Latest / Common Mystics / 149: More Voices from the Road- Echoes on the Mississippi River: Riot Aboard the Steamboat Dubuque

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149: More Voices from the Road- Echoes on the Mississippi River: Riot Aboard the Steamboat Dubuque · Common Mystics

• 0:01
  Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more
• 0:10
  Speaker B: specifics, and take care while you listen.
• 0:21
  Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we explore the incredible true story of a race riot aboard a Mississippi steamboat. Where violence erupted, lives were lost, and the echoes of tragedy still ripple on the water. I'm Jennifer James.
• 0:41
  Speaker B: I'm Jill Stanley.
• 0:42
  Speaker A: We're psychics.
• 0:43
  Speaker B: We're sisters.
• 0:44
  Speaker A: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story takes us to the upper Mississippi River.
• 0:53
  Speaker B: That's right, Jennifer. People have been listening to the show for a while, and they know what we do. You think we drive around, we look for a verifiable story previous on previously unknown to us that give voice to the voiceless spirits. And sometimes when we do the research, sometimes more voices jump out from the screen wanting their stories to be told. And that is. Is one of these stories today.
• 1:21
  Speaker A: Well put, Jill. Thank you for summarizing that information.
• 1:25
  Speaker B: You're welcome. So, as I said, our intention. Now let's talk about where we were and the hits we got.
• 1:34
  Speaker A: We were in the car with Jenny B. In the back seat, and.
• 1:37
  Speaker B: Yeah, we were.
• 1:38
  Speaker A: We were entering Dubuque, Iowa.
• 1:43
  Speaker B: That is correct. And I was feeling a connection to Joliet, Illinois. Mm.
• 1:52
  Speaker A: I was feeling a mob race riot.
• 1:58
  Speaker B: So when you say mob, what do you mean by. Do you mean, like, gangsta?
• 2:02
  Speaker A: Like. Oh, that's. That. No, no, no, no. I was thinking of a large group of people with, like, that mob mentality acting together without, like, reason. Do you know what I mean? Just, like, mob mentality. Yeah. Specifically rioting around race.
• 2:20
  Speaker B: Mmm. I was feeling the mid century, but then Jenny B. Said really quickly. The mid century of the 1800s.
• 2:29
  Speaker A: Adorable.
• 2:30
  Speaker B: Because she's super psychic.
• 2:31
  Speaker A: How can she not know she's psychic?
• 2:33
  Speaker B: She's ridiculous.
• 2:35
  Speaker A: Seriously. And what else are you feeling?
• 2:40
  Speaker B: Men hiding out in the rocks and the bluffs. Like they were running from justice or the law. Like they were hiding out.
• 2:47
  Speaker A: Interesting. And I had a distinct feeling that I was being pulled north on the Mississippi river in an area where there were a lot of. Like, there was criminal activity happening in this area, like, between different states.
• 3:06
  Speaker B: Got it. So different jurisdictions.
• 3:09
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 3:10
  Speaker B: Yes, girl. Okay. So let's get into the research and discuss what we had found.
• 3:16
  Speaker A: Okay. I'm so excited.
• 3:18
  Speaker B: This is a good story.
• 3:19
  Speaker A: I know. I like this story, too.
• 3:21
  Speaker B: I know. It's a terrible story.
• 3:22
  Speaker A: I know.
• 3:22
  Speaker B: Right.
• 3:23
  Speaker A: Like, terrible things happen.
• 3:25
  Speaker B: But it's. It's. It's a good story. It's a story that needs to be
• 3:29
  Speaker A: told, and I don't think we've told one quite like this before. Mm. Mm.
• 3:33
  Speaker B: Let's jump right in.
• 3:35
  Speaker A: So shall we start with just talking about the state of Iowa?
• 3:40
  Speaker B: Please.
• 3:40
  Speaker A: All right, so let's just review race relations in Iowa during the early to mid 19th century, because that's kind of what we were feeling, Right?
• 3:50
  Speaker B: Correct.
• 3:52
  Speaker A: So some of the first African American residents in the state of Iowa actually arrived there around the 1830s, but not by choice.
• 4:03
  Speaker B: Oh, no.
• 4:04
  Speaker A: Yeah. They were enslaved, and they had been brought into the territory illegally by white American settlers. Others made the difficult and dangerous journey on their own, coming north in search of freedom and a chance at a new life.
• 4:22
  Speaker B: That makes sense.
• 4:25
  Speaker A: By the 1840s, African American men were working in the lead mines around Dubuque, Iowa, taking on hard and risky labor. And along the great river towns in places like Burlington and Davenport and Keokuk, which I know I'm pronouncing wrong, and Sioux City. That town is K E O, K U K. Looks like Keokuk to me.
• 4:55
  Speaker B: You did your best.
• 4:56
  Speaker A: I did. Many of them found work as deckhands on the steamboats which moved up and down the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
• 5:07
  Speaker B: That makes sense. That has to be a popular employment opportunity to work along the river.
• 5:12
  Speaker A: Right. And remember in those days what the land must have looked like. I think today we just take it for granted that there are roads that are easy to navigate all through this beautiful continent. Right. But back then, not so much. Right, not so much. And so something like the Mississippi, those waterways, they were major for transportation and trade, but not only that, also, there were pathways of hope for people like these. Like these people who are maybe escaping slavery or trying to start a new life.
• 5:48
  Speaker B: I love that. Yeah.
• 5:50
  Speaker A: So a little more about our friend Iowa. It officially became a State, the 29th state, on December 28th of 1846.
• 6:03
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 6:03
  Speaker A: The President at the time was James Polk. You remember Polk.
• 6:08
  Speaker B: I don't remember.
• 6:09
  Speaker A: I don't remember Polk either.
• 6:10
  Speaker B: I don't know anything about Polk.
• 6:12
  Speaker A: Did he have big, big sideburns?
• 6:16
  Speaker B: No, I don't think he did.
• 6:17
  Speaker A: You don't think so?
• 6:18
  Speaker B: And he wasn't the hot one. Pierce was the hot one. I remember that. Let me look it up.
• 6:23
  Speaker A: You better. You better. I need to know what Polk looks like. I swear he's got a lot of facial hair.
• 6:28
  Speaker B: I think you're talking about Chester.
• 6:30
  Speaker A: Oh, Chester. That Wasn't his. That wasn't his last name. There was no president. Chester. Chester Arthur. I think is.
• 6:40
  Speaker B: Is what I'm thinking.
• 6:41
  Speaker A: Wow, we are terrible. We.
• 6:44
  Speaker B: This is why this podcast works because we are so ignorant. Oh, he does not have the sideburns, but he does have a very high collar.
