1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: This story contains adult content and language. Listener discretion is advised. Okay, 2 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: will you you mean spelling up your first and last 3 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,959 Speaker 1: name and maybe well just we'll start with that, and 4 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: how do you pronounce your name? 5 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 2: Cecil c e c I l E leo. 6 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 3: L e O. 7 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,240 Speaker 1: You know, I think that everybody's got family secrets, and 8 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: we just don't know if this was actually a family secret, 9 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: this whole lack of information. 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 2: Yes, I guess it was just something that they'd rather 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 2: not talk about, you know it, It would be like 12 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 2: a family secret. 13 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: Cecil Leo is a lovely woman. She had lived in 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: Port Arthur, Texas her whole life before she moved closer 15 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: to Austin to be with her family. She's ninety years 16 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: old and her husband, Patrick Leo, passed away almost thirty 17 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: years ago. Patrick's mother, Emma, was a Crawford, and the 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: Crawfords originally came from New Orleans. Cecil didn't know much 19 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: about her in laws. She knows a lot more now. 20 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: Cecil didn't understand why her husband never wanted to visit 21 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: New Orleans, and she had no idea that four members 22 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: of the Crawford family died under suspicious circumstances, and she 23 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: certainly didn't know that she had spent two years living 24 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: with their suspected killer. What happened to the Crawford family 25 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen hundreds was a secret that didn't 26 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: come out until just a few years ago, decades after 27 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: Cecil's husband died. 28 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 2: Soon. 29 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: If you looking back from what you learned, if you 30 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: were going to describe kind of the Crawford's family, what. 31 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 3: Would that be? 32 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: If I had to make a decision, I'd say they 33 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 2: were a a good family. You know. I I had 34 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 2: nothing that I could say ugly about any of'em. 35 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: Well, you know, you and I talk about the story 36 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: over the phone a little bit, and give me a lot. 37 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 4: Of really good information. 38 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: Okay, you know, why would we just kind of start 39 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: with you and your background and kind of where you 40 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: grew up, when you were born. 41 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 5: And where you grew up and all that. 42 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 2: Okay, I was born in Port Arthur, Texas October sixth, 43 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty one. I grew up in Port Arthur. 44 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 6: Then your husband went by Patrick? 45 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 4: Is that right? 46 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 2: Right? 47 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 3: Right? 48 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 2: Okay? 49 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: So tell me, if we go back now, how you 50 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 1: and Patrick met. 51 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 2: Okay, he was twelve years older than I. And I 52 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 2: met him when I was twenty three. We were at 53 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 2: a a bachelor and bell party. It was a little 54 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 2: social that Port Arthur would have every Saturday nights for 55 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 2: the single at Girls and Boys. He had been married before, 56 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 2: he told me about it. Now he had two sisters, 57 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 2: and they didn't reveal any kind of family secrets or 58 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 2: they were very I guess you'd say secret about whatever happened. 59 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 2: Matter of fact, Edward was looking up something recently. It's 60 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 2: been within the last i'd say, a couple of three months, 61 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 2: and he told me, he said, did you know ain't 62 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 2: Mary was married before? Now I was in that family 63 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 2: for thirty years, and I I I didn't know Mary 64 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 2: had ever married. I knew her husband a delightful man. 65 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 2: And both of the sisters were very very sweet to me. 66 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 2: Nanny was kind of distant, and that. 67 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: Was Annie cuper Right called her. 68 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 2: Man nanny, and she was was She wasn't really too 69 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 2: much in favor of the Pat. Night when we were dating, 70 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 2: and this was not too long before we married. Well, 71 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 2: she called me one morning about seven o'clock and she said, 72 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 2: is Pat there? And I said no. She said, well 73 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 2: he didn't come home last night. I said well, I 74 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 2: don't know where he went. I said, he left here 75 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,919 Speaker 2: about ten thirty or eleven o'clock last night, and I 76 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 2: hung up, and I thought that was strange. You know, 77 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 2: well I couldn't wait to see him that evening. You know, 78 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 2: where'd you go when you left here? He said, well, 79 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 2: I went home, and so I told him about Nanni's 80 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 2: phone call, and he said, oh, just don't pay attention 81 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 2: to her. 82 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,280 Speaker 1: There was acrimony between Cecil and Nanny because Nanny had 83 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: lived in the family home for decades. She was head 84 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: of the household, and now another younger woman was taking over, 85 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: and Nanny, Annie Crawt Hefford, didn't like that one bit. 86 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 2: I stepped in to a home that Nanny had been 87 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 2: running for forty years. You know, she came there from 88 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 2: New Orleans after all of her problems, which I didn't 89 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 2: know anything about. 