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Bottom Dollar · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
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  Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Robert Burns put it best
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  Speaker 1: when he wrote, the best laid plans of mice and
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  Speaker 1: men often go awry. We prepare and we scheme, but
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  Speaker 1: inevitably it's not enough. We usually end up right back
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  Speaker 1: where we started. Guillaume le gentil knew about making plans.
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  Speaker 1: Born in seventy five and Normandy, France. Guillaume's original plan
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  Speaker 1: had been to join the clergy. Then he looked up
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  Speaker 1: to the stars. One years earlier, Galileo Galilei had done
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  Speaker 1: the same and observed the Moon, the Milky Way, and
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  Speaker 1: much more. Through his own telescope. Geo managed to observe
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  Speaker 1: dwarf galaxies and constellations. His discoveries gained him a reputation
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  Speaker 1: in the scientific community, which helped earn him a spot
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  Speaker 1: on a special astronomical project, the goal to measure the
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  Speaker 1: distance from the Earth to the Sun. It was commissioned
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  Speaker 1: by a Russian scientist named Mikhail Lomonosov and the French
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  Speaker 1: Academy of Sciences, Lomanesov figured out that by observing how
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  Speaker 1: Venus traveled between the Sun and a superior planet from
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  Speaker 1: different locations on Earth, it could be possible to measure
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  Speaker 1: the distance to the Sun. This phenomenon was known as
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  Speaker 1: the Transit of Venus. Seventeen sixty one would be the
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  Speaker 1: date of the next transit, and Guillaume was tasked with
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  Speaker 1: viewing it from India. He knew of a French owned
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  Speaker 1: territory on the southeastern coast called Ponda Cherry that would
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  Speaker 1: be a perfect spot for watching the transit. Yom started
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  Speaker 1: out in Paris in March of seventeen sixty and traveled
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  Speaker 1: across the Indian Ocean to the Aisle de France four
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  Speaker 1: months later. He would have liked to have begun the
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  Speaker 1: second leg of his trips soon after, but the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the world had other plans. As he reached Aisle
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  Speaker 1: de France, Britain and France started fighting in what would
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  Speaker 1: come to be known as the Seven Years War, so
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  Speaker 1: it wouldn't be until February of seventeen sixty one that
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  Speaker 1: Guillaume found passage on a military ship headed toward the
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  Speaker 1: Indian coast. However, more complications presented themselves. The closer he
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  Speaker 1: got to June sixth, the date when the transit the
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  Speaker 1: Venus would occur, for one monsoon season was approaching. Strong
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  Speaker 1: winds set his ship adrift in the Indian Ocean for
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  Speaker 1: five weeks, and that's when the second obstacle came his way.
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  Speaker 1: By the time he finally reached India, he found out
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  Speaker 1: that the British had captured Ponda Cherry, preventing him from
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  Speaker 1: entering the town. Defeated, he stayed on the ship as
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  Speaker 1: he returned to the Isle de France. The transit passed
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  Speaker 1: above right on schedule, but Guillaume and his instruments couldn't
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  Speaker 1: track it properly due to the rocking of the waves.
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  Speaker 1: But he had another idea. The next transit would occur
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  Speaker 1: eight years later, in June of seventeen sixty nine. Rather
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  Speaker 1: than try to complete his journey from scratch again, he
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  Speaker 1: decided to stay on the aisle close to the viewing spot.
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  Speaker 1: This time. How her, it was Manila that would provide
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  Speaker 1: the best viewing angle of the transit. He set out
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  Speaker 1: on May Onet of seventeen sixty six and stepped foot
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  Speaker 1: in Manila three months later. His welcome there was less
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  Speaker 1: than hospitable. Though practically run out of town by the governor,
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  Speaker 1: he fled back to pond a cherry, which was once
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  Speaker 1: again under French control. He was greeted with a feast
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  Speaker 1: and the opportunity to choose the ideal spot from which
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  Speaker 1: to watch the transit. June was fast approaching. He set
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  Speaker 1: up making his makeshift observatory in the ruins of a
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  Speaker 1: building lost during the war. The governor joined him on
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  Speaker 1: the night before the transit, and the two gazed up
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  Speaker 1: at a star filled sky. It was so clear they
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  Speaker 1: could see several of Jupiter's moons through the telescope. The
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  Speaker 1: transit wouldn't occur until the following day, when the sun
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  Speaker 1: was up, so he bid the governor good nights and
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  Speaker 1: went to sleep. Hours later, he awoke something was bothering him.
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  Speaker 1: The sun had yet to rise, but he could sense
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  Speaker 1: a problem with his plan. It wasn't the telescope, which
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  Speaker 1: was working properly. Still, he had a feeling, despite the
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  Speaker 1: years away from home he had spent traveling for this
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  Speaker 1: one specific purpose, despite all the planning and the hardships
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  Speaker 1: that he had faced to witness Venus's migration across the sun.
