Latest / Ridiculous History / Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel, Part 1: How to Get Away with Murder

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Dan Sickles, American Scoundrel, Part 1: How to Get Away with Murder · Ridiculous History

0:00
Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Ye,
0:27
Speaker 1: welcome to the show Ridiculous Historians. As always, thank you
0:30
Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Uh this is this is
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Speaker 1: gonna be a fun one. Um. No, I would say
0:38
Speaker 1: that you and I are at times rambunctious, but I
0:41
Speaker 1: wouldn't say I wouldn't say we're scally wags or scoundrels.
0:46
Speaker 1: What do you think, you know? I've often fancied myself
0:49
Speaker 1: been a bit of a rapscallion from time to time,
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Speaker 1: and then only because I'm incorrigible, you just can't take
0:55
Speaker 1: me anywhere. But now I don't think I may have
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Speaker 1: in past life dipped my toe into the shallow end
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Speaker 1: of the scoundrel pool, but I've certainly reformed long since.
1:05
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think we can squarely say neither of us,
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Speaker 1: including super producer Casey Pegram, our scoundrels. I've always you know,
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Speaker 1: before the word became politically charged, I liked to think
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Speaker 1: of myself as a maverick based on that Mel Gibson film.
1:23
Speaker 1: It was it was like a card shark, right, Yes,
1:25
Speaker 1: it was a maverick. And when we were getting ready
1:28
Speaker 1: for this episode, I know out of the three of us.
1:31
Speaker 1: I can't be the only one who thought of the
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Speaker 1: film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Do you remember that one? I do.
1:36
Speaker 1: That's the one about the dirty rotten Scoundrels. That's right,
1:39
Speaker 1: that's a very student summary. Also, Steve Martin is like
1:43
Speaker 1: the one of the best banjo players in the world's fabulous.
1:47
Speaker 1: So it's Steve Martin. And who's his uh, who's his
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Speaker 1: scoundrel cohort in that movie? I'm forgetting now. It's definitely
1:54
Speaker 1: not Mel Gibson. We've established that guy's kind of a
1:56
Speaker 1: maverick just right now, Ja, it feels like a Jack
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Speaker 1: Lemon type figure. No, no, I'm just thinking of things
2:05
Speaker 1: dirty rutten. We must solve this show until eight? Is
2:12
Speaker 1: it Michael Caine? Michael Kaine? It's Michael Caine, but I
2:16
Speaker 1: don't even recognize them. It's Michael Kaine. I was looking
2:19
Speaker 1: at the poster and before I could read the text,
2:21
Speaker 1: I was just like, who is that? Yeah? I just
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Speaker 1: I haven't just I don't remember anything about the movie
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Speaker 1: except that there's a scene where Steve Martin pretends to
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Speaker 1: have an eye patch and they they they're they're basically
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Speaker 1: confidence men, and they go around you know, seducing heiresses
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Speaker 1: and trying to con people out of their crown jewels.
2:41
Speaker 1: And and I don't know if a lot of people
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Speaker 1: won't know this, but the recent uh movie starring Rebel
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Speaker 1: Wilson and Anne Hathaway, The Hustle, is essentially a retelling
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Speaker 1: of dirty, rotten scoundrels, with the the said scoundrels being
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Speaker 1: played by women. So women can be scoundrels too. I
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Speaker 1: think it's trying to, like, you give the word back
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Speaker 1: to the people, you know, because you think it's like
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Speaker 1: a scoundrel and we think of a dirty dog man,
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Speaker 1: you know, but women can scoundrel it with the best
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Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, let's h Let's make sure that everybody
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Speaker 1: is equally recognized in their ability to be a terrible person.
3:15
Speaker 1: Gargo Humans. Also just a shout out to the nineteen
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Speaker 1: seventy nine film about another um someone irredeemable character, The Jerk,
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Speaker 1: also starring Steve Martin. It's classic. It can't go on said,
3:30
Speaker 1: believe it or not. We're not talking about Steve Martin
3:33
Speaker 1: for the show. We could do an episode on Steve later,
3:35
Speaker 1: maybe we can even interview him, But today we are
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Speaker 1: talking about a man who is sometimes known as America's
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Speaker 1: first notorious scoundrel. His name Dan Sickles. What did he do?
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Speaker 1: What made him? You guys remember that you may be
3:53
Speaker 1: familiar with that cartoon sitcom American Dad. There's an alien
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Speaker 1: named Roger, and there's just running joke that Roger has
4:02
Speaker 1: this alternate persona, a guy named Ricky Spanish, and he's
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Speaker 1: and he's a total lothario. Yeah, he's a monster. He's worse.