90 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 3: That. 91 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 2: See, she lived with us for two years. 92 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: What years were those? 93 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 2: That would be like sixty seven and sixty eight. We 94 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 2: married in sixty six. And the reason that she left 95 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 2: we felt that she needed to be with someone else. 96 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,720 Speaker 1: Patrick Leo's mother was Emma Crawford Leo. You'll hear more 97 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,359 Speaker 1: about her later on. Emma was the eldest of the 98 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: Crawford sisters, who are near the center of the story. 99 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: But the real center of this story is Annie Crawford, 100 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: the suspected murderer of four people in her own family. 101 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: About fifty years later, Cecil met her husband Patrick, and 102 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: Patrick never told his wife any of that when Annie 103 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,359 Speaker 1: lived with them, none of it. Is there a chance 104 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: he did not know about any of this? 105 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I just cannot imagine, though, 106 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 2: that I lived with him for thirty years and he 107 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 2: didn't mention something about it. 108 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: Well, he did have you live with a serial poisoner 109 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: for two years. He might not be used about telling 110 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: you after the fact. I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a crime 111 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: historian and the author of the new book All That 112 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: Is Wicked, which is based on the show's first season. 113 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: It's available now, including the audio book. I also wrote 114 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: American Sherlock and Death in the Air. And this is 115 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: our new season of tenfold war Wicked. And now we're 116 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 1: in early nineteen hundreds jazz Age, New Orleans, where the 117 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: absinthe is plentiful, the bars are packed, and four members 118 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: of one family will soon be dead. The Crawfords of 119 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: New Orleans might not have been the large, supportive family 120 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: that they seem to be from the outside, and Annie 121 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: Crawford might have been keeping a family secret, several secrets actually, 122 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: for most of her life. We're calling this season the 123 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 1: Morphine Murderess. New Orleans is one of my most favorite 124 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: cities to visit. It's about an eight hour drive from Austin, 125 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: and I've been coming here since I was a kid. 126 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: I love the music, I love the food, I love 127 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: the people and the city's rich history. Growing up, I 128 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: sometimes heard that there had been famous murderers here, and 129 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: the stories of these murders have become part of the 130 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: lore of the city. There are many many ghost tours 131 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: in New Orleans, which makes sense because the city feels 132 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: like it's littered with specters. One of the most interesting cases, 133 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: and one that has inspired many of these ghost stories, 134 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: is the Axemen of New Orleans. Beginning in nineteen seventeen, 135 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: the city was terrorized by a serial killer who would 136 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:41,199 Speaker 1: go on to murder four people and wound others. There 137 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: are a lot of variations about the number of people 138 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: who died, so I went with the Smithsonian Magazine's estimation. 139 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: The axe man killed men, and he killed women. He 140 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: targeted a series of Italian groceries and butchered his victims 141 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: with an axe and sometimes a razor. You can almost 142 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,040 Speaker 1: picture a turn of the century killer creeping around the city, 143 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: searching out victims in the shadows of homes. Families, particularly 144 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: in the Italian community, armed themselves. Sicilian immigrants had arrived 145 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: in New Orleans decades earlier, and many of them lived 146 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: in the French Quarter near the Mississippi River. The city 147 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: was already rife with racism, both against black people and 148 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: Italian immigrants, and then in nineteen nineteen, the murders abruptly stopped. 149 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: The Axemen of New Orleans was never caught. Those murders 150 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: are some of the most famous in the history of 151 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,680 Speaker 1: New Orleans, but unlike the Axemen, the deaths of four 152 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: members of the Crawford family eight years earlier have largely 153 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: been lost to history. Terrence Fitzmorris is a professor of 154 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: history at Tulane University in New Orleans. He specializes in 155 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: Louisiana history, so he's been very helpful with this true 156 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: crime story. So let's start with this time period. Tell 157 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: me about nineteen ten New Orleans. What is it like 158 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: for the average person. 159 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 5: Well, that's hard to say what an average person is, 160 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,439 Speaker 5: because New Orleans is as late as nineteen ten is 161 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 5: still pretty diverse. There are lots of creoles of color 162 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 5: as they refer to here. There are descendants of Irish 163 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 5: and German immigrants, and there are a lot of Irish 164 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,520 Speaker 5: and German immigrants who are still alive in nineteen ten. 165 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: How large is New Orleans? Is it a growing city? 166 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:46,320 Speaker 3: So? 167 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 5: New Orleans is around three hundred and forty thousand people, 168 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:56,199 Speaker 5: and it is racially an ethnically diverse. Since the early 169 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 5: eighteen nineties, New Orleans has been more or less It's 170 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 5: laid the foundations of drainage, sewage and waste disposal, clean 171 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 5: running water coming into the house. It has eradicated the 172 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 5: threat of yellow fever. There are no more yellow fever 173 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 5: epidemics in New Orleans, and so the average person has 174 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,679 Speaker 5: seen a great deal of improvement in the last twenty 175 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 5: years or so. 176 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: What about religion? Are folks in the early nineteen hundreds 177 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: especially religious? 