WEBVTT - The Irish Crown Jewels, Separated 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.440 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:10.600 and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey listener discretion advised, Hey, 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.119 this is Danishwartz, the host of Noble Blood. I have 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.840 just a few quick bits of housekeeping. So if you 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.800 want to support the show, we have episode scripts and 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.360 monthly bonus episodes up on our Patreon, which is linked 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.960 in the bio. You also get exclusive stickers and cool merch. 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.920 It's great. Join the Noble family. It's great. I'm there, 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.199 talk to me, we can hang out. We also have 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.760 amazing merch. I've seen fake merch around the internet, but 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.839 the only actual merch that is like real for the 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.360 show is on a website called d f t b 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.440 a dot com and it's linked in the episode description. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.400 And the third piece of housekeeping is so I wrote 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.520 a book called Anatomy a Love Story, which is about 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:57.760 a surgeon in nineteen century Scotland, and its sequel, Immortality 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.560 a Love Story, is coming out this February. Arry and 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.120 pre orders are the most important thing that is in 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.120 the book world right now, Like truly, I cannot express 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.600 how every single book person in my life is like, 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.320 please Dana, get pre orders and I'm like, I will try. 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.400 I promise. So if you enjoy the storytelling on the show, 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.640 or you think you would enjoy a sort of macabre 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.679 story of you know, mayhem and surgery in nineteenth century 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.680 Edinburgh and London in the sequel, check it out and 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.679 maybe preorder that is also linked in the bio. As always, 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:43.360 just thank you so much for listening. At two pm 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:49.160 on July six seven, one of the porters in Dublin Castle, 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:53.520 a man named William Stivey, was simply trying to do 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.040 his job. On a typical day, his job meant catering 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.680 to the requests of various of officials whose offices were 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:06.720 scattered throughout castle grounds. But on this day, William Stevey 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:10.519 had been given a task well outside his usual duties 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.200 with a surprising lack of fanfare. Stevey had been handed 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:20.680 a priceless royal artifact, a golden collar belonging to a 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.760 former Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.720 and he was given in order to return it to 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:32.040 its safe in the Bedford Tower Library. It was a 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.000 task that typically would have been reserved solely for the 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.600 very man who had given the porter of the task 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:43.800 Ireland's Ulster King of Arms, Sir Arthur Vickers. But on 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.600 this particular afternoon Vickers had been buried up to his 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.400 neck in paperwork, desperately trying to sort out the final 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.160 details regarding the British King and Queen's visit to Dublin 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.040 Castle later that week. He was the Ulster King of Arms, 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.160 of position men to be the leading voice of all 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:06.840 things heraldry and genealogy in Ireland, even if his job 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.640 title technically required him to be the sole keeper of 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:14.519 the Order's priceless collection of jewels. He didn't have time 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.680 to go walk halfway across the castle just to put 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.360 a necklace back in its box, Which was how the 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:27.320 humble Dublin Castle porter William Stivy found himself completely out 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.119 of his depth, holding a priceless golden collar in one 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.720 hand and the key to the safe holding the Irish 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.480 Crown jewels in the other. You know, just a normal 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:43.240 day at the office. Only when Stivey managed to make 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:47.120 it to the safe in question, he suddenly faced a 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:51.440 much larger problem. He couldn't get it open. He was 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.360 able to somehow fit the key into the safe intimidating 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.800 metal hull but no matter what he did, the lock 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:03.360 refused to turn it. Maybe the vault could sense Stivy's 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:07.560 impostor syndrome from the way his clammy palms slipped against 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.440 its surface with wasted effort, or maybe he had simply 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.920 been given the wrong key, But regardless, his efforts remained 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.360 in vain. But just as he was about to slink 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.799 back to Vicker's office in defeat, Styvey heard someone else 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.040 approaching the library. The porter didn't know it at the time, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.719 but he would be asked to recount the following moments 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:36.120 in Dublin Castle's Bedford Tower Library over and over for 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:40.840 years to come by police, press and conspiracy theorists alike. 