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The Cheap Eats · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
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  Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: It was Christmas time, nineteen twenty seven, and the largest
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  Speaker 1: manhunt Texas had ever seen was underway. A posse of
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  Speaker 1: one hundred men was scouring the lone Star state. Their
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  Speaker 1: target had many aliases, Chris Kringle, Old Saint Nick, even
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  Speaker 1: Papa Noel. But no matter what name he went by,
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  Speaker 1: the truth was the same. Santa Claus had robbed a bank.
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  Speaker 1: Just a few weeks earlier. Marshall Ratliffe took his first
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  Speaker 1: breath of free air after two long years. He had
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  Speaker 1: been imprisoned for bank robbery in a tiny central Texas
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  Speaker 1: town called Valera, but he walked free after the governor
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  Speaker 1: granted him a pardon. Immediately he began to plot his
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  Speaker 1: next heist. It was a particularly dangerous time for bank
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  Speaker 1: robbers in Texas. Multiple banks were being robbed every day,
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  Speaker 1: and the Texas Bankers Association put up a bounty of
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  Speaker 1: five thousand dollars for anyone who killed a would be thief.
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  Speaker 1: Today that would be the equivalent of about eighty five thousand,
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  Speaker 1: so law men and vigilantes alike were eager to get
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  Speaker 1: their payout. Marshall knew to get away clean he needed
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  Speaker 1: the right team and the right approach, and so he
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  Speaker 1: staked out the First National Bank of Cisco, Texas to
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  Speaker 1: make a plan. He recruited two other ex cons, Henry
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  Speaker 1: Helms and Robert Hill, and when their original safecracker fell ill,
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  Speaker 1: they added Louis Davis, Henry's relative, to the team. And
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  Speaker 1: since Marshall himself was known to people in Cisco, he
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  Speaker 1: decided the best way to pull off the heist would
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  Speaker 1: be in disguise. Luckily for him, the woman running the
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  Speaker 1: boarding house he lived in had just the thing, a
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  Speaker 1: homemade Santa Claus suit complete with a beard. The plan
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  Speaker 1: was simple. Drop Marshall in full Santa get up in
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  Speaker 1: town close to the bank, when they would park their
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  Speaker 1: getaway car in the alley out back. Henry, Robert and
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  Speaker 1: Louis would then follow Marshall into the bank. They would
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  Speaker 1: steal the cash and exit through a side door to
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  Speaker 1: drive off into the sunset. It was nearly full proof.
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  Speaker 1: On December twenty third of nineteen twenty seven, the townspeople
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  Speaker 1: of Cisco didn't find anything suspicious about a man in
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  Speaker 1: a Santa suit strolling into the bank. In fact, on
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  Speaker 1: his journey into First National, Marshall was stopped by several
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  Speaker 1: children giving him their Christmas wish lists. Inside the bank, however,
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  Speaker 1: was a totally different story. The second that Marshall and
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  Speaker 1: his three accomplices entered the building, they pulled out their
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  Speaker 1: pistols and told the workers and patrons inside to put
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  Speaker 1: their hands up. Marshall pulled out a bag and told
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  Speaker 1: the tellers to begin filling it. In the chaos, however,
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  Speaker 1: the gang lost sight of one bank customer and her
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  Speaker 1: young daughter. The two slipped into a back office and
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  Speaker 1: out a side door, and then immediately ran into the
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  Speaker 1: police station just a block away. Minutes later, the bank
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  Speaker 1: was surrounded. The in and out heist the gang had
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  Speaker 1: planned was no longer possible, so they began to improvise.
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  Speaker 1: Marshall's gang entered the alley, pushing eight hostages ahead of
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  Speaker 1: them as human shields. They thought that the police wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: shoot if there were civilians in the way. However, they
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  Speaker 1: thought wrong. A firefight quickly broke out, wounding police, robbers,
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  Speaker 1: and hostages alike. But amidst the melee, the four thieves
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  Speaker 1: were able to get into their getaway sleigh i mean
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  Speaker 1: car and go along with two fourth grade girls as hostages.
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  Speaker 1: It quickly became obvious, though that they had a problem.
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  Speaker 1: Whether a bullet had made a leak in the gas
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  Speaker 1: tank or the robbers simply forgot to fill up, the
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  Speaker 1: issue was clear. They were almost out of gas. There
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  Speaker 1: was no way that they were getting out of Cisco.
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  Speaker 1: At the edge of the town, they tried to steal
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  Speaker 1: a passing car, ordering the driver out at gunpoints, but
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  Speaker 1: by the time they loaded the cash, the hostages and
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  Speaker 1: themselves into the new car, they realized the driver had
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  Speaker 1: run off with the keys in his hand. Facing more gunfire,
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  Speaker 1: they jumped into their original getaway car and drove off,
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  Speaker 1: But in the confusion they left behind Louis, who had
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  Speaker 1: fallen unconscious from his wounds, as well as the bag
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  Speaker 1: of cash. It seems that after all this trouble to
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  Speaker 1: rob a bank, they would have nothing to show for it.
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  Speaker 1: The three remaining robbers made it about two miles out
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  Speaker 1: of town before they abandoned their car with the hostages inside.
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  Speaker 1: The ensuing manhunt lasted another seven days, with nearly one
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  Speaker 1: hundred men on their trail desperate for their cut of
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  Speaker 1: the bounty. Marshall was caught on December twenty sixth, and
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  Speaker 1: Henry and Robert were captured on December thirtieth. Altogether, twelve
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  Speaker 1: people were wounded and three people, including Louis Davis, were killed.