178 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 5: The city is predominantly Catholic, but it is also religiously pluralistic. 179 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 5: The Episcopalians have been in the New Orleans for generations, 180 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 5: as have been Methodists, Baptists, Evangelicals, and what is referred 181 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 5: to as spiritual churches, which is sort of a hybrid 182 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 5: with Voodooism and Catholicism. 183 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: I would love to do a historical case involving voodooism, 184 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: but this is not that story. This case attracted a 185 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: lot of attention in nineteen eleven when a string of 186 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: suspicious death became public and newspaper readers across the nation 187 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: were shocked to learn who the suspect really was. Annie 188 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: Crawford was an enigma, frankly, and part of why she 189 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: might have become such a surprising suspect is because of 190 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: the social status of women in this time period, or 191 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: the lack of social status. Women weren't viewed as equal 192 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: to men in most of society. Alan Gotrow and Darryl 193 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:33,719 Speaker 1: Heppensteele wrote a book called Dark by You, Infamous Louisiana Homicides, 194 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: and this story is one of their cases featured in 195 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: the book. I asked Alan about how women were viewed 196 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:43,199 Speaker 1: in New Orleans during this time period. 197 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 6: The time period, socially, a lot of women are seen 198 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 6: as genteel. Of course, the women did work at that time, 199 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 6: but women were seen as genteel. They were to be respected. 200 00:12:57,480 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 6: It's post Civil War. 201 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 1: Worked like the Crawford women did, but most stayed home 202 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: to tend to their families. Faith and family were important 203 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: to many women in the city. Most went to church 204 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: services regularly, including Annie and her family. The whole Crawford 205 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 1: family went to church. And that's a big Catholic church. 206 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: Have you been inside of Catholic church before, so you 207 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:31,680 Speaker 1: see it's big and sometimes they're pretty ornate. This is 208 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: Saint Stephen's Church in Uptown, New Orleans. Annie Crawford and 209 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:41,719 Speaker 1: her family went here for years. They were about Catholics, 210 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: never till one of them died. 211 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 4: That had a real big service. 212 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: Historian Terence Fince Morris understands the church's history and why 213 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: the Crawfords and other Irish Catholics were so involved with it. 214 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 5: It's an old church. It had been one of the 215 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 5: major Irish churches in the city beginning with eighteen thirty five. 216 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: The Crawfords lived in an area known as Uptown. Author 217 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: Alan Gotro says it's expensive now, but in nineteen ten 218 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: Uptown was a working class neighborhood. 219 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 6: Back then, they had houses that rental properties mostly, and 220 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 6: it was for people that you know, you either lived 221 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 6: if you were middle class, you either lived like slightly 222 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 6: above the slums, or you rented a property you couldn't 223 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 6: really afford to buy it. So there was a lot 224 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 6: of rentals at the time, and it's stately Victorian homes, 225 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 6: and this was a stately home and it was actually 226 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 6: quite large because of the family that lived there at 227 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 6: the time. 228 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: Terence Fitzmorris says the Crawfords were all working class and 229 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: they worked hard. Walter Crawford was the patriarch. He and 230 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: his wife Emma, had five daughters, Mayor Agnes, Gertrude, Elise, Emma, 231 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: and Annie. Terence Fitzmorris says the whole family worked very 232 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: long hours at jobs that some people would consider ruling. 233 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 5: The men worked either for the railway company or owned 234 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 5: a saloon, which was the other avenue that irishmen had. 235 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 5: You either owned a saloon, a grocery store, or worked 236 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 5: for one of the utilities, and they all did that. 237 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: There weren't that many career options for working families during 238 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: this time. 239 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 5: Her father worked for the Street Railway company. Her uncles 240 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 5: were involved in the same line of work. Railway roads 241 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 5: were very, very prominent in the city. There were several. 242 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 5: There was no union railroad system, so railroads came in 243 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 5: and out of the city. 244 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: Like their father, Annie's younger sister, Elise worked for the railroad. 245 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 5: Her sister Elise worked for something called the grand Isle Railroad, 246 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 5: which was a local little railroad form New iomng Williams 247 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 5: to the island of Grand Island. 248 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: And what about the women. What did Annie's other sisters do? 249 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 5: Her sisters were all stenographers, they were all secretaries. And 250 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 5: for women there was the church. You could be a nun, 251 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 5: you could be a teacher, but as late as nineteen twelve, 252 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 5: Orleans Parish had a rule that married women could not 253 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 5: be teachers lest they scandalized their children because they might 254 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 5: become pregnant. So as mostly women who were unmarried that 255 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 5: were teachers, nurses, domestics, cooks, but not chefs. Cooks were 256 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 5: all open to women. 