• 6:55
  Speaker A: Oh, oh, high collar, long hair, slicked back.
• 6:58
  Speaker B: Yes, he does have a long haired, slick back look to him. Kind of looks like Draco. What is it? Draco, right?
• 7:07
  Speaker A: Draco Malfoy of the Harry Potter fame. Oh, he does.
• 7:11
  Speaker B: He really does.
• 7:11
  Speaker A: He's not, he's not ugly. He's no Draco. He looks evil for sure. I'm sure he wasn't. I'm sure he wasn't evil.
• 7:20
  Speaker B: Anyway, we don't know anything about this man, so I can't, I can't attest to whether he was evil or not. But I think you're confusing. If you look at his collar. Yeah, his collar. Straight up.
• 7:30
  Speaker A: It is.
• 7:30
  Speaker B: And I think that that's what makes you think of sideburns.
• 7:34
  Speaker A: No, Jill, I was completely confused and thinking of a different old president. So. So apparently Draco Malfoy was president at the time.
• 7:42
  Speaker B: The 11th.
• 7:44
  Speaker A: The 11th president. And he signed an act that welcomed Iowa into the Union. And here's a little historical twist that maybe some of you might not know. Iowa entered as the first free state that had been carved out of the vast lands of the Louisiana Purchase.
• 8:06
  Speaker B: Well, how do you like that?
• 8:07
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, you remember the Louisiana Purchase, right?
• 8:10
  Speaker B: Everyone remembers the Louisiana Purchase with Jefferson and then he. How they hired Merriweather. Yeah, I know.
• 8:18
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:19
  Speaker B: Lewis and Clark to explore the area.
• 8:21
  Speaker A: Right. And do you remember which country sold us the Louisiana Purchase?
• 8:25
  Speaker B: It was free.
• 8:28
  Speaker A: Yes. And the Louisiana Purchase, that territory would eventually become all or part of 15 future states, including Iowa. And as new states were formed from the land, the country was constantly trying to balance, like free states where slavery was illegal and slave states where it was allowed because, you know, we had this. Not we. I wasn't there. But the people at the time had this huge disagreement about the direction of the country and whether or not slavery should be part of it. So every time they admitted a new state, there would be this huge debate and what's it going to be? And Iowa became the, the lucky state to be the first to be entered as a free state from that large purchase in 1846. And it marked, it marked something important. Slavery was not allowed there.
• 9:22
  Speaker B: Yes, yes, but, but it, like you said, it was not a kumbaya moment.
• 9:26
  Speaker A: You're Right. It was not a Kumbaya moment.
• 9:29
  Speaker B: Eventually, these political disagreements couldn't be settled with speech, votes, or handshakes. It took four long, brutal years of the Civil War, and we lost about 650,000American lives to preserve the Union and to bring an end to slavery as a legal institution.
• 9:48
  Speaker A: Thank goodness. But here's the thing. Even after the war ended in May of 1865, the deeper issues of race, justice, and equality just didn't disappear. I.
• 10:01
  Speaker B: No, they didn't. God.
• 10:04
  Speaker A: After the war, white attitudes towards African Americans in Iowa were mixed, just like they were in most parts of the country. It was complicated, like they are today. On one hand, Iowa had strongly supported the Union cause, and thousands of Iowa men had fought in the Civil War. And many white Iowans believed that slavery was wrong and it needed to end. And because of this, there was some support for basic legal rights for formerly enslaved people. And over time, Iowa did pass laws that granted African American men the right to vote in 1868 and removed some earlier legal restrictions. But social acceptance is very, very different from legal change.
• 10:58
  Speaker B: Ain't that the truth?
• 10:59
  Speaker A: And here's what I was thinking when I was reading this awesome outline that you put together. It's like, we think of abolitionists as this group of people who didn't want slavery, which they were. Right.
• 11:10
  Speaker B: Right.
• 11:11
  Speaker A: But they weren't all the same.
• 11:13
  Speaker B: Right.
• 11:13
  Speaker A: Some abolitionists didn't want slavery because they thought slavery was wrong, but they didn't believe that black people were the same as white people. Right. And then you had abolitionists who believed that all people were and should be eagle under the eyes of. Did I say eagle?
• 11:35
  Speaker B: You said eagle. Eagle. But you were on a roll, and I didn't want to stop you, and I didn't know if you noticed, so I was like, no, we'll leave it.
• 11:42
  Speaker A: No. Abolitionists did not believe people should be eagles. They believed, some of them believe that people should be equal under the. The law. Right. But there's all of that ugly grayness. Like, just because I don't think you should be enslaved doesn't mean I think you're my equal.
• 12:01
  Speaker B: Right. Or you're even a human being. Right. Truly, truly, truly. It's messed up.
• 12:06
  Speaker A: So it's not so black and white. And I was processing this, thinking, oh, my God. Like, those moments when I think about how complicated it was, it kind of breaks my heart, but it also makes me feel like, wow, there's so much under the surface that I've never really processed.
• 12:23
  Speaker B: You know what I mean? 100%.
• 12:25
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 12:26
  Speaker B: So. And I really do think it's important to note, like. Like, literally in history, it flares. It's like. And maybe history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. And so this sense of bigotry still exists today in different ways. And although there is laws against slavery, there are still ways that people are enslaved in this country. Right, Sorry. She. She doesn't like political stuff.
• 12:59
  Speaker A: No, I agree with what you're saying. That's not why I side, Jill.
• 13:02
  Speaker B: Okay, good.
• 13:04
  Speaker A: That's not why I side. I side because I agree with you, and it makes me sad. So many white Iowans still held their racist beliefs and fears, and they often resisted full equality in different ways. Like, you brought up. Still happens in still different ways today. And so African Americans. And I'm going to be using black Americans as well. Like, I'm going to be using those terms, like, synonymously. There was segregation in schools and housing and public spaces. Right?
• 13:36
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 13:37
  Speaker A: Limited job opportunities, often restricted to manual labor or service work, of course. Violence, threats and intimidation in some communities. Barriers to owning land or starting businesses, exclusion from certain towns or neighborhoods. And many white landowners refused to sell African Americans property, making it difficult to plant roots, both literally and figuratively.
• 14:05
  Speaker B: Do you know one of my friends today, when they signed the lease of her house, and this was like, when I say, today, she lives in the house today, but it was like, maybe like 20 years ago. In the deed, it says that you cannot sell this house to an African American.
• 14:19
  Speaker A: No, it does not. That is illegal. That is illegal.
• 14:22
  Speaker B: Swear to God.
