Happy Saturday. Since we just talked about the dictionary Wars, we thought we would return to the theme of dictionaries for Today's Saturday Classic. In twenty twelve, prior hosts Sarah and Deblina did a two part episode on w C Minor, who was a major contributor to the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. These episodes are a little on the shorter side, so we are combining them into one as Today's Saturday Classic. William Chester Minor experienced delusions, paranoia, and other symptoms of mental illness for most of his adult life, and as is often the case, a lot of the language around this has really evolved. And also we just want to give folks a heads up that Miner spent most of his life in an institution after committing a murder, and his later experiences include some serious self harm, so all of that comes up in today's episode. Also, the movie The Professor and the Madman, which is mentioned as being in development when this episode was recorded, did come out in twenty nineteen. I have not seen it. Have you seen it?

Happy Saturday. Since we just talked about the dictionary Wars, we thought we would return to the theme of dictionaries for Today's Saturday Classic. In twenty twelve, prior hosts Sarah and Deblina did a two part episode on w C Minor, who was a major contributor to the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. These episodes are a little on the shorter side, so we are combining them into one as Today's Saturday Classic. William Chester Minor experienced delusions, paranoia, and other symptoms of mental illness for most of his adult life, and as is often the case, a lot of the language around this has really evolved. And also we just want to give folks a heads up that Miner spent most of his life in an institution after committing a murder, and his later experiences include some serious self harm, so all of that comes up in today's episode. Also, the movie The Professor and the Madman, which is mentioned as being in development when this episode was recorded, did come out in twenty nineteen. I have not seen it. Have you seen it?

Holly?

Holly?

I have not, so I can say that the reviews were not necessarily glowing, but.

I have not, so I can say that the reviews were not necessarily glowing, but.

Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio.

Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio.

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Deblina Chalkerboarding.

Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Deblina Chalkerboarding.

And I'm Sarah Douty.

And I'm Sarah Douty.

And this podcast starts with a legend involving the first meeting of two men, James Murray, the primary editor of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and one of his most prolific contributors, a doctor W. C. Minor. So, unless you're really into dictionaries, the scenario probably doesn't interest you right off the bat until you learn that there's a bit of a mystery surrounding the situation. Don't tune out of the podcast, no, stay with us for just a couple minutes. So, as the story goes, Murray and Minor had been working together for about twenty years, but they'd never met. Minor had kept faithfully mailing Murray information on word origins and meanings that he picked up just in the course of his own reading and research. But even though Murray had invited him several times, Minor kept refusing to make the fifty mile trip from where he was living in this small English village of Crowthorne to Oxford, where Murray's dictionary headquarters were located. So Murray, I mean, he thinks this is a little strange, but he just thought Minor's probably a little eccentric or something like.

And this podcast starts with a legend involving the first meeting of two men, James Murray, the primary editor of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and one of his most prolific contributors, a doctor W. C. Minor. So, unless you're really into dictionaries, the scenario probably doesn't interest you right off the bat until you learn that there's a bit of a mystery surrounding the situation. Don't tune out of the podcast, no, stay with us for just a couple minutes. So, as the story goes, Murray and Minor had been working together for about twenty years, but they'd never met. Minor had kept faithfully mailing Murray information on word origins and meanings that he picked up just in the course of his own reading and research. But even though Murray had invited him several times, Minor kept refusing to make the fifty mile trip from where he was living in this small English village of Crowthorne to Oxford, where Murray's dictionary headquarters were located. So Murray, I mean, he thinks this is a little strange, but he just thought Minor's probably a little eccentric or something like.

That, maybe a shut in or something.

That, maybe a shut in or something.

Yeah, So, according to this legend, in eighteen ninety seven, Murray finally decided, well, if this guy's not going to come to me, I'm going to go to him and work on the dictionary was progressing well at this point, and people who'd had a hand in its creation were starting to receive honors, So Murray thought, I want to make sure doctor Minor gets recognized too, so he.

Yeah, So, according to this legend, in eighteen ninety seven, Murray finally decided, well, if this guy's not going to come to me, I'm going to go to him and work on the dictionary was progressing well at this point, and people who'd had a hand in its creation were starting to receive honors, So Murray thought, I want to make sure doctor Minor gets recognized too, so he.

Doesn't spring a surprise visit on him or anything. He telegraphs doctor Minor and says he's planning on visiting on this certain Wednesday in November, and that he'll be taking a train that should arrive at Crowthorne station just after two o'clock. So doctor Miner wires him a response and says, basically, that's great, I'll be expecting you. You'll be welcome here. And it seems like these two guys are finally going to be able to meet. Everything seems fairly normal, and it really continues to seem that way even when Murray arrives on the appointed day. He shows up at the train station and there's a carriage waiting for him and it ushers him off to this huge brick mansion. Once he's inside, a servant shows up and attends him to the grand study, where there's this very important looking man standing behind a desk, and Murray bows and announces himself to him.

