin possible, and 651 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 1: most importantly, he wanted to be buried next to Nellie 652 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:07,840 Speaker 1: in Glenwood Cemetery. His body was shipped to Washington, d c. 653 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,040 Speaker 1: In accordance with that wish, and that was accompanied by 654 00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: a wreath of roses that had come from his garden. 655 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:18,759 Speaker 1: He's a wild ride. I have so many thoughts. I 656 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,359 Speaker 1: do too, and most of them are not No, I'm 657 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:27,359 Speaker 1: not flattering in any way. No, I will talk about 658 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:32,840 Speaker 1: all this and behind the scenes as show um I 659 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: as a little bit of a bomb for this strange story. 660 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,759 Speaker 1: I have a delightful listener mail which is from our 661 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: listener Gina. He says, Hi, Holly and Tracy, I just 662 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: listened to your episode on the invention of the dishwasher, 663 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,759 Speaker 1: and I was tickled to hear the mention of Josephine 664 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:50,799 Speaker 1: cochrd's grandfather, John Fitch. As you mentioned, he was instrumental 665 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,760 Speaker 1: in the invention of the steam locomotive. Perhaps he deserves 666 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,480 Speaker 1: his own episode. I live in the town where he 667 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:58,400 Speaker 1: was born, and I also happened to live in the 668 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 1: house where he was born, or sort of, as the 669 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,319 Speaker 1: original house was torn down. My house was built in 670 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties. I have attached a photo of his 671 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,600 Speaker 1: memorial that lives in my front yard. It looks a 672 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:11,680 Speaker 1: lot like a tombstone, and we get plenty of double 673 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:15,080 Speaker 1: takes as people walk or drive by. My husband's spruced 674 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,040 Speaker 1: it up a bit with some flowers and molts. But 675 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: I told him not to make it look too nice 676 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: because by all accounts, John Fitch was a deadbeat dad 677 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 1: and not a very nice man. Thank you for all 678 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:28,239 Speaker 1: of your hard work on the show. I was able 679 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:30,720 Speaker 1: to attend a live show pre pandemic, and I feel 680 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: so lucky to have been able to meet you too. 681 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:37,680 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this note and this photo. Uh, 682 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:41,359 Speaker 1: it looks sprucy to me, so um. Hopefully we will 683 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:45,719 Speaker 1: get to do live events again and see many more listeners. 684 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:48,640 Speaker 1: But we'll just see what the future holds. Uh. In 685 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,680 Speaker 1: the meantime, if you would like to write to us, 686 00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:54,360 Speaker 1: you can do so at History Podcast at ihart radio 687 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:56,920 Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find us on social media 688 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,160 Speaker 1: as Missed in History, and if you haven't subscribed, can 689 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: do that on the I heart Radio app or wherever 690 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:09,800 Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class 691 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts 692 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,359 Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 693 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,600 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.