257 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: The Crawfords all had good jobs, tough jobs, but they 258 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: seemed to be doing well. No one was in jail, 259 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: no one was in big trouble. They seemed like a 260 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 1: quiet family, well maybe to the people around them. First, 261 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: let's get everyone's name straight. Walter is the father. He 262 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: was fifty eight. Emma was the mother. She was fifty four, 263 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: but there was also a daughter named Emma who was 264 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: thirty three. She had been married to a man named 265 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: Edward Leo since nineteen oh three and they lived in 266 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: Port Arthur, Texas. Remember cecil Leo from the start of 267 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: this episode. The woman who didn't know she was living 268 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: with a suspected poisoner. That Emma, the daughter was cecil 269 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: Leo's mother in law. Annie had a sister named Mary Agnes, 270 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: who was thirty, and she also had an aunt named 271 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: Mary No more repetitive names. The youngest was Gertrude, who 272 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: was seventeen. Elise was twenty four, and in nineteen ten, 273 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford, the main character of the story, was twenty eight. Okay, 274 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,679 Speaker 1: so everyone but the younger Emma lived in a large 275 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 1: Victorian home on Chestnut Street. I'll visit that house later. 276 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,359 Speaker 1: I checked the census records for nineteen ten. All of 277 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:55,160 Speaker 1: the Crawfords in that house on Chestnut Street were all 278 00:17:55,200 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: still alive, but not for long. If you haven't looked 279 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: at census records from decades ago, you should because they're 280 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: very interesting. They tell you the ages and genders and 281 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 1: addresses of residents, along with their marital status. All four 282 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,439 Speaker 1: of the younger Crawford women, including Annie, were single. That 283 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:23,159 Speaker 1: seems unusual considering how much pressure these women must have 284 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: felt just to be married. I asked Terrence about that. 285 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: So there's four young women living in this house, all 286 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: in their twenties or early thirties, except for Gertrude, who's 287 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: a teenager. None of them are married. Does that seem 288 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 1: unusual to you? 289 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 5: I had maiden ants in my family, and I was 290 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 5: born in nineteen fifty, so I still had maiden ants. 291 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:51,119 Speaker 5: I had great aunts who had married for two or 292 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 5: three years, their husbands died, never remarried. But my experience 293 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 5: is not that unusual to have that, I mean four, yes, 294 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 5: I think that's extremely rare. 295 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,119 Speaker 1: And maybe they're considered a resource if they're working. 296 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 5: You know, if you remove yourself from the family, there 297 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 5: goes an income. 298 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: And even though their house on Chestnut Street was in 299 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: a working class neighborhood, it was a very large, old 300 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: Victorian house, which would have been expensive. Actually, in the 301 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: years since it's been turned into a duplex that's worth 302 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: more than half a million dollars. So the Crawfords might 303 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: have needed all of those incomes more than they needed 304 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,879 Speaker 1: the social status of having married daughters. So this is 305 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: your working class Irish American family in a large home. 306 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,400 Speaker 1: They had to have a large home, right, Yeah. 307 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,560 Speaker 5: They were renters though, remember they were renters. 308 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: This was a lively home, full of opinionated women and 309 00:19:43,359 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: one relatively non opinionated man. Crawfords came in and out 310 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: a lot, But the catalyst for my trip to New 311 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:58,399 Speaker 1: Orleans was Annie Crawford. A reminder that Annie was in 312 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 1: her late twenties. She was a brunette with hair that 313 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: she wore in a messy bun Annie was petite, at 314 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: about five feet tall. She had blue eyes, large round spectacles, 315 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 1: and a slim build. Annie was very different from her sisters. 316 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: She dressed conservatively, she didn't date, She didn't want extravagant things. 317 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,119 Speaker 1: Her sisters enjoyed all of those things, and they seemed 318 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: to be very lively themselves. But Annie had an acerbic 319 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,199 Speaker 1: personality at times, like an old soul who had a 320 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: bitter life still to come. Annie was quiet and bright 321 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: and a homebody, but she was rarely friendly. She scowled 322 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:42,200 Speaker 1: often when she wasn't expressionless. There was a coolness about her. 323 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: She didn't seem close or affectionate to anyone, with the 324 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 1: exception of her eldest sister, Emma. But now Emma lived 325 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: in Texas with her husband, so Annie was all alone. 326 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:57,919 Speaker 1: Annie worked at a sanitarium and nursing school in New Orleans, 327 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: which was a hospital that treated long term illnesses like tuberculosis. 328 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: It was called the New Orleans Sanitarium and Training School 329 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:10,439 Speaker 1: for Nurses. It was later renamed the Presbyterian Hospital. She 330 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: worked in the medicine dispensary, which meant she was in 331 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,640 Speaker 1: charge of allocating medicine to doctors to give to patients. 