Doesn't spring a surprise visit on him or anything. He telegraphs doctor Minor and says he's planning on visiting on this certain Wednesday in November, and that he'll be taking a train that should arrive at Crowthorne station just after two o'clock. So doctor Miner wires him a response and says, basically, that's great, I'll be expecting you. You'll be welcome here. And it seems like these two guys are finally going to be able to meet. Everything seems fairly normal, and it really continues to seem that way even when Murray arrives on the appointed day. He shows up at the train station and there's a carriage waiting for him and it ushers him off to this huge brick mansion. Once he's inside, a servant shows up and attends him to the grand study, where there's this very important looking man standing behind a desk, and Murray bows and announces himself to him.

He says, quote, a very good afternoon to you, sir. I am doctor James Murray of the London Philological Society and editor of the New English Dictionary. It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to a long last make your acquaintance. For you must be kind, sir, my most assiduous help meet doctor W. C. Minor. And there's kind of an awkward pause at this point, one of those pauses where you feel like you can hear every sound in the room, and then the man responds, quote, I regret, kind sir, I am not it is not as all as you suppose. I am, in fact, the superintendent of the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Doctor Minor is most certainly here, but he is an inmate. He has been a patient here for more than twenty years.

He says, quote, a very good afternoon to you, sir. I am doctor James Murray of the London Philological Society and editor of the New English Dictionary. It is indeed an honor and a pleasure to a long last make your acquaintance. For you must be kind, sir, my most assiduous help meet doctor W. C. Minor. And there's kind of an awkward pause at this point, one of those pauses where you feel like you can hear every sound in the room, and then the man responds, quote, I regret, kind sir, I am not it is not as all as you suppose. I am, in fact, the superintendent of the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Doctor Minor is most certainly here, but he is an inmate. He has been a patient here for more than twenty years.

Dunt dundu. It's like the beginning of a Wilkie Collins novel almost, And like we said, this account, as originally reported in the Strand magazine in nineteen fifteen, is thought to be just a legend, but the two men who are involved and the circumstances surrounding them and the circumstances that would have put them in a situation like this were very real indeed.

Dunt dundu. It's like the beginning of a Wilkie Collins novel almost, And like we said, this account, as originally reported in the Strand magazine in nineteen fifteen, is thought to be just a legend, but the two men who are involved and the circumstances surrounding them and the circumstances that would have put them in a situation like this were very real indeed.

And we're going to to take a closer look at the relationship between these two men that we've talked about in part two of this podcast. But first we want to look into the more pressing question that this anecdote raises, which is why most people tell it when they start talking about doctor Minor. Who was this doctor W. C.

And we're going to to take a closer look at the relationship between these two men that we've talked about in part two of this podcast. But first we want to look into the more pressing question that this anecdote raises, which is why most people tell it when they start talking about doctor Minor. Who was this doctor W. C.

Minor?

Minor?

What was he doing in a criminal lunatic asylum? And how did a crazy person essentially become such a major contributor to the highly respected Oxford English Section.

What was he doing in a criminal lunatic asylum? And how did a crazy person essentially become such a major contributor to the highly respected Oxford English Section.

It just seems the ultimate of methodical, level headed reference works, you can imagine. So this is going to be a tale of madness and murder and lexicography. But there's some war in here too, and interestingly enough, this episode kind of ties into our Civil War series in a roundabout.

It just seems the ultimate of methodical, level headed reference works, you can imagine. So this is going to be a tale of madness and murder and lexicography. But there's some war in here too, and interestingly enough, this episode kind of ties into our Civil War series in a roundabout.

Way, yeah, part one of it at least. But before we can get into any of that, first we need to start with the basics. Who was W. C. Minor?

Way, yeah, part one of it at least. But before we can get into any of that, first we need to start with the basics. Who was W. C. Minor?

So?

So?

William Chester Minor was born in June of eighteen thirty four in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka, but he was descended from a long line of Connecticut aristocrats. His parents were missionaries. His father, Eastman Minor, was a devout Congregationalist, and his mother, Lucy, the two of them together had just moved to Salon the year before William was born. He also had a sister whose name was also Lucy, who was born a couple years after him.

William Chester Minor was born in June of eighteen thirty four in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka, but he was descended from a long line of Connecticut aristocrats. His parents were missionaries. His father, Eastman Minor, was a devout Congregationalist, and his mother, Lucy, the two of them together had just moved to Salon the year before William was born. He also had a sister whose name was also Lucy, who was born a couple years after him.

So the first really traumatic event in William Miner's life occurred when he was very very young. Just after his third birthday, his mother died of consumption. His father remarried to another missionary named Judith Taylor a few years later and started a second family with her. But according to a BBC article on Minor, he was kind of had a troubled childhood almost and was especially tormented during his boyhood with lashievious thoughts about local girls.

So the first really traumatic event in William Miner's life occurred when he was very very young. Just after his third birthday, his mother died of consumption. His father remarried to another missionary named Judith Taylor a few years later and started a second family with her. But according to a BBC article on Minor, he was kind of had a troubled childhood almost and was especially tormented during his boyhood with lashievious thoughts about local girls.

Yeah, which doesn't seem that odd for a young boy. Right, especially in his preteen years. But it's a point that may have significance later when we start talking about his insanity and how it manifested itself. So just kind of keep that in the back of your brain for now. At age fourteen, Minor's dad had him sent back to Connecticut, and he sailed back to the United States by himself, and then he moved in with his uncle, Alfred, who was a store owner in New Haven.