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Speaker 1: He's a monster. But Dan Siggles is kind of like
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Speaker 1: a Ricky Spanish. How did he get here? What are
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Speaker 1: we talking about? And how does he help us avoid
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Speaker 1: romanticizing America of days past? It's a good question, man,
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Speaker 1: And I want to start with a reading from this
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Speaker 1: fabulous piece PBS article. I just love the way they
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Speaker 1: sum this up, because this is very true. We sometimes
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Speaker 1: assume that people today are naughtier than those of yesteryear,
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Speaker 1: that morals have decayed the point of rotting, that lovers
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Speaker 1: are less faithful, politicians more corrupt. But to name at
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Speaker 1: least one strong counter argument to such supposed decline, there
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Speaker 1: is Daniel Sickles, a nineteenth century congressman, friends to presidents,
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Speaker 1: civil war general, not to mention as well, a notorious philanderer,
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Speaker 1: a corrupt Tammany Hall politician, an embezzler, a cold blooded murderer,
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Speaker 1: and the officer who almost cost the Union victory and
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Speaker 1: perhaps the most pivotal battle of the Civil War. A
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Speaker 1: real pos this guy, and also a fabulous piece of
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Speaker 1: writing from SuDS. Sure. Yeah, that credit goes to Dennis
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Speaker 1: Gaffney who was the author of that piece. Uh So, yeah,
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Speaker 1: this guy is a pos. Uh. This being a family show,
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Speaker 1: I proposed that we we make it a running thing
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Speaker 1: where we try to find different definitions of p O S.
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Speaker 1: So let's say, um, what you're talking about, I'm gonna
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Speaker 1: say point of scoundrelity. So so okay. So Dan is
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Speaker 1: born Daniel Edgar Sickles, October, New York City. We know
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Speaker 1: of one of his first low life moves that occurred
5:54
Speaker 1: when he was a teenager. He was accused of stealing
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Speaker 1: a hundred bucks that had in uh given to him
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Speaker 1: by a guy named Peter Cooper. Peter Cooper is a
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Speaker 1: philanthropist and according to The New York Times in their
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Speaker 1: wonderful article the man who got away with Everything, Peter
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Speaker 1: Cooper was like Saint Lee. He was the most beloved
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Speaker 1: dude in New York City. Uh. Sickles parents put up
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Speaker 1: with him a lot, you know, and it's just like
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Speaker 1: a boy's will be boys thing. And they sent him
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Speaker 1: off to home in Manhattan, the household of Lorenzo da Ponte.
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Speaker 1: And they were hoping that this that Dan would soak
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Speaker 1: up some culture, that he would maybe turn his young
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Speaker 1: life in a more productive direction. Um. But it didn't
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Speaker 1: work out the way they had hoped. Yes. In fact,
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Speaker 1: some very salacious rumors began to swirl that Sickle had
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Speaker 1: seduced DuPont's adopted married arnor Maria Cook Baggioli. Uh, and
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Speaker 1: to boot, had blackmailed her husband. So a cup holder
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Speaker 1: and a blackmailer. It gets worse, it totally gets worse.
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Speaker 1: And then not too terribly long after, he would go
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Speaker 1: on to seduce Maria's fifteen year old daughter, m hmm uh, Teresa.
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Speaker 1: And you know, I'm out to his credit now, not really,
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Speaker 1: not at all. Now, he did make an honest ish
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Speaker 1: woman out of her by bringing her before the Roman
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Speaker 1: Catholic Archbishop of New York, John J. Hughes Uh to
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Speaker 1: be joined and wedded. You know, acrimony, let's call it
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Speaker 1: be only because she was like super priggers right right,
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Speaker 1: like visibly third trimester territory. Uh. The New York Times
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Speaker 1: sums it up this way in their article, saying, these
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Speaker 1: auditionous by getting what set the path out of Sile's
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Speaker 1: life willful nearly to the point of madness. He was
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Speaker 1: nonetheless able to win over at astonishing number of men
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Speaker 1: and especially women, thanks to his good looks, dashing manna
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Speaker 1: and pension for grand gestice Wisely, he decided to become
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Speaker 1: a lawyer since it was unlikely he would ever go
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Speaker 1: very long without being holed. Didn't a court just the
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Speaker 1: shade on this thing. So all this stuff in his
8:21
Speaker 1: childhood aside. He does go to college. He attends the
8:23
Speaker 1: University of the City of New York eighteen forty six.
8:27
Speaker 1: He is admitted to the bar. He becomes a lawyer.
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Speaker 1: He's still a blackguard, he's still kind of a heel,
8:34
Speaker 1: but now he's got he's got a law degree. Uh.
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Speaker 1: And he's also active in the Democratic Party. And he's
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Speaker 1: still sleeping around like crazy right big time. He's what
8:46
Speaker 1: he's what, he's what today we would call a himbo, Yeah,
8:50
Speaker 1: which is the modern version of Lithario. That's exactly correct.
