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The Gift · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:03
  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 are
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  Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Nick was not the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: best driver in the world. He wasn't going to be
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  Speaker 1: a champion racer, let alone someone who could safely navigate
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  Speaker 1: the streets of most American towns. And that's okay. Some
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  Speaker 1: people just aren't cut out for certain tasks, and Nick
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  Speaker 1: apparently was not wired very well for driving. That didn't
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  Speaker 1: stop him from trying, though the first time he got
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  Speaker 1: behind the wheel, things actually looked promising for a while.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't drive too fast, he was cautious, and he
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  Speaker 1: was trustworthy enough to have a passenger with him. And yet, well,
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  Speaker 1: that brick wall just sort of jumped out in one
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  Speaker 1: of him, didn't it. He didn't give up, though. Most
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  Speaker 1: people don't give up after their first accident. Sure, they're
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  Speaker 1: shaken up and probably a lot more observant and careful
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: in the weeks and months that follow, but humans are
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  Speaker 1: very good at moving on, and that's just what Nick did.
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  Speaker 1: He got a new set of wheels, some new friends,
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  Speaker 1: and went for another joy ride. This time there was
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  Speaker 1: no brick wall to get in the way, thankfully, but
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  Speaker 1: he apparently took a turn just a bit too fast
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  Speaker 1: and as a result, his car, which was really large
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  Speaker 1: and heavy, sort of rolled onto its side. I can't
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  Speaker 1: decide which accident was more elegant and graceful. Was it
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  Speaker 1: the head on collision with a solid wall or the
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  Speaker 1: overturning of his vehicle with nothing else to point at
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  Speaker 1: and blame except himself. Either way, the authorities took notice
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  Speaker 1: and found very little humor in the man's driving. Nick's
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  Speaker 1: car was impounded and he was tossed in jail for
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  Speaker 1: reckless driving, and life changed for Nick after that. He
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  Speaker 1: would never drive a in and he would never get
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  Speaker 1: his car back. It's a sad ending to a story
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  Speaker 1: full of so many bumps and turns, or lack thereof.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose Nick wasn't special because of what he did
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  Speaker 1: or how he did it. He was special because he
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  Speaker 1: did all of those things long before any of us
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  Speaker 1: would have guessed it was possible, long before Henry Ford,
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  Speaker 1: Rudolph Diesel, and Carl Benz, before World War One, the
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  Speaker 1: French Revolution, and the birth of America. That's because Nicholas Q.
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  Speaker 1: Know wasn't just the first person to build a working
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  Speaker 1: automobile way back in seventeen sixty nine. He was also
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  Speaker 1: the first to do something else, something much less admirable.
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  Speaker 1: He was the first to crash one. King Edward the Seventh,
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  Speaker 1: like many of the wealthy elite of England, loved to hunt.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen sixties, when his mother, Queen Victoria, was still
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  Speaker 1: on the throne and Edward was nothing more special than
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  Speaker 1: the Prince of Wales, he would often gather his friends
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  Speaker 1: and take them fox hunting. Among this group of friends
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  Speaker 1: was another man named Edward, this one being an actor
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  Speaker 1: by profession. The pair of Edwards were apparently very close,
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  Speaker 1: and at some point in their relationship, the Prince gifted
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  Speaker 1: the actor with the small golden match box, the sort
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  Speaker 1: that a gentleman would keep attached to his pocket watch
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  Speaker 1: chain for easy access and safe keeping. It even had
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  Speaker 1: Edward's name on it, the actor, not the Prince. Years
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  Speaker 1: went by, as they have a way of doing, and
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  Speaker 1: both men continued to enjoy their hunts. Sometimes it was together,
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  Speaker 1: but oftentimes Edward the actor Edward Southern, would hunt without
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  Speaker 1: his friends, and it was on one of those solo
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  Speaker 1: rides that he was thrown from his horse, and along
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  Speaker 1: with picking up a few bruises, something else happened. He
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  Speaker 1: lost the match box. He was heartbroken. It had been
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  Speaker 1: in his pocket for years and he'd grown accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: its usefulness, so he had a replacement made and then
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  Speaker 1: moved on. Later in life, he passed that second match
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  Speaker 1: box on to one of his three sons, a young
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  Speaker 1: man named Lytton. Actually, Lytton was also an actor, just
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  Speaker 1: like his father, and eventually his own career took him
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  Speaker 1: overseas to Australia. While he was there, he made new
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  Speaker 1: friends in the world of theater, and one of his
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  Speaker 1: closest was a man by the name of La Bartouche.