Yeah, which doesn't seem that odd for a young boy. Right, especially in his preteen years. But it's a point that may have significance later when we start talking about his insanity and how it manifested itself. So just kind of keep that in the back of your brain for now. At age fourteen, Minor's dad had him sent back to Connecticut, and he sailed back to the United States by himself, and then he moved in with his uncle, Alfred, who was a store owner in New Haven.

And about ten years after that, Minor started school at Yale, where he specialized in comparative anatomy and earned a medical degree in February of eighteen sixty three. There's also kind of an interesting side note about his time at Yale, though, especially considering his later involvement with the Oxford English Dictionary. According to an article by Joshua Kendall in The Nation, in eighteen sixty one, when Minor was a first year medical student at Yale, he signed a contract to write definitions for a new edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary, an American dictionary of the English language, and the agreement was that he'd be paid five hundred dollars to quote prepare the articles. In the fallowup departments zoology, natural history, geology, mineralogy, botany, chemistry, anatomy, surgery of all sorts. Sounds like kind of a monumental undertaking, especially for a first year medical student who's probably other thing. I would think so. But minor got this job because James Dana, who was a professor at Yale and was originally supposed to write these selections or these sections of the New Dictionary, had to lighten up his workload a bit because he was experiencing a bout of depression. So Dana suggested kind of randomly, it seems, a first year med student minor to stand in for him and cover the sections, and Dana, being more experienced, would still supervise or at least review the completed work.

And about ten years after that, Minor started school at Yale, where he specialized in comparative anatomy and earned a medical degree in February of eighteen sixty three. There's also kind of an interesting side note about his time at Yale, though, especially considering his later involvement with the Oxford English Dictionary. According to an article by Joshua Kendall in The Nation, in eighteen sixty one, when Minor was a first year medical student at Yale, he signed a contract to write definitions for a new edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary, an American dictionary of the English language, and the agreement was that he'd be paid five hundred dollars to quote prepare the articles. In the fallowup departments zoology, natural history, geology, mineralogy, botany, chemistry, anatomy, surgery of all sorts. Sounds like kind of a monumental undertaking, especially for a first year medical student who's probably other thing. I would think so. But minor got this job because James Dana, who was a professor at Yale and was originally supposed to write these selections or these sections of the New Dictionary, had to lighten up his workload a bit because he was experiencing a bout of depression. So Dana suggested kind of randomly, it seems, a first year med student minor to stand in for him and cover the sections, and Dana, being more experienced, would still supervise or at least review the completed work.

Apparently, though he didn't supervise him that closely, because, according to Kendall's article, the section's minor worked on contained many inaccurate and inconsistencies. His work was publicly criticized, which must have been mortified for a young med student, especially by Samuel Stamen Haldeman of Delaware College, who later became one of the first presidents of the American Philological Association. He later wrote that quote accepting Professor danis part the natural history is the quote weakest part of the book burn Yeah, totally. Regardless, Minor had his first experience working on a dictionary under his belt, and his name was in that eighteen sixty four edition of Webster's.

Apparently, though he didn't supervise him that closely, because, according to Kendall's article, the section's minor worked on contained many inaccurate and inconsistencies. His work was publicly criticized, which must have been mortified for a young med student, especially by Samuel Stamen Haldeman of Delaware College, who later became one of the first presidents of the American Philological Association. He later wrote that quote accepting Professor danis part the natural history is the quote weakest part of the book burn Yeah, totally. Regardless, Minor had his first experience working on a dictionary under his belt, and his name was in that eighteen sixty four edition of Webster's.

And of course he also had his medical degree too, And so after graduating from Yale, Miner joined the Union Army and his first posting was at the Knight Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, and he was basically still training there, still getting his experience as a doctor, but the Civil War was going on. So a few months to a year after entering this first posting he ended up on the battlefront in Virgini, where he served as an assistant surgeon. Now, Minor wasn't really the best soldier you could imagine. He wasn't exactly cut out for the horrors of war. Most people describe him as being pretty sensitive, refined. He liked to read, he enjoyed painting watercolors, He played the flute, and so it's really unfortunate then considering the battle he ended up in.

And of course he also had his medical degree too, And so after graduating from Yale, Miner joined the Union Army and his first posting was at the Knight Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, and he was basically still training there, still getting his experience as a doctor, but the Civil War was going on. So a few months to a year after entering this first posting he ended up on the battlefront in Virgini, where he served as an assistant surgeon. Now, Minor wasn't really the best soldier you could imagine. He wasn't exactly cut out for the horrors of war. Most people describe him as being pretty sensitive, refined. He liked to read, he enjoyed painting watercolors, He played the flute, and so it's really unfortunate then considering the battle he ended up in.

Yeah, he ended up in the Battle of the Wilderness, which is described as a particularly bloody and horrific battle I've seen it described as a slaughter house. The battle lasted fifty hours, but it left twenty five thousand dead or wounded. It started when General Grant's men crossed the Rapidan River, and apparently the rifle fire was so thick it not only killed people but could cut off trees. It also started a fire in the underbrush, so that not only were men being killed and wounded by gunfire, they were also being burned to death. One soldier wrote later that it was like quote Hell had itself usurped the place of Earth.

