Latest / Crime and Horror / Top 3 last minute decisions that changed history Part 1

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Top 3 last minute decisions that changed history Part 1 · Crime and Horror

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  Speaker 1: Today, I'm going to share three stories where last minute
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  Speaker 1: decisions changed the course of history. But before we get
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  Speaker 1: into those stories, if you're a fan of these strange,
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  Speaker 1: dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come
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  Speaker 1: we upload three or four.
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  Speaker 2: Times every week.
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  Speaker 2: All right, let's get into today's stories.
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  Speaker 1: On the evening of October fourth, nineteen twelve, a United
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  Speaker 1: States political candidate was in his hotel room in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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  Speaker 1: In less than an hour, he was scheduled to deliver
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  Speaker 1: a very important speech to local voters he hoped to
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  Speaker 1: sway in his favor.
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  Speaker 2: Even though he was nervous, he was really.
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  Speaker 1: Excited about giving this particular speech because he and his
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  Speaker 1: speech writers had spent weeks put in together this fifty
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  Speaker 1: page script that he was now holding in his hands,
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  Speaker 1: And so he paced around the room, flipping through the
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  Speaker 1: first couple of pages of the script. Reciting lines before
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  Speaker 1: checking his watch and seeing that it was time to go,
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  Speaker 1: and so he took a deep breath. He took his thick,
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  Speaker 1: fifty page document, folded it in half, and then tucked
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  Speaker 1: it inside his right inner jacket pocket.
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  Speaker 2: And when he was ready, he walked out his hotel door, down.
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  Speaker 1: The front steps, and out the front door of the hotel,
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  Speaker 1: where a huge crowd was waiting for him. People were
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  Speaker 1: singing his praises and yelling to him and trying to
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  Speaker 1: get him to react to them as he walked out
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  Speaker 1: of the hotel towards his car, and as he was walking,
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  Speaker 1: his own personal security detail had formed up around him
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  Speaker 1: and were doing their best to keep the crowd at bay.
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  Speaker 2: And when the candidate finally.
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  Speaker 1: Got to his open air car, he stepped inside and
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  Speaker 1: then stood up, took his hat off, and continued to
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  Speaker 1: wave to the crowd. And then right before his car
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  Speaker 1: was about to take off, there was a loud bang
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  Speaker 1: from somewhere out in the audience, and the candidate hunched
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  Speaker 1: over he had been shot. His security detail immediately recognized
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  Speaker 1: who the gunman was and they attacked him, kicking his.
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  Speaker 2: Gun away and putting him in a choke hole.
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  Speaker 1: And the rest of the crowd kind of forms up
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  Speaker 1: and begins beating on this gunman, and amidst all this chaos,
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  Speaker 1: the candidate, who's just been shot, stands up and yells
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  Speaker 1: to the crowd, don't kill him, don't kill him, bring
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  Speaker 1: the gunman to me. And the crowd is so surprised
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  Speaker 1: that their candidate is not on the ground because again
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  Speaker 1: he's just been shot, that they stopped. They stop attacking
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  Speaker 1: the gunmen, and even the security detail they're just holding
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  Speaker 1: the guy in a choke hold, looking up at the candidate, like, really,
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  Speaker 1: you're not down.
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  Speaker 2: You just got shot. And so the candidate looks at
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  Speaker 2: the gunman and he says, you know, why'd you do it?
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  Speaker 1: And the gunman stays silent, and so the candidate says, okay,
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  Speaker 1: just take this guy away. And so the security detail
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  Speaker 1: hand this guy off to the cops. And so now
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  Speaker 1: the crowd's all looking at the candidate wondering how in
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  Speaker 1: the world he's acting like everything is totally okay, because again,
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  Speaker 1: he just got shot. And so this is when the
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  Speaker 1: candidate reaches into his jacket and he pulls out that
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  Speaker 1: thick script he had tucked inside of his right pocket
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  Speaker 1: and he holds it up to the crowd, and there's
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  Speaker 1: clearly a bullet hole that went through the script.
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  Speaker 2: The script had stopped.
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  Speaker 1: The bullet and saved the candidate's life. All of his
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  Speaker 1: aids were urging him to go to the hospital immediately,
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  Speaker 1: but the candidate refused and said, bring me to that speech.
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  Speaker 1: And just a couple of minutes later, the famous American
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  Speaker 1: President Theodore Roosevelt delivered his fifty page speech, although he
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  Speaker 1: did have to make some changes to it on the
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  Speaker 1: fly because there were holes on every page. On an
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  Speaker 1: icy cold December night in seventeen seventy six, a farmer
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  Speaker 1: living in New Jersey looked out his window and thought
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  Speaker 1: he saw something move at the end of his road.
