1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 2: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The area outside Panama 7 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 2: City was sweltering and packed with people. A train pulled 8 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 2: into the depot, disgorging multitudes into the hot station at 9 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 2: La Sienega. Men and women flocked to the Ocean House 10 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 2: Hotel and the Pacific House Hotel to pay for cheap lodgings. 11 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 2: Those that weren't planning to stay gathered by the station 12 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 2: or at the beach. There was a steamship, the John L. Stevens, 13 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 2: to take these people to San Francisco that it was 14 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 2: currently aground until the tide rolled in that evening. The 15 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 2: situation left many Americans with nothing to do but sweat 16 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 2: and wait. It was April fifteenth of eighteen fifty nine. 17 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 2: The California gold Rush was at its peak, and in 18 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 2: the aftermath of the Mexican American War, plenty of American 19 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,919 Speaker 2: colonists were eager to grab California land while it was cheap, 20 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 2: and traveling through Central America was a faster and often 21 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 2: less perilous way of going west compared to the Oregon Trail. However, 22 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 2: at this point, the Panama Canal didn't exist, so it 23 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 2: was still a haphazard route passing through the Republic of 24 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 2: New Grenada, and as a result, Panama City got extremely congested. 25 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 2: Jack Oliver, an American man, stepped out of the Golden 26 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 2: Eagles Saloon at around five thirty PM. He was one 27 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 2: of many foreigners who were passing through Panama City far 28 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 2: slower than he would like. It was already very drunk, 29 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 2: trailed by several friends in similar states of intoxication the way. 30 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 2: He grabbed a slice of watermelon from a street vendor, 31 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 2: which he ate as he walked along. The vendor, understandably 32 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 2: annoyed that the American had stolen the watermelon without pain, 33 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 2: pursued him. That man's name was Jose Luna. He insisted 34 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 2: that Oliver pay him ten cents for that slice. Oliver 35 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 2: brushed him off, telling him to get lost. Luna insisted, 36 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 2: following Oliver further and further down main street. Oliver in 37 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 2: a fit of rage, drew a pistol and pointed it 38 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 2: at Luna's face. Luna defensively drew a knife, but before 39 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 2: either of them could do anything, a local grabbed Oliver's 40 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 2: pistol and attempted to wrestle it from his hands. The 41 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 2: gun went off, fortunately hitting no one. Knowing better than 42 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,959 Speaker 2: to press his luck, Luna quietly vanished into the crowd. 43 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: The man who had grabbed the pistol, though, Miguel Abraham, 44 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: broke and run the gun still in his hands. Oliver 45 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: and the other Americans chased after him, shouting angrily. They 46 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: even brandished more weapons, and soon the locals were ready 47 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: with weapons of their own. More gunshots went off, and 48 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: the pack streets of Panama City descended into chaos. It 49 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: was an explosion of tension that had already existed in 50 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: the area. Locals, primed and angry toward the arrogant Americans, 51 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: took to American run businesses with clubs and other improvised weapons. 52 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: Both hotels, The Ocean and the Pacific were trashed in 53 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: the ensuing riot. The main group of Americans, including the 54 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: ones who had incited it all to begin with, fled 55 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: to the train station, where they barricaded themselves inside. The 56 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 1: Panama police arrived shortly after and attempted to control the scene, 57 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: but when a stray bullet from the station struck a policeman, 58 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: any attempts to calm things down died a quick death. 59 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: Police and locals stormed the train station, breaking down the 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: doors and forcing their way inside. The riots lasted hours 61 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: well into the night. By the end, the train station 62 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: was destroyed, the telegraph lines had been severed, and even 63 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: sections of train track had been torn up. There were 64 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: over sixty injuries and seventeen people died, fifteen Americans and 65 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: two Panamanians. And what about Jack Oliver, the arrogant American 66 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: who thought stealing fruit from a poor vendor was a 67 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: good idea Well. Retellings of the riot tend to lose 68 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: track of his story, but at least one account claims 69 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: that he just sat the riot out. The tide came in, 70 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: so he boarded the ship along with the other tourists, 71 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: and while the violence raged on, he slept in steerage, 72 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: waiting to be taken back to America. To some a 73 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: riot like this was inevitable, though the governments of America 74 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: and Panama might have had an agreement, but intense racial 75 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: and economic disparities between the populations were very well documented. Predictably, 76 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:42,039 Speaker 1: the business owners who lost money in the riot blamed 77 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: the locals like Miguel Abrahan, rather than Jack Oliver, who 78 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 