Yeah, he ended up in the Battle of the Wilderness, which is described as a particularly bloody and horrific battle I've seen it described as a slaughter house. The battle lasted fifty hours, but it left twenty five thousand dead or wounded. It started when General Grant's men crossed the Rapidan River, and apparently the rifle fire was so thick it not only killed people but could cut off trees. It also started a fire in the underbrush, so that not only were men being killed and wounded by gunfire, they were also being burned to death. One soldier wrote later that it was like quote Hell had itself usurped the place of Earth.

And the key thing here as it relates to minor though, is that a lot of the people participating in this battle were irishmen who had come over to America to escape the famine and make a little money while they were at it. And these guys were able to get work as soldiers in the Union Army for thirteen dollars a month. But of course, during a war, and especially a situation like the Battle of the Wilderness, where trees are being chopped down by rifle fire, you're going to have a lot of people who just figure thirteen dollars a month is not worth this and dessert. So around this time the Union Army had a lot of people who were guilty of desertion or attempted desertion, but because they still needed soldiers, they had to figure out a way to dissuade others from deserting punish those who did without taking the standard punishment, which is execution. They needed the soldiers to keep on fighting, so there were a few possible solutions. Some guys were suspended by their thumbs, others were gagged with bayonets, and others were branded with the letter D on their cheeks or their cheek rather their chest or their rear end with a hot iron, or they kind of were tattooed, almost cut with a razor and then the wound would be packed with black powder another form of branding.

And the key thing here as it relates to minor though, is that a lot of the people participating in this battle were irishmen who had come over to America to escape the famine and make a little money while they were at it. And these guys were able to get work as soldiers in the Union Army for thirteen dollars a month. But of course, during a war, and especially a situation like the Battle of the Wilderness, where trees are being chopped down by rifle fire, you're going to have a lot of people who just figure thirteen dollars a month is not worth this and dessert. So around this time the Union Army had a lot of people who were guilty of desertion or attempted desertion, but because they still needed soldiers, they had to figure out a way to dissuade others from deserting punish those who did without taking the standard punishment, which is execution. They needed the soldiers to keep on fighting, so there were a few possible solutions. Some guys were suspended by their thumbs, others were gagged with bayonets, and others were branded with the letter D on their cheeks or their cheek rather their chest or their rear end with a hot iron, or they kind of were tattooed, almost cut with a razor and then the wound would be packed with black powder another form of branding.

Ultimately, so on one occasion, or at least sources only refer to one specific occasion, Minor was forced to brand an Irish deserter who'd tried to run away from the Battle of the Wilderness. So you can kind of imagine what this must have been like for Minor. He was the young, inexperienced doctor being asked to perform this horrible task, and you know, an irishman was probably brought to him crying, struggling, pleading, and Minor has to take the hot branding iron and put it to the deserter's cheek and watch him probably scream in pain.

Ultimately, so on one occasion, or at least sources only refer to one specific occasion, Minor was forced to brand an Irish deserter who'd tried to run away from the Battle of the Wilderness. So you can kind of imagine what this must have been like for Minor. He was the young, inexperienced doctor being asked to perform this horrible task, and you know, an irishman was probably brought to him crying, struggling, pleading, and Minor has to take the hot branding iron and put it to the deserter's cheek and watch him probably scream in pain.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, most sources point to this as a defining moment for Minor, saying that it played a really big role in some of the strange, unusual things that started to happen in his life not too long after his war service. But after the war, Minor continued to serve in the army for several years. He did pretty well for himself, actually, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a commissioned captain, but during that time his behavior also started to become increasingly strange. When he was stationed on Governor's Island in New York, he started visiting brothels a lot, and after that he was transferred to Florida, where his behavior started getting even more and more erratic and paranoid and sometimes even violent, and he began to think that his superiors were plotting something against him.

So, most sources point to this as a defining moment for Minor, saying that it played a really big role in some of the strange, unusual things that started to happen in his life not too long after his war service. But after the war, Minor continued to serve in the army for several years. He did pretty well for himself, actually, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a commissioned captain, but during that time his behavior also started to become increasingly strange. When he was stationed on Governor's Island in New York, he started visiting brothels a lot, and after that he was transferred to Florida, where his behavior started getting even more and more erratic and paranoid and sometimes even violent, and he began to think that his superiors were plotting something against him.

So by eighteen sixty eight, it was pretty clear that Miner's mind was not well, and army doctors diagnosed him as having monomania or an obst session with one subject which gives rise to delusions. They also said that he was suicidal and homicidal. So Minor went to the government Hospital for the insane in Washington, d c. Which later became Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, and he actually volunteered for this. He volunteered to go and then after eighteen months in that facility, doctors decided that Minor was quote incapacitated by causes arising in the line of duty, so he was basically forced to retire from the army. But he did win a lifetime army commission.

So by eighteen sixty eight, it was pretty clear that Miner's mind was not well, and army doctors diagnosed him as having monomania or an obst session with one subject which gives rise to delusions. They also said that he was suicidal and homicidal. So Minor went to the government Hospital for the insane in Washington, d c. Which later became Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, and he actually volunteered for this. He volunteered to go and then after eighteen months in that facility, doctors decided that Minor was quote incapacitated by causes arising in the line of duty, so he was basically forced to retire from the army. But he did win a lifetime army commission.

