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Maul Me Once · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
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  Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
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  Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
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  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
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  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Some people think they know better than everyone else.
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  Speaker 1: A company founder might feel they can steer their ship
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  Speaker 1: better than their board of directors, or an independent child
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  Speaker 1: might believe they're ready to grow up faster than their
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  Speaker 1: parents expected. Tight As Salt also believed that he knew
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  Speaker 1: better than those around him, and he wasn't shy about
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  Speaker 1: it either. The thing was, Titus had elevated himself so
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  Speaker 1: highly above everyone else, he didn't what was going on
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  Speaker 1: right under his nose. Titus hailed from a small market
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  Speaker 1: town called Morley and Leads, England. Back in the early
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  Speaker 1: eight hundreds, his father, Daniel sold things like salt, varnish
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  Speaker 1: and glue, an occupation known as a dry salter. Daniel
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  Speaker 1: sent his son off to school for a time before
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  Speaker 1: Titus eventually struck out on his own as a wool dealer,
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  Speaker 1: a job he held for two years, but Home kept
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  Speaker 1: calling him back, and so Titus packed up his things
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  Speaker 1: and returned to become business partners with dear old Dad.
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  Speaker 1: Their company, Daniel Salt and Son, dealta in textiles, specifically
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  Speaker 1: Russian wool. They eventually branched out in the eighteen thirties
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  Speaker 1: to incorporating alpaca wool into their offerings and increasing the
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  Speaker 1: company's footprint. Over the next twenty years, Titus took over
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  Speaker 1: operations and skyrocketed to the top of the textiles industry.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Salt and Son had more employees than any other
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  Speaker 1: business for miles, and with nowhere else to go but up,
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  Speaker 1: he decided to enter the realm of local politics. In
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  Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight, Titus was elected mayor of Bradford, where
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  Speaker 1: he lived and worked. Now, he may have been immensely wealthy,
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  Speaker 1: but he also recognized that his factories were harming the
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  Speaker 1: people of the community. They were spewing dangerous levels of
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  Speaker 1: smoke and soot into the air, and while he did
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  Speaker 1: his best to clean things up, his efforts ultimately failed. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: Titus's company continued to grow. In fact, it became too
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  Speaker 1: big for the town, what with its six mills, in all,
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  Speaker 1: and so Titus made a bold move. He bought a
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  Speaker 1: large plot of land in Bradford. It was located along
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  Speaker 1: the river, not too far away. But he wasn't going
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  Speaker 1: to build just another bigger factory, one that would consolidate
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  Speaker 1: everyone under one roof. No, Titus had much grander plans
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  Speaker 1: than that. He was going to build a whole new town.
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  Speaker 1: He called it Saltaire, self contained village for himself, his workers,
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  Speaker 1: and their families. He kicked things off with a mill,
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  Speaker 1: which opened on his birthday, September twenty, eighteen fifty three,
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  Speaker 1: and from there Titus went on to construct gools, houses, churches,
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  Speaker 1: and even a hospital in Saltaire. He paid for much
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  Speaker 1: of it himself, with a focus on cleanliness. Now, back
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  Speaker 1: in Bradford, life expectancy hadn't grown past about twenty years,
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  Speaker 1: but in the new town of Saltaire it climbed to
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  Speaker 1: a whopping seventy years. People didn't just live and work
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  Speaker 1: in Saltaire, they thrived. Their homes, had gas and water
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  Speaker 1: fed to them directly from the mill. Roads were paved,
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  Speaker 1: and there was a train line nearby that brought supplies
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  Speaker 1: and materials directly to the town. Saltaire had it all
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  Speaker 1: except for one thing, pubs. Titus refused to allow pubs
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  Speaker 1: or beer shops to be erected within his pristine little village.
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  Speaker 1: Part of Saltaire's allure for him was his ability to
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  Speaker 1: watch and control his employees. They lived and worked in
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  Speaker 1: his town, but he felt his control extended beyond the workday.
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  Speaker 1: He was a staunch methodist, you see, and he insisted
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  Speaker 1: that his workforce exercised the same level of faith as
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  Speaker 1: he did. This included no drinking, no umbling, and no swearing,
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  Speaker 1: not exactly the easiest thing for thirty mill workers looking
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  Speaker 1: to unwind after a long day on their feet. But
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  Speaker 1: even though Titus controlled his factory and his employees, there
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  Speaker 1: was one thing he had no control over time. The
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  Speaker 1: great philanthropist and businessman had to meet his maker one day,
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  Speaker 1: and he did on December twenty nine of eighteen seventy six.
