260 | Root of the Matter

Published Dec 17, 2020, 10:00 AM

Just about anything can be poisoned, ruining a good thing. But if these two tales are any indication, there's always room for hope.

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Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The attempted murder by poison case grabbed the nation's attention in nine. In fact, even the most seasoned investigators in Austin, Texas had never seen another case like it. The victim, simply referred to as Treaty, had been one of Austin's oldest and most beloved residents, the last living survivor of a legendary council. The intended victims spent their days in the city's historic district, where they stood witnessed to a lot of history over the years, from the rebuilding of the state capital in eight or the Austin Damn failure, to the construction of several bridges and an airport, and the first days of the Dell Computer Corporation. And throughout it all this elderly citizens served the community well. In the early years, negotiations and other pivotal meetings had been Treatise thing, hence the nickname. Although to be fair, councilman and other leaders weren't the only ones to sit in the company of such an esteem citizen, Rain or shine, heat or cold. Austin's oldest resident was always there for the people of the city. Try as they may, no one could figure out why someone would want to poison such a truly outstanding member of society. Investigators couldn't ask, either, because Treaty was dying and incapable of talking. As the news spread, get well cards from children poured in. Small gifts began to pile up. A local spiritualist even tried her healing powers by transferring positive energy, during which time she claimed that Treaty had once, in another life, been in a Egyptian woman named Alexandria. Lacking scientific or spiritual abilities of their own, most citizens just wished Treaty a speedy recovery. Others sent in chicken soup. Texas resident and industrialist Ross Perot wrote a blank check for all care and treatment, as well as funding for the investigation, telling officials that no matter how much it cost or how long it would take, to just send him the bill with a generous funding. Specialists were called in and extensive round the clock work began. Nationwide News reports sparked outrage across the country. An innocent victim was barely clinging to life. The story even appeared in People magazine. As words spread, so too did offers to help. The manufacturer of the chemical used in the poisoning offered a ten thousand dollar reward for the capture of the assailant. On June twenty, police arrested Paul Cullen, who had been bragging about the attempted murder. And while we might imagine he'd poison treaty because of an outcome of one of the many negotiations in the past, Cullen said it had to do with a spell. He'd been in love, you see, and no not with the elderly resident. It seems that he'd been infatuated with a drug counselor who hadn't returned his affection. Treaty was just available. After the poisoning, Cullen returned to the scene of the crime. To him, watching his victim fade represented the death of his love for the counselor. While heroic efforts were underway to save treaties life. Jurors in the case debated on life imprisonment for Cullen, although they eventually agreed on just nine years. He'd go on to serve three of those and paid a one thousand dollar fine. And while it seems justice wasn't served, Treaty not only survived, but also managed to outlive Cullen, who died a few years later. Of course, healing took a lot of time, as you might imagine, a powerful poison had been used, an herbicide, in fact, enough to kill one trees. Today, Treaty is thriving, in fact, for the first time since the poisoning acorns have been gathered. You see, Treaty is an oak tree, more inappropriate, a species called a Texas live oak, and, according to the National Forestry Association, the most perfect specimen of that type of tree in North America. Austin's oldest living resident is over six d years old. Treaty and another thirteen Texas live oaks were once called the Council Oaks and were the sacred meeting ground for Native Americans long before settlers took over the region. There's no doubt that the attempted murder case is certainly bizarre. In fact, I can't help but agree with the people of Austin. Why would anyone want to kill the treaty oak? And why couldn't they just leave them alone? At Victoria found herself in a scandal, there would be others, plenty of them. In fact, the first involved her marriage, or more appropriately, her divorce. You see, in eighteen sixty four women men who divorced their husbands were not only blamed for the marriage failing, but they were also socially shunned. It didn't matter that Victoria was the sole financial supporter while her husband spent his days either drunk or womanizing. So with two children in tow, Victoria divorced him, leaving a trail of gossip behind her. The talk didn't bother her, though she had grown up with worse. Her father had been an abuse of con artist. But instead of going along with the social norms that women didn't disclose such things, Victoria talked. Women's rights became her passion, and she believed women shouldn't have to stay in abuse of marriages, and that their role in society was far more than wife or mother. She married again a couple of years later. This time to a former Union Army colonel James Harvey Blood, who was also a freethinker. The two settled down in New York, where he introduced Victoria to others also taking part in reform movements. So in Victoria's sister, Tenny, also moved to New York. Women's rights were the only objects near and dear to the two sisters. Hearts, though they also believed in equality and were staunchly antislavery. Victoria quickly became interested in politics and attended rallies, where her own speeches of equality were considered radical. By eighteen seventy, Victoria and Tenny were also well known for spiritualism, soon becoming mediums for the wealthy. Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad tycoon, was so taken with the two sisters that he set them up in their own business, a stock brokerage firm, making them the first women stockbrokers in America. And here's the thing they were good at it. Vanderbilt made millions from Victoria and Tenny's recommendations. It made them wealthy, to prompting the New York Herald to call them the Queens of Wall Street. The idea that women were holding down such a position, much less outdoing their male counterparts didn't go over very well. Soon men's journals published articles depicting the two as immoral, unschaperoned women. They underestimated Victoria, though, and she decided to fight fire with fire. That's when the sisters sold the stock brokerage firm and founded their own newspaper. Aside from women's rights and suffrage, they printed controversial articles on spiritualism, human rights, birth control, and even vegetarianism. Mostly though, the paper set the stage for Victoria's run for a higher office, the American presidency, and this was well before women were even allowed to vote. Outrageous for the Times, sure, but Victoria was just getting started. Victoria chose a running partner that most of us would recognize today, Frederick Douglas. But in a world where the public feared the mixing of black and white citizens, a woman running for president had to be one thing. Choosing a black man for a vice president sent much of the public reeling. Friends and supporters of incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant quickly attacked her character. Victoria Woodhull was wicked, they said. One accuser, prominent minister Henry Ward, Beecher claimed that aside from being twice married and a promoter of free love, Victoria had also engaged in numerous affairs with married men. When Victoria learned that Beecher himself had been having an affair with a married woman in his congregation, she exposed the minister as a hypocrite, publishing the details of the affair in her own newspaper. The story quickly became a national scandal, and as a result, Victoria was arrested her crime publishing obscene content. She was eventually cleared of all charges on a technicality. By then, though the election was over and all the controversies surrounding her had inspired Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast to publish a sketch of her. It showed a woman carrying multiple children and strapped with an angry, drunken husband on her back as she struggled to walk up a treacherous mountain. In the sketch, Victoria holds a sign up that reads save yourself with free love, and the caption beneath it read I'd rather travel the hardest path of matrimony than follow in your footsteps. Nast had depicted Victoria as the devil incarnate, spurring another nickname Mrs Satan, although today we might call her something else, a trailblazer. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.

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