So he was going to be taken care of financially, yes, So after being released from the army, Minor returned to Connecticut and spent a little bit of time with his family, But his family soon decided that England was the place for him to be because they were really hoping that maybe if he went there, Minor could settle down a little bit, maybe start painting again, meet up with some talented people, start to earn his reputation back. So they packed him off with his paint and a letter of introduction to the art critic and drawing master John Ruskin, hoping that Ruskin would be some sort of entree to English society for Minor somebody to introduce him to people who could help him start recovering.

So he was going to be taken care of financially, yes, So after being released from the army, Minor returned to Connecticut and spent a little bit of time with his family, But his family soon decided that England was the place for him to be because they were really hoping that maybe if he went there, Minor could settle down a little bit, maybe start painting again, meet up with some talented people, start to earn his reputation back. So they packed him off with his paint and a letter of introduction to the art critic and drawing master John Ruskin, hoping that Ruskin would be some sort of entree to English society for Minor somebody to introduce him to people who could help him start recovering.

But for reasons that are still unclear, Minor didn't seem to even try to blend into respectable society. When he got to England at the end of eighteen seventy one, he settled in the Lambeth section of London, one of the lowest sedioust to most crime ridden parts of the city. Some people think he might have moved there because he had easier access to prostitutes from this area, but we're not sure, so we don't know much about his time there, But it seems that his delusions just continued to get worse. He thought people, irishmen in particular, were trying to break into his room at night. It seems like that vision of the branded Irishman, his experience with that was kind of coming back to haunt him at this point.

But for reasons that are still unclear, Minor didn't seem to even try to blend into respectable society. When he got to England at the end of eighteen seventy one, he settled in the Lambeth section of London, one of the lowest sedioust to most crime ridden parts of the city. Some people think he might have moved there because he had easier access to prostitutes from this area, but we're not sure, so we don't know much about his time there, But it seems that his delusions just continued to get worse. He thought people, irishmen in particular, were trying to break into his room at night. It seems like that vision of the branded Irishman, his experience with that was kind of coming back to haunt him at this point.

Yeah. In fact, according to an account kept by the Berkshire Record Office, Minor made a report to Scotland Yard shortly before Christmas, saying that he thought men were trying to force their way into his room at night to poison him. He believed these men to be Irish and Scotland Yard just dismissed him as a crazy man, didn't follow up on it, didn't do anything about it. Then, on February seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, a constable was patrolling the Lambeth area and heard several shots ring out at about two am. He rushed off in the direction the shots came from, blowing his whistle on the way to alert other constables in the area to come in and support him. And who should he find holding the gun but William Chester Minor.

Yeah. In fact, according to an account kept by the Berkshire Record Office, Minor made a report to Scotland Yard shortly before Christmas, saying that he thought men were trying to force their way into his room at night to poison him. He believed these men to be Irish and Scotland Yard just dismissed him as a crazy man, didn't follow up on it, didn't do anything about it. Then, on February seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, a constable was patrolling the Lambeth area and heard several shots ring out at about two am. He rushed off in the direction the shots came from, blowing his whistle on the way to alert other constables in the area to come in and support him. And who should he find holding the gun but William Chester Minor.

Yes, Minor had shot and killed a man named George Merritt, a working man who was innocently on his way to work at a brewery, a man whom Minor had never met. In Part one of this pot we took a look at Miner's early life, how he came from an aristocratic family, He got a good education, he studied medicine at Yale and joined the Union Army as an assistant surgeon during the Civil War, and his life and career at that point seemed really full of promise. But his mental health went downhill after the war, and we talked about how that downward spiral may have been triggered by an incident during the Battle of the Wilderness in which he was forced to brand an Irish deserter on the cheek. After spending about eighteen months in a hospital for the insane in DC, Minor decided to head across the pond to England, where he could hopefully rest paint kind of calm his thoughts a bit, maybe earned back his reputation by connecting with the right people in London. But when we last saw Minor he'd done nothing like that.

Yes, Minor had shot and killed a man named George Merritt, a working man who was innocently on his way to work at a brewery, a man whom Minor had never met. In Part one of this pot we took a look at Miner's early life, how he came from an aristocratic family, He got a good education, he studied medicine at Yale and joined the Union Army as an assistant surgeon during the Civil War, and his life and career at that point seemed really full of promise. But his mental health went downhill after the war, and we talked about how that downward spiral may have been triggered by an incident during the Battle of the Wilderness in which he was forced to brand an Irish deserter on the cheek. After spending about eighteen months in a hospital for the insane in DC, Minor decided to head across the pond to England, where he could hopefully rest paint kind of calm his thoughts a bit, maybe earned back his reputation by connecting with the right people in London. But when we last saw Minor he'd done nothing like that.

No, it didn't go down that way at all. He had gotten off on the wrong foot by taking up residence in Lambeth, which was one of the sedious parts of London, and when we left off with part one of this story, he had just killed a man who he'd never laid eyes on before. So we're going to pick up at that crime February seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, just as the constables were reaching the scene finding Minor standing there gun in hand.