• 14:22
  Speaker A: That is illegal.
• 14:23
  Speaker B: Swear to God.
• 14:23
  Speaker A: That cannot happen.
• 14:25
  Speaker B: That happened.
• 14:25
  Speaker A: I don't believe it.
• 14:27
  Speaker B: Well, do you want me to hook up a conversation between you and her?
• 14:30
  Speaker A: Because I'm telling you I do. I cannot believe that that's a true story. That is very illegal. And so, in growing river cities and railroad towns, African American communities began to form, building their own churches, mutual societies, and newspapers to support each other and one another. And these, of course, became important cultural centers of community and strength.
• 14:56
  Speaker B: That's good.
• 14:57
  Speaker A: And while Iowa wasn't part of the Jim Crow south, it was not a place of full welcome or full equality, which, I mean, really, there is no place on earth that's full equality.
• 15:11
  Speaker B: It's true.
• 15:13
  Speaker A: Something we always have to struggle for. Yet the state reflected the broader national struggle. People could support ending slavery, yet still resist living alongside African Americans as social equals. Now, should we talk about river culture
• 15:33
  Speaker B: and the rising tensions? Sure.
• 15:39
  Speaker A: During the 19th century, raftsmen transported massive log rafts down the Mississippi River. From forests in Wisconsin and Minnesota to the lumber markets farther south in Iowa, Illinois, and sometimes as far south as New Orleans. And these crews had a reputation in river towns for heavy drinking, profanity and disorderly conduct.
• 16:04
  Speaker B: That's my crew right there. I swear. Like, I would be. I would be a raftsman for sure.
• 16:10
  Speaker A: Now, the nation.
• 16:10
  Speaker B: I'm built for it, too.
• 16:12
  Speaker A: Why are you flexing right now?
• 16:14
  Speaker B: Because I'm built for it.
• 16:15
  Speaker A: You are not built for it.
• 16:16
  Speaker B: Are you intimidated?
• 16:17
  Speaker A: When was the last time you worked out? When was the last time you were.
• 16:21
  Speaker B: Today.
• 16:21
  Speaker A: Oh, did you?
• 16:22
  Speaker B: Yeah, I did today.
• 16:24
  Speaker A: What did you do today?
• 16:25
  Speaker B: I went. I went for a walk and I lifted a little bit of weight as I was doing things around the house. It was vigorous.
• 16:35
  Speaker A: All right, Vigorous. No comment. We're just going to move on. The nation itself was still adjusting to the consequences of the Civil War. And formerly enslaved black men were now working for wages on the river, which created some resentment among the white laborers who saw them as economic rivals. Now, this sets us up for the incident,
• 17:03
  Speaker B: Jill.
• 17:03
  Speaker A: It was the summer of 1869.
• 17:09
  Speaker B: Sure was.
• 17:10
  Speaker A: Reminds me of that Frankie Valli song. Oh, what a night.
• 17:15
  Speaker B: Really? I was thinking. I was thinking the summer of 69, the Brian Andrew.
• 17:19
  Speaker A: Really?
• 17:19
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 17:20
  Speaker A: Yeah, okay. Yeah, you're right. Oh, it was a summer. 69.
• 17:25
  Speaker B: 69, yeah.
• 17:26
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so. So it was the summer of 1869
• 17:31
  Speaker B: and you were standing on your mama's porch.
• 17:36
  Speaker A: Exactly. And the steamboat
• 17:41
  Speaker B: Leave It In. Leave It In. I like the way that came out. We're leaving that one in.
• 17:49
  Speaker A: The steamboat Dubuque became the site of one of the most violent racial incidents ever recorded on the upper Mississippi River. The event unfolded against a backdrop of post Civil War tensions, economic competition, and the rough culture of the river's lumber trade. Let's break it down. Okay, so it's July, 1869, St. Louis, Missouri. The Dubuque steamboat has just taken on four raft crews that are returning upriver. Okay, these are raftsmen. A lot of them, too, Jill. There's between 125 and 150 raftsmen who board the steamer Dubuque in Davenport, Iowa for their passage north. They traveled on the open deck alongside the livestock freight, which. I know, gross, right?
• 18:44
  Speaker B: Oh, the movement and the smell. I'm sick just thinking about it.
• 18:48
  Speaker A: And near 30 deckhands, most of them African American deckhands, who were responsible for maintaining order on the ship. Okay, so now let's take a minute because I really wanna differentiate between the groups aboard the Steamboat at the time.
• 19:06
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 19:06
  Speaker A: Is that okay? Yes, please.
• 19:08
  Speaker B: I am team Rasman because I feel like that these are my people. Drunk as fuck, profane, and just all around a good time.
• 19:16
  Speaker A: Okay, we will get to them, but first I wanna talk about the deep deckhands because they're super important on the steamer.
• 19:21
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 19:22
  Speaker A: Okay. So a deckhand, first of all, is a worker on a boat or a ship who handles pretty much the basic physical tasks that need to be kept up so that the boat keeps running smoothly.
• 19:36
  Speaker B: Yeah, super important.
• 19:37
  Speaker A: Yeah. So they're the ones who are loading and unloading the cargo. They're handling the ropes. You know what? I. I think that ropes are really important for ships. So there's a lot of ropes, a lot of rope handling, a lot of rope tying, a lot of rope work.
• 19:55
  Speaker B: Mm. Mm.
• 19:57
  Speaker A: You follow?
• 19:58
  Speaker B: Mm.
• 19:59
  Speaker A: Cleaning, maintaining the deck, assisting with wood or fuel for the steam engine, and just doing any general labor where it was needed. Now this, as you can imagine, was hard work, but it was low paying. And because of that, it was often done by people who had limited job options, including African American men after the Civil War.
• 20:27
  Speaker B: Oh, that's shitty.
• 20:28
  Speaker A: And so the 30 deckhands at the time aboard the Dubuque worked there and lived on the ship while they were working it. And it was their ship and it was their home away from home, and they would have taken pride in it. And like I mentioned, most of them were black. Okay, so those are the deckhands. Do you have any questions for me about them?
• 20:51
  Speaker B: I like them.
• 20:52
  Speaker A: I like them too.
• 20:53
  Speaker B: I like the respect they have for not only their work, but for the ship itself.
• 20:57
  Speaker A: Right. Because it literally is their floating home while they're at work.
• 21:01
  Speaker B: Right?
• 21:02
  Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
• 21:02
  Speaker B: Love it.
• 21:04
  Speaker A: Now, let's talk about the raftsmen that you have a profanity for who?
• 21:09
  Speaker B: And a hollow. They sound like.