332 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: Working in a sanitarium seems like it would be a 333 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,680 Speaker 1: sought after job, I asked Terrence about it. 334 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 5: One of the more prestigious institutions in New Orleans was 335 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,119 Speaker 5: the Medical College that eventually became Tulane University in the 336 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:35,719 Speaker 5: eighteen eighties. So Annie working in a hospital, or in 337 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 5: this case, a Presbyterian or faith based hospital was quite 338 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:41,959 Speaker 5: a nice job to have. 339 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: Annie must have been bright. Did you have an impression 340 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: of anyone's personality in this house aside from Anny, I 341 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: think the. 342 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 5: Sister Gertrude is young and naive, and I think she's 343 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 5: also impressionable, and she probably dislikes Annie because Annie seems 344 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,640 Speaker 5: to be a controlling person. She takes a cue from 345 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:06,120 Speaker 5: her Aunt Mary, who does not like Annie at all, 346 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,880 Speaker 5: because they have they're in conflict. 347 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:12,360 Speaker 1: Aunt Mary lived nearby with her husband, Robert Crawford, who 348 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: was Walter Crawford's brother. Aunt Mary never seemed to like Annie. 349 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,399 Speaker 1: She thought that her niece was very controlling, and Aunt 350 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: Mary's feelings of mistrust would only deepen later that year. 351 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: Cecil Leo felt the same way about Annie's controlling personality 352 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 1: even decades later, when they lived together. Cecil says that 353 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,360 Speaker 1: Annie was aloof during that time. 354 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 2: I can't remember which it was one of my brother's 355 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 2: children that one of the pictures I had that they 356 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 2: were talking to her, you know, it was just taken 357 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 2: at random snapshots that we had, So she was communicating 358 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:04,880 Speaker 2: if the Cajun arose well, she'd communicate with people, but 359 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 2: she sat to herself most of the time. 360 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: Cecila says that Annie spent most of her time as 361 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: she grew older just sitting in a corner of their home, 362 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: quietly watching people and That's how she was. When Cecil 363 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: and Pat got married. 364 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,439 Speaker 2: We had a nice wedding and Nanny was there. She 365 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 2: was there very quietly. 366 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: Annie was always quiet, even during the holidays. 367 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 2: I can't even remember Nanny ever even laughing, you know, 368 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 2: or uh. She was very subdued. She sat at the 369 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,560 Speaker 2: end of the couch there, and it looks like she 370 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 2: never moved. There was that one spot. I have a 371 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 2: couple of pictures I wished I had brought of her. 372 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 2: I took over at Christmas time, you know, but I'd 373 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 2: have everybody at the house for Christmas dinner and she, 374 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 2: I mean, she wasn't a part of their activities or 375 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 2: anything like that, but she'd get up from the couch 376 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 2: and she'd walked at the table and we had a 377 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:12,680 Speaker 2: spot for her. 378 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 3: But she. 379 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 2: Was there and that was it. Never engaged in conversation 380 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,400 Speaker 2: or anything like that. Very quiet. 381 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: Annie Crawford did not seem to fit in anywhere, and 382 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,919 Speaker 1: she didn't react well to other women with strong personalities. 383 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: That was not good. Junia, New Orleans is usually hot 384 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: and balmyt which can be unbearable. Now imagine that human 385 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: heat with no air conditioning and no electric fans around 386 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:08,960 Speaker 1: the turn of the century, electric fans were beginning to 387 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: be used, but only in upscale businesses or in wealthy households. 388 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: They would become more affordable by the nineteen twenties, but 389 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: in June of nineteen ten, New Orleans was hot and humid. 390 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 1: The only real relief came from paper fans or chips 391 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:31,639 Speaker 1: from ice blocks or a dip in the Mississippi. This 392 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: uncomfortable weather could make even the best natured person irritable. 393 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,399 Speaker 1: Folks in Louisiana had a host of options to cope 394 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: with that irritation, including drugs and alcohol. Especially alcohol. Bar 395 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: patrons in the city would buy rye, whiskey, cognac, and 396 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:56,880 Speaker 1: absinthe in very large amounts. They would then spill onto 397 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 1: the streets and encounter inexperienced and underpaid police officers who 398 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,919 Speaker 1: tried their best to round them all up and stop 399 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: them from getting into fights or falling into the nearby river. 400 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: These type of scenes were the epitome of what frightened 401 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: some conservative political groups. The Anti Saloon League and the 402 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: Women's Christian Temperance Union were both starting the push for 403 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:27,719 Speaker 1: a dry America, but prohibition wouldn't happen for another decade. Earlier, 404 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,120 Speaker 1: I mentioned that drugs were available. I wondered which drugs 405 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: were illegal in America in nineteen ten, and it turns 406 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: out none of them were illegal. In the mid eighteen hundreds, 407 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,920 Speaker 1: the US had tried to regulate the sale of drugs 408 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 1: by enacting laws that required they were labeled accurately, so 409 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: if you were buying opium, you knew that you were 410 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:52,400 Speaker 1: getting opium, not cyanide. Not surprisingly, as the US approached 411 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,120 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, prescription opioid addiction became even more prevalent. 