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  Speaker 1: He put his hands to the glass and tried to
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  Speaker 1: get a better look, but he couldn't see it. It was
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  Speaker 1: too dark, there was no illumination. But he didn't need
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  Speaker 1: to see it to know what it was. He could
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  Speaker 1: hear it coming. Panicked, he stumbled backwards, turned around, ran
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  Speaker 1: into his bedroom, where he told his wife to stay
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  Speaker 1: in the house, keep the kids here, do not leave
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  Speaker 1: for any reason. And then this farmer bolted out his
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  Speaker 1: back door, hopped in his horse and began blazing towards town.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't know how much time he had, but he
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  Speaker 1: knew he had to warn the German Man Johann Rahl.
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  Speaker 1: After riding for a couple of minutes, he arrived at
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  Speaker 1: the town of Trenton. He turned down a couple side
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  Speaker 1: roads and then he arrived at this beautiful two story
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  Speaker 1: home where Johan was staying. And so the farmer got
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  Speaker 1: off his horse and walked towards the front door, and
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  Speaker 1: right before he got there, a German soldier came outside,
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  Speaker 1: shut the door behind him and told the farmer to stop.
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  Speaker 1: And the farmer told the soldier in English that he
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  Speaker 1: had to speak to Johan, he had a warning for him,
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  Speaker 1: but the German soldier didn't speak any English, and so
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  Speaker 1: there was this total miscommunication, and at some point the
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  Speaker 1: German soldier indicated to the farmer that it was impossible
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  Speaker 1: for him to come inside, that Johan was actually playing
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  Speaker 1: cards and did not want to be disturbed, and so
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  Speaker 1: the farmer needed to leave. But the farmer was desperate
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  Speaker 1: and he pleaded with the soldier to let him speak
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  Speaker 1: to Johan.
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  Speaker 2: It was an emergency.
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  Speaker 1: He had a warning for him, but the soldier either
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  Speaker 1: again didn't understand or he just didn't care, and he
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  Speaker 1: tried to tell the farmer to leave once again, but
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  Speaker 1: the farmer really wasn't taking no for an answer, and
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  Speaker 1: so he pulled out a piece of paper and he
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  Speaker 1: scratched this ominous warning on it, and he gave it
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  Speaker 1: to the soldier and he said, give this to Yohan.
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  Speaker 1: And so the soldier reluctantly takes the note.
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  Speaker 2: He looks at it. It's in English. He can't read it,
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  Speaker 2: and so he just nods to the farmer and says, okay,
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  Speaker 2: I'll give it to Johan.
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  Speaker 1: Once the farmer had got back on his horse and left,
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  Speaker 1: the soldier turned around, went through the front door and
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  Speaker 1: walked back to the dining room of the house, where
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  Speaker 1: he found Johan around a table with a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: other guys, laughing and drinking and playing cards. And this
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  Speaker 1: soldier very reluctantly walks up to Johan, hands him the
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  Speaker 1: note and apologizes for the interruption, and Johan looks up
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  Speaker 1: at him. He's obviously annoyed, and he scolds him for
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  Speaker 1: interrupting him. He takes the note and he looks at
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  Speaker 1: it and he can see that it's in English, and
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  Speaker 1: like the soldier who's brought it to him. Johann could
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  Speaker 1: not read English, and so he's looking around the table.
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  Speaker 1: He's got this great poker game going. He's having so
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  Speaker 1: much fun. He didn't want to step away and have
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  Speaker 1: to get a translator and read this note, which to
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  Speaker 1: him was probably meaningless anyways, and so he tells the
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  Speaker 1: soldier that, you know what, he'll read it later, and
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  Speaker 1: he takes the note and he puts it in his
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  Speaker 1: pocket and he goes back to playing poker. Johann would
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  Speaker 1: never read that note, and in a couple of hours
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  Speaker 1: Johan would be dead.
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  Speaker 2: Johan Rawl was a colonel fighting for.
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  Speaker 1: Great Britain during the American Revolution, and he and his
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  Speaker 1: Hessian brigade that had taken up residence in his home
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  Speaker 1: inside of Trenton, New Jersey, believed the American rebels were
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  Speaker 1: on the verge of defeat, and certainly they were not
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  Speaker 1: about to launch an attack now, not on a freezing
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  Speaker 1: cold December night.
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  Speaker 2: But they were wrong. That farmer was a British.
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  Speaker 1: Loyalist, and what he saw when he looked out the
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  Speaker 1: window at the end of his road was the famous
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  Speaker 1: American military general George Washington and his Ragtag army after
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  Speaker 1: they had just completed their famous secret crossing of the
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  Speaker 1: Delaware River. That note Johan was handed was a warning
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  Speaker 1: that they were on the way. Had he bothered to
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  Speaker 1: read it, he and his well trained Hessians could have
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  Speaker 1: very easily crushed Washington and his men, and that would
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  Speaker 1: have been the end of the American Revolution and America
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  Speaker 1: would still be a British colony today. Instead, Johan and
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  Speaker 1: his men were caught off guard and wiped out, and
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  Speaker 1: the Americans would go on to win the war and
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  Speaker 1: their independence from Great Britain. In nineteen twelve, thirty seven
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  Speaker 1: year old David Blair was a senior merchant seamen working
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  Speaker 1: for the British shipping company called White Star Line. In
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  Speaker 1: February of that year, he was informed by his company
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  Speaker 1: that he would be the second officer of this massive
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  Speaker 1: luxury cruise liner that was still being built in Northern Ireland.