No, it didn't go down that way at all. He had gotten off on the wrong foot by taking up residence in Lambeth, which was one of the sedious parts of London, and when we left off with part one of this story, he had just killed a man who he'd never laid eyes on before. So we're going to pick up at that crime February seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, just as the constables were reaching the scene finding Minor standing there gun in hand.

And we should mention before we get too far into this that one of the sources of information in this podcast is Simon Winchester's book The Professor and the Madman. One of our listeners actually mentioned it on Facebook, so it reminded me that I need to bring it up and talk about a little bit. It's a really fascinating book. It takes a really in depth look at minor story, kind of the other characters, definitive work on his life. Yeah, it is a lot of articles about Minor use this as a source too, so even the other sources we use probably pulled from that to some extent. So moving on with the story. Though, the man that Minor had shot was bleeding all over the street. Two constables tried to get him to a nearby hospital, but it was too late. They identified the dead man as George Merritt, who'd been a stoker at the Red Line Brewery, which was something of a landmark in the area. The area wasn't that great and he'd been there for eight years, which meant that he pretty much he being a stokerman that he kept the fires over which the beer was made burning. Obviously, that wasn't a glamorous job. This guy brought home twenty four shillings a week, which wasn't a lot even back then. He was very poor, and he also had a wife and six kids and one more baby on the way.

And we should mention before we get too far into this that one of the sources of information in this podcast is Simon Winchester's book The Professor and the Madman. One of our listeners actually mentioned it on Facebook, so it reminded me that I need to bring it up and talk about a little bit. It's a really fascinating book. It takes a really in depth look at minor story, kind of the other characters, definitive work on his life. Yeah, it is a lot of articles about Minor use this as a source too, so even the other sources we use probably pulled from that to some extent. So moving on with the story. Though, the man that Minor had shot was bleeding all over the street. Two constables tried to get him to a nearby hospital, but it was too late. They identified the dead man as George Merritt, who'd been a stoker at the Red Line Brewery, which was something of a landmark in the area. The area wasn't that great and he'd been there for eight years, which meant that he pretty much he being a stokerman that he kept the fires over which the beer was made burning. Obviously, that wasn't a glamorous job. This guy brought home twenty four shillings a week, which wasn't a lot even back then. He was very poor, and he also had a wife and six kids and one more baby on the way.

Yeah, so a lot of family relying on him. He was about thirty four years old and he did live in the area. And when he ran into Minor, he had been on his way to work at the dawn shift of the brewery, so it was about two am heading out, runs into this guy on the street who ends up shooting him. So meanwhile, the constable who apprehended Minor, who was Constable Terran, had what was sort of a strange exchange with the suspect. He asked him, whom did you fire at? And Minor, who Terran described as really cool and collected, gave this bizarre response. He said it as a man, you do not suppose I would be so cowardly as to shoot a woman. So not really the response he was probably expecting to get out of him. Tarrant proceeded to take Minor down to the Tower Street police station ask some questions. On the way, though Minor started to say that the whole thing was an accident, started to give a little more reason, maybe more of what Tarrant had been expecting in the first place. He was just saying he'd shot the wrong man. He had been trying to defend himself from somebody had broken into his room and he'd made a mistake.

Yeah, so a lot of family relying on him. He was about thirty four years old and he did live in the area. And when he ran into Minor, he had been on his way to work at the dawn shift of the brewery, so it was about two am heading out, runs into this guy on the street who ends up shooting him. So meanwhile, the constable who apprehended Minor, who was Constable Terran, had what was sort of a strange exchange with the suspect. He asked him, whom did you fire at? And Minor, who Terran described as really cool and collected, gave this bizarre response. He said it as a man, you do not suppose I would be so cowardly as to shoot a woman. So not really the response he was probably expecting to get out of him. Tarrant proceeded to take Minor down to the Tower Street police station ask some questions. On the way, though Minor started to say that the whole thing was an accident, started to give a little more reason, maybe more of what Tarrant had been expecting in the first place. He was just saying he'd shot the wrong man. He had been trying to defend himself from somebody had broken into his room and he'd made a mistake.

He was also saying a lot of other weird stuff on the way to the police station too, so you could see how maybe the constable wouldn't quite believe him. He was asking the constable to search him. He was like, well, what if I have another gun? And the constable was like, well, please keep it in your pocket if you have another gun. I mean, it was really kind of an odd sort of interaction that they had. But when they got to the station, Minor was formally arrested and charged with murder. Because he was American, the US Minister in London had to be notified in the crime, which became known as the Lambeth tragedy, became an international incident, and Minor was thirty seven years old at this time. Just to give you kind of a reference point.

He was also saying a lot of other weird stuff on the way to the police station too, so you could see how maybe the constable wouldn't quite believe him. He was asking the constable to search him. He was like, well, what if I have another gun? And the constable was like, well, please keep it in your pocket if you have another gun. I mean, it was really kind of an odd sort of interaction that they had. But when they got to the station, Minor was formally arrested and charged with murder. Because he was American, the US Minister in London had to be notified in the crime, which became known as the Lambeth tragedy, became an international incident, and Minor was thirty seven years old at this time. Just to give you kind of a reference point.

