WEBVTT - A Mega-Con Man for the Ages: Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.320 Ridiculous crime is a production of My Heart Radio's Elizabeth Doutton. 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:09.160 Nothing much. Oh, you know, it's ridiculous. I've been waiting 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.560 to see you because, Okay, I saw this and I 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.720 just wanted to read it to you. The hashtag Rivvyan 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.599 stories hashtag Rivyan This was a tweet and I quote. 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.279 I performed what is likely the world's first rivan power 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.800 to vasectomy today. The power and clinic went out. Patient 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.000 didn't want to reschedule because he already had time off. 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.800 Electrocuterie was normal, procedure went great. So somebody out there 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.199 was like they signed them for their vasectomy. Docs like, 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.520 I'm sorry, man, I got problem. No power in the shop. 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:40.320 Patients like I saw, you got a nice new rivan 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.560 out front. You can you run a little drop cord 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.800 to that. Maybe we can cop this thing on now. 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.920 Apparently I didn't know this. You only need to power 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.120 a couple of things to do of a sector. So 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.479 you need to run the extension cord from the truck's 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.360 outlet of the bed to the air and n high 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:59.840 frequency desiccator that prevents blood loss during the operation. That 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.160 it and then also he needed a fan in the 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.479 patient room. Because it was hot because there was no power, 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.080 so the fan and the desiccation machine. The rest of 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.679 was just scalpel and knife and like clamp, you know 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.760 that kind of stuff. So the total success, the doctor said, 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.240 the procedure itself went great. It just went as normal 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:21.080 as one could go the modern world. Keep making that face, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.440 I'm like the I'm like the spinning wheel on the 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:30.480 back or like he just kept making the same face 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:38.839 already talking. You're like, there's just so that's that's ridiculous. 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:43.520 That's done world. I love it. It's like, okay, you 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.960 know what if, like if there's a hurricane and we're 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.440 without powerful, don't worry. I can still Yeah, we can 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:51.680 get this done. We got a rivian a guy who 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.800 got a vasectomy and it came back to work and 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.040 he tried to like work, and then it just says 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.800 his stuff swelled up so bad that he passed out. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.320 We had no extended back to the I'm sorry, but 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.400 I Am not going to feel bad for him because 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:11.120 the stuff that women work through didn't compare. Yeah. Yeah, 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.040 I mean a lot of times women will will have 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.360 procedures and the doctor, oh, you know, you can go 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:18.600 back to work after an hour, and I'm always thinking like, 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.520 men couldn't. Yeah, they wouldn't even tell men they could 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.680 do that. You're gonna probably need to stay here tonight. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:29.079 I love that he rubbed in his you got a 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:35.760 rivan outside. Things were like, ridiculous, that's super coolgrivan. Okay, 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:40.000 that is cool and ridiculous, And I'm still processing it. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.680 Do you want to know what else is ridiculous? Ridiculous 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.720 being an incredible con man with no regrets, who gets 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.720 away with millions over his career and runs with free 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:55.440 thinkers of his time and even uses Hitler as a 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.800 pawn in one of his scams. God, we're just short, circunach. 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:22.240 I'm over here. I'm making the phase now. M This 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.200 is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:32.000 heists and cons. It's always murder free and one ridiculous. 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.800 I have a MegaCon for you today. He's got like 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:41.560 a little bit of Edgar La Plant, some Arno Funka, 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:48.360 some Margaret Lydia Burton, some Bruno Schulz by' ball Baron, 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.760 maybe a little Billy Minor. The people. He is a 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:58.360 milange of ridiculous criminality. His name is Joseph Vile, Joseph 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.640 wild w e e Lay, but he was known to 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.680 all is yellow Kid, while he's a real con man's 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.280 con man, dude. That's like the straight up club games 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.680 he had. He wrote his autobiography Yellow Kid while but 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.520 they later repackaged it and called it con Man a 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.520 Master Swindlers Story. Okay, right, thanks barn. Do you know 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.719 the movie The Sting? Yeah, yeah, I love it supposedly 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:33.160 based on him? Sure, um, wrong movie now, okay, so 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.359 that was a brain fart. Yeah, we're it's we have 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:43.000 we have a lot to process right now. Yeah. Okay. 