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  Speaker 1: The money, worth one hundred and seventy two thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: at the time, would have been the largest bank heist
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  Speaker 1: in Texas history, at least it would have been had
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  Speaker 1: the robbers not left it behind in the chaos. Santa
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  Speaker 1: Suit or not, those bank robbers would spend the rest
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  Speaker 1: of their lives on the Nauty List. You know, you
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  Speaker 1: learn a lot about a city based on the food
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  Speaker 1: they have available to visitors. There's nothing quite like flying
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  Speaker 1: into New York late at nights and hunting down some
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  Speaker 1: cheap street food to keep yourself going. It may never
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  Speaker 1: be the healthiest option, but it's always a relief to
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  Speaker 1: weary travelers. The wide availability of simple prepared foods is
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  Speaker 1: an essential part of a big city today. But how
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  Speaker 1: far back into history does that go. It's perhaps not
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  Speaker 1: surprising to remember that people had not always been quite
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  Speaker 1: so traveled and food not quite so industrialized. And the
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  Speaker 1: farther back in time you go, the more interesting these
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  Speaker 1: differences become cities were smaller, Preserving food for long periods
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  Speaker 1: was always a challenge, and in medieval times it was
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  Speaker 1: not always a given that a house would have a
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  Speaker 1: kitchen of its own, which brings us to one of
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  Speaker 1: the epicenters of the medieval world. Jerusalem, the central city
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Land, is easily the most contested location
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  Speaker 1: of the era. During the Crusades, it changed hands multiple times,
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  Speaker 1: first when Christian crusaders conquered the city in ten ninety nine,
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  Speaker 1: then when Solidin took it back, and back and forth
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  Speaker 1: for much of the High Middle Ages. Now, despite weathering
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  Speaker 1: regular violence, sieges, and religious conflict, the city still had
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  Speaker 1: a function like a city. As the capital of the
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ordinary people still came and went, people
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  Speaker 1: with no intention to participate in a crusade. It was
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  Speaker 1: a hub of travel for individuals of many different faiths,
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  Speaker 1: and for that reason, the rulers of the city had
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  Speaker 1: many warring interests to contend with, which is why in
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  Speaker 1: the eleven forties the city was in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: a quiet political struggle between folk of Anjou and his wife,
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  Speaker 1: the heir to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Melissene. The late
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  Speaker 1: King's wins will determined that she should rule, but Fulk
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  Speaker 1: did not agree. He made many attempts to undermine his
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  Speaker 1: wife's authority, resulting in a tenuous arrangement where they would
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  Speaker 1: be co rulers of the city as king and queen.
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  Speaker 1: But all of this came to an end. In eleven
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  Speaker 1: forty three, Fulk and Melison were riding in the countryside
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  Speaker 1: when the King of Jerusalem spotted a hare. Seized by
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  Speaker 1: a hunter's instinct, he charged after it. His horse stumbled
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  Speaker 1: and fell, whereupon Fulk received a grievous head injury. He
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  Speaker 1: would die of it some days later, and with this
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  Speaker 1: Melisan took the throne for herself, ruling the Kingdom of
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem alongside her young son, Baldwin Third. She would be
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  Speaker 1: the first woman to hold public office in this kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: although her reign would eventually end due to infighting with
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  Speaker 1: her increasingly headstrong son. But this is where we get
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  Speaker 1: back to food. You see, Melison did not spend all
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  Speaker 1: of her reign grappling for power with her immediate family members.
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  Speaker 1: She also seemingly had an interest in improving Jerusalem for
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  Speaker 1: its citizens. At her direction, in three parallel streets would
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  Speaker 1: be established to become a sort of open market for
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  Speaker 1: the city, where travelers and citizens alike could go in
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  Speaker 1: order to purchase goods. And this so called triple market
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  Speaker 1: consisted of three streets, the Streets of Herbs, the Covered Street,
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  Speaker 1: and the Street of Bad Cooking. And this third street
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  Speaker 1: would perhaps become the most infamous of them all. It's
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  Speaker 1: there that locals would prepare vast quantities of low quality
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  Speaker 1: food to be sold cheaply. The meat was bad, almost
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  Speaker 1: always rancid, but caked in enough spices that you'd hardly
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  Speaker 1: be able to tell. And if you're a crusader or
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  Speaker 1: a pilgrim who had just traveled thousands of leagues in
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  Speaker 1: order to come here, you likely wouldn't be complaining. But
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  Speaker 1: don't worry. Not all of the food was of poor quality.
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  Speaker 1: There were fresh fruits available not far from the Street
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  Speaker 1: of Bad Cooking, as well as great local bread. It
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  Speaker 1: seems that Melisson's Triple Market was something of a city
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  Speaker 1: in miniature. In it, you could see people from all
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  Speaker 1: over the world brought into a very small location, all
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  Speaker 1: seeking a bite to eat. And thus, thanks to her,
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  Speaker 1: the violence, turmoil, and upheaval of the Crusades gave way
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  Speaker 1: to a business practice that wouldn't have a name until
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  Speaker 1: the modern times, fast food. I hope you've enjoyed today's
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  Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
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  Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
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  Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. This show was created by
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  Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I
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  Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
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  Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
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  Speaker 1: about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.