8:53
Speaker 1: Then in eighty seven he decided to enter into a
8:57
Speaker 1: long desired career in politics. Um, and he won a
9:01
Speaker 1: seat on the state legislature. And he was carrying on
9:05
Speaker 1: during this time a relationship with a New York escort
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Speaker 1: named Fanny White. Uh. There were also rumors that he
9:14
Speaker 1: brought Fanny White to London with him on a diplomatic
9:17
Speaker 1: mission while leaving his wife home in New York and pregnant. Uh.
9:24
Speaker 1: There's some rumors about him that we know aren't true.
9:26
Speaker 1: They're a little bit too larger than life. Uh. But
9:30
Speaker 1: let's let's talk as politics here. Because he won two
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Speaker 1: consecutive terms in the New York State Senate like he
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Speaker 1: was good at this eighteen fifty six and eighteen fifty seven. Well,
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Speaker 1: I think one would argue that a serial seducer and
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Speaker 1: a like a long time politician probably share similar skill sets.
9:50
Speaker 1: You know, what is politics if not like seducing your
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Speaker 1: constituents into believing in you. Well, there are some politicians
9:57
Speaker 1: whould disagree, but I think there are many people who
10:00
Speaker 1: would note that there is a macavellio in aspect to it. Right,
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Speaker 1: So absolutely, and I'm I'm I'm so oversimplifying the case
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Speaker 1: a little bit. But you know, if you can talk
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Speaker 1: repeatedly women into sleeping with you and convincing them that
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Speaker 1: you're like a good guy, Uh, then perhaps that skill
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Speaker 1: would also serve you well, you know, in in politics. Yes,
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Speaker 1: I think it's I think it's a valid observation. There.
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Speaker 1: He was set to go on being just kind of
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Speaker 1: a slimy dude in the political sphere of New York.
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Speaker 1: But he entered national politics, and he served as a
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Speaker 1: congress person in the House of Representatives from eighteen fifty
10:35
Speaker 1: seven to eighteen sixty one. There were people who had
10:40
Speaker 1: not heard of Dan Sickles until eighteen fifty eight, Uh,
10:46
Speaker 1: when he rose from being you know, just kind of
10:49
Speaker 1: like a well known scalawag to an infamous figure in
10:55
Speaker 1: American politics. No earlier, we said that he was associated
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Speaker 1: with the Tammany Hall machine, um, and that's how he
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Speaker 1: got his post in US Congress. The story started when
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Speaker 1: he was censured for bringing a sex worker onto the
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Speaker 1: floor of the New York Senate. It was also kind
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Speaker 1: of a man of ill repute because he had married
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Speaker 1: that fifteen year old we mentioned Teresa. He had married
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Speaker 1: her when he was thirty three and she was fifteen. Sorry,
11:25
Speaker 1: I keep throwing off my mouth a little bit. Um,
11:27
Speaker 1: do you think he had a reputation at this point,
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Speaker 1: ben like like a broadly speaking or is this just
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Speaker 1: like the way history remembers him, because surely these, many
11:35
Speaker 1: of these acts would have been considered a scandal for
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Speaker 1: an elected official, right, Well, that's that's the thing. Um.
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Speaker 1: It's not as if everybody was a paragon of perfect ideals.
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Speaker 1: But but I think his shadow was starting to catch
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Speaker 1: up to him. That makes sense. So, uh, he was
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Speaker 1: elected to Congress after coming to Washington and being welcomed
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Speaker 1: into their like innermost elite circles. Um. And then he
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Speaker 1: became dear friends with Philip Barton Key, the son of
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Speaker 1: famed Francis Scott Key of that weird song that that
12:18
Speaker 1: seems to represent America and some Yeah, and I've never
12:22
Speaker 1: quite understood the imagery in that one. And if I'm
12:24
Speaker 1: not mistaken, I believe there's a verse to that song
12:28
Speaker 1: that's more than a little bit racist that gets removed
12:31
Speaker 1: for popular repetition. Right right, So without doing that verse,
12:36
Speaker 1: I know that the star Spangled banner itself is said
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Speaker 1: to be the key was inspired by seeing a single U.
12:45
Speaker 1: S Flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak. That's right, Ben,
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Speaker 1: And in fact, originally the song was called the Defense
12:52
Speaker 1: of Fort McHenry and h you know, sorry, we're getting
12:56
Speaker 1: off on a little tangent here. It's just starting to
12:57
Speaker 1: jog both of our memories that we actually did an
12:59
Speaker 1: entire episode on this um. But it is a lyric
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Speaker 1: that is left out that report that that basically, uh,
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Speaker 1: it represents the deep root of slavery in American culture.