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:47.760 So one of his unverified cons was swindling two million 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:52.279 dollars out of Mussolini. Um, Marissa the researcher and I 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.960 we looked all over creation for more information on that, 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.719 but we came up drying. Okay, that's a thank you. 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.640 So he pulled off this incredible number of cons in 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:05.760 his life, absolutely mind boggling. It's the spinning wheel on 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:07.960 the mac like I just can't get my head. Um, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.200 I'm going to give you like my top ones. Yeah, 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.719 highlight reel the legend of his crime, exactly, the essence, 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.919 the haiku of it. Um, little backstory. First born in 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:23.800 Chicago in eighteen seventy seven. When he was seventeen, he 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.960 left school to work as a quote collector for the Shark, 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.240 like a beach comber, Yeah, like a like No, for 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.960 just a legitimate business. Yeah. The salary, though, was small. 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.680 He wanted something better. But in his collection job, he 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.040 saw that everyone around him, the other collectors, the cashiers, 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.039 the bookkeepers, they kind of skimmed a little off the top, 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.839 all right, everybody. So he used that to his advantage, 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:54.839 though he basically blackmailed his coworkers, who paid for his silence. Yeah, 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.040 I see you. I'm going to pamp your crime. He 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:04.000 later said, quote. I was of a very fragile constitution, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.800 unfit for the heavier sort of manual labor. I knew 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.720 I could not toil like other men. How was I 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:14.880 to live? My power lay in words? In words, I 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.239 became a commander. Moreover, I could not lead a tame 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:23.680 life of monotony. I needed excitement, variety, danger, intellectual stimulus. 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.400 I was a psychologist. My domain was the human mind, 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.440 all right, Henry James. Right, So he gives his He 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.680 gets a job with a guy named Doc Merriweather, who 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:37.880 went around selling a tape worm cure that he called 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.680 Merryweather's a lickxer like this guy already. Yeah, And it 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:45.159 was just like the you know, herbal tincture or whatever 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.120 little booze in it. At the time, everyone thought they 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.599 had a tapeworm. I know they a lot of them 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.400 did tape worms to be like, I'm sad. They're like, 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.719 you have a tape uh. And they had all these 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.000 other weird things that they do where a currently they 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.720 treat the people, and it was unclear if they'd have 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:05.839 them like do their business in a bucket or something, 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.880 but then they had. They would peel a potato, one 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.760 long potato peel and drop it in and be like, look, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:16.520 your tapeworm went for that, the potato. The potato peel 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.880 tape about the old fashioned medicine. You got ghost your blood. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.720 You might do cocaine about it pretty much pretty much, 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:28.559 you got a potato peel in you so spring while 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.040 it's like I'm out of hair, yellow kid can't do 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:35.880 it anymore. He becomes a traveling magazine salesman. Sure he 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.000 gets married. He marries a woman named Jesse. She when 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.040 should they marry? She doesn't know. He's a con man 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.560 and later when she finds out, she's always begging him 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:46.800 to get out of the biz um. They had a 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:51.800 daughter together, Josephine. So three, he is hanging out in 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.360 this saloon that's owned by a Chicago alderman and boss 0:07:55.480 --> 0:08:01.440 named John Coughlin. I don't know, no. Uh. He said 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:03.400 that that guy gave him the name the Yellow Kid 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.440 because he used to read a popular comic strip at 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.080 the time called Hogan's Alley and the Yellow Kid. So 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.320 that's what he says. He was named after a lot 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.320 of times in the news they'll they'll say that it 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.000 was because he always wore yellow gloves. But like then 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.480 they would also point out in all these news stories 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.080 through like time, they're like, you know, they searched his 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.440 house and they didn't turn up any yellow gloves, and 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:29.000 it's like, well, because he doesn't wear and detail totally. 