1: had drawn his gun in the first place. The conflicts 79 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: between nations, individuals, and businesses became inextricably tied up together 80 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: in the riot, leaving everyone frustrated. Traveling from one end 81 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: of a continent to another is always going to provoke 82 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: some sort of stress. Even as technology improves, we accept 83 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: a certain amount of discomfort if it gets us where 84 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: we're going. Only when your plane has a layover, it 85 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: rarely ends with the airport burning to the ground. They 86 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: say that you can't outrun fate, but as this story proves, 87 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: you may be able to outswim it. On the morning 88 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: of November twenty one of nineteen sixteen, a young stewardess 89 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: walk through the dining room of the HMHS Britannic. The 90 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,599 Speaker 1: Britannic was originally built as a passenger liner, but when 91 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: World War One broke out, it was requisitioned for use 92 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: as a hospital ship. On this particular November morning, it 93 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:52,919 Speaker 1: was sailing through the Kia Channel on its way to 94 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: pick up sick and wounded British sailors from the Greek 95 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: island of Lemnos. Our young stewardess, a woman named Violet, 96 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: squeeze past the dining tables where doctors and nurses were 97 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: chatting over breakfast. She made her way to the kitchen 98 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: to pick up breakfast for a sick nurse that she 99 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,840 Speaker 1: was caring for. But just as she picked up a 100 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: teapot from the pantry, a deafening roar shook the Britannic. Instantly, 101 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: the men in the kitchen dropped their pans and spoons 102 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: and sprinted toward the deck, but Violet stayed calm. She 103 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,479 Speaker 1: was no stranger to chaos at sea. She'd been a 104 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: stewardess on the supposedly unsinkable Titanic when it hit an 105 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: iceberg four years earlier. A year before that, she'd been 106 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: working on another luxury liner, the RMS Olympic, when it 107 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: collided with a British warship. Whatever was happening on the 108 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: Britannic that morning, it wouldn't rattle Violet jessup, so she 109 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 1: took the pot of tea to her patient in sick 110 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: Bay and calmly helped her get dressed and ready, and 111 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: then Violet strolled down the deserted hallways to her own cabin, 112 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: gathered up her toothbrush and her prayer book, and made 113 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: her way up to the deck. As she did, a 114 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: startled officer ran up to Violet and told her that 115 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,720 Speaker 1: there had been an explosion and the ship was sinking fast. 116 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: All of the other women had already been evacuated, and 117 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: so she was hurried into a lifeboat, and as it 118 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: was lowered into the water, something caught Violet's eye. Another 119 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: lifeboat that had already set sail was drifting along the 120 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: side of the ship and being pulled into the churning 121 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: water by the ship's propellers. She watched in horror as 122 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: the other lifeboat was sucked into the propellers. One by one, 123 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: its occupants jumped overboard into the water, barely making it 124 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: out before the lifeboat was shredded. Violet realized that if 125 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: she was going to survive, she was going to have 126 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: to jump overboard as well. There was only one problem, 127 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: Violet couldn't swim. Pushing down her first pangs of fear, 128 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: she held her breath and plunged into the icy water. 129 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: She was tossed around by the waves, sinking further and further, 130 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: and then bobbing back to the surface. She smacked her 131 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: head on something hard, and as she choked and saltwater 132 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: filled her lungs, she felt a hand clutch her arm. 133 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,679 Speaker 1: Mere moments before she would have drowned, she was pulled 134 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: to safety. All told, twenty eight lives were lost in 135 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: the sinking of the Britannic, but Violet Jessup survived and 136 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: made a full recovery, and the news got out that 137 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: the stewardess had lived through a third major disaster on 138 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: the ocean. She earned the new nickname Miss Unsinkable. After 139 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: taking a short break to reevaluate her life choices, she 140 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: decided to go back to work as a stewardess, and 141 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: she worked at sea for another three decades, thankfully without 142 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: another accident, before finally taking her well deserved retirement at 143 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,599 Speaker 1: the age of sixty one. Fates can be a curiously 144 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: powerful force, but for Violet Jessup, it couldn't match the 145 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: pull of the ocean. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided 146 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on 147 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting 148 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me 149 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: Aaron Mankie in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make 150 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 151 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 152 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 1: about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time, 153 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: stay curious.