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Lucky

Lucky

Released Thursday, 15th December 2022
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Lucky

Lucky

Lucky

Lucky

Thursday, 15th December 2022
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Episode Transcript

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0:02

You're listening to American Shadows,

0:04

a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

0:06

and Mild from Aaron Manky. Marie

0:25

and Charles welcomed their son Aunton

0:27

Joseph in eighteen fourteen, but

0:29

they called him Adolph. Marie

0:32

cared for the home and the children, while Charles

0:34

worked as a carpenter. His gift

0:36

for woodworking made him highly sought after

0:38

among wealthy Belgian clients. Oh

0:40

William the First, the reigning monarch of the Netherlands,

0:43

commissioned to Charles to make musical instruments

0:45

for the military. His father's work that

0:47

Adolph spent plenty of time around music.

0:50

He watched his father carefully shaped the

0:52

wood into fine instruments. Adolph's

0:55

love of this art and craft led

0:57

him to learn to play the clarinet and the flute.

1:00

As a teen, Adolph helped his father make improvements

1:02

to wind instruments. When he wasn't

1:04

studying music or watching his father, Adolf

1:07

spent his youth doing one more thing, keeping

1:10

himself alive. The only thing

1:12

that overshadowed young Adolph's musical

1:14

talent was his ability to skirt

1:16

death. In his mother's words,

1:18

her son was condemned to misfortune.

1:21

When Adolf was just three, he tumbled

1:23

down three flights of stairs before his head

1:25

smartly met the stone floor. Reports

1:28

of his recovery vary from a week's bed rest

1:30

to a temporary coma. As many

1:33

a parent might commisserate. Toddlers

1:35

and young children sometimes eat things

1:37

that they shouldn't, and Adolf was no exception,

1:40

and not long after his fall, he swallowed

1:42

a large needle. Fortunately

1:45

it passed without incident. Miraculously,

1:48

he also survived after drinking a combination

1:50

of arsenic white, lead, and copper oxide.

1:53

All of this would be enough to age any parent,

1:55

but Adolph was just getting started. He

1:58

suffered from severe burns after falling

2:00

onto a hot stove. Although the

2:02

incident left him with scars on his side, he

2:04

avoided infection. At ten, he

2:07

fell into a nearby river. A stranger

2:09

passing the mill saw him floating face down

2:11

and rescued him. On another occasion,

2:14

he was enjoying a walk down the street when

2:16

a chunk of slate broke loose from a rooftop

2:18

and struck him in the head. He made a full

2:20

recovery. Adolf had one more

2:22

brush with debt. He happened to be in

2:25

his father's workshop when a container of gunpowder

2:27

ignited from a nearby flame. Though

2:29

the blast threw him across the workshop, Adolf

2:32

survived. The fact that he lived to see

2:34

adulthood surprised everyone. He

2:36

followed in his father's footsteps in making musical

2:39

instruments, and Adolf presented nine

2:41

musical inventions for the eighteen forty Belgian

2:43

Exhibition. Due to his age,

2:45

the judges snubbed his submissions. He

2:48

moved to Paris and entered another competition.

2:51

He might have won, but someone destroyed

2:53

his new invention, the saxophone.

2:55

Undaunted, he made another. In

2:58

fact, he made six other variations

3:00

by eighteen forty six, including the sex

3:02

Traumba and in eighteen forty nine the

3:04

sax tuba. If you've never heard of them,

3:06

it's because only the saxophone ever made him

3:09

any money. People either liked the saxophone

3:11

or hated it, and mostly the saxophone

3:14

found a following with the military, but

3:16

it wouldn't be until World War One, when U

3:18

S soldiers and the era of jazz and blues

3:20

made the saxophone famous. Sadly,

3:23

Adolph Sax's luck ran out.