412 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: Over the previous four decades, it had increased lest by 413 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:04,479 Speaker 1: more than five hundred percent. It wasn't until the nineteen 414 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: twenties that opium would be classified as a dangerous drug. 415 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: All of these drugs, ones that are illegal now, were 416 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: legal then, and they were deadly if you didn't know 417 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,919 Speaker 1: what you were doing, and if you were addicted to 418 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: these drugs, you were putting yourself at risk, particularly if 419 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: you had unfettered access like someone at a health facility might. 420 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: Author Deborah Blum wrote a book called The Poisoner's Handbook, 421 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:36,879 Speaker 1: and she knows all about the history of drugs and poisons. 422 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 3: So you could just get your hands on all this 423 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 3: crazy stuff. Back then, they put cocaine and medications for kids, 424 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,440 Speaker 3: and morphine was also widely available. Right, it's laudanum, which 425 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 3: they would use to give women when they were upset. 426 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 4: Or had their period or whatever. It was a really 427 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:57,119 Speaker 4: dangerous age in that one. 428 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,720 Speaker 1: She's certainly right. Heroin was in magazines as a cure 429 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: for the incurable cough. One ad read you will need them, 430 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: order your supply. In twenty eighteen, the Smithsonian magazine offered 431 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: an excellent summary of nineteenth century drugs that were perfectly legal. 432 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: John Kelvey wrote, when historians trace back the roots of 433 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 1: today's opioid epidemic, they often find themselves returning to the 434 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 1: wave of addiction that swept the US in the late 435 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. That was when physicians first got their hands 436 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: on morphine, a truly effective treatment for pain, delivered first 437 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:38,040 Speaker 1: by tablet and then by the newly invented hypodermic syringe. 438 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: With no criminal regulations on morphine or opium or heroine, 439 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: many of these drugs became the secret ingredient and readily available, 440 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: dubiously effective medicines. So that's where we are. An age 441 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: when poisons like arsenic were sold over the counter to 442 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: kill rats, and people at lunch counters across America were 443 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: drinking Coca cola, which of course contained cocaine. Cocaine lozenges 444 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,880 Speaker 1: soothed the sore throats of children, and if that didn't work, 445 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: then cough syrup laced with morphine would lull them to sleep. 446 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: At her job at the sanitarium, Annie Crawford had access 447 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: to all types of narcotics. By nineteen ten, Annie had 448 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: worked there for about five years, and she seemed quite 449 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: good at her job. Author Alan Gotrow explained what she did. 450 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 6: What she would do is took care of the patients. 451 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 6: I don't think she administered vaccines or any things of 452 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 6: that type. It was mostly of a custodial type of 453 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 6: a thing that she did. But she had access to 454 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 6: a lot of the drugs that were in that particular asylum. 455 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: So Annie wasn't a trained nurse, yet she had access 456 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: to a lot of medicine. That seemed unusual to me. 457 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: So I asked historian Terrence fe It's Morris about it. 458 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 5: It doesn't seem unusual to me, given the lack of 459 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 5: pain management as we call it today, whether drugs are 460 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 5: regulated and the doctors are highly trained and the use of 461 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,600 Speaker 5: drugs and how they should be administered. 462 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: Tarren says that there were a lot of Civil War 463 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: soldiers who were addicts and unscrupulous doctors who preyed on them. 464 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 5: Their wounds lasted their entire lifetime because of how primitive, 465 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 5: comparatively so their medical treatments were. And so as these 466 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 5: old veterans come in, these doctors are telling them, you 467 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 5: can be cured of all the pain that you're suffering, 468 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,440 Speaker 5: whether it's a wound or a mental wound. And those 469 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 5: newspapers are filled with that sort of stuff. 470 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 1: Heroin was one of those cures for morphine. So by 471 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:55,480 Speaker 1: nineteen ten, addiction was skyrocketing across America, including in New Orleans. 472 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: It affected families just like the Crawfords. I had a 473 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: difficult time sorting out the personalities of the two men 474 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: in the Crawford family, Walter Crawford and his brother Robert 475 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: Terence Fitzmorris had a hard time with that too. 476 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 5: I think the men are non descript. I don't know 477 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 5: where they are. 478 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: It's because they never popped up in the local newspapers, 479 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: even when their wives were mentioned in them. For going 480 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:26,760 Speaker 1: to local events. Annie was certainly not nondescript. She was 481 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: controlling and judgmental and frequently unpleasant. 482 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 6: Well, my impression was probably Annie was the problem child. 483 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: Hmm okay. 484 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:41,480 Speaker 6: And you know when you have problem children, they're very 485 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 6: rebellious against their parents. 