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Stubborn Neighbors · 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 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. Oftentimes a vast amount
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  Speaker 1: of wealth can draw a lot of attention. Money and
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  Speaker 1: fame go together like peanut butter and jelly, or Little
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  Speaker 1: Blue Boxes and Tiffany's. But some people are content to
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  Speaker 1: just make the money. They don't want the notoriety that
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  Speaker 1: comes with having more than everyone else. Unfortunately, and maybe ironically,
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  Speaker 1: even the rich don't always get what they want. Joseph
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  Speaker 1: Richardson was one of the richest men in New York
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  Speaker 1: City in the late eighteen hundreds. He was born in England,
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  Speaker 1: but came to the United States to establish himself as
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  Speaker 1: a car attractor. Over the span of his career, he
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  Speaker 1: was responsible for the Bridgeport Waterworks and large sections of
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  Speaker 1: railroads like the Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, and Iron Mountain.
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  Speaker 1: He loved land, and he snatched up as much of
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  Speaker 1: it as he could, accumulating a net worth of twenty
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  Speaker 1: million dollars before he died. And yet, despite his vast
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  Speaker 1: holdings within New York City. He hated it, not the money,
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  Speaker 1: but the city itself. It was loud and ostentatious and
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  Speaker 1: disruptive to his quiet nature. Joseph lived far outside of
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  Speaker 1: New York with his wife, Emma, also a landowner, and
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  Speaker 1: together they were quite the power couple of their time,
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  Speaker 1: though they did their best to stay out of the limelight.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was known to have said that he'd rather throw
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  Speaker 1: away ten thousand dollars than see his name in the newspapers,
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  Speaker 1: if only he'd spent the money to prevent what eventually
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  Speaker 1: happened next In two rival developers Patrick McQuaid and Himan
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  Speaker 1: Sarner had plans for an apartment building on the Upper
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  Speaker 1: east Side at Lexington Avenue and eight two Street. The
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  Speaker 1: area was booming, with new apartments and shops going up
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  Speaker 1: all the time. McQuaid and Sarner had already snatched up
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  Speaker 1: all the nearby land they needed for their building, all
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  Speaker 1: except one and its owner, Emma Richardson, Joseph's wife. The
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  Speaker 1: developers thought it was an easy get, considering they had
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  Speaker 1: already bought all the other plots around it. Joseph, however,
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  Speaker 1: saw that he and his wife were in the enviable
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  Speaker 1: position of having something the two men wanted no needed
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  Speaker 1: to complete their plans, but Joseph was a reasonable man
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  Speaker 1: and he was more than willing to let it go
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  Speaker 1: for a price. McQuaid and Sarner offered him a thousand
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  Speaker 1: dollars for it. Joseph, thinking the price was too low,
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  Speaker 1: countered with a slightly higher offer of five thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 1: The men laughed at the absurd number and refused, but
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  Speaker 1: they continued with their plans to build the apartment building,
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  Speaker 1: albeit a slightly smaller lot than they hoped for, and Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: irritated by their refusal to take him up on his offer,
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  Speaker 1: decided that he was going to have the last laugh.
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  Speaker 1: He'd put up a building of his own, one so
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  Speaker 1: tall it would block the light to the rival apartments
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  Speaker 1: next door. Not only that, but the reclusive developer was
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  Speaker 1: so determined to make it work that he planned to
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  Speaker 1: live in one of the rooms, right in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of that noisy city he hated so much. Joseph broke
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  Speaker 1: ground shortly thereafter, and his apartment was finished months before
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  Speaker 1: his rivals. But there was just one problem. It was
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  Speaker 1: hard to live in the plot that the two other
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  Speaker 1: developers had wanted to buy from him, was only one
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  Speaker 1: and two ft long by five ft wide. It was
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  Speaker 1: a strip of land so small that it was thought
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  Speaker 1: to be unusable, but Joseph Richardson wouldn't let that stop him.
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  Speaker 1: The newspapers called it the spite House, and spiteful it was,
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  Speaker 1: although one might have thought it was meant to punish
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  Speaker 1: the tenants living inside rather than the developers of the
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  Speaker 1: other building. The narrow front doors led to an interior
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  Speaker 1: hallway measuring just over eight feet long by ten ft deep.