• 21:11
  Speaker A: I think I just made up that word. I don't think profinity is a word.
• 21:14
  Speaker B: You know, I don't think anyone would have known if you just kept going. Just be confident.
• 21:20
  Speaker A: Affinity. You have an affinity for the raftsman. Maybe you were a raftsman at a different time. Let's discuss. Okay. There are 150 of them. So many more than the deck crew.
• 21:34
  Speaker B: Right. That's a lot of them.
• 21:35
  Speaker A: That's a lot of them. And this is not their ship. They're just catching a ride back north so they can follow the rafts down again. Correct. And they are a completely different breed than the deck. The deck.
• 21:53
  Speaker B: Them some messy bitches, aren't they?
• 21:55
  Speaker A: They are. The raftsmen were rough. They were weather beaten. They were rode on massive floating logs that were lashed together into massive rafts as they drifted down the Mississippi River.
• 22:12
  Speaker B: Yeah. No, I just like them drinking and swearing. I'm not. That's all you needed to say. I'm out.
• 22:17
  Speaker A: Jill. Sometimes these rafts were a mile long.
• 22:20
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 22:21
  Speaker A: Like log after log after log latched together. There's more.
• 22:25
  Speaker B: And I care too much for my skin for that kind of work.
• 22:27
  Speaker A: Exactly.
• 22:28
  Speaker B: Being Windsor stripped, like.
• 22:30
  Speaker A: Oh, you got it. Their job involved guiding the rafts downstream using poles and oars.
• 22:38
  Speaker B: Nope.
• 22:39
  Speaker A: Sometimes they had to break apart log jams. And there was always hazards like rocks and rapids. Oh, my gosh. Rapids. And traffic on the river. And so they actually lived on the floating log raft for. For days or weeks at a time.
• 23:00
  Speaker B: Absolutely not.
• 23:01
  Speaker A: No decent shelter. Could you imagine this? They slept outside on floating logs in the extreme weather like you mentioned, the burning sun, the storms, the freezing nights. Not to mention. Was it uncomfortable, but also extremely dangerous.
• 23:18
  Speaker B: Yeah, it was.
• 23:18
  Speaker A: Yeah. One false step and you could be crushed between logs.
• 23:23
  Speaker B: Can you imagine breaking up a dam of log.
• 23:26
  Speaker A: No. With a stick or an oar. While standing on a floating log? Absolutely not. Not only that, but they suffered long periods of isolation on the river. And so when they arrived at a town, they let loose because they had been, like, alone on these logs for so long. Right.
• 23:50
  Speaker B: I hope they got cleaned up before going to, like, the tavern.
• 23:53
  Speaker A: I don't know if they could. How do you get cleaned off when you live on a log raft?
• 23:57
  Speaker B: You go into the hotel, you find yourself a lady, you take a bath. You seen the movies.
• 24:05
  Speaker A: So when they reached the towns, there was a lot of activity,
• 24:11
  Speaker B: and.
• 24:11
  Speaker A: And that's when they got paid and they blew their money and super fast in the town as well. They spent their money in the saloons, which helped give them the reputation of being rowdy, hard drinking, and unpredictable.
• 24:28
  Speaker B: Well, that's no way for them to get ahead if they're just. They're just rafting and drinking. Rafting and drinking.
• 24:35
  Speaker A: Well, too bad they didn't have to have you to give them some advice.
• 24:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, sit them down and give them a good talking to.
• 24:41
  Speaker A: Good talking to. Exactly. But here's the thing about the raftsmen. They were better paid than the deckhands because their job was, one, more dangerous and two, it required more skill. It required skill. Not just anybody knew how to maneuver on the rafts the way they did.
• 25:01
  Speaker B: Right, I can see that.
• 25:02
  Speaker A: And so raftsmen were usually white Usually white men, and they saw themselves as a step above the deckhands. Got it. Okay. So you have these two different groups, the deckhands, mostly black, who are taking care of the steamer Dubuque and have respect for it because it's their ship, but lower paid and looked down upon by the raftsmen, who are better paid. All white and drunk. Drunk. Exactly. But there's also a few other groups that I don't want to overlook.
• 25:40
  Speaker B: Tell me.
• 25:40
  Speaker A: Well, there were also on the Dubuque, upper class passengers who had access to private cabins, dining saloon, and other amenities. Upper. On the upper decks, there were families, there were businessmen, and there were some professionals. Okay.
• 25:55
  Speaker B: It was like the carnival of their time.
• 25:57
  Speaker A: Right. It was like a small town, a small time Titanic. You know how you have the different layers? There's. And you also, of course, have service station staff who are working, you know, to keep the. The upper class customers comfortable and the captain and the officers. Okay, got it. And all of these groups are confined in the tight quarters of the Dubuque, and things are about to get volatile.
• 26:20
  Speaker B: Take me to the evening of July 23rd.
• 26:23
  Speaker A: Okay. The boat pulled up at Davenport, Iowa, not wanting to sail in the dark because of the rock problem. Apparently there's a lot of rocks, and it made it hazardous.
• 26:36
  Speaker B: Yeah. Especially at night.
• 26:37
  Speaker A: Exactly. By the time it pulled out the next morning, the raftsmen had enjoyed the entire night of entertainment in town, and they were all drunk af.
• 26:48
  Speaker B: Mm, mm, mm.
• 26:49
  Speaker A: So they really took advantage of the stop in Davenport.
• 26:53
  Speaker B: And not only that, this is probably the most livable, relaxing situation for them. So to get drunk and pass out probably would have been like, good. You know what I mean?
• 27:01
  Speaker A: Cause you would die if you were on a log.
• 27:04
  Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
• 27:07
  Speaker A: So they're drunk, they're disorderly. One of the deck hands aboard by the name of Moses Davis was assigned to prevent unauthorized access to the cabins. That makes sense.
• 27:21
  Speaker B: Yeah. Because the cabins are where the first class people are. They don't want to be dealing with no ruffians. Right.
• 27:26
  Speaker A: These are the families, the businessmen, the professionals. They're in the cabins. So Moses Davis is pretty much guarding the cabins and. And keeping these rousty drunk raftsmen from going up and bothering people.
• 27:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, he's the bouncer.
• 27:40
  Speaker A: Exactly. Oh, nice. I like that analogy. So a drunken raftsman known as Pock Marked lynch, who happened to be an Irish laborer, attempted to force his way upstairs to the cabins. Pock Marked Lynch. You know, he was an ugly mfer.
• 28:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, I was thinking crater. Me too. From Greece.
• 28:07
  Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes. They always use pockmarked people on. In the media to represent evil people.