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Speaker 1: Let's just leave it at that. Oh, I mean we
13:15
Speaker 1: could say it on air. The line that you're not
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Speaker 1: going to hear is no refuge could save the hire
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Speaker 1: ling enslave from the terror of flight or the gloom
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Speaker 1: of the grave and the star spangled banner and triumph
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Speaker 1: doth wave or the land of the Free and the
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Speaker 1: home of the brave talking about the hutsman of putting
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Speaker 1: slave and then land of the free not not not
13:38
Speaker 1: more than four lines apart. Yeah, not to mention that
13:41
Speaker 1: slave fixes like is basically used to fit that rhyming
13:45
Speaker 1: scheme slave, grave, Wave, brave. He was in a hurry,
13:50
Speaker 1: definitely in a hurry, but nonetheless he and and Sickles
13:54
Speaker 1: became good friends and Daniel, I'm sorry his son rather
13:58
Speaker 1: became good friends. And Daniel often asked his pal Key
14:02
Speaker 1: Daniel Sickles uh to be his wife's escort to social gatherings, um,
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Speaker 1: whenever he had to work late. This is a fellow
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Speaker 1: congressman by the way, or you know, he had like
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Speaker 1: a girl on the side as well. So this was
14:16
Speaker 1: like very much part of the culture of being like
14:18
Speaker 1: a politician as well. It seems this whole idea. It's
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Speaker 1: almost like in the mob, you have your like your wife,
14:22
Speaker 1: and then you have your guma you know, I guess,
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Speaker 1: And in politics in these days, you had your your
14:27
Speaker 1: your wife and then you're like side girl. So Key
14:29
Speaker 1: and Teresa became friends and then pretty quickly that turned
14:34
Speaker 1: into romance and then uh, the soap opera begins. Because
14:39
Speaker 1: despite the attempts to keep their affairs secret, uh, it
14:42
Speaker 1: became common knowledge in their social circle in the elite
14:47
Speaker 1: social scene of New York City, both Dan and his
14:50
Speaker 1: wife Teresa had other affairs. They were sleeping around left
14:56
Speaker 1: and right, you know. And I will say, uh, no judgment.
15:00
Speaker 1: I think everybody, every single relationship is a foreign country.
15:05
Speaker 1: So if they had some kind of open arrangement. That's
15:08
Speaker 1: that's up to them. But Dan also had a reputation
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Speaker 1: for visiting brothels, which is you know, as we know
15:16
Speaker 1: is is probably not safe from a hygienic perspective at
15:20
Speaker 1: this time. Weirdly though, how weird is the misogynistic double
15:24
Speaker 1: standard here, you guys. Uh did people care about Dan's
15:29
Speaker 1: affairs and dalliances? No? Uh, they were more scandalized that
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Speaker 1: Teresa would dare to have an affair because he did
15:40
Speaker 1: makes him a cuckled. Of course they were. This was
15:43
Speaker 1: hows how it was. Men were never blamed. It was
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Speaker 1: always the women who were ashamed and had to carry
15:47
Speaker 1: that like you know, scarlet letter situation. And here's the thing,
15:51
Speaker 1: Sickles had a reputation like it was a known thing
15:55
Speaker 1: that he liked to visit brothels around d C. But
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Speaker 1: it was only teresa affair that got people all bent
16:03
Speaker 1: out of shape. In the nineteenth century, a wife's affair,
16:07
Speaker 1: like you said, Ben turned her husband into the the
16:09
Speaker 1: worst thing could turn a man into a cuckold. Even
16:12
Speaker 1: though now it's used in like fetishy stuff. That's a
16:14
Speaker 1: different story, um, and undermine in the eyes of this society.
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Speaker 1: It would have undermined his masculinity. Another horrible thing he
16:21
Speaker 1: could do. Uh. And all while a husband's affairs were
16:24
Speaker 1: simply just whatever, like nobody cared. It was understood that
16:29
Speaker 1: men gonna be men. Um and they were. This was
16:32
Speaker 1: even they were like gossip columns at the time. Uh.
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Speaker 1: And one particularly well known gossip columnist called key quote
16:39
Speaker 1: the handsomest man and all Washington society. Uh and he, uh,
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Speaker 1: you know this is this is this is like basically
16:47
Speaker 1: the takeaway from what how he was seeing the handsomest
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Speaker 1: man in all Washington society, ineligible, non bachelor but whatever.