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  Speaker 1: Guillaume le Gentil never accounted for the one thing that
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  Speaker 1: could prevent it all a cloudy day. A little bit
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  Speaker 1: of hope can go a long way. People in poverty
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  Speaker 1: often hope for a way out, an act of God
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  Speaker 1: to pluck them from their situation and drop them into
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  Speaker 1: a more comfortable life, no more hardships, no more wondering
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  Speaker 1: where their next meal is going to come from. Oscar
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  Speaker 1: Hartzell wanted to make sure his fellow Iowans never had
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  Speaker 1: to struggle to pay their rent or their bills ever again.
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  Speaker 1: In he'd learned about a large sum of money owned
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  Speaker 1: by the British government. It had been part of Sir
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  Speaker 1: Francis Drake's estates and had spent the last three hundred
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  Speaker 1: years collecting interest, bringing the total value of the unclaimed
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  Speaker 1: money to around one hundred billion dollars. Hertzel had an idea.
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  Speaker 1: He knew he could sue the British government to release
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  Speaker 1: the funds if enough of Drake's heirs came forward to
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  Speaker 1: collect the inheritance. He put out a call to anyone
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  Speaker 1: in Iowa with the last name of Drake in order
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  Speaker 1: to get the money owed to them. However, they had
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  Speaker 1: to invest their own with Hertzel, who would act on
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  Speaker 1: their behalf in the lawsuits. He welcomed investments of all sizes,
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  Speaker 1: promising massive returns. For every one dollar invested, that person
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  Speaker 1: would get back another five hundred. He also promised the
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  Speaker 1: English city of Portsmouth as part of that package, yeah
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  Speaker 1: the entire city. Hope sprung eternal throughout Iowa as farmers, families,
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  Speaker 1: and folks from all walks of life dug into their savings.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed everyone wanted a chance at a slice of
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  Speaker 1: that pie. Hertzel collected investments from tens of thousands of
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  Speaker 1: hard working Iowans. When the money started to dry up,
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  Speaker 1: he brought in his scope and invited people from other
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  Speaker 1: states to invest, even folks whose last names weren't Drake.
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  Speaker 1: With a tidy sum under his belt, Hartzel felt that
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  Speaker 1: he had enough to take to the British government and
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  Speaker 1: claim what was due to his fellow Iowans. In nineteen four,
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  Speaker 1: he moved his whole operation to England, where he immediately
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  Speaker 1: got to work. Once he got there, though he ran
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  Speaker 1: into some hurdles. For one, the British Home Office claimed
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  Speaker 1: that there had never been any estate belonging to Sir
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  Speaker 1: Francis Drake, but Hartzel knew the real story. The money
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  Speaker 1: had been placed the name of one of Sir Francis's descendants,
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  Speaker 1: Drexel Drake, and Hartzel was well within his rights to
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  Speaker 1: claim it. The more he fought, the more it cost him.
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  Speaker 1: Before he'd left Iowa, Hartzel had tasked a few people
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  Speaker 1: there to act as his collection agents. Whenever he'd ask
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  Speaker 1: for more money to cover his legal costs, they would
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  Speaker 1: solicit previous investors who were only too happy to oblige.
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  Speaker 1: The month dragged on, and Hartzel was up to his
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  Speaker 1: eyeballs in legal proceedings and paperwork. At least that's what
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  Speaker 1: he told everyone back home. Instead, he was living the
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  Speaker 1: life of a wealthy man off everyone else's hard earned money.
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  Speaker 1: There had never been a government plot to keep the
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  Speaker 1: Drake estate from American hands, because there had never been
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  Speaker 1: any estate to begin with. The whole thing had been
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  Speaker 1: a con. In fact, it wasn't even Hartzel's con. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, two men had approached him with the same scheme,
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  Speaker 1: asking him to invest six thousand dollars, which they would
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  Speaker 1: turn into six million once Sir Francis Drake's funds were released.
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  Speaker 1: Hartzel saw through their game and declined, but the experience
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  Speaker 1: did give him a bright idea, which he spun to
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  Speaker 1: his own advantage. What's more, even after news of his
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  Speaker 1: fraud came to light, there were still people back in
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  Speaker 1: Iowa who continued to send him money. They refused to
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  Speaker 1: give up hope, even if it meant going bankrupt in
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  Speaker 1: the process. Hartzel was sent back to the United States
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three, where he was tried and convicted
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  Speaker 1: a fraud, his sixty eight thousand dollars in legal fees
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  Speaker 1: covered by donations from his faithful investors. He continued to
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  Speaker 1: run his scam from prison for the next ten years.
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  Speaker 1: Hartzel died there in jail, but with the help of
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  Speaker 1: his agents on the outside, he managed to collect hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of thousands of dollars, all of it from folks just
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  Speaker 1: looking for a happy ending to their story, no matter
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  Speaker 1: what the cost. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour
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  Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting curiosities podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works, I make another award
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  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
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  Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it
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  Speaker 1: over at the world of Lore dot com. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.