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.520 So he worked as a door to door salesman, conned 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.320 people in that career. He had a ton of these 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.160 horse racing scams, like he actually went and bought horses. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.319 Oh that kind like the horse trading scam. Well, he 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.760 said he was going to like throw a race and 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:44.920 that then he wouldn't And then that you can't come 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.040 after him because it's you know, you're already in an 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.920 illegal agreement already. So he would tell these dudes that, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.120 you know, I'm fixing it. No, I'm not fixing it. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.040 Whatever um dares him to go to the cops. He 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:59.640 gets away with that quite a bit. In he bought 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:05.360 a bank with his friends. You know, that's the move, um, 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:09.520 real crime stuff. He drew up fake lines of credits, 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.319 like his friend is the president, he's the vice president. 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:14.200 And then they had all the regular employees who are 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.440 already there with a bank. If you can get a loan, 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:18.760 you can make nine fake dollars off of one real dollar. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.560 Well that's what they did. They dropped fake lines of credit. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.160 He and the VP and like another guy, and they 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:28.120 go to Europe and they buy a bunch of stuff, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.720 all these really these luxury goods, and then they also 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.240 got cash advances and stuff. I think they returned some 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.160 of the luxury anyway, they come home, they have like 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:39.839 hundreds of thousands of dollars off of this. So then 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.840 the European banks they you know, they're like waiting. They 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.840 try to collect on it. And the you know, yellow 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.559 kid and his friends like Oh, you know what, Like, 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.000 we had this cashier here and he drew up all 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.559 these fake lines and he just ran off to Mexico. 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.760 There's nothing we can do. And the guy that they 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.640 had signed them was a cashier and they sent him 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.240 to live in Mexico and they paid him. So it's like, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:10.040 we're not lying. He's in Mexico. Yeah, so he's also yellow. 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.320 Kids like this super sharp dresser, and the press loved 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:17.440 talking about his court appearances, in one article that said Mr. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.880 While wore blue over a white shirt studded with gold, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:25.199 a diamond blazer in his cravat, an overcoat of Killarney green, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.520 a green velour hat of gay and rakish tilt, and 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.440 a spank and pair of tan shoes with spats. I hope. Yeah, 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.800 he was just outfit. He's deck, dude. The drip is clean. 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:42.800 Let me tell you about my first favorite, your favorite 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.160 Sarah closed your eyes as a closed girl. I want 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.400 you to picture it. Alright. You're in Chicago in n 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.360 You're a successful businessman. You're sitting in the lobby of 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.880 the Metropol Hotel. You're reading the paper while you wait 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.400 for a colleague to join you. But you're actually eavesdropping 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:06.400 on all the people around you. Super fun. There's a 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.840 natly dressed gentleman sitting a few over stuffed chairs over 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:14.439 and then a man in a blue suit approaches him. Hello, Joe, 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.120 what are you doing now? The snappy dresser sitting near 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.880 you replies, at the moment, I'm free. Do you have 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.240 something in mind? Yes? How'd you like to make a 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.760 trip to Baltimore? You know me, Sam, I always like 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:31.080 to travel. What's the deal? Now? This sounds interesting? Zaron, 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.880 You're hooked. You lean forward. You can make your own deal. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:36.720 I'll give you the layout and you can work it 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:38.720 any way that you like. So come over to the 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.400 office with me and I'll tell you all about it too, 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.920 mad And they walk off out through the grand entrance 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.760 of the hotel. You just witnessed the birth of an 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.280 incredibly ridiculous con Oh. I love being there at the start. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.679 So Joe, the sharp dressed man, that's the yellow kid, Sam. 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.080 The guy in the blue suit. His name is Sam Banks. 