16:55
Speaker 1: Um and and they had like little signals, right Ben, Yeah,
16:59
Speaker 1: So their d C dalliances were well known. One reporter
17:04
Speaker 1: said that he would signal Teresa by waving his handkerchief
17:09
Speaker 1: on the street, and then they would meet at an
17:11
Speaker 1: abandoned house that was just like walking distance from the
17:14
Speaker 1: actual White House. And Teresa is on record confessing, I
17:19
Speaker 1: did what is usually for a wicked woman to do.
17:23
Speaker 1: I don't think she sounded so arch when she said that. However,
17:27
Speaker 1: this is not a sustainable thing. February fifty nine, Sickles
17:32
Speaker 1: receives an anonymous letter and he confronts his wife, Teresa,
17:38
Speaker 1: and he forces her to write a confession. And then
17:41
Speaker 1: three days go by and he sees his former friend
17:46
Speaker 1: Key outside of his house waving his handkerchief the signal
17:51
Speaker 1: for the affair to, you know, resume. And he went
17:54
Speaker 1: into a state of rage. And he was like, that
17:57
Speaker 1: villain is out there now making side lines. So he
18:00
Speaker 1: grabbed not one gun, not two guns, but three guns
18:05
Speaker 1: and ran outside to confront this guy because he is
18:09
Speaker 1: a hypocrite. Uh. He shot his wife's lover in full
18:13
Speaker 1: view of the White House and he screamed, you scoundrel,
18:17
Speaker 1: you have dishordered my house. You must die, because it
18:21
Speaker 1: apparently wasn't okay for other people to have affairs just him.
18:24
Speaker 1: So Sickles did with his drawn pistol, fire several times
18:28
Speaker 1: at Key, and he hit him once in the leg
18:30
Speaker 1: and once in the hand. He kind of just winged him. Uh.
18:32
Speaker 1: Key made a mad dash for Sickles and gripped him
18:38
Speaker 1: by the lapels and two men had a good tussle
18:42
Speaker 1: on the ground rolling around um and and this was
18:45
Speaker 1: all being gauwcked upon by the elite who lived in
18:50
Speaker 1: this part of of Washington. This is in a very
18:52
Speaker 1: fancy part of the city. So Sickles gets to his
18:55
Speaker 1: feet finally after breaking away from Key, and fired a
18:59
Speaker 1: second shot. Yeah, and you're the growing. Key also had
19:04
Speaker 1: a weapon. I guess you could say he pulled the
19:09
Speaker 1: only thing he could. He had on his person a
19:11
Speaker 1: pair of opera glasses, and he threw those at Dan Sickles.
19:17
Speaker 1: Can you imagine trying to menace somebody with a pair
19:19
Speaker 1: of opera glasses. That's the most genteel thing anyone could
19:23
Speaker 1: ever be holding. There's nothing less threatening than a pair
19:26
Speaker 1: of opera glasses. A monocle. A monocle is half is threatening.
19:29
Speaker 1: That's fair, that's fair. But but you're you're absolutely right.
19:34
Speaker 1: This does seem like an hilarious scene. But then Sickles
19:40
Speaker 1: fires again. Key is against the offense. He's pleading for
19:45
Speaker 1: his life. Don't kill me, don't kill me. I'm sorry.
19:47
Speaker 1: Sickles points a gun at the center of his old
19:50
Speaker 1: friend's chest. He fires, Key staggers away a few feet,
19:55
Speaker 1: and then he dies. Sickles looks around. At least a
20:00
Speaker 1: dozen people have seen him do this, because he's shouting
20:03
Speaker 1: in the street beforehand and during uh he runs away,
20:08
Speaker 1: but then he eventually surrenders the police. A few hours later,
20:11
Speaker 1: he's charged with murder. He's taken to jail. Yeah, isn't interesting, Like,
20:15
Speaker 1: I mean, not too terribly long in history before this,
20:18
Speaker 1: something like this would have been considered legal if it
20:21
Speaker 1: had been a duel agreed to by both parties. Right,
20:24
Speaker 1: But this was not that because only Sickles was armed
20:28
Speaker 1: at least, you know, legitimately armed, whereas he you know,
20:31
Speaker 1: was essentially helpless aside from his pathetic attempt at you know,
20:35
Speaker 1: brandishing a pair of opera glasses. So yeah, he gets,
20:38
Speaker 1: he gets, he gets taken away. He does indeed get
20:42
Speaker 1: taken away. Uh, he's locked up. But he's also a
20:46
Speaker 1: former congressman, so that that gives him some special privileges.
20:51
Speaker 1: He's got some juice in the city there he is. Yeah. Uh,
20:54
Speaker 1: So many people came by to convey their well wishes
20:57
Speaker 1: that he was able to use the apartment of the
21:00
Speaker 1: jail keeper to entertain his guests, who were high level
21:04
Speaker 1: federal officials, members of Congress, and so on. Then President
21:09
Speaker 1: James Buchanan did not personally visit, but he did send
21:13
Speaker 1: Sickles a nice note. Uh. Sickles got several prominent politicians
21:17
Speaker 1: to be his defense attorneys, including one man Edwin M. Stanton,
21:22
Speaker 1: who would later go on to become Lincoln's Secretary of War.