3:26

He died in eighteen seventy decades

3:28

before his invention became popular. If

3:31

history has taught us anything about luck,

3:33

it would be that sometimes it's fickle

3:36

other times, though it has a strange

3:38

sense of humor. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum,

3:41

Welcome to American Shadows. Nothing

3:52

sums up Timothy Dexter's life more

3:54

than the phrase it's smarter to be lucky

3:57

than it's lucky to be smart, a

3:59

light many others living in Ireland during

4:01

the seventeen hundreds. His parents immigrated

4:04

to the Americas in the hopes of escaping

4:06

British tyranny. England

4:08

had stripped them of their land, religion,

4:10

and culture, among other atrocities.

4:13

The Dexters settled in Malden, Massachusetts,

4:15

where Timothy was born in seventeen forty

4:18

seven. While the Irish

4:20

were still not wholly welcome in the colonies.

4:22

The family squeezed out of life as farmers,

4:25

and they considered themselves lucky. Other

4:27

Irish immigrants were forced into indentured

4:29

servitude with little hope of escaping, a

4:31

system that kept them subservient, and

4:33

Dexter and his siblings attended school and

4:35

helped around the farm with the daily chores in the

4:38

house, field and barn. During

4:40

certain growing seasons, crops became more

4:42

important than schooling. The family

4:45

was poor, and to help keep them fed

4:47

and clothed, Dexter left school

4:49

at eight years old to find outside employment.

4:52

He worked as a laborer for larger, more

4:54

profitable farms before eventually finding

4:57

an apprenticeship. Essentially,

4:59

family would send their sons to live with a tradesmen

5:01

who agreed to house, feed, and teach his young

5:04

apprentice say valuable trade in exchange

5:06

for free labor. Other times

5:08

the parents paid a small fee. Poor

5:11

farming children didn't have much schooling.

5:13

They were offered only the most basic education

5:16

in reading, writing, and some math. By

5:19

age nine, their schooling was considered

5:21

complete. College for boys

5:23

like Dexter was mostly limited to Latin

5:25

colleges, requiring them to train

5:27

as ministers of the Christian faith. Alternatively,

5:30

parents could opt to keep their sons at home

5:32

to learn their father's trade or find

5:35

them an apprenticeship. The colonies

5:37

were new and tradesmen and workers

5:39

were in short supply. A Dexter

5:41

began his apprenticeship at a tannery to learn

5:44

how to make leather goods when he turned sixteen.

5:46

The job was far from glamorous. The

5:49

due to the smell of the animal hides. Tanneries

5:51

usually existed on the outskirts of towns.

5:54

The tanners used every type of animal skin,

5:56

from wild to domestic. The colonies

5:59

needed every amount norble leather product,

6:01

including shoes, boots, and hats,

6:03

as well as carriage tops, harnesses and saddles.

6:06

Dexter's apprenticeship lasted for five

6:08

years. In seventeen sixty

6:10

eight, he opened his own shop and dreamed

6:12

of becoming wealthy. But as

6:14

good as his products might be, they would never

6:16

build the wealth he wanted. So he

6:19

did the next best thing. He married into

6:21

money. He met Elizabeth Frothingham,

6:24

a widow ten years his senior. She

6:26

had money, a home, and four children.

6:29

In seventeen sixty nine, he married Elizabeth

6:32

while continuing his business selling gloves

6:34

and moose hide trousers. As

6:36

you might imagine, with his available inventory

6:39

and the British blockade of Boston Harbor,

6:41

Dexter mostly lived off his wife's fortune.

6:44

At first, Dexter hoped that his wife's social

6:46

status meant he would be invited to high

6:48

society functions. He was

6:50

not. Many looked down on him.

6:53

He came across as nothing more than a

6:55

vain, poor, uneducated man

6:57

who had managed to marry his way into

7:00

money. The slights infuriated

7:02

Dexter, and he set out to prove

7:04

his equality and rightful place among

7:06

Boston's and Charles Town's elite.

7:09

Aside from making his own wealth, he

7:11

had two other options. He

7:13

could join the army and work his way through the

7:15

ranks, or run for public office.