• 28:15
  Speaker B: Really?
• 28:16
  Speaker A: Don't you think?
• 28:16
  Speaker B: Good, Pockmark?
• 28:17
  Speaker A: I don't think so.
• 28:18
  Speaker B: I've never, I've never. I mean, I've known people that had acne problems that were very kind people, truly. So. No, I.
• 28:27
  Speaker A: Thank you, Jill, for breaking that perspective. Anyway, Pockmark. Lynch. Lynch is demanding to be served breakfast in the saloon.
• 28:37
  Speaker B: Who does he think he is?
• 28:38
  Speaker A: And the saloon is reserved for the first class cabin passengers. Now I get it though. Like after a night of drinking, you want. You want a good breakfast. You want something greasy that's gonna slide down and absorb all the liquor. I get it, I get it. Lynch, but like, but Poc.
• 28:54
  Speaker B: Mark lynch, like he should have known, like you're. You're smelly drunken ass is not going to get up them stairs.
• 29:02
  Speaker A: Yeah, well, the other thing is. Oh, by the way, I have to ask you this. Forget it. It's not appropriate.
• 29:08
  Speaker B: No, ask.
• 29:09
  Speaker A: Okay. Are you sure? Yeah. Okay, so we've. We've both been in situations where maybe we were at a bar all night or dancing or whatever and it's totally appropriate. Wee hours of the morning, we've been drinking, we're hungry. Like, let's say it's 3am where do you go?
• 29:26
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. It depends. Where am I living? Am I living?
• 29:29
  Speaker A: You're in Chicago. You're in Chicago. Oh, oh, girl, I know where you're going to go.
• 29:34
  Speaker B: Oh, really? Yeah, I'm living in Chicago. Or Forest Park.
• 29:38
  Speaker A: No, Chicago. Chicago. I know where you're going.
• 29:42
  Speaker B: Is it Portillo's?
• 29:43
  Speaker A: No, it's not Portillo's. Is Portillo's Open at 3am No, I
• 29:46
  Speaker B: was going to say Lucky Dog.
• 29:48
  Speaker A: Lucky Dog. Yeah. I thought for sure you'd be going to Burritoville.
• 29:52
  Speaker B: No, I don't even know what Burritoville is.
• 29:54
  Speaker A: It's that strip right on First Avenue when you get to Summit.
• 30:00
  Speaker B: That sounds so good.
• 30:03
  Speaker A: Anyway. Yes, I think.
• 30:04
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 30:05
  Speaker A: Greasy burgers for sure is what you want.
• 30:08
  Speaker B: I want. I do want American food. Like, I would love Portillo's. I would love a Portillo beef sandwich,
• 30:14
  Speaker A: cheese fries, hot dog.
• 30:16
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 30:17
  Speaker A: All right, let's keep going. I just had to know.
• 30:19
  Speaker B: Now I can't.
• 30:20
  Speaker A: I think I'm a burger girl. I think I want a greasy burger.
• 30:24
  Speaker B: But like, what kind of greasy? Like from where?
• 30:26
  Speaker A: I mean, McDonald's would be fine. Not too greasy. Not White Castle. That's too greasy. I feel like it's.
• 30:32
  Speaker B: I just had White. I leaving your house. The last time I left your house, I stopped and got White Castle. And it's been 20 years.
• 30:39
  Speaker A: Girl, you're making an unnasty face. I can't believe you got White Castle.
• 30:45
  Speaker B: I didn't know I remembered good things.
• 30:47
  Speaker A: No, no, no.
• 30:49
  Speaker B: I got the wrong thing.
• 30:50
  Speaker A: I am disappointed in you.
• 30:51
  Speaker B: I cannot believe I got, like, a double jalapeno burger.
• 30:55
  Speaker A: I live two blocks from a Portillo's, and you stopped at a White Castle
• 30:59
  Speaker B: that is out of the way.
• 31:00
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 31:00
  Speaker B: And I was exhausted.
• 31:01
  Speaker A: Wow. Okay, whatever. Never do that again.
• 31:05
  Speaker B: Well, live and learn.
• 31:07
  Speaker A: Now, where were we? Oh, POC Marked Lynch. Okay, so here's the thing about this guy. Moses is trying to guard the upper class cabins. Lynch is trying to force his way upstairs to get breakfast in the saloon. And lynch was not a small guy at the time. According to the standards, he was pretty big. He was 58 and 180 pounds.
• 31:33
  Speaker B: It's like my ideal weight.
• 31:36
  Speaker A: 5 8.
• 31:38
  Speaker B: Wow. He's a little man by today's standards.
• 31:43
  Speaker A: You and I could take him.
• 31:44
  Speaker B: Like, that's what I was thinking. Seriously, I would be like, Moses, back up. Let me get this.
• 31:49
  Speaker A: Let me get this. Still. Moses Davis blocked him and pushed him back, and lynch swore revenge. Okay, so lynch, his honor is, like, hurt. Like his ego is bruised.
• 32:04
  Speaker B: Izzy.
• 32:04
  Speaker A: Butt hurt because he's white, he's Irish, and Moses is a black man. Okay? And we already know for many of the white workers at the time and on the river, the newly freed black men were now seen as competition in the labor market, especially in the river towns and working class communities and on the river itself. And this was a tense atmosphere on the boat like it was in other parts of the country. And Moses Davis represented more than just a man trying to keep the drunk lynch from disturbing the upper class patrons.
• 32:42
  Speaker B: What did he. What did he symbolize? Like, what? What do you mean?
• 32:45
  Speaker A: He symbolized social boundaries and status, right? Oh, yeah. In Lynch's mind, Moses symbolized a perceived threat to his own livelihood, to his place in society. The changing order in the post war world.
• 33:01
  Speaker B: Right, Pocky, Mark Face just needs to calm down. He's just taking shit a little too seriously.
• 33:06
  Speaker A: Well, Jill, that's not what happened. And things started to escalate really, really fast. So a furious group of rowdy, drunk raftsmen stormed toward the captain, demanding. Demanding that Moses be punished. Okay. Or else they were gonna set the entire boat on fire.
• 33:29
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 33:30
  Speaker A: Yeah. So they go find the captain, and they're like, we're going to Set this boat on fire. If you don't do something about Moses right now, he needs to be punished immediately because he pushed our. Our friend Pock Mark face down. Well, the captain was trying to calm the chaos. He did not want his boat on fire.
• 33:51
  Speaker B: I can see why.
• 33:53
  Speaker A: And he came up with a really stupid solution.
• 33:57
  Speaker B: Oh, no. Did. He was like, if you cut the baby in half, I can give you half the baby. You know that story?