21:26
Speaker 1: Oh and he was allowed to keep a weapon in
21:28
Speaker 1: jail just to have Wait, why that's that's like to
21:31
Speaker 1: defend himself from being shanked or something, or just like
21:35
Speaker 1: as a special privilege, he was able to have a
21:37
Speaker 1: concealed weapon in jail. Well, we don't know whether they
21:40
Speaker 1: were opera glasses, a monocle, or a gunn fair, one
21:44
Speaker 1: would assume it was the very least appointed stick. Yes,
21:48
Speaker 1: one would assume this sensational murder. His front page news,
21:59
Speaker 1: it's all anyone can talk about. The New York Herald
22:03
Speaker 1: says it is a tragic affair, and they say that
22:07
Speaker 1: it is the prominent topic of conversation in homes, in
22:12
Speaker 1: public everywhere everywhere in the city. Uh, we know that
22:16
Speaker 1: Sickles gave interviews with the press where he's not saying
22:21
Speaker 1: he's not guilty, he's just justifying it. He's like he
22:24
Speaker 1: dishonored me. So boom boom boom. Yeah, this is a
22:27
Speaker 1: time when honor, at least perceived honor ment a whole
22:31
Speaker 1: hell of a lot more, perhaps than it means today.
22:34
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true. Maybe I'm just bummed
22:36
Speaker 1: out about our times currently, But yeah, I mean it
22:39
Speaker 1: certainly was. You know, you would you would literally, you know,
22:42
Speaker 1: challenge someone to a duel for for you know, attacking
22:45
Speaker 1: your honor and reputation was very, very important, even though
22:50
Speaker 1: as we know, these men did terrible, terrible things behind
22:53
Speaker 1: the scenes. But you dare not accuse them of such, right, Uh,
22:56
Speaker 1: just you know, blaming on the women. It's their fault.
22:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, this became a massive hullabaloo. Uh. The tragic
23:04
Speaker 1: affair produced a great sensation, said the New York Herald.
23:07
Speaker 1: In the streets, the law courts, public houses, private dwellings,
23:10
Speaker 1: and in fact everywhere. It was the prominent topic of conversation.
23:15
Speaker 1: Even President James Buchanan took sides in the sensational case.
23:18
Speaker 1: I know where my my read is morphing, but I'm
23:20
Speaker 1: gonna roll with it. He sent a letter of support
23:22
Speaker 1: to the imprisoned Congressman. Sickles told one paper, he has
23:26
Speaker 1: this autoed me, and we could not live together on
23:28
Speaker 1: the same planet. Harper's Weekly judged the outcome they called
23:33
Speaker 1: the trial. They said, this is how it's gonna go,
23:36
Speaker 1: they said, the public of the United States will justify
23:39
Speaker 1: him in killing the man who dishonored his bed. WHOA,
23:44
Speaker 1: I'm sorry dishonored his bed. Yeah. They weren't even at
23:48
Speaker 1: that house. They were at a different making a case
23:51
Speaker 1: on a technicality and joke. Uh. Even though Sickles did
23:56
Speaker 1: admit to firing the shots that killed Key. Uh, many
23:59
Speaker 1: folks were kind of on his side, Yeah, because they
24:02
Speaker 1: felt like his masculinity or his manhood were under attack.
24:07
Speaker 1: And also again he had a lot of juice. He
24:10
Speaker 1: hired no less than eight different attorneys to represent him
24:13
Speaker 1: during the trial. One of them, John Graham, spent two
24:19
Speaker 1: entire days in court. On his opening statement defending Uh
24:23
Speaker 1: Sickles the scoundrel. Uh, he quoted a fellow to kind
24:29
Speaker 1: of justify sickles action, saying that adultery was evil and
24:34
Speaker 1: this is really interesting. He said that discovering the affair
24:39
Speaker 1: had rendered Daniel Sickles temporarily insane. This was a new concept.
24:46
Speaker 1: In course, it's a it's a concept that to this
24:50
Speaker 1: day gets kind of the eye roll. Doesn't have been
24:53
Speaker 1: Like temporary insanity is almost something relegated to like the
24:57
Speaker 1: realms of satire and comedy, you know, I mean, I
25:00
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe I'm wrong there, but certainly insanity is
25:04
Speaker 1: a thing that that. But but temporary insanity really feels like,
25:09
Speaker 1: you know, almost the equivalent of in the heat of
25:12
Speaker 1: the moment or a crime of passion. Yeah, yeah, it's
25:15
Speaker 1: it's it's incredibly rare for people to successfully plead insanity,
25:22
Speaker 1: you know. But they're relying on the jury sympathy rather
25:26
Speaker 1: than the letter of the law. So Graham says, you know,
25:30
Speaker 1: it may be tragical two and that is the word
25:34
Speaker 1: these So maybe tragical to shed human blood. But I'll
25:37
Speaker 1: always maintain there is no tragedy about slaying the adulter her.