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.760 He is a really successful businessman based in Chicago. He 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:06.920 had just opened up a Boston office. What does Sam do? No, 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:13.960 he's a fortune teller, so he caters to stockbrokers, but 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.040 also the uber wealthy. Yeah, and he he just like 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:22.480 studied stocks in depth. He knew the market better than anybody. Um, 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.040 but they knew him as like a magical fortune teller, 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.640 not like some staid advisor guy. He wore a turban 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:33.839 in his in his well. The client would write a 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.960 question on a piece of paper. Sam would lie back 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.480 on a couch and he'd put the paper on his 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:45.880 forehead and he would tell the client, Okay, guys going 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.680 into a trance, be ready, and like so he'd have 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.520 the paper. He wouldn't look at the paper. He put 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:55.319 the paper on his forehead, go into a trance. Um. 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.280 Ed mcman would laugh, right and Ed mcmann's hiding there. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.640 Paper that he puts on his forehead isn't the one 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.520 the client gave him though, because like the client hands 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:07.560 him the paper and he would do all these mystical 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:12.959 hand gestures of the yeah, and then he like uses 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.200 sleight of hand to slip the actual question behind some 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.840 drapes to an assistant who's waiting there, and then he'd 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:24.720 say some stuff in Jewish, you know, uh yeah, bring 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:32.679 king kom um. The turban that he was wearing had 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.439 a telephone headset like it was hiding it. So he 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.800 had had telephone headset over his ears, the turban covering that. 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.920 A wire from the headset went down his back to 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:47.000 a metal connection in his shoes, and then he had 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:49.400 the metal connection in the couch. So when he lies 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.360 back and he puts his feet to the end of 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:56.199 it makes a circuit. Yeah. So um. He then that 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.200 at the couch had a line that went behind this 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.040 curtain to these assistant. That's really smart, so he's not connected. 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:03.959 He can get up and move around. Yeah, so yeah, 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.440 there's he's basically wireless at them. So he lays down. 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.000 The assistant would read the question over the telephone line. 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.360 Sam would then sit up, take the paper off of 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.160 his forehead and without looking at it, lighted on fire 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.600 off like on a candle that was on a table, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:23.200 and then answer the question. So you're the client, you 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:27.080 can write this down totally and then you know the client. 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.560 The mark would be just so this is amazing, pay 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.200 up and walk out. A lot of rich ladies would 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.320 come in and they'd have questions about romance and that 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.240 sort of stuff. He just gave them like common sense 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.800 answers and they're like, oh my god, you're right, and 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:48.480 so they were. So a week before in the interaction 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.520 that you saw a yellow kid running into Sam at 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.240 the Metropole. Yeah, Sam had done a session in Boston 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.920 with this rich woman named Dora Albright. They met up 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.000 in Boston. Dora, Yeah, and so he wants to tell 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.440 yellow kid all about what happened. Dora is a spinster 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.000 and she was visiting Boston from Baltimore to see about 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:15.200 some investments. Based on other elements of casual conversations, Sam 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.440 he basically did a cold reading and was able to 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.040 say a lot of stuff about Dora that she hadn't 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.280 shared yet. Like he sees that you know, she's she's 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.560 talking about how she's coming into town. She's kind of 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.280 like running the show. He's like, ooh, you're the you're 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.640 the oldest of your siblings. Oh yeah, like you know 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.400 that kind of stuff. Dora is sold. So she writes 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.320 her question on the piece of paper and it says, 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.960 my sisters and I have two hundred thousand dollars in cash. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.200 Should we put it into a savings bank or should 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.920 we seek an investment? Like if this were a movie 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.600 and their money soon parted, I would think that she 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:50.920 was the one running the com because who asked that 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.640 I got two grand? What do I do? Got this 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:58.400 pocket and it's got a lighting, Lenny asked the fortune teller. 