• 34:01
  Speaker A: Well, there was no baby. I don't know that story.
• 34:04
  Speaker B: You don't know that story?
• 34:05
  Speaker A: No. And now we need a trigger warning for a dead baby. Thanks. You're just making more work. That's a parable. You're making more work.
• 34:13
  Speaker B: Two parents go into the courtroom, and then the judge was like, aha, I have a great idea. We'll just cut the baby in half. And then the one that was like, no, no, no, don't cut my baby. Is the one that was awarded the baby.
• 34:25
  Speaker A: Oh, okay. Well, I don't know that that's a perfect analogy. But what he did suggest was that Moses Davis and Pock Face lynch settle the matter by having a fist fight. It's like, you guys work it out on your own. Go beat each other up.
• 34:44
  Speaker B: Dude, there are so many things wrong with that that I even.
• 34:47
  Speaker A: He's the captain. He's supposed to maintain order. This is. This is, like, ridiculous. He should have backed Moses right away. Moses was following his orders.
• 34:58
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, right. He could have pretended to punish him too. Like, put him behind a closed door and was like, winking, bang. Like, you don't do that now. You know what I mean?
• 35:06
  Speaker A: So let's remember lynch is really drunk and he wanted more booze, and he attempted to fight Moses. And some stories show that Moses Davis won the fist fight.
• 35:20
  Speaker B: Hell yes.
• 35:22
  Speaker A: I don't think we have, like, factual evidence of this, do we, Jill? It's more anecdotal.
• 35:29
  Speaker B: It based on what happens next.
• 35:32
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 35:33
  Speaker B: The assumption is, is that Moses Davis. Correct.
• 35:37
  Speaker A: Beat Lynch. Okay. And won, as he should have.
• 35:41
  Speaker B: If I were the captain, I would have pretended to discipline Moses and then got him. Got pac face lynch food from upstairs. That's what I would have done.
• 35:49
  Speaker A: That would have been a better way.
• 35:50
  Speaker B: Mm.
• 35:52
  Speaker A: Well, after Moses purportedly beat lynch down, that just made things worse, because then a crowd of raftsmen formed and surged forward and they attacked Moses Davis.
• 36:05
  Speaker B: Poor Moses.
• 36:07
  Speaker A: The violence spread rapidly. Then this mob of raftsmen began assaulting the nearest black men that they saw, just turning a personal dispute into a full blown racial mob attack.
• 36:23
  Speaker B: Oh, my God, those poor black porters. What did they do? Were they, like, taking up arms?
• 36:29
  Speaker A: We're like, yeah, they started to mobilize. I mean, wouldn't you. Yeah, they started to mobilize. And when the Dubuque steamer grounded near Hampton, Iowa, the. The rioters started seizing random stuff like coal and rocks and pieces of wood to use as weapons against them.
• 36:51
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 36:52
  Speaker A: Some of the black crewmen fled the ship and went to nearby river islands and were just hiding out, trying to wait until the violence was over. Some passengers, the first class passengers, also managed to flee, and they never returned to the vessel at all.
• 37:09
  Speaker B: They're like, that Yelp review must have been really shitty, right?
• 37:15
  Speaker A: And others attempted to escape by simply jumping into the Mississippi river and swimming away. Could you imagine the chaos?
• 37:22
  Speaker B: Absolutely not.
• 37:24
  Speaker A: Unfortunately, several African American workers were killed during the violence.
• 37:31
  Speaker B: No.
• 37:32
  Speaker A: Moses Davis, he was discovered hiding and he was forced into the river where he was struck with debris until he drowned.
• 37:43
  Speaker B: Oh, Moses, I am so sorry.
• 37:45
  Speaker A: I know that's terrible. He really does not deserve this. Now, others also drowned while attempting to escape the mob. In total, six black men lost their lives.
• 37:57
  Speaker B: Oh, God.
• 37:58
  Speaker A: Their names were Frank Gibbs, William Gray, Abraham Daniels, Moses Davis, of course, Lee Williams, and William Armstead.
• 38:10
  Speaker B: So, raftsman.
• 38:13
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 38:14
  Speaker B: What are they doing now?
• 38:15
  Speaker A: So they. They're basically in control of this vessel now because everybody who is not a drunken, like pock marked asshole Irishman has already jumped ship. And so now it's this floating, like, fight club.
• 38:34
  Speaker B: Oh, my God.
• 38:36
  Speaker A: However, do you remember that some of the passengers managed to escape near Hampton? Some of, like, the upper class businessmen and families, well, they were not drunk. And they quickly sent word to the local sheriff that there is an insurrection, like, floating down the river right now, and you need to be ready because it's coming towards you.
• 38:57
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. Good for them, right?
• 38:59
  Speaker A: Smart.
• 39:00
  Speaker B: Thanks for the heads up. Good looking out.
• 39:02
  Speaker A: By the time the steamer Dubuque approached Clinton, Iowa, a posse of about 60 men had already gathered. They had arrived about 15 minutes ahead of the boat, and the posse intervened, arresting most of the raftsmen involved. But Lynch, Pockmark lynch, he was not arrested. He managed to escape into the Iowa wilderness. Wow. Yeah.
• 39:28
  Speaker B: Tell me what happened next. Tell me. They found Pocky.
• 39:32
  Speaker A: When the steamboat finally returned to Davenport, Iowa, the reality was chilling. Of the 28 black deckhands that had left on that journey, only 22 could be accounted for, and six of them were gone entirely.
• 39:45
  Speaker B: Oh, God.
• 39:46
  Speaker A: The victims of shocking violence. One local newspaper described the tragedy in stark terms, calling it quote, unquote, an unprovoked assault and the wanton murder of six human beings.
• 39:58
  Speaker B: Jesus.
• 40:00
  Speaker A: But justice came unevenly. Many of those who had taken part faced little or no punishment at all. There were nine men who were brought to trial, and of them, seven were found guilty of manslaughter.
• 40:15
  Speaker B: Oh, that's good.
• 40:17
  Speaker A: Right? A verdict that reflected both the seriousness of the event and the complicated attitudes of the time. Now, as for lynch, his story does not end on the run in the Iowa wilderness. Nearly a year later, in April, he was finally tracked down at a sawmill in Arkansas.
• 40:40
  Speaker B: Good for them.
• 40:41
  Speaker A: He was tried. He was found guilty of manslaughter, and he was sentenced to 10 years in the prison at Joliet, Illinois.
• 40:50
  Speaker B: Mm. I don't think that was enough time, but I'm glad that some justice was served.