Okay, so at this point Minor got put into the horsemonger Land jail and Scotland Yard got put on the case. So Minor himself wasn't really much of a help. I mean, this is no surprise. He wasn't much of a help with the investigation. He just continued to say over and over it was an accident. You know I shot the wrong man. But when the trial started in early April, details about Minor's strange life started to surface through the help of various witnesses. His lambeth landlady, for instance, came forward, missus Fisher, and she said that while he was a very good tenant, he was kind of a strange fellow. He was anxious. He'd often demand to have the furniture in his room moved around and rearranged, and he was really really afraid that people might break into his place.

Okay, so at this point Minor got put into the horsemonger Land jail and Scotland Yard got put on the case. So Minor himself wasn't really much of a help. I mean, this is no surprise. He wasn't much of a help with the investigation. He just continued to say over and over it was an accident. You know I shot the wrong man. But when the trial started in early April, details about Minor's strange life started to surface through the help of various witnesses. His lambeth landlady, for instance, came forward, missus Fisher, and she said that while he was a very good tenant, he was kind of a strange fellow. He was anxious. He'd often demand to have the furniture in his room moved around and rearranged, and he was really really afraid that people might break into his place.

In particular, she said that he was very afraid of the Irish. He would always ask if she had any Irish servants working in the house, or if there were any Irish lodgers staying there. In part one of this podcasts, we mentioned Miner's delusions about irishmen breaking into his room at night and how it was probably related to that branding incident during the Civil War when he had to brand the Irish deserter on the cheek, and we talked about how he'd already contacted Scotland Yard about this. During the trial, a Scotland Yard detective named Williamson in fact came forward and testified that Minor had come to him three months earlier, complaining that men were trying to come into his room at night and poison him. Specifically, Minor believed the intruders were members of the Finnian Brotherhood, militant Irish nationalists, and he thought they were planning on murdering him and making it look like a suicide.

In particular, she said that he was very afraid of the Irish. He would always ask if she had any Irish servants working in the house, or if there were any Irish lodgers staying there. In part one of this podcasts, we mentioned Miner's delusions about irishmen breaking into his room at night and how it was probably related to that branding incident during the Civil War when he had to brand the Irish deserter on the cheek, and we talked about how he'd already contacted Scotland Yard about this. During the trial, a Scotland Yard detective named Williamson in fact came forward and testified that Minor had come to him three months earlier, complaining that men were trying to come into his room at night and poison him. Specifically, Minor believed the intruders were members of the Finnian Brotherhood, militant Irish nationalists, and he thought they were planning on murdering him and making it look like a suicide.

And other people, you know, people who had met Minor and spoken to him before, did have a suspicion that something was off with him. Williamson, the guy who Minor went to, wrote in his notes from that time that Miner was clearly insane, but there was an other aspect to Minor's delusions as well. Another man who testified at the trial was William Dennis, and he was an employee at London's Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane. We've talked about maybe doing a podcast on that at some point, but his job was to watch Minor at night when he was in jail, and Dennis said that every morning, when Minor would wake up, he would accuse Dennis of having been paid to molesse Minor during the night while he was asleep, and Minor's step brother George Minor would later confirm these delusions. About sexual abuse, saying that for the time that Minor was home before he left for England, he would often accuse people of trying to break into his room and molest him at night. So it wasn't just this fear of somebody breaking in or the Irish trying to get him. There was this whole other aspect to it.

And other people, you know, people who had met Minor and spoken to him before, did have a suspicion that something was off with him. Williamson, the guy who Minor went to, wrote in his notes from that time that Miner was clearly insane, but there was an other aspect to Minor's delusions as well. Another man who testified at the trial was William Dennis, and he was an employee at London's Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane. We've talked about maybe doing a podcast on that at some point, but his job was to watch Minor at night when he was in jail, and Dennis said that every morning, when Minor would wake up, he would accuse Dennis of having been paid to molesse Minor during the night while he was asleep, and Minor's step brother George Minor would later confirm these delusions. About sexual abuse, saying that for the time that Minor was home before he left for England, he would often accuse people of trying to break into his room and molest him at night. So it wasn't just this fear of somebody breaking in or the Irish trying to get him. There was this whole other aspect to it.

Yeah, the sexual aspect of his delusions. And I think that's why some people relate sort of his mental illness, or maybe relate the beginning of his mental illnes to the lascivious thoughts that we mentioned in the first part of this podcast that he used to have about girls in Sri Lanka when he was growing up. That maybe that was an eurn over it too exactly. Maybe that was an early indication of mental illness, I should say so. Minor himself pretty much confirmed this aspect of his delusions when he was interrogated too. He testified that on the night that he killed George Merritt, he woke up suddenly and saw a man standing at the foot of his bed. So he reached for his Colt Service revolver, which he kept under his pillow while he slept, and he said that the man saw him reach for his gun and then took off and ran down the stairs and out of the house. Minor followed him and then saw a man running down the street, thought it was the intruder, fired four times and shot him. That's his side of the story anyways.