7:18

He set his sights on an appointment in the town

7:20

of Malden, and if at

7:22

first he didn't succeed, Dexter tried

7:25

again and again. He applied

7:27

and harassed council members so much

7:30

that at long last they relented.

7:32

They created a position just for him

7:35

informer of deer and

7:37

the appointment required him to track the deer

7:39

population in Malden, even though no

7:41

one had seen a deer in the town limits for nearly

7:44

twenty years. Some townsfolk

7:46

thought the position was ridiculous, but

7:48

Dexter was content he had achieved

7:50

his goal of having an official public office

7:52

appointment. Now all he needed

7:54

to gain social status was to make a lot

7:57

of money in the most unusual

7:59

way possible. During

8:08

the Revolutionary War, the British pound

8:10

had value, while the Continental dollar

8:13

was practically worthless. Congress

8:15

printed approximately two hundred and fifty

8:17

million in Continental dollars, but merchants

8:20

were reluctant to accept it with good

8:22

reason. They were worth pennies compared

8:24

to the British pound. Congress printed

8:27

more bills, causing the dollar to depreciate

8:29

even more. The value dropped so

8:31

drastically the colonists took to saying

8:33

that items of low value weren't worth a continental.

8:36

Congress paid the military with Continental dollars,

8:39

leaving most soldiers destitute after the

8:41

war, and John Hancock purchased some

8:43

of the bills from soldiers at full value to

8:45

help drive up the Continental's were the

8:47

good deed raised Hancock's popularity

8:50

inspired Dexter believed that if he purchased

8:52

more dollars than Hancock, kid finally

8:54

be accepted among societies elite. Dexter

8:57

went about it a little differently than Hancock.

9:00

He used his wife's money to buy the bills

9:02

for pennies on the dollar instead of full

9:04

value. A Dexter purchased so

9:07

many bills that he and his wife went bankrupt,

9:09

and townsfolks shook their heads and whispered

9:11

among themselves. The Dexter was an idiot

9:14

and had dragged his respectable wife down

9:16

with him. When the Colonies won

9:18

the war, a few things happened. They

9:20

signed the Constitution and throughout the

9:22

British tax and monetary systems,

9:25

the founding Fathers added a provision promising

9:27

to trade treasury bonds for continental dollars.

9:31

Suddenly Dexter was exceptionally

9:33

wealthy. Neighbors scratched their

9:35

heads. No one could argue that Dexter

9:37

was undoubtedly lucky, and

9:39

while none would ever call him intelligent,

9:42

some thought he might be shrewd, and

9:44

Dexter was delighted. Finally

9:46

his wealk would grant him a place among the powerful

9:49

and elite. It did not. He

9:51

continued with his rude interruptions

9:53

and vulgar comments. Coupled with his

9:55

crude behavior, he remained an outcast,

9:58

feeling they just needed to warm up to him

10:01

a bit. Dexter continued being Dexter.

10:04

All he had to do, in his mind, was

10:06

hold on to the money and not go bankrupt

10:08

again. When things didn't

10:11

improve to his liking, he moved his family

10:13

to Newburyport. The problem wasn't

10:15

him, he insisted, The people in Boston

10:17

were just uptight and stuffy, Newburyport,

10:20

on the other hand, was nearly perfect,

10:22

a rich and poor intermingled. The town

10:25

was smaller than Boston, and Dexter felt

10:27

confident he would stand out. Immediately

10:30

after arriving, he bought ships

10:32

for his next venture, exporting

10:34

food. The residents in Newburyport

10:36

found Dexter as uncouth as those

10:39

in Boston had. The wealthy wondered

10:41

how someone is crude and illiterate. As Dexter

10:43

had become a millionaire, his personality

10:46

and business decisions made them speculate

10:48

about his mental stability. Dexter

10:50

claimed that the other wealthy merchants disliked him

10:52

because he was a rival. Still,

10:55

he wanted to become part of Newburyport's

10:57

upper society, so he took their

10:59

business advice to heart. He didn't realize

11:01

that they wanted to destroy his fortune so

11:03

that he would move out of Newburyport. One

11:06

businessman advised Dexter to get into

11:08

the bed warmer trade. Though the device

11:10

was popular in cold New England winters,

11:12

the businessman suggested Dexter sell it in

11:15

a new market the Caribbean.