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  Speaker 1: Each floor housed only one room, accessible by a hallway
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  Speaker 1: fourteen feet long and almost four ft wide. The rooms
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  Speaker 1: weren't much better either, coming in at eighteen feet long
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  Speaker 1: by almost ten feet wide. However, despite the building's narrow construction,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph managed to fit a lot inside it. The dining
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  Speaker 1: room on the first floor boasted a table and a
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  Speaker 1: sofa with a sideboard and a mantle as well. He
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  Speaker 1: moved his family in and they lived happily there for
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  Speaker 1: many years. His wife was quoted in the paper as
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  Speaker 1: calling her new home as comfortable as any she had
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  Speaker 1: ever lived in. Upon Joseph's death fifteen years later, the
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  Speaker 1: house passed through various owners until the new Lexington Avenue
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  Speaker 1: subway line began construction around nineteen eleven. By then, the
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  Speaker 1: house was more a curiosity than a viable home. The
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  Speaker 1: money it would have taken to reinforce it to withstand
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  Speaker 1: the underground work being done wasn't worth spending, so in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, a real estate developer bought the spite house,
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  Speaker 1: only to tear a down. A more modern apartment building
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  Speaker 1: now stands in its place, built the year Joseph Richardson's
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  Speaker 1: pet project was demolished, and the man who did everything
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  Speaker 1: he could to keep his name out of the press
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  Speaker 1: isn't known for his business acumen or his work developing
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  Speaker 1: the country's railroad system. The only thing he's remembered for
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  Speaker 1: now is that skinny house and his stubborn will. Most
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  Speaker 1: people don't usually set out to be a hero. They
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  Speaker 1: tend to be pushed into a situation where their will
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  Speaker 1: and determination are put to the test. Prove yourself during
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  Speaker 1: a time of war, and medals and ticker tape parades
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  Speaker 1: aren't far behind. That's just the way things often work. Simon, however,
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  Speaker 1: didn't choose to go to war. He was drafted, but
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  Speaker 1: his reluctance didn't stop him from helping his fellow troops,
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  Speaker 1: and his word following World War Two cemented him as
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  Speaker 1: a hero of the British military for years to come.
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  Speaker 1: Several years after the war had ended, the British Navy
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  Speaker 1: got word of a communist uprising happening in China. They
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  Speaker 1: sent the HMS Amethyst, an armed frigate, to keep an
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  Speaker 1: eye on things in case they got ugly. The ship
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  Speaker 1: docked at a port in Hong Kong where one of
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  Speaker 1: the younger men, a boy really seventeen year old George Hickenbottom,
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  Speaker 1: stumbled upon someone fending for himself. His name was Simon,
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  Speaker 1: and he was sick and hungry and in need of
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  Speaker 1: medical attention. George snuck him on board the ship and
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  Speaker 1: then helped him get back on his feet. As Simon recovered,
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  Speaker 1: he started getting to know the crew. When he was
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  Speaker 1: well enough to stand, they allowed him to remain on
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  Speaker 1: the ship and even gave him a job. He was
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  Speaker 1: put in charge of pest control, a task that he
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  Speaker 1: handled with gusto. After all, the alternative was ending up
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  Speaker 1: back on the Hong Kong streets alone and hungry. Captain
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  Speaker 1: Ian Griffiths took quite a liking to Simon, as had
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  Speaker 1: the rest of the crew, and he became their moral
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  Speaker 1: support when times got tough. They shared their food with
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  Speaker 1: him and allowed him to sleep where he liked. Later,
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  Speaker 1: when Griffiths was promoted and replaced Folks on board the ship,
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  Speaker 1: worried that Simon might have to go, but the new
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  Speaker 1: commander was just as friendly toward him. Soon after, the
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  Speaker 1: crew was given new orders to travel to Nanjing and
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  Speaker 1: replace the ship that had been on duty there. But
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  Speaker 1: during their journey, the Amethyst was attacked. A field gun
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  Speaker 1: battery operated by the People's Liberation Army had opened fire
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  Speaker 1: on the ship. The new commander took one of the
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  Speaker 1: first hits while he was in his cabin and died
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  Speaker 1: shortly after. Simon happened to be with him at the time.
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  Speaker 1: He'd been badly burned and had sustained shrapnel injuries as well,
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  Speaker 1: but he somehow managed to crawl across the deck while
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  Speaker 1: the shelling continued, escaping to the medical bay with a
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  Speaker 1: small group of other crew members, where they waited out
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  Speaker 1: the sounds of explosions outside. Death was almost a certainty,
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  Speaker 1: but the crew took care of Simon's wounds as best
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  Speaker 1: they could for ten days the ship took fire. While
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  Speaker 1: the crew struggled to stay alive and afloat, they packed
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  Speaker 1: the holes below the water line with hammocks and betting. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: Simon fought to recover. He distracted himself and the other
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  Speaker 1: crew by doing what he did best, catching rats. After
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  Speaker 1: the Amethyst was able to get away, over a week
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  Speaker 1: after the shelling had begun, news of Simon's efforts made
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  Speaker 1: its way to England. The public was enamored with this
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  Speaker 1: unexpected hero, one who had never asked to be part
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  Speaker 1: of something so dangerous. But he handled it all with grace,
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  Speaker 1: not once succumbing to fear or panic. People sent him
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  Speaker 1: letters from all over, so many, in fact, that the
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  Speaker 1: Navy had to hire someone just to answer his mail
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  Speaker 1: for him. He even received awards for his bravery, including
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  Speaker 1: the Dicken Metal. For those who don't know, the Dicken
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  Speaker 1: Medal is the highest award given to animals in the
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  Speaker 1: British military. You see, Simon, who had hunted rats and
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  Speaker 1: kept up the morale aboard the HMS Amethyst, wasn't a man.
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  Speaker 1: No man would have been able to nap inside the
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  Speaker 1: captain's hat or go wherever he pleased on board a
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  Speaker 1: military ship. That's because Simon was a cat. I hope
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  Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
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  Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
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  Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
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  Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
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  Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
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  Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.