• 40:55
  Speaker A: Agreed. Now, the story of the Dubuque race riot had reached beyond the river towns, and it drew national attention.
• 41:04
  Speaker B: Good. As it should.
• 41:05
  Speaker A: Especially from people who believed that the violence would never have happened at all if the deckhands had been white. You see what they're saying here?
• 41:16
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
• 41:17
  Speaker A: So the problem isn't the drunk craftsman or the behavior of Lynch. The problem was that they were hiring black men. Is that as deckhands? Yes, that's the assumption. Yes, yes. Do you believe that?
• 41:33
  Speaker B: Wow.
• 41:34
  Speaker A: I know. That is so backwards.
• 41:37
  Speaker B: How I I. No accountability. You didn't.
• 41:41
  Speaker A: You didn't get that?
• 41:42
  Speaker B: No, I thought that they were saying that if Moses would have been white, then. Then lynch wouldn't have been so butthurt that he was pushed back from.
• 41:51
  Speaker A: Well, that too. That, too. But the fact that Moses was black is because Moses was hired for that job instead of a white guy.
• 41:58
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. That's some bullshit right there.
• 42:01
  Speaker A: So basically, this riot became a really troubling example of how race and fear were shaping life. And not just in the South. This is the norm. This is the norm. Yes, yes, I know, Jill. I know. And yet, in the grand sweep of the Reconstruction era in history, the Dubuque riot quickly faded from the headlines and the nation's attention was pulled southward, where things were worse. Yeah, yeah. Towards larger and more brutal outbreaks of racial violence like the Memphis and New Orleans Riots of 1866 and the Colfax Massacre of 1873. So, yeah, yeah, of course there's. There was much more dramatic things happening south, but that shouldn't erase the memory of the Dubuque.
• 42:55
  Speaker B: Right. The Dubuque was this. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there. I'M jumping ahead. Okay.
• 43:01
  Speaker A: By 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant. Okay, let's stop there. He
• 43:11
  Speaker B: 100% hot. You think? Yeah, I did it.
• 43:16
  Speaker A: He always looked a little sloppy to me.
• 43:19
  Speaker B: He's always a little drunk.
• 43:20
  Speaker A: He was always a little drunk.
• 43:22
  Speaker B: Always a little drunk.
• 43:23
  Speaker A: That's why you like him.
• 43:24
  Speaker B: He needs something to take the edge off.
• 43:26
  Speaker A: Oh, Lord. All right. So hot. Is his collar high? No, no. He's got a relaxed neckline.
• 43:33
  Speaker B: He does. He's not too stuffy. He's a man that undoes his collar.
• 43:38
  Speaker A: No, he is not too stuffy. Not like the other one. Who is the other one? I can't remember. Not Pierce Polk.
• 43:45
  Speaker B: Polk.
• 43:46
  Speaker A: Poke. Clean shaven Polk. Okay.
• 43:48
  Speaker B: I think Draco Martin Malfoy.
• 43:49
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 43:50
  Speaker B: There we go.
• 43:50
  Speaker A: All right, so President Ulysses s. Grant in 1870 was reporting to Congress that there had been thousands of cases of white terrorism in the South. Thousands. And so, against that backdrop, what happened on the Dubuque became almost a little blip on the national radar. And tragic, but overshadowed by the scale of unrest elsewhere.
• 44:14
  Speaker B: Unbelievable.
• 44:15
  Speaker A: Totally unbelievable. Wow. Again, that shouldn't erase what happened just because worse things were happening elsewhere.
• 44:23
  Speaker B: Well, you know what?
• 44:24
  Speaker A: What?
• 44:24
  Speaker B: It didn't. Because we're talking about it today.
• 44:26
  Speaker A: Damn right. All right, so who's our voiceless Moses
• 44:31
  Speaker B: and the other five men that perished, but Moses particularly, because he was put in a no win situation.
• 44:37
  Speaker A: He was just doing his job.
• 44:39
  Speaker B: His boss was like, okay, so fight. I would be like, sir. Right.
• 44:43
  Speaker A: I'm following your orders.
• 44:45
  Speaker B: Right. Like, he already didn't like me to push him back. What do you think is going to happen if we're in a fist fight?
• 44:51
  Speaker A: Don't you think that Moses really cared? I really believe that Moses cared about his job. Yes. Not about, only about the job, but he cared about keeping the peace. Do you know what I mean? Like, he could have just moved over and been like. Well, I don't. You know what I mean?
• 45:07
  Speaker B: No. 100%. He took that shit seriously.
• 45:09
  Speaker A: He really did.
• 45:11
  Speaker B: And as he should have, but I don't think he should have lost his life for it. And a terrible, terrible way to perish. Poor Moses.
• 45:20
  Speaker A: Poor Moses. All right, Jill, why do you think we're telling this story today? Do you think it's applicable at all today?
• 45:26
  Speaker B: Well, it reminds us that the struggles over race, labor and belonging and justice were never really confined to one moment in time or one place.
• 45:35
  Speaker A: Right? Yeah, I think that's a really good reminder because stuff isn't over. You know, we try to believe that. Oh, that's over. You know, like, that doesn't happen. Slavery is over. Racism is over. No, none of it's over. And we still hang on to all of the gray.
• 45:51
  Speaker B: Right?
• 45:51
  Speaker A: Like I was talking about all of the gray. And we only see it if we reflect on our own attitudes and beliefs.
• 45:58
  Speaker B: Not only that, but this, this. These struggles are not Southern struggles. Just this. Like this was in the Midwest. Right. This happened on the Mississippi. Right, right, right, right. Oh. Anyway, can I just say, it also matters because it highlights how violence against black workers could be minimalized, forgotten, and overshadowed by larger national events. This just became a blip. Just a blip. A blurp. I call it a blurp.
• 46:28
  Speaker A: You can call whatever you want. So when we revisit stories like this one, like the riot on the Dubuque, we're not just studying history. We're really asking questions like who gets remembered?
• 46:44
  Speaker B: Oh, God, it's such a good point.
• 46:46
  Speaker A: Who gets remembered and who gets forgotten? And what happens to the energy of the unresolved injustice?
• 46:54
  Speaker B: Such good points.
• 46:55
  Speaker A: Because it's not just swept away, it's still there. Yeah, it's still there.
• 46:59
  Speaker B: It just morphs into something different. Right.
• 47:02
  Speaker A: Until we can tap into it and give it a voice.
• 47:05
  Speaker B: And give it a voice and say, that was not cool. And poor Moses and his friends. I'm sorry that it's just a horrible story. When I said in the beginning that this was a cool story, it's cool because it brought my attention to something that I am able to think differently about. That's why this story is cool.