11:17

Convinced he would make a tidy profit, Dexter

11:20

sent forty two bed warmers to the

11:22

Caribbean. Unsurprisingly, the

11:24

bedwarmers didn't sell oh

11:26

well, not as their intended use

11:28

anyway. The sugarcane industry

11:31

was huge in the Caribbean. The serrupy

11:33

sugarcane byproduct molasses, was

11:36

also wildly popular. Plantation

11:38

owners found the long handled bedwarmers

11:40

made perfect molasses ladles.

11:43

Soon plantation owners scrambled to

11:45

buy more bedwarmers. Dexter raised

11:48

the price by nearly eight percent and made

11:50

his second fortune. The joke the Newburyport

11:52

businessmen played had backfired,

11:55

but that didn't mean they were about to give up.

11:57

They urged him to expand into the coal

12:00

business, though much needed.

12:02

New England already had plenty of coal, especially

12:04

in the England mining town of Newcastle, and

12:07

still Dexter shipped coal to the town

12:09

as suggested. When his ships arrived

12:12

laden with coal, the miners were on stripe.

12:14

Residents bought the coal for a markup, making

12:17

Dexter even wealthier. The merchants

12:19

put their heads together to come up with something even

12:21

more outlandish. They had to do something

12:24

to run him out of town, and certainly

12:26

Dexter's luck couldn't hold forever.

12:36

While various advisers handed Dexter

12:38

some pretty outrageous business ideas.

12:40

A Dexter himself came up with a few so outlandish

12:43

that the townspeople were sure they would bankrupt

12:46

him. All they had to do was sit back

12:48

and watch. Dexter decided to send

12:50

gloves to Polynesia Again. His

12:52

idea worked. Portuguese traders

12:54

arrived and bought the gloves to sell in China.

12:57

For his next endeavor, Dexter traveled

12:59

back to Austin, where he purchased an

13:01

enormous quantity of whalebone.

13:04

This material isn't actually bone,

13:06

but rather the strong, flexible

13:08

filtering teeth of bailen whales.

13:11

A whalebone was used in corsets, toys,

13:13

and caller stays. He had purchased

13:16

enough that he controlled the market and set his own

13:18

price. Dexter raked in more

13:20

money, thinking wealth alone

13:22

would win over his wealthy neighbors, and

13:24

he bragged about buying bibles at wholesale

13:27

for less than half price. Then sent

13:29

the bibles to port cities. His captains

13:32

carried a poorly written note from Dexter,

13:34

complete with frequent misspellings. The

13:37

note stated that anyone who didn't have at least

13:39

one Bible in the house would go to hell. Of

13:42

course, he had plenty of bibles for sale to

13:44

help save their souls. Dexter

13:46

made another handsome profit, much to

13:48

the town's dismay, and yet

13:50

they swore his next scheme would surely

13:53

be his last. You see, Dexter

13:55

took it upon himself to reduce the town's

13:57

overpopulation of stray cat He

14:01

offered to buy the cats, and

14:03

of course people brought him plenty of strays.

14:05

Unsure what he planned to do with them,

14:08

Dexter sent them to the plantation owners in

14:10

the Caribbean. As it turned out, their

14:12

warehouses had a rodent problem, and they were

14:14

willing to pay a tidy sum for the cats.