486 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 1: Terence Fitzmorris says that Annie Crawford seemed to lack that 487 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 1: famous Southern charm even in her own home. 488 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 5: The newspapers do depict her as creepy, They do depict 489 00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 5: her as extremely eccentric, right, But she was a and 490 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 5: there was no doubt about it, and she did try 491 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 5: to rule the roost, didn't she. 492 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: It was June of nineteen ten when Annie stepped off 493 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: the streetcar to go to her job at the hospital. 494 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: It was about three miles from her home on Chestnut Street. 495 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: The facility was called a model hospital for patients and physicians. 496 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: It had electric elevators and clean rooms. It was huge. 497 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: There were three three story buildings which took up two 498 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: city blocks. Loads of people worked at the sanitarium. Doctors 499 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,680 Speaker 1: and nurses and patients constantly came in and out. It 500 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: was easy to slip away for a moment. It was 501 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:49,520 Speaker 1: easy to be sneaky. Annie arrived at the hospital in 502 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,040 Speaker 1: June of nineteen ten, for her normal shift at the 503 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: medicine dispensary, she walked over to the cabinet where the 504 00:32:55,600 --> 00:33:00,080 Speaker 1: drugs were stored. She worked with these medicines every day. 505 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: Annie watched patients writhing in pain who would be calmed 506 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: by these powerful sedatives. Annie had never mixed up medicine before, 507 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: but she understood very clearly how potent the narcotics were, 508 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: and she could identify each of the bottles and what 509 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 1: pills were inside them. Annie opened the door to the 510 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 1: medicine cabinet and examined the bottles. There were small white 511 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: capsules inside. Unbelievably, the cabinet was usually left out in 512 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: the open for anyone to see. A nurse watched from 513 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,920 Speaker 1: behind the door as Annie's hand moved to her pocket, 514 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: and when the nurse glanced away, Annie Crawford had disappeared. 515 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,280 Speaker 1: Annie worked steadily for the next few weeks, but she 516 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 1: sensed that people were watching her. Then her supervisor called 517 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: her into his office. He told Annie that she had 518 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: been an exemplary war for years, but over the past 519 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:06,320 Speaker 1: several weeks, nurses and doctors noticed that large amounts of 520 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: morphine and other drugs had gone missing from the dispensary. 521 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: She was fired immediately. Why was she taking the drugs? 522 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: Was she selling them or taking them herself? Or was 523 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: it something else. Annie quietly left the hospital without a fuss. 524 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,520 Speaker 1: A month went by and she still hadn't secured another job. 525 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,799 Speaker 1: But luckily she had her large family to lean on. 526 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 1: Her father had a steady job as a carpenter at 527 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 1: the railway, Her two other sisters were employed. Young Gertrude 528 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: was still in school. Everything would be okay for the Crawfords. 529 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: One day in June of nineteen ten, Annie Crawford returned 530 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: to her old Victorian home on Chestnut Street, ready to 531 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:01,880 Speaker 1: see her family. She greeted her thirty year old sister, 532 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes. Mary Agnes and Annie were the closest in age, 533 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: just a two year difference, and Mary Agnes had once 534 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: worked for the same sanitarium where Annie had worked, but 535 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes had resigned earlier that year. The two of 536 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,840 Speaker 1: them should have been close, but they didn't seem to 537 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: be now. Mary Agnes worked as a stenographer at the 538 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: nearby railway station. A stenographer is trained to type or 539 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,840 Speaker 1: write in shorthand for official documents. Like court transcriptions. In 540 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: the early nineteen hundreds, shorthand was used by supervisors to 541 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: record conversations or to dictate long letters, or to preserve speeches. 542 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,399 Speaker 1: Author Charles Dickens was a big fan of shorthand. Young 543 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,759 Speaker 1: female students took shorthand courses in school. It was a 544 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,719 Speaker 1: sought after job, and Mary Agnes seemed to be good 545 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 1: at it. Mary Agnes had dark brown hair, wide set eyes, 546 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,399 Speaker 1: and pale skin. She was reserved, but she seemed close 547 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,879 Speaker 1: to everyone in the family, except for Annie. Annie had 548 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: always seemed cold to her and distant. That could have 549 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,879 Speaker 1: resulted from mental health struggles, or a personality disorder, or 550 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:17,680 Speaker 1: an autism spectrum disorder, or maybe it was just her personality. 551 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,360 Speaker 1: That June evening, Mary Agnes ate dinner as her sister 552 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: Annie milled around the kitchen eyeing her. The night began 553 00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:29,120 Speaker 1: as it normally would, but within a few hours of 554 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:33,240 Speaker 1: finishing her dinner, Mary Agnes began to complain a lot. 555 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,839 Speaker 1: She held her forehead and closed her eyes. The dim 556 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:38,920 Speaker 1: light of the gas lamp in the house made her 557 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:43,360 Speaker 1: headache worse. Her mother, Emma, suggested she lay down. Annie 558 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: volunteered to prepare her headache powder, but the symptoms were 559 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: becoming worse and they were affecting more than her head. 560 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes's neck felt stiff and achy. Her mother felt 561 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:58,200 Speaker 1: her forehead. She was very hot. She obviously had a fever. 562 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: Anne Annie walked over quickly, Let me care for her. 563 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:06,280 Speaker 1: Annie insisted she gripped a glass of water in her hand. 564 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,080 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes struggled to sit up and take a sip, 565 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,759 Speaker 1: but Annie helped raise her head. The sisters were all 566 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:20,320 Speaker 1: quiet now. Mary Agnes fell asleep and dozed all night. 