25:41
Speaker 1: And then they went on to attack the character of Teresa.
25:47
Speaker 1: You know, they went on a smear campaign against her
25:49
Speaker 1: in court, calling her a sex worker, calling her a murderer, uh,
25:54
Speaker 1: saying that she longed for her husband's death. Uh, and
25:58
Speaker 1: she didn't care how it happened, whether he died by
26:00
Speaker 1: poison or was stabbed or was shot. They called her,
26:05
Speaker 1: they called her horrid filth like they weren't really pulling punches.
26:10
Speaker 1: They were trying to make her look like a terrible person. No,
26:13
Speaker 1: and God, this guy is a real piece of work.
26:16
Speaker 1: He Sickles himself tried to cast himself as the quote
26:21
Speaker 1: avenger of the invaded household, meaning like the scorned man,
26:27
Speaker 1: the cuckolded man. His wife m was portrayed as complete,
26:34
Speaker 1: completely immoral harpy, and the key deserved to die for
26:39
Speaker 1: what he had done. The judge is not buying this,
26:42
Speaker 1: by the way, thank god is. He speaks the jury
26:47
Speaker 1: on April. Then he says, look in regards the temporary insanity,
26:52
Speaker 1: Dan Sickles learned of this affair, and then there was
26:56
Speaker 1: a gap in time before he killed Philip Keys. He
27:01
Speaker 1: spent three days plotting this attack after receiving that note.
27:06
Speaker 1: So just remember that that doesn't seem very temporarily insane
27:10
Speaker 1: to me. The judges implying the jury deliberates for about
27:15
Speaker 1: an hour and they say Dan Sickles is not guilty
27:20
Speaker 1: by reason of temporary insanity. It's just like a legal
27:24
Speaker 1: drama on television. The packed courtroom burst into applause. More
27:28
Speaker 1: than a thousand people leads Sickles through the streets in
27:33
Speaker 1: an improvised victory parade. That's not how courts are supposed
27:38
Speaker 1: to work. Yeah, you know, Ben. I had to do
27:40
Speaker 1: a little digging just to kind of see how often
27:44
Speaker 1: the temporary insanity arguments you know, actually flies, and it
27:49
Speaker 1: is not very often. Um, like there's one, Um this
27:53
Speaker 1: is are a few modern examples, but you know, Sickles
27:55
Speaker 1: is definitely on the list. Um John Hinckley Jr. Who
27:58
Speaker 1: took a shot at President and Reagan um and also
28:01
Speaker 1: injured some police in secret service. Uh he he got
28:05
Speaker 1: off on a a temporary insanity plea. Also remember Lorraina Bobbitt, Yes,
28:13
Speaker 1: who d man She also robbed her husband of his manhood,
28:18
Speaker 1: if you'll recall, we don't have to get too into
28:20
Speaker 1: the details. And then she threw his manhood into a bush.
28:23
Speaker 1: She got off on a temporary insanity police too. I
28:26
Speaker 1: had no idea. And Bobbitt survived, of course he of course, yeah,
28:31
Speaker 1: but you know his manhood did not or did they
28:34
Speaker 1: find it and put it back on? I believe. So yeah,
28:36
Speaker 1: oh that's nice. Um, it's maybe a different episode, but uh,
28:40
Speaker 1: but you're right. Yeah. As I said earlier, the temporary
28:44
Speaker 1: insanity plea is very difficult to get through court h
28:50
Speaker 1: but it works for sickles. This is the first successful
28:53
Speaker 1: temporary insanity plea, and various papers of note are not
28:58
Speaker 1: super cool with it. The Tribune and says this is
29:02
Speaker 1: a most mistaken and most mischievous verdict. They say it's
29:07
Speaker 1: carrying the country backwards. Here's the thing, though, the jury,
29:11
Speaker 1: even though the jury said they was not guilty by
29:14
Speaker 1: reason of temporary insanity, they probably didn't buy that defense.