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.960 So Sam as the routine the trance, puts the paper 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.400 blah blah blah, and then he responds, he said, I 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.760 see a man coming into your life. He has a beard, 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.360 and I can't tell you how he's going to come 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.080 into your life or when it's going to happen. And 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.480 then quote he'd him, the bearded one holds the key 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.960 to your fortune. That is all. So the next man 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.400 with the beard comes up, well, he has someone in 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:30.520 his head. Dora gets super emotional over this. She thanks him, 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.920 pays her hefty feet goes on her way. Sam then, 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.320 of course, sees the yellow Kid, tells the story and says, look, 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:39.600 I don't want to know the details of whatever you 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:41.920 come up with. I've given you all the material you need. 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:46.400 Just give me a cut or whatever you get. Oh, 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:50.000 he trusts the yellow kid. He's like, here, I'm just 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.440 gonna give you the give you the give you the facts. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.640 You run with him. I don't, okay, do you think 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.400 Sam is in on it? Where he's like he knows 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.000 this lady's in Mark and it's a hot markets. I 0:16:58.080 --> 0:16:59.600 just want my cut. Or is he thinking like we're 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.920 doing actual business for this lady. Oh no, no, no, 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:06.840 he knows she's a Mark. He's like, I don't want 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:08.320 to know what you're going to do with this or 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:13.280 just give exactly. So Yellow Kids like, yeah, let's do this. 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.640 I gotta go to Texas. And Sam's like, wait, we'll wait. 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.720 Now she lives in Baltimore. But you know, he says, quote, yes, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.040 I know, but Texas fascinates me right now, there's something 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.520 there I want to which Sam replies, well, do it 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.720 your own way, Joe, so, which of course he did. 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.600 When we come back, I'm going to tell you about Texas, 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:57.640 the Bearded One and Old Dora. All right, Zaron, Oh hey, 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:59.960 what's up? Elizabeth? Hey? How you doing? I'm doing proved 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.640 Robert too? Not bad, not bad. When we left off, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:05.399 we were just talking about do you remember we were 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:11.240 talking about some stuff. Yeah, it's nineteen sixteen. Yellow Kid. 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.600 He has a lead from his friend Sam that the 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.359 Sam the fortune Teller, that there's a spinster in Baltimore 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.440 who's got an extra two hundred thousand dollars cash Sam, 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:24.919 you know, lays it all out for him. Yellow Kids like, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.560 guess what, perfect I'm going to Texas, by the way, 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.920 two thousand dollars and is like five and a half 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:35.240 million today. I'm wondering. Yeah. Yeah, So Yellow Kid goes 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.720 to Texas. He uses the name Ari Ruel. That's one 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.399 of his favorite aliases, Henry Royal. Yeah, I guess, well 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.800 not royal, but like U R E U E L 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.439 L I suppose um. He he goes there and he 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.320 buys fifteen hundred acres of land at a dollar and 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.080 acre between Standard Oil and the Texas Company which is 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.560 now Texaco. So he buys this big plot. He then 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.520 drives to Baltimore. He wrote, quote, my car was a 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:13.200 Fiat imported and custom built. It was expensive, powerful, and luxurious. 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.840 So he's just hammers down from Texas to Baltimore. It 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.080 was a Saturday evening when he rolls into town. He 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.840 purposefully stalled his car in front of Dora's place and 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:28.800 then goes and asks to use the phone. You know, sorry, 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.600 Oh no, he always had a beard. Sorry, he always 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.120 had a beard. Yeah, from like the jump. So that's 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.119 why when you know she's telling this line and Sam 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.119 the fortune teller's hearing it in his head. He's like, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.400 all right, I'm gonna say beard because Yellow Kid's gonna 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.919 be all over this one. So he knows there's no 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:46.960 way he's going to get a mechanic out there until 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.880 Monday morning because it's Saturday night. So he knocks door, 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:53.200 opens the door, she sees a man with a beard. 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:58.160 He's like, hello, I am alre re well. Dora lives 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.520 with her sisters. She's like, sees this man, sees the beard. 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:04.160 It was like, do you want to stay the weekend? 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.439 She hasn't run into any other bearded men, not like 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.520 introducing themselves in this right didn't capture her. The butler 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.480 carries Yellow kids bags into the house and Dora sees 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.200 that his bags were covered in labels from all over Europe. 