567 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,840 Speaker 1: The next morning, Elice Crawford didn't think Mary Agnes seemed 568 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:29,799 Speaker 1: any better, But despite Mary Agnes's illness, Annie was calm. 569 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: She didn't panic, but her mother did. She quickly sent 570 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: Annie next door to make a call. Because the Crawfords 571 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: didn't have a phone themselves. Annie rushed to the neighbor's 572 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 1: home and rang the operator. We need a doctor, please, 573 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:44,840 Speaker 1: she told the person on the other end of the line, 574 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:50,000 Speaker 1: and soon help came knocking at the door. The physician 575 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:54,040 Speaker 1: was a local generalist named doctor H. B. Gessner. He 576 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 1: thumbed through the various pills and syringes inside his leather 577 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: medicine bag. He retrieved his thermomon and asked Mary Agnes 578 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 1: to hold it under her tongue. She did indeed have 579 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 1: a fever. Annie hovered nearby as Mary Agnes quietly described 580 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,640 Speaker 1: her symptoms, her sensitivity to light and her cracking headaches. 581 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,520 Speaker 1: She had suddenly become disoriented when she had felt fine 582 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: at work just the day before. Mary Agnes was beginning 583 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 1: to feel nauseous now and her neck still ached. She 584 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 1: moaned and closed her eyes. She fell asleep. As doctor 585 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,920 Speaker 1: Gessner continued to examine her. He asked if she had 586 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 1: taken any medicine. No, replied everyone. He nodded and scribbled notes, 587 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:43,239 Speaker 1: recording his conclusion based on her symptoms. Mary Agnes had 588 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:50,000 Speaker 1: spinal meningitis. This was a serious diagnosis. Spinal meningitis is 589 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:52,839 Speaker 1: an infection of the fluid and membranes around the brain 590 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: in the spinal cord, and the disease can move quickly. 591 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,800 Speaker 1: Without proper treatment, it can cause brain damage and even death. 592 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:03,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen ten, there were serums for the disease, but 593 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:07,960 Speaker 1: none really offered protection. Penicillin would eventually become a treatment, 594 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: but the important antibiotic wouldn't even be discovered for another 595 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 1: twenty years. Here's the issue. There was no way a 596 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 1: general practitioner would be able to conclusively determine if Mary 597 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,600 Speaker 1: Agnes were to die from meningitis. Today's doctors would do 598 00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: a lumbar puncture or a spinal tap to collect spinal 599 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,319 Speaker 1: fluid to test for meningitis, but that test was just 600 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:34,279 Speaker 1: introduced in eighteen ninety, so it wasn't widely available in 601 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,319 Speaker 1: nineteen ten. There was no reason for the doctor to 602 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 1: believe that this was anything other than meningitis. There was 603 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,399 Speaker 1: little for the family to do except to pray that 604 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,839 Speaker 1: Mary Agnes's body would heal on its own and that 605 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:53,280 Speaker 1: she might survive. Annie Crawford watched as her parents wept. 606 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 1: She surveyed everyone in the family. The imminent death of 607 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 1: a sister would be terrible, but this story was about 608 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:09,840 Speaker 1: to get so much worse. On this season of tenfold 609 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,520 Speaker 1: War wicked on exactly right. 610 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 4: If you're a poisoner that one of your primary objectives 611 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,120 Speaker 4: is to get away with it, You're not making a 612 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 4: statement killer. That's not what you do as a poisoner. 613 00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 4: You're figuring out how to eliminate a problem, a person, 614 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,000 Speaker 4: a threat, obstacle to your wealth. 615 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:32,200 Speaker 3: I mean I wasn't a good nurse, and I remember 616 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:33,919 Speaker 3: to saying like, I'm going to kill someone if. 617 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:34,520 Speaker 2: I keep doing this. 618 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,239 Speaker 6: So what is the motive. Let's eliminate the impossible and 619 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 6: see what's possible. Could it be that she just truly enjoyed. 620 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:46,000 Speaker 2: Killing yep, could be Yeah. 621 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,440 Speaker 6: So the motive is not secondary. I just think that 622 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:49,799 Speaker 6: there's a couple of them there. 623 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,759 Speaker 1: If you love a good, real ghost story. My new 624 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:00,959 Speaker 1: audiobook original The Ghost Club is available for reorder now 625 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,400 Speaker 1: wherever audiobooks are sold. I can't wait to tell you 626 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:08,040 Speaker 1: the real story about the world's most famous ghost hunter, 627 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:11,400 Speaker 1: who was the head of the world's most famous ghost 628 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 1: club and how he investigated England's most famous haunted house. 629 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,960 Speaker 1: Please also check out my new book All That Is Wicked, 630 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: which is based on the first season of Tenfold War Wicked. 631 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,040 Speaker 1: This has been an exactly right tenfold War. Media production 632 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:33,920 Speaker 1: producers Jason Whaling, Alexis Mrosi and Natalie Wrinn, sound designer 633 00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:39,320 Speaker 1: Eric Friend, composer Curtis Heath, artwork by Nick Toga. Executive 634 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 1: producers Georgia Hartstark, Karen Kilgarriff, and Daniel Kramer. Follow us 635 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,719 Speaker 1: on Instagram and Facebook. At tenfold war Wicked and on 636 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:50,840 Speaker 1: Twitter at tenfold war. And if you know of a 637 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: historical crime that could use some attention, especially if it 638 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,800 Speaker 1: happened in your family, email us at info at tinfoldwarwicked 639 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 1: dot com