29:18
Speaker 1: What they were really thinking of is the more Victorian
29:22
Speaker 1: morality that Key had it coming, and that even if
29:27
Speaker 1: you are a dude who is sleeping around, if someone
29:30
Speaker 1: sleeps with your wife, you are right to attack them
29:36
Speaker 1: to take revenge or to kill them, unless that's just
29:38
Speaker 1: like what you're into, man, you know, yeah, it takes
29:42
Speaker 1: all types, I guess. And so after the trial get this,
29:46
Speaker 1: Sickles stays married to Teresa, and he says, I shall
29:52
Speaker 1: strive to prove to all that an airing wife and
29:55
Speaker 1: mother may be forgiven and redeemed. I'll say it, what
29:59
Speaker 1: a day, God, what absolute hypocrite. And just oh, just
30:05
Speaker 1: the the gas lighting of it all, you know, just
30:08
Speaker 1: the public shaming of it all, the absolute lack of
30:11
Speaker 1: self awareness of it all. Uh, it just kind of
30:14
Speaker 1: makes it makes your stomach turn. But you know what
30:17
Speaker 1: Sickles Cowardice and uh and uh and Despicable Behavior has
30:22
Speaker 1: many chapters, to the point where we have decided, uh
30:26
Speaker 1: to make this a two parter um. And you know,
30:29
Speaker 1: the next chapter of Sickles Despicable Existence really is a
30:32
Speaker 1: completely different world. So we've gotten through the adultery, We've
30:36
Speaker 1: gotten through the trial of the century. So we're gonna
30:38
Speaker 1: leave it here, uh and wrap and then and then
30:41
Speaker 1: rejoin the story already in progress next time. But in
30:45
Speaker 1: the meantime, UH, gird yourselves, ridiculous historians. This guy continues
30:52
Speaker 1: on his irascible journeys. I we want to thank everybody
30:56
Speaker 1: for tuning in. Of course, big big thanks to Gabe
30:59
Speaker 1: Luzier are search assistant, big big thanks to uh super
31:02
Speaker 1: producer Casey Pegram Casey. I'm sad that this is just
31:06
Speaker 1: an audio show for now because the lighting on you
31:08
Speaker 1: looks really good. Thanks Ben. It's uh. I'm here with
31:12
Speaker 1: some natural light by the window. The sun is going down,
31:15
Speaker 1: so it's getting dramatic over here. Is it the Magic Hour? Casey?
31:19
Speaker 1: Is it the Magic Hour? Terence Malick? That's right, And
31:22
Speaker 1: of course also thanks to Christopher Hasiotis. Thanks to Alex Williams,
31:28
Speaker 1: who composed that slapping Bob you here at the beginning
31:31
Speaker 1: and end of the show. Who else? Oh, yes, that's
31:34
Speaker 1: slapping Bob. Indeed huge thanks to Jonathan Strickland, a k a.
31:38
Speaker 1: The Quister, who I think we're neck and neck with
31:41
Speaker 1: now in terms of the rankings of our our rivalry
31:44
Speaker 1: are kind of Nemesis scenario. I believe you're correct. I
31:48
Speaker 1: believe you're correct. So everything uh hinges on his next appearance?
31:54
Speaker 1: Did you say Gabe already? Yes? Good? Well, let's say
31:57
Speaker 1: it again. Gabe Lousier, the man, the myth, the legend.
32:01
Speaker 1: We keep talking about it. We really need to hit
32:03
Speaker 1: him up and get him back on for a guest
32:04
Speaker 1: spot because he is a delight. That last episode we
32:07
Speaker 1: did with him about the guy that drew Psychedelic Cats
32:09
Speaker 1: is honestly one of my favorites in the history of
32:11
Speaker 1: the show. I agree to disagree. No, I'm gidding. It's
32:14
Speaker 1: a good one. Uh so it's a good one. Check
32:17
Speaker 1: it out. You haven't heard it? Um? Yeah, I'm a
32:19
Speaker 1: huge fan of Gabe. Gabe, if you're listening, uh, come
32:23
Speaker 1: back soon. We also want to hear your stories about
32:26
Speaker 1: your favorite historical scoundrels. You can tell us about it
32:29
Speaker 1: on the Internet, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Join Ridiculous Historians, where
32:35
Speaker 1: we have some dank historical memes and some great conversations.
32:39
Speaker 1: You can also find us on the internet, not just
32:41
Speaker 1: as a show, but as individuals. You may find me
32:45
Speaker 1: on Instagram where I am at how Now Noel Brown,
32:48
Speaker 1: and you can find me on Twitter where I'm at
32:50
Speaker 1: Ben bullin hs W. You can also message me directly
32:53
Speaker 1: on Instagram where I am at Ben Bulling. You know what,
32:57
Speaker 1: This makes me pretty happy because we are in comparison,
33:01
Speaker 1: not that bad, not as bad as Dan, oh god,
33:04
Speaker 1: not by a long shot. We'll see you next Tomeflix.
33:15
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I
33:17
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
33:20
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.