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  Speaker 1: As the second officer, David's primary responsibility was the ship's
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  Speaker 1: navigational operations.
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  Speaker 2: Amongst other things.
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  Speaker 1: Now, David had handled these responsibilities on other ships, but
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  Speaker 1: he'd never done it on a ship of this size.
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  Speaker 2: This would easily be the most challenging thing. David had
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  Speaker 2: done in.
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  Speaker 1: His career to date, but he told his family he
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  Speaker 1: was really excited about it. David immediately moved to Belfast
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  Speaker 1: where the ship was being built, and he lived there
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  Speaker 1: for three months until construction was done.
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  Speaker 2: On April second, the final rivet.
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  Speaker 1: Was put into the ship and it was launched successfully
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  Speaker 1: into the water, and then after that David and the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the crew and staff got on board and
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  Speaker 1: they set sail. Their first stop was Southampton in the UK,
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  Speaker 1: and for this leg of the journey it was just
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  Speaker 1: going to be the crew and the staff.
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  Speaker 2: Two days later they arrived without.
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  Speaker 1: Incident, and for the next several days the ship remained
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  Speaker 1: in port as the crew prepped it for its first
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  Speaker 1: treo made in voyage, which was going to be to
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  Speaker 1: New York City on April tenth. All preparations had been made,
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  Speaker 1: and finally it was time to allow the paying customers
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  Speaker 1: to come on board. And in just a couple of hours,
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  Speaker 1: thousands of people were on board this huge ship, and
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  Speaker 1: just hours before they were set to depart, David was
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  Speaker 1: given some bad news. His bosses at White Star Line
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  Speaker 1: had decided that this journey was too high profile, and
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  Speaker 1: while David certainly had experience. He didn't have a lot
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  Speaker 1: of experience with huge ships, and so he was being
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  Speaker 1: replaced with someone who did. Understandably, he was crushed. But
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  Speaker 1: more than this being a disappointment, this eleventh hour change
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  Speaker 1: was a huge hassle. With literally thousands of passengers getting
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  Speaker 1: in the way all over the ship, David needed to
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  Speaker 1: scramble and run all over the place and collect all
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  Speaker 1: of his things in the cabin, upon the bridge, and
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  Speaker 1: various closets he had put things. He had to do
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  Speaker 1: that as fast as he could before the ship took off,
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  Speaker 1: and so finally, after doing that, with his last armful
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  Speaker 1: of luggage in hand, he said goodbye to the crew
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  Speaker 1: and to the staff. He said best of luck to
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  Speaker 1: his replacement, and he walked off the ship for good David,
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  Speaker 1: with all of his luggage, made his way to a
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  Speaker 1: hotel where immediately that night he wrote a letter to
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  Speaker 1: his family saying how disappointed he was, and then after
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  Speaker 1: that he.
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  Speaker 2: Went to bed. The next morning, when he was going
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  Speaker 2: through all of his luggage, he.
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  Speaker 1: Discovered that he had taken a key by accident from
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  Speaker 1: the ship, and this key was to a special closet
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  Speaker 1: that he was in charge of as the second officer
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  Speaker 1: that contained all of the ship's binoculars, and so he
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  Speaker 1: felt terrible, but there was nothing he could do.
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  Speaker 2: The ship had already left.
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  Speaker 1: And was on its way to New York, and so
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  Speaker 1: the best he could do was he would mail the
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  Speaker 1: key back to them in New York when they got
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  Speaker 1: there back on board the ship, when they discovered this
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  Speaker 1: key was missing, they did figure out that David.
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  Speaker 2: Must have it because he was the only one who.
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  Speaker 1: Would have had the key, and it's a brand new ship,
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  Speaker 1: so nobody else would have had it. But they decided
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  Speaker 1: that it wasn't worth turning around to go get this key.
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  Speaker 1: They figured their lookouts were skilled enough they could spot
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  Speaker 1: any obstructions with their naked eye. Well, five days later,
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  Speaker 1: that ship, the Titanic, struck an iceberg and sunk, killing
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  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred people. One of the very few survivors was
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  Speaker 1: a guy I named Fred Fleet. He was one of
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  Speaker 1: the lookouts who actually saw the iceberg first, and he
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  Speaker 1: would testify at a Senate inquiry that if he had
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  Speaker 1: had binoculars, he would have been able to see the
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  Speaker 1: iceberg far enough in advance that they could have avoided it.
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  Speaker 2: So that's going to do it.
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  Speaker 1: us know in the comments what it is and where
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