14:17

With all his wealth, Dexter purchased a

14:19

mansion alongside some of the town's most

14:21

prominent families. While everyone

14:23

avoided him, they enjoyed the company

14:25

of his wife. This angered

14:27

Dexter. He became so jealous of

14:29

Elizabeth that he treated her poorly. He

14:32

had always been a heavy drinker, which was bad

14:34

enough, and now he started to ignore

14:36

her, calling her a ghost and pretending

14:39

as though she weren't a living, breathing

14:41

human being. He cheated on her more

14:43

than once. It's not clear if

14:45

he had affairs with married women are not but

14:48

at some point someone gave Dexter a serious

14:50

beating. He promptly sold

14:52

the mansion and bought a new home in a different

14:54

part of town. He didn't treat his

14:56

children much better than his wife. In

14:59

turn, his and Samuel became an

15:01

alcoholic as well. His daughter Nancy

15:03

made poor choices in men. She

15:05

married one who took to beating her, and she

15:08

returned home and she also began

15:10

drinking heavily. Still trying

15:12

to impress the town, Dexter furnished

15:15

his home with the largest and gaudiest objects.

15:18

He called his new home the Princely Chateau.

15:20

Forty statues, each costing two

15:22

thousand dollars, sat in the front yard.

15:25

Alongside statues of people like Washington

15:27

and Jefferson. Stood Dexter's

15:29

own statue at the base. The

15:32

inscription bragg that he was the greatest

15:34

philosopher in the Western world. Dexter

15:37

furnished his home with an impressive library,

15:39

though he never read a single book. He

15:42

collected a gallery of paintings to adorn

15:44

the walls. With the house and gardens

15:46

complete, Dexter awaited his wealthy

15:48

neighbor's lavish praise and attention. None

15:51

of that happened. Still rude

15:54

and obnoxious and unable to see the

15:56

real problem, he had alienated everyone,

15:58

including his wife and shul Drin. Determined

16:01

that his greatness would not be denied, Dexter

16:04

decided he'd find new friends, one's

16:06

equally as strange an outcast

16:09

as himself. One such

16:11

friend, a former teacher named John,

16:13

had come from a respectable family. John's

16:16

undoing had been to open his own school

16:18

to teach students on subjects in which he had

16:20

no formal training. His teachings

16:23

were so bizarre that John's family disowned

16:25

him. A Dexter found another friend

16:27

and Madam Hooper, a wealthy widow

16:30

turned fortune teller. Hooper offered

16:32

dexter astrology advice and took

16:34

her payment in tea. But even

16:36

his new friends couldn't fill Dexter's desire

16:39

to be loved and admired. If

16:41

no one else would give him compliments, he'd

16:43

pay them. Dexter hired

16:45

a twenty year old selling halibut from a wheelbarrow

16:48

to be his poet laureate. In Dexter

16:52

wrote and published A Pickle for the Knowing

16:54

Ones, a nonsensical book in

16:56

which he ranted about his wife, religion,

16:58

and politics. A Dexter could

17:00

barely read much less right. Complaints

17:03

about his spelling and grammar rolled in. To

17:05

solve the issue, Dexter printed an

17:08

extra page of commas in his next edition,

17:10

with a note telling the reader to put commas

17:12

wherever they liked. The book got plenty

17:14

of attention, though maybe not the way he

17:16

intended, since he had to give away

17:18

the copies. Still, Timothy

17:21

Dexter considered the book a success. He

17:23

managed to give away enough copies for eight

17:26

printings. Newberry

17:33

Port took solace the Dexter couldn't

17:35

do anything more ridiculous or absurd,

17:38

and they'd be wrong about that. Aside

17:41

from his bizarre behavior and business

17:43

dealings, Dexter had started to demand

17:45

Newburyport residents address him as

17:48

the Earl of Chester. When the demands

17:50

failed to produce results, Dexter took

17:52

to paying them in a pickle For the knowing

17:54

ones, Dexter wrote that he was the first Lord

17:57

of the United States, a titled bestowed

17:59

upon him by the Blick. He claimed the people

18:01

of America had spoken and he was helpless

18:03