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  Speaker 1: When Lytton's time in Australia was up, he gifted his
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  Speaker 1: golden match box from his father to La Bertouche and
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  Speaker 1: went home to England. Many years later, another of Edward's sons,
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  Speaker 1: named George, was on a hunt of his own. It
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  Speaker 1: had been a long time since he had hunted in
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  Speaker 1: his father's favorite areas, so as he did, he took
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  Speaker 1: in the scenery with a bit of nostalgia. There's no
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  Speaker 1: record of how successful his hunt was that day, but
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  Speaker 1: he did happen to bump to the old farmer who
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  Speaker 1: worked the land there and introduced himself as George Southern,
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  Speaker 1: Edward Southern Son. The farmer was astonished. Not only did
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  Speaker 1: he know the young man's father, but he had just
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  Speaker 1: been thinking about him. That very morning. One of his
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  Speaker 1: farm hands had been out plowing in the field when
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  Speaker 1: a glimmer of something metal caught his eye. It turned
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  Speaker 1: out to be something Edward had dropped years before, his
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  Speaker 1: gold match box. George went home that day with the
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  Speaker 1: matchbox in his pocket, the original one mind You, gifted
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  Speaker 1: to his father by the Prince of Wales, as well
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  Speaker 1: as a fantastic story he wanted to tell someone, so
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  Speaker 1: later that day, George sat down and wrote a letter
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  Speaker 1: to his youngest brother, Edward, who was traveling with a
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  Speaker 1: theater production in America. This is the point in the
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  Speaker 1: story where I stopped for a moment and tell you, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: there were three Edwards, and that's pretty confusing. I know
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  Speaker 1: Edward the Prince, Edward the Friend, and Edward the Sun
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  Speaker 1: plus two other sons. Right, it's complicated, did but it's
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  Speaker 1: also worth it. Trust me. Edward the Son received the
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  Speaker 1: letter from his brother George on the morning of a
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  Speaker 1: train ride, and waited until he was seated and the
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  Speaker 1: train was moving before he opened it. Across the seat
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  Speaker 1: from him was another actor, Lawrence by name, who had
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  Speaker 1: just joined up with the company that day, and they
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  Speaker 1: planned to get to know each other and prepare for
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  Speaker 1: their next stop. Edward the son, read the letter, and
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  Speaker 1: as he did, his eyes opened wide. Lawrence noticed this
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  Speaker 1: and asked about it. My brother, he said, has found
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  Speaker 1: our father's long lost matchbox, gifted to him by the
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  Speaker 1: Prince of Wales himself. And then he proceeded to tell
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  Speaker 1: Lawrence about how the match box was lost, how his
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  Speaker 1: father had a second one made, and now his brother
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  Speaker 1: Lytton had given that one away in Australia. I wonder,
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  Speaker 1: Edward muttered, half to himself and half to Lawrence, whatever
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  Speaker 1: became of that second matchbox. Does la Bartouche still possess it?
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  Speaker 1: Or has he in turn given it to someone else?
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  Speaker 1: Lawrence smiled at him from across the seat, and then
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  Speaker 1: reached into his pocket. When he pulled his hand back out,
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  Speaker 1: there in the middle of his palm sat a small
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  Speaker 1: golden matchbox. Turning it over, both men could clearly see
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  Speaker 1: the engraving on the back. Oh, he gave it to
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  Speaker 1: someone else, Lawrence answered, And that's someone else, it was me.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
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  Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
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  Speaker 1: Two