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:45.480 For the footsteps that had sounded behind him belonged to 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:49.760 none other than the Ulster King of Arms himself, Sir 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:55.719 Arthur Vickers, And to Styvey's complete and total shock, he 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:01.240 watched as Vickers approached the safe. Vicker didn't try to 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:06.360 turn the stuck key. Instead, he simply pulled the door open. 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.000 For it turns out the lack had somehow been turned 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.760 well before Stivey ever walked into the library that day. 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.400 But what Stivy would be asked to remember most in 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.440 the coming years of interrogators and inquiries was the look 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.160 on Sir Arthur Vicker's face when he finally mustered up 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:31.400 the strength to look inside the vault, only to discover 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:37.800 that the Irish Crown jewels were gone. I'm Dani Schwartz, 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:48.400 and this is noble blood. Now, before we go any 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.239 further into the story, I think it's important to address 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:55.880 the confusion related to the term Irish crown jewels, for 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.760 when there is no literal Irish crown, which begs the 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.080 question how could there be any jewels for a crown 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.719 that doesn't exist? Well, in order to answer this fully, 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.159 I think it's worth going a little further back to 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:13.880 briefly summarize Ireland's relationship with the United Kingdom, at least 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.960 as it stood in nineteen o seven. For the sake 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.400 of this story, I am not going to delve too 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:24.159 deeply into the incredibly tumultuous, nearly thousand year history between 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.880 the two countries, but to give you a foothold in 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.160 which to place yourself within this story, you should know 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.680 in eighteen o one, the Kingdom of Great Britain and 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:37.960 the Kingdom of Ireland merged to create the United Kingdom 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.480 of Great Britain and Ireland, a union that was still 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.360 holding strong in nineteen o seven when this story takes place. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:51.000 Of course, quote holding strong is a relative term, especially 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:56.040 considering Irish nationalists would be attempting to pass legislation advocating 0:06:56.080 --> 0:07:00.839 for home rule as early as nineteen twelve. Safe to say, 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:05.240 as Ireland would officially become an independent country by nineteen 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:09.040 twenty two, loyalties to the British crown in nineteen o 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.120 seven we're growing shakier by the day in an increasingly 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:18.280 independent Irish state, which leads us back to our initial question. 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.280 If Ireland's metaphorical crown was really just an extension of 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.840 the British monarchy, how were their jewels for a crown 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.000 that didn't exist in the first place. The simple answer 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.720 is there weren't, at least not in terms of how 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:38.560 we traditionally think of crown jewels in actuality. What we 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.200 have come to refer to colloquially as the Irish crown 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:46.240 jewels was really a star and badge created for the 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.840 sole purpose of representing the most illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:55.320 which was the English monarchy. Made Irish equivalent to England's 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.000 Order of the Garter or Scotland's Order of the Thistle 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.640 esta published in seventy three by King George the Third. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.000 The Order of Saint Patrick was created to honor those 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:11.840 irishmen who exhibited extraordinary loyalty to the Crown. It was 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.320 an honor that had the added benefit of quelling rises 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.840 in Irish patriotism. Lord Charlemont, one of the founding knights 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.600 of the Order, is quoted as saying, quote, it is 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.840 a fact often experienced that the offer of a glittering 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:33.560 bauble has a greater influence in subduing patriotic integrity end quote. 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:39.600 The stones on the glittering baubles in question came from 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.800 the English Crown Jewels of Queen Charlotte as well as 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.640 King George the Third star from the Order of Bath, 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.040 but they were refitted to better embody the Order of 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:53.480 Saint Patrick. The star and badge had a cumulative three 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:57.760 hundred and ninety four stones spread between them. At the 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.760 center of each lied a three four whale, which was 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.400 a shape closer to that of a clover than the 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.640 girl scout cookie, and that was composed entirely of emeralds 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.200 sitting inside of a ruby cross set above a light 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:16.920 blue enamel background. The star had eight points stoned almost 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:22.319 entirely with Brazilian diamonds, said to be of the purest water. 