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  Speaker 1: Now the people loved him, and a statue of Titus
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  Speaker 1: Sault was erected in nearby Roberts Park, a memorial to
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  Speaker 1: the man who improved the standards of living for his
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  Speaker 1: entire workforce and helped the less fortunate. But that wasn't
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  Speaker 1: all that went up after his death, Titus, as I
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  Speaker 1: said earlier, did not drink. He would not allow any
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  Speaker 1: public houses or saloons built within his town's borders. Well,
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  Speaker 1: sensibilities changed once he was out of the picture. Today,
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  Speaker 1: Salt is home to several pubs and bars, including one
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  Speaker 1: with a cheeky nod to the town's founder. It's called
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  Speaker 1: Don't Tell Titus. The age of British colonialism saw a
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  Speaker 1: slew of undue atrocities spread around the world under the
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  Speaker 1: oppressive eye of the Empire. The Crown claimed dominion over
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  Speaker 1: populations that never asked for their sudden British overlords, but
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  Speaker 1: spread thin as they were, The British were always left
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  Speaker 1: open for a little bit of failure, and that opening
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  Speaker 1: was left on by Tippoo, Sultan in the Kingdom of
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  Speaker 1: Mysore in India. Tippoo and his kingdom had an emblem,
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  Speaker 1: a symbol, a motto, the tiger. This tiger could be
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  Speaker 1: found on quite literally everything in the kingdom, from walls
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  Speaker 1: to flags, to weapons and armor. Tippoo's throne had a
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  Speaker 1: massive tiger carved into it, and you can bet the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the furniture in the place did as well.
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  Speaker 1: But it was also the centerpiece of a rather demeaning
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  Speaker 1: work of art. Demeaning in a completely satisfying way, nice
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  Speaker 1: would add. Now, the story goes that a young East
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  Speaker 1: India Company cadet by the name of Hector Sutherland Monroe
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  Speaker 1: went hunting with a few of his company buddies on
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  Speaker 1: December twenty two. Unfortunately for Monroe, he became the hunted
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  Speaker 1: instead of the hunter. You see, a clever Bengal tiger
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  Speaker 1: killed him on that hunt, and thus we have the
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  Speaker 1: inspiration for the piece given to Tippoo Sultan. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: the veracity of the story is still up for debate,
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  Speaker 1: but you get the idea. Now. The indigenous population there
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  Speaker 1: loved the idea of colonial Europeans being mauled by tigers.
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  Speaker 1: Hard to blame them, really. One artist liked it so
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  Speaker 1: much that they created a work of art simply known
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  Speaker 1: as Tippoo's Tiger, a nearly life sized wooden version of
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  Speaker 1: the tiger mallying the man who may or may not
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  Speaker 1: have been Hector souther Lind Monroe. But it wasn't just
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  Speaker 1: an idle sculpture that wouldn't have been demeaning enough for
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  Speaker 1: what the British Empire deserved. No, this piece of art
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  Speaker 1: was also an automata, not unlike the ones being produced
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  Speaker 1: in Europe. Its outer shell, made of painted wood, concealed
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  Speaker 1: an interior of metal cogs and pipes, all with a
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  Speaker 1: very specific purpose to make this art come to life,
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  Speaker 1: and all operated by cranks. One handle, for instance, caused
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  Speaker 1: the colonial Europeans arm to rise and fall while air
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  Speaker 1: pushed through a pipe in his neck, making him gurgle
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  Speaker 1: and moan as if he were being mauled by the tiger.
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  Speaker 1: Another crank activated the air within the tiger's pipes and
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  Speaker 1: made a satisfying growling sound, because what could be more
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  Speaker 1: satisfying than maulling the oppressor. No doubt, the good Tippoo
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  Speaker 1: Sultan had a blast entertaining guests at his palace as
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  Speaker 1: they marveled over the technological splendor of watching a European
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  Speaker 1: man mauled over and over by the emblem of his
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  Speaker 1: own country. But, as they always seemed to say, all
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  Speaker 1: good things must come to an end. Eventually, the British
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  Speaker 1: did invade, and they confiscated Tippoo's tiger, claiming it or themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Now one might assume that's given the offense they had
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  Speaker 1: taken to it, they would destroy the piece, but no,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't do that. They just wanted it for themselves.
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  Speaker 1: After that, the Tiger began to make the rounds through
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  Speaker 1: various museums in Great Britain, which it still does to
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  Speaker 1: this day, still being watched by the masses as it
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  Speaker 1: mals its perpetual victim. Tpoos Tiger and almost living, breathing
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  Speaker 1: symbol of the flaws and dangers of colonialism on display
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  Speaker 1: by the very people it was meant to offend. Now
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  Speaker 1: I'd call that curious. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
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  Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
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  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
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  Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make
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  Speaker 1: 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 World of Lore dot com.
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  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious. Yeah h