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.439 And so he goes into the guest room to freshen up. 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:24.919 He gets his beard looking all good. He greases it 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:27.800 up nice, and then they're all hanging up the moths 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.160 and bugs from the road. Well, I guess he had 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.959 it like he like parted it in the middle. Yeah, 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.080 you know style, you could do the scott and with 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:42.200 the beads that would be dope. Yeah. So they're hanging 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:45.040 out in the parlor. Yellow kid like he sees like 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:50.960 these sisters are a little sheltered, surprised. Um. They asked 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.160 him what he did, and he's just super casual. He's like, well, 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:58.160 I represent all these European clients and um, a lot 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.439 of them have money in Texas and I want to 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.359 sell it off because they're really distracted. There's war coming 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.280 to Europe, so they kind of want to just liquidate 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.960 and get out of here. Um. They asked him about, Oh, 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:10.800 so you've been in Europe. He's like, yeah, I traveled 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.840 all over. He tells them tales of the continent. He's like, 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.520 you know, um, wars on the horizon. They got to liquidate. 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.080 I've been able to sell everything except for you know, 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:27.040 I've just exhausted. I have fifteen hundred acres left. I 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.160 got to move these fifteen hundred acres and then I'm done, 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.919 you know with this whole project. Um. They're interested, right, like, 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.320 oh acres, you say, Um, is there a way that 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:40.159 we can get in illness? Like, if you need to 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.040 do you need to sell this off, maybe we could help. 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:46.800 And he's like, well, you know, I've only been working 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:49.520 with investment firms. I hadn't even thought about selling the 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:54.399 private investors. Well, you know why not, that would probably work. 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:57.119 So he goes back to the guest room and he 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:00.400 returns with these fake maps that he'd made, like he 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:05.080 drew up these maps that had like the where the 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.320 area was and the real maps. But then he had 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.520 like the mother pool, which was just like his guests 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:12.879 on maybe there's oil. They're like it just he just 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:18.879 made it all up. So he, um, he agrees to 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:20.399 sell it to them. I'm going to give you a 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:24.760 huge bargain, a hundred and twenty dollars an acre. So 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:27.760 he bought it at a dollar so you know, he 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:30.080 left him a little that has that that's a hundred 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:35.439 and eighty thousand exactly. This is that they had this 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.760 nice dinner and a lot of wine to celebrate this deal. Um, 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:41.199 it is nice to have a good meal when you're 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:44.760 gonna get screwed. Like he has him write up a contract. 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:46.800 He's like, I really, I want I want you to 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:50.040 go and take this, you know, um to get to 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.359 file it with the Assessor of Power. They're going to 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:54.760 do it, just because I want to make sure we 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:59.480 lock this in, like as soon as possible basically, and 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:01.719 so they spend the rest of the weekend together. They 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.119 go to church on Sunday. Yeah, he's just playing it up. 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:09.320 Mechanic comes on Monday, pops it open. It's like, oh 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:14.120 this ignition wires plug it back in. So fixes the car. 0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:17.280 He has the deed, He gets there a hundred and 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:20.760 eighty thousand dollars, goes on his way. He wrote later quote, 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:23.680 there was nothing the all Bright sisters could have done 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:26.479 to me, even if they wanted to. For all I know, 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:29.359 there really was oil on the land I'd sold them. 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:31.600 At any rate, the sale was good, and the land 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:35.040 actually existed. Whether they later tried to develop it for oil, 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:39.120 I don't know. I never heard anymore about them. Exists existed, 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:43.480 not everything I've sold so hard to find out what 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:47.720 happened to Dora Albright. I've like searched and searched what happened. 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:51.879 Are about to look for a new place, But they 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:57.040 own acres in Texas and enjoy it. Maybe. Um, So 0:23:57.280 --> 0:23:59.920