to do anything other than allow them to grant

18:05

him the title. He paid children who called

18:08

him Lord Dexter a quarter. Adults

18:10

were paid with dinner and drinks. His gaudy

18:13

statues brought spectators to look at his

18:15

house. While Dexter might have

18:17

thought they appreciated his fine art, they

18:19

were more likely curious about the tawdry

18:22

outdoor museum in such a fancy

18:24

neighborhood, and Dexter continued to chase

18:26

after younger women. Drinking remained

18:28

a favorite pastime, and he often took

18:31

two walks while drunk, his little dog

18:33

walking beside him. And No one

18:35

lives forever, and Dexter began planning

18:38

for his eventual death. For

18:40

years, he worked at building a magnificent

18:42

tomb. Peep even arranged to the

18:44

funeral. Dexter wrote a will

18:46

making ample provisions for his family

18:48

and friends, though after

18:51

years of neglect and abuse, it took

18:53

bribery to convince his wife and children to

18:55

promise that they would show up at the funeral.

18:58

Dexter was fifty nine when the day he

19:00

had planned for finally came. Nearly

19:03

three thousand people turned up. Guests

19:05

greeted his widow and paid their respects.

19:08

Elizabeth accepted their well wishes politely

19:10

enough and occasionally laughed with a few

19:12

of the guests. Given Dexter's

19:14

treatment of her, none were surprised that

19:16

she never shed a tear. Well, everyone

19:19

except Dexter, who had planned

19:21

and faked the funeral. He

19:24

had wanted to see how everyone would react to

19:26

his death, especially friends who he

19:28

worried had remained at his company for the money.

19:31

Dexter got up from where he had been pretending

19:33

to lie in state. Furious,

19:36

he began to be rate and beat his wife

19:38

in front of the spectators for not properly

19:40

mourning him. His actual death

19:42

occurred shortly after the faith one. He

19:45

passed on October six of eighteen

19:47

o six. This time he

19:49

made provisions to leave his fortune to the poor,

19:52

in addition to the wife and children he had

19:54

treated so poorly. There

19:56

is no record of whether anyone attended

19:58

the second funeral. The mass

20:00

of tomb he had created was declared a hazard,

20:03

and his family laid him in a standard coffin

20:05

and had him buried in a small hillside cemetery.

20:08

No one visited, and no one maintained

20:11

the site. Grass eventually overtook

20:13

his grave. Dexter may

20:15

have been exceptionally lucky in business,

20:18

but was unsuccessful in the areas

20:20

he wanted the most love

20:23

and respect. There's

20:25

more to this story. Stick around after

20:28

this brief sponsored break to hear all about

20:30

it. Everyone

20:41

agreed that little Violet Jessip was

20:44

lucky. During the eighteen hundreds,

20:46

a diagnosis of tuberculosis generally

20:48

meant to death sentence. She was just

20:50

a child when the doctors delivered the news to

20:52

her parents a Violet would probably

20:55

die within a couple of months.

20:57

She surprised them though, beating the

20:59

odds and sir driving this highly

21:01

contagious and often fatal disease.

21:04

However, Violet's luck did not transfer

21:06

to her father. He did die,

21:09

leaving his wife and six remaining children

21:11

in a dire financial situation. The

21:14

family had immigrated from Ireland to Argentina,

21:17

where Joseph Jessup had worked as a sheep

21:19

farmer. Without a way to earn a

21:21

living, Katherine Jessop moved the family

21:23

to England and found employment aboard

21:26

ships as a stewardess. The

21:28

work took Catherine away for extended periods,

21:30

leaving Violet to care for her siblings. When

21:33

Katherine fell ill, Violet needed

21:35

to join the workforce to feed and care

21:37

for the family. She also applied

21:40

for jobs as a ship stewardess. She was

21:42

young and strikingly beautiful, which

21:44

promptly earned her rejection. After rejection,

21:47

employers shied away from hiring young

21:49

girls with extraordinary looks. In

21:51

their opinion, such beauty distracted the

21:54

crew and male passengers. Jobs

21:56

that paid enough for women to support a family were rare.