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.360 But similar to the badge, in an arc around the 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:31.559 emerald treefoil in rose colored diamonds was written the motto 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:36.959 of the order qui separabi or who can separate us, 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:42.120 a quote which could have been tempting fate considering exactly 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:46.840 what happened next. Now, when you think of someone plotting 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.440 to steal something as valuable as the Irish Crown jewels, 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:55.040 there's an expectation that some level of competency or maybe 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.720 even genius would be necessary to carry out such a feat. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.400 Immediately my mind goes to some turn of the twenty 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:06.079 century version of Oceans eleven, with George Clooney and Brad 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:10.200 Pitt in bowler hats and time pieces attached to their waistcoats, 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:14.160 sitting around a candle lit table covered in intricate blueprints 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.800 of Bedford Tower. But in the case of the Irish 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:22.400 Crown Jewels, the success of the theft most likely wasn't 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.720 due to an abundance of schematics or hours of meticulous planning, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:31.559 but rather a series of increasing lapses and security that 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.560 led to someone finding just the right moment in which 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:40.880 to pluck the jewels out from under everyone's noses. Per 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.760 the statutes of the Order, custody of the insignia was 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.680 left to be cared for by whoever was the reigning 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:52.040 Ulster King of Arms, who in seven happened to be 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.400 the same man who was too busy to walk a 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:59.160 golden collar back to its safe, Sir Arthur Vickers. Vickers 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.440 had been given the title back in eighteen ninety three 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.280 and had overseen the care of the jewels in Dublin 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:09.200 Castle's Birmingham Tower until nineteen o three, when it was 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.920 decided Vickers and the jewels would be relocated to a 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:17.679 new office across castle grounds in Bedford Tower. In preparation 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.960 for the move, Dublin Castle officials were tasked with building 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.560 a new strong room within Bedford Tower that would be 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:29.240 able to house the safe containing the jewels, which would 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.600 have been great if they had stopped to measure the 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.840 size of the safe before constructing the only door to 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.440 the room. Unfortunately, they had apparently never heard the high 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:46.280 school shop class adage measure twice cut once, and they 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.960 had instead built a strong room with a door too 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.920 small to fit the safe meant to go inside of it. 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.360 This meant Vickers was forced to decide to either knock 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.960 the wall down to his freshly constructed wrong room, put 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:05.199 the safe inside, then subsequently rebuild the wall, or simply 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.600 find somewhere else to store the safe, and, in a 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:12.000 move that should surprise absolutely no one at this point 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.880 in the story, Vicars chose the ladder, deciding to house 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:19.920 the safe in the Bedford Tower library instead until another 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:24.200 suitable location could be decided. It should also surprise no 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.240 one that no such location was ever decided, meaning the 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:31.960 safe holding the Irish Crown Jewels was essentially out in 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.160 the open for anyone with access to Dublin Castle to 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:40.080 stumble upon. But even with the vault relatively open location, 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:43.200 it was still acting as another barrier that should have 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:47.600 served as adequate protection for the jewels. The only two 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.520 keys to the safe were in Vicar's possession, one which 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:53.720 he kept in a desk in his home and the 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.920 other which he kept on his person at all times. 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:01.760 Well apart from the one instance in May of seven 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.679 when a housekeeper found one of his keys and had 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.360 to mail it back to his office, or, of course, 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.200 that fateful day just two months later, when he gave 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.600 his personal copy to the porter, William st Ivey, to 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:18.559 save himself a trip across the castle grounds. Surely those 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:22.000 were the only two exceptions to the impenetrable security in 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:27.360 Bedford Tower. Ultimately, the litany of security breaches in Dublin 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:31.560 Castle were so extreme it was weeks after the last 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.960 confirmed sighting of the Irish Crown Jewels on June eleven 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.120 before Vickers would finally open the safe in Bedford Tower 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:45.839 Library and realize just how much trouble he was in now. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.400 Earlier in the story, I mentioned the Dublin Castle porter 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.640 who had the misfortune of happening upon one of the 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:57.359 most infamous thefts in all of Ireland's history. But in reality, 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.720 Stivey's inability to open the Irish Crown Jewels safe was 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.280 not the first red flag to appear in Bedford Tower 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:10.040 that day. No, the first red flag was spotted three 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.760 days earlier by one of the castle's cleaners, a woman 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.600 named Mrs Farrell, who found the entrance to the strong 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:23.080 room left completely unlocked. Unlike the safe, the strong room 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:27.440 had seven keys spread amongst various officials in Dublin Castle, 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.880 but under no circumstance should it ever have been left 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:36.000 unlocked and unattended. Naturally, Mrs Farrell reported the unlocked door 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:40.600 to Vickers, but her concerns were promptly dismissed. Official reports 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.640 have Vickars being quoted as saying, quote, is that so 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.760 when told about the strong room on the third of July. 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.680 Not exactly the reaction of shock and horror you'd expect 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.200 from ireland Ulster King of Arms. But he was in 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.080 the midst of preparing for the King and Queen's arrival 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.360 in Dublin just over a week later, so maybe he 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.760 was just busy. But when on the morning of July six, 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.320 Mrs Farrell came back to Vicker's office to report that 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.280 the strong room door had yet again been left unlocked, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.320 there was next to no rational explanation as to why 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:22.960 Vickers would dismiss her again. Another breach insecurity in less 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.760 than a week, let alone the same week the King 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.680 and Queen were set to arrive, should have set off 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:33.000 alarm bells throughout the castle, and yet Vickars once again 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.800 ignored the report, deciding instead to go about his day 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:41.160 until at to PM when he sent the porter William's 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:45.000 Divy to return the golden collar to the safe. Vickers 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:50.240 would follow him shortly after and find the safes contents vanished, 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:54.080 save for the light blue ribbon which had once been 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:59.880 attached to the insignia, everything else missing. When the authorities 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.000 were finally called and the Irish Crown Jewels were officially 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:08.000 reported missing, it didn't take long to parse out that 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:12.280 the theft had been an inside job. There was no 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.680 evidence of fourth century into Dublin Castle, and the safe 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.680 had no visible marks that indicated it had been tampered 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:22.520 with or altered in any way, meaning that only one 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:26.600 of the two existing keys, or perhaps an exact copy 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.880 made by someone with access to them, was used in 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:34.080 order to access the jewels. The theft itself had happened 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:38.400 so quietly it had taken authorities maybe even weeks, to 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.520 notice they were missing in the first place. The security 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.480 in Bedford Tower may have been lacking, but the lack 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:48.920 of physical evidence left behind suggested to authorities that the 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:53.240 criminal knew exactly what they were doing, and suddenly the 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:58.120 pool of suspects narrowed down from all the theoretical Brad 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:02.800 Pitts and bowler hats across Dublin to three main suspects, 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.879 each of them having, through one way or another, some 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:12.560 connection to the goings on inside Dublin Castle. The first 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.200 suspect is probably one you have most likely put together 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:21.360 for yourself, Ireland Ulster, King of Arms himself, Sir Arthur Vickers. 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.600 Given the initial evidence provided, Vickers no doubt, seems like 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.000 the obvious choice. He had the easiest access to the 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:33.600 jewels and apparently cavalier relationship with the keys, and an 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:38.040 inherent lack of urgency when provided with information concerning breaches 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.359 and security. But even in the face of all the 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:46.240 evidence mounted against him, Vickers was unwavering in his declaration 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:51.480 of innocence. He was negligent, maybe, but not guilty. In 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:55.720 addition to the missing star and badge, a box containing 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.800 personal jewels from Vicker's mother had also been taken from 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.760 this safe. This of course invites further questions as to 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:07.320 why Vickers felt it was at all appropriate to keep 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.320 his personal jewels in a vault containing that of official 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:15.520 royal artifacts. But regardless of vickers own collection, being kept 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:19.120 inside the safe does begin to poke holes in argument 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.480 advocating his guilt as far as motives go, Vickars may 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.880 have had ease of access, but he had no known debts, 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.240 no reason he would need the jewels in that specific moment, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.399 and considering he had held his position as Ulster King 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.000 of Arms for over a decade at this point, why 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.720 would he steal the jewels now? Which leads us to 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:49.600 our second suspect, an associate of Vickars named Francis Bennett Goldney. 