Yeah, the sexual aspect of his delusions. And I think that's why some people relate sort of his mental illness, or maybe relate the beginning of his mental illnes to the lascivious thoughts that we mentioned in the first part of this podcast that he used to have about girls in Sri Lanka when he was growing up. That maybe that was an eurn over it too exactly. Maybe that was an early indication of mental illness, I should say so. Minor himself pretty much confirmed this aspect of his delusions when he was interrogated too. He testified that on the night that he killed George Merritt, he woke up suddenly and saw a man standing at the foot of his bed. So he reached for his Colt Service revolver, which he kept under his pillow while he slept, and he said that the man saw him reach for his gun and then took off and ran down the stairs and out of the house. Minor followed him and then saw a man running down the street, thought it was the intruder, fired four times and shot him. That's his side of the story anyways.

Really our poor brewery employee. But the final decision in the case was determined by the Notton rules, which were named for somebody who had shot a man and was acquitted on the grounds of being insane, and the jury in Miner's case determined that he was also of unsound mind when he had committed the crime, so the ruling was not guilty on the grounds of insanity, and the judge told him, quote, you will be detained in safe custody, doctor Minor, until Her Majesty's pleasure be known. So we already know where Minor was sent from the story. At the beginning of our first episode, the detention was set to take place at Broadmoor Asylum for the criminally Insane in the village of Crowthorne in the County of Berkshire, and he was known there officially as File number seven four to two seven forty two and was expected to spend the rest of his life there as a quote certified criminal lunatic. But we need to describe what his life really was there. It was more than just being a number and a quote certified criminal lunatic.

Really our poor brewery employee. But the final decision in the case was determined by the Notton rules, which were named for somebody who had shot a man and was acquitted on the grounds of being insane, and the jury in Miner's case determined that he was also of unsound mind when he had committed the crime, so the ruling was not guilty on the grounds of insanity, and the judge told him, quote, you will be detained in safe custody, doctor Minor, until Her Majesty's pleasure be known. So we already know where Minor was sent from the story. At the beginning of our first episode, the detention was set to take place at Broadmoor Asylum for the criminally Insane in the village of Crowthorne in the County of Berkshire, and he was known there officially as File number seven four to two seven forty two and was expected to spend the rest of his life there as a quote certified criminal lunatic. But we need to describe what his life really was there. It was more than just being a number and a quote certified criminal lunatic.

Yeah, it's it was better than you might expect. He got to broad More on April seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, acording to that account kept by the Berkshire Record Office that we mentioned in the first part of the podcast. He was described at the time as a thin, pale, and sharp featured man with light colored sandy hair, deep set eyes, and prominent cheekbones. He was considered to be low risk, so he ended up in cell Block two, which was known unofficially, I guess as the Swell Block.

Yeah, it's it was better than you might expect. He got to broad More on April seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, acording to that account kept by the Berkshire Record Office that we mentioned in the first part of the podcast. He was described at the time as a thin, pale, and sharp featured man with light colored sandy hair, deep set eyes, and prominent cheekbones. He was considered to be low risk, so he ended up in cell Block two, which was known unofficially, I guess as the Swell Block.

It was like that Swell Block cell block.

It was like that Swell Block cell block.

It was the lowest security cell block and it's where prisoners had the most privileges. And since Minor was well educated and a well to do American, he got special treatment there, special freedoms and comforts that a lot of inmates probably didn't get. Almost as soon as he got there, the American Consulate in London, for example, made sure that Minor was reunited with his possessions, including his own clothes, his art materials and his diary. They didn't send him with his surgical instruments, though good they kept those.

It was the lowest security cell block and it's where prisoners had the most privileges. And since Minor was well educated and a well to do American, he got special treatment there, special freedoms and comforts that a lot of inmates probably didn't get. Almost as soon as he got there, the American Consulate in London, for example, made sure that Minor was reunited with his possessions, including his own clothes, his art materials and his diary. They didn't send him with his surgical instruments, though good they kept those.

Don't send a bunch of scalpels over to the guy insane asylum. But he also had some money coming in. He had a regular allowance from his family, which gave him the ability to buy stuff or have the hospital purchased things on his behalf. And that made his food a lot better, you know. He'd have poultry and games, steak, biscuits, coffee, sometimes even wine and spirits. But it also allowed him to keep his mind occupied. This was an intellectual man, and he was able to purchase newspapers, engineering papers. He might have used those to get some tips on a sturdy building construction, because he was, of course, still extremely troubled by these delusions of people breaking into his room at night. At one point, he supposedly even had his bedroom floors covered with zinc to keep the demons from coming up through the floorboards while he was asleep.

Don't send a bunch of scalpels over to the guy insane asylum. But he also had some money coming in. He had a regular allowance from his family, which gave him the ability to buy stuff or have the hospital purchased things on his behalf. And that made his food a lot better, you know. He'd have poultry and games, steak, biscuits, coffee, sometimes even wine and spirits. But it also allowed him to keep his mind occupied. This was an intellectual man, and he was able to purchase newspapers, engineering papers. He might have used those to get some tips on a sturdy building construction, because he was, of course, still extremely troubled by these delusions of people breaking into his room at night. At one point, he supposedly even had his bedroom floors covered with zinc to keep the demons from coming up through the floorboards while he was asleep.

He would also get a