• 47:25
  Speaker A: And I think it's. And I appreciate that. And I think that's amazing. I think it's cool because what you have on this floating ship is a microcosm of what's happening in the entire country.
• 47:39
  Speaker B: That's right. And that's in the Midwest?
• 47:43
  Speaker A: Yes, in the Midwest. On the upper Mississippi. That's crazy. But it's also like, out of a free state, Davenport. Out of a free state, out of Iowa. So let's review our hits real fast because I think some of them are pretty. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.
• 48:02
  Speaker B: I was feeling connection to Joliet, Illinois.
• 48:05
  Speaker A: Damn.
• 48:05
  Speaker B: The penitentiary.
• 48:06
  Speaker A: Damn.
• 48:07
  Speaker B: And we were there.
• 48:08
  Speaker A: Damn. And so was lynch.
• 48:10
  Speaker B: And so was Pac Face Lynch.
• 48:13
  Speaker A: Damn. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. How about me picking up on a mob race riot?
• 48:20
  Speaker B: How are you so psychic? Why? Why?
• 48:25
  Speaker A: Mid century is crazy.
• 48:26
  Speaker B: But Jenny, Jenny, saying the 1800s. Yeah, the 1800s. That's crazy.
• 48:31
  Speaker A: Okay, tell me this next one. Explain men hiding out in the rocks.
• 48:36
  Speaker B: And bluffs because they were fleeing the ship and they were trying to get away and they were hiding out. So they were like, I'm going, I'm good, I'm up. Nuh.
• 48:44
  Speaker A: Yeah. And what about when I was. Obviously, the upper Mississippi is where this story took place, but is there any significance to me thinking that it had, like, different jurisdictions?
• 48:55
  Speaker B: Yes. Because it was moving. It was a moving riot.
• 48:58
  Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
• 48:59
  Speaker B: So like, when they stopped and the upper class passengers exited the vessel.
• 49:05
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 49:06
  Speaker B: And told the. The sheriff. The sheriff had to, like, ride out to the next destination.
• 49:11
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. Why are you so stupid? Psychic. Oh, my God. Wow. Wow. What a crazy story. Thank you so much for finding it and researching it.
• 49:24
  Speaker B: I am just so honored to be able to take a look at this story and to bring voice to Moses and the situations, the complicated racial situations that we have gone through as a country and that we're still going through today.
• 49:38
  Speaker A: Thank you, Jill.
• 49:39
  Speaker B: Thank you, Moses.
• 49:40
  Speaker A: And now for some community announcements.
• 49:44
  Speaker B: Yes. So I want to start out by saying my amazing sister, Jennifer James, me is.
• 49:50
  Speaker A: Yes, you.
• 49:52
  Speaker B: I'm just going to bring up some random sister that no one knows.
• 49:55
  Speaker A: Be like, here's my sister Sarah.
• 49:57
  Speaker B: I can't wait for you to meet her. My amazing sister, Jennifer James is offering a springtime psychic development class. So please email us@commonmysticsmail.com for the deets. As, as always, I am still giving you psychic to row mediumship reading. So please, I love engaging with you guys. We have the best listeners. Thank you so much.
• 50:24
  Speaker A: And can I just say something about my class?
• 50:28
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 50:29
  Speaker A: I just want to tell people that the first sentence session, there are four sessions, all on Monday evenings. The first one starts April 27th. So hit me up quickly if you'd like to join.
• 50:40
  Speaker B: Okay. And I want to say that we enjoy bringing you these stories and I know that you look at us as the amazing people that find these stories, but the real heroes are our patrons because they are supplying the fuel, the means for us to go out on the road and to find these stories. So if you like what you're hearing and you like the content, please consider to sign up at Patreon Backsplash Common Mystics so you can support this type of work and to give voice to the voiceless spirits around the country. In addition to that, we have four different levels, so wherever you're comfortable at. And you'll be behind the paywall where you will get ridiculous, ridiculous conversations that Jennifer, I have on detours about. I think we broke one of our patient Patrons the other day. What did. What did he say?
• 51:35
  Speaker A: We were talking about something we should not have been talking about.
• 51:38
  Speaker B: It's behind the paywall.
• 51:39
  Speaker A: It's behind the paywall. We were talking. I don't think we can talk about it here, but meet us there. It's too embarrassing.
• 51:46
  Speaker B: Meet us there so you can hear all about our embarrassing childhoods, how it's relevant to the stories today and. And how you may be broken in laughter hearing some of the shenanigans that we had went through.
• 51:56
  Speaker A: Jill, you said black backsplash. That's good.
• 52:07
  Speaker B: I'm gonna say it again. Backslash. Backslash.
• 52:11
  Speaker A: And I just said black splash. Trying to make fun of you. So I think we just need to end this recording.
• 52:18
  Speaker B: But I just wanna say. I just wanna say Brian has just a shout out to Brian for this because it was a difficult one. So please.
• 52:26
  Speaker A: Thank you, editor.
• 52:27
  Speaker B: Thank you, Brian.
• 52:30
  Speaker A: Oh, and Jill, also, we're still asking for more reviews.
• 52:34
  Speaker B: Yes, we are. We're begging. We're begging. We's begging for him.
• 52:39
  Speaker A: You gotta watch those accents. Sometimes I don't know what your. What your. Your channeling. Okay, we are at 220south7 on Apple. 227 reviews. And I have another one to read. It is entitled Fun and Heartfelt.
• 53:03
  Speaker B: Stop it.
• 53:04
  Speaker A: By Dr. GDB. It says common Mystics hits different. It's funny, thoughtful, and actually makes you think. Blending mysticism with history in a way that feels grounded, not gimmicky. The sisters have great chemistry and ask the right questions of each other and themselves and truly give voice to the voiceless. Perfect for anyone curious about the spiritual side of life. Without the fluff.
• 53:31
  Speaker B: Doctor. Thank you.
• 53:33
  Speaker A: Thank you so much. Oh, and I have to tell you, Jill, that I recently just logged on to Spotify after for the first time in years and there are some reviews on there. So we'll print those out and read those on our list.
• 53:44
  Speaker B: Oh, my God. I would love that.
• 53:46
  Speaker A: I know, I know. We'll have to do that.
• 53:48
  Speaker B: You guys, we love you. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for listening to our ridiculousness and the stories that we tell about the voiceless spirits still restless around this country.
• 53:57
  Speaker A: Thank you so much. We love you.
• 54:00
  Speaker B: Love you.
• 54:00
  Speaker A: Bye.
• 54:01
  Speaker B: Bye. This has been a common Mystics Media Production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.