21:59

A viole, it had to get creative. She

22:02

wore clothes that made her look older and

22:04

reapplied, this time without wearing

22:06

makeup. Her creativity paid

22:08

off. Violet found work on the Orinoco

22:11

Royal Mail steamer. In night,

22:14

she found a better job with the White Star

22:16

Line, one of the largest ship companies

22:18

of the time. The ships carried

22:20

cargo and passengers, and Violet's

22:23

job was to cater to the wealthy passengers

22:25

every need. Additionally, she cleaned

22:27

cabins, arranged flowers, and ran errands

22:30

on the ship. The Violet proved

22:32

to be a reliable and hard worker and

22:34

was well liked by passengers and staff.

22:37

Although the White Star Line paid slightly

22:39

better, she earned every pound sterling.

22:42

She worked seventeen hours a day on ships

22:44

that frequently traveled rough seas and bad

22:46

weather to compete with other large

22:48

shipping companies, the White Star Line

22:51

launched three luxury ships, offering

22:53

wealthy passengers and experience and service

22:55

that rivaled the world's finest hotels

22:58

and resorts. A Violet worked on

23:00

all three ships that she had worked

23:02

on the first ship, the Olympic, for a year, and

23:05

everything ran smoothly until September

23:07

of nineteen eleven. As bad

23:09

luck would have it, the ship crossed paths

23:11

with the HMS Hawk, a combat

23:13

ship. Fortunately, the Olympic didn't

23:16

sink and no one was injured. It

23:18

limped back to port, where everyone disembarked.

23:22

The company offered her a job aboard second

23:24

ship, designed to cater to the world's most

23:26

elite. The Violet was hesitant.

23:29

A while American passengers treated her well,

23:31

rich Britons treated her poorly. The

23:34

job would be more prestigious, the company promised,

23:37

and the ship, though it had yet to sail, had

23:39

captured everyone's attention. Without

23:42

better prospects, Violet accepted.

23:44

She kept a journal and made notes on the passengers.

23:47

Some of the world's most wealthy and prominent

23:49

passengers had booked a trip, and many

23:52

were as pretentious and rude to the staff

23:54

as she had anticipated. Violet

23:57

had just returned to her bed when the Titanic

23:59

struck the Iceberg. The captain

24:01

ordered all the staff on deck. She stood

24:04

with the other stewardesses while staff loaded

24:06

children and women passengers onto

24:08

lifeboats. A ship officer ordered

24:10

Violet and a handful of other stewardesses onto

24:12

lifeboat number sixteen to show a

24:14

few of the remaining women that the boats were safe.

24:17

The officer called to Violet and handed her a small

24:19

bundle. Here, miss jessup, look

24:22

after this baby. The lifeboats

24:24

floated away from the sinking ship. They drifted

24:26

for eight hours until the crew aboard the Carpathia

24:29

rescued them. Violet still

24:31

clutched the infant close to her on the deck when

24:34

the mother grabbed the baby and ran off without

24:36

so much as a thank you. A Violet

24:38

returned to work aboard the newly repaired

24:40

Olympic until World War One broke

24:42

out in nineteen fourteen, when she served

24:45

as a nurse above the White Star Lines third

24:47

ship, the Britannic. The ship hit

24:49

a German mine in the Aegean Sea. Violet

24:52

been several shipmates made it to a lifeboat,

24:54

only to realize the sinking ship's propellers

24:56

were as surface level and pulling them

24:59

in. They abandoned the ship and

25:01

tried to swim away. Violet's

25:03

head struck the keel. Luckily,

25:05

someone on another boat pulled her to safety. Though

25:08

she did return to work as a stewardess,

25:11

Violet eventually decided to not press

25:13

her luck any further. She

25:15

found work on land, where she remained

25:18

until she died in at

25:20

the age of eighty four. American

25:27

Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.

25:30

This episode was written by Michelle Muto,

25:33

researched by Ali Steed, and produced

25:35

by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with

25:37

executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex

25:40

Williams, and Matt Frederick. To

25:42

learn more about the show, visit Grim and Mild

25:45

dot com. From more podcasts from

25:47

iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio

25:49

app, Apple Podcasts, or

25:51

wherever you get your podcasts.

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