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:53.000 Goldney was the Mayor of Canterbury as well as Vickers 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.400 appointed Athlone Pursuant, which is a title basically equating him 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:02.560 to a junior Officer of Arms for the Order of St. Patrick. However, 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.760 what is particularly interesting about Goldney as a suspect isn't 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.600 his ties to the Order itself, but his specific interest 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:15.320 in antiquities. In addition to his duties as Mayor, Goldney 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:19.040 had acted as honorary curator for the Royal Museum and 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:24.000 Art Gallery in Canterbury, his love of historical artifacts most 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.200 likely carrying over into his interest in the Order of St. Patrick. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.840 In fact, Goldney had all but begged Vicars for the 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.159 position as outlan persuing finally being given the job in 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:41.439 February nine seven not even six months before the theft 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:46.200 would eventually occur. Now, if Goldeney's a new position under 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:50.360 Vickers and an accompanying love for antiquities was the sole 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.199 evidence against him, I would be inclined to move on 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.400 to the next suspect. However, the true nature of Goldney's 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.480 suspicion really only came to light after his death, for 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.920 it was only after his untimely passing from a car 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.880 accident in nineteen eighteen that authorities would find Goldney's love 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:14.360 of antiquity had at some point crossed the line from 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:19.679 history enthusiast to pack rat, as they discovered a collection 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:24.840 of stolen artifacts littered around his home. The Irish Crown 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.560 jewels were not found in his possession, but that isn't 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.119 to say he may not have pawned them off or 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:35.520 sold off the stones individually. At the time, Goldney was 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.880 brought in for questioning, but he was recorded as not 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:42.000 being in Dublin in the month window from when the 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.840 jewels had last been seen to when they had been 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:49.399 discovered missing in July seven, and therefore he was let go. 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.679 So that brings us to our third and possibly most 0:20:54.800 --> 0:21:01.199 controversial suspect. The Dublin Herald Francis Shackleton in While the 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.200 other suspects no doubt had close proximity with the jewels, 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.760 Shackleton had one thing that both the other suspects lacked, 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:15.679 a clear motive. In nineteen o seven, Shackleton was known 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:20.040 to have been in dire financial straits. He had borrowed 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.960 money from both Vicars and Goldney, as well as additional 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:27.240 money lenders throughout the United Kingdom, and he had yet 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:31.840 to make good on any of his dealings. Additionally, Shackleton 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:36.200 was reportedly living with Vickers as his roommate, suddenly giving 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.720 the incident in May nineteen o seven, when Vickers had 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.320 to have his key returned to him by mail by 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:47.879 his housekeeper a new sense of foreboding. However, despite the 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:52.760 fact that both Goldney and Vicars heavily implied Shackleton's possible 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:56.840 involvement in the theft their statements to the authorities, he 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.920 was never formally considered as a suspect. This was due 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.760 to a few reasons, the first being similar to Goldney, 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:07.880 that he was also not in Dublin in the month 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.159 span in which the jewels could have been taken. The 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:14.320 second had less to do with his alibi and more 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:18.960 to do with his name, or rather his brothers. As 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:24.119 it happened, Francis Shackleton was the brother of none other 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:30.560 than the famous Irish Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. It's likely 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:34.560 that Ernest's ties to King Edward the seventh, as well 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:39.040 as his notoriety in general, made authorities less likely to 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:43.560 pursue Francis as a serious lead. It's at this point 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:45.720 in the story that I'd like to take a brief 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:49.320 break from analyzing the potential suspects and returned for a 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.800 moment to the rumored night time activities that were happening 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:57.520 in Dublin Castle. By day, the castle was home to 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.200 the office of the All Star King of Arms, the 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:04.080 Dublin Metropolitan Police, as well as a catalog of other 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:09.560 municipal offices. But by night, Dublin Castle was rumored to 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:13.600 have been the backdrop for some of the most scandalous 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:17.600 parties in the United Kingdom. In nineteen o eight, a 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:23.520 newspaper called The Gaelic American published an article titled Abominations 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:28.680 of Dublin Castle Exposed, which would accuse several prominent government 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:34.160 officials of participating in quote nightly orgies at the castle. 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:38.800 It should be noted that the nightly orgies in question 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:43.840 likely weren't as hyper sexualized as the language suggests, but 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:46.639 rather meant to be indicative of the nature of the 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:52.320 relationships between the parties involved. At this point, homosexuality was 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.240 still illegal in the United Kingdom, which meant that this 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:59.000 article fanned the flames of the scandal already brewing around 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:01.760 the events leading up to the theft of the Irish 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:06.520 Crown jewels. The article is full of period typical homophobia, 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:11.520 citing Dublin Castle as quote a nest of unnatural vice, 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:16.880 but the undercurrent of the accusations remain as clear as day. 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:19.560 This is how those who work for the Crown are 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.879 spending their time and resources. And while it may have 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:27.320 once been easy to dismiss the article as petty gossip, 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:31.439 especially since it was published anonymously, with the author stating 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:34.800 their refusal to release the names of their sources for 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:39.320 quote obvious reasons, in the years since, it has been 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:43.040 impossible to ignore the kernel of truth that lay at 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:46.840 the center of the piece. It was an open secret 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:50.560 in Dublin society that Francis Shackleton was gay, but the 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:54.320 Crown was more than determined not to implicate other important 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:58.360 figures who may have run in his same circles. When 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:02.240 Shackleton was eventually brought in for questioning, right off the bat, 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:05.600 he made sure to let his interrogators know exactly how 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:08.320 much trouble he had gone to in order to be there, 0:25:08.680 --> 0:25:12.520 having returned from San Remo to cooperate with their investigation, 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:17.320 in other words, re establishing his alibi. He would then 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:19.879 go on to name drop as many of his political 0:25:19.920 --> 0:25:24.200 counterparts as he could, mentioning a ridiculous rumor he had 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:28.520 heard of him and Lord Haydo, the son of Lord Aberdeen, 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:32.159 working together to steal the jewels, at which point the 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:36.679 Solicitor General doing the investigation all but strapped duct tape 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:41.320 over his mouth, telling Shackleton he quote need not mention 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:45.920 that in the end, the who was not the target 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:50.520 of the Crown Jewels Commission's investigation, the how was a 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:55.840 clear enough target for them to pin the blame. In January, 0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:59.840 the Commission found quote Sir Arthur Vickers did not act 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:03.560 sercized due vigilant or proper care as the custodian of 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:07.560 the regalia. Not long after that Vickers was forced to 0:26:07.640 --> 0:26:10.600 leave his post as the Ulster King of Arms, a 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:13.840 punishment that would haunt him for the rest of his life. 0:26:14.840 --> 0:26:18.520 In the years that followed, speculation as to the whereabouts 0:26:18.600 --> 0:26:21.080 of the Irish Crown jewels, as well as the thief 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:25.520 behind the heist, only became more sensationalized as news of 0:26:25.560 --> 0:26:29.000 the suspects seemed to bring up more scandal by the day. 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:33.240 As I mentioned earlier, Goldney's true nature as a suspect 0:26:33.320 --> 0:26:36.480 in the case only really came about after his death 0:26:36.560 --> 0:26:40.200 in nineteen eighteen, when he was discovered to have multiple 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:45.600 stolen antiquities in his possession. Shackleton, despite his previous luck 0:26:45.640 --> 0:26:49.800 of aiding criminal charges, was eventually arrested for fraud in 0:26:49.920 --> 0:26:54.560 nineteen thirteen. He would serve fifteen months in prison, then 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:57.960 upon release, take up a new name and live out 0:26:58.000 --> 0:27:01.840 the rest of his life in relative of security. Following 0:27:01.960 --> 0:27:06.040 his forced resignation as the Ulster King of Arms, Vickers 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:09.760 moved from Dublin to kill Morna in County Kerry. He 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:13.040 spent the rest of his life disputing claims of his guilt, 0:27:13.359 --> 0:27:16.560 even winning a libel case in nineteen thirteen against The 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:20.200 Daily Mail. After they claimed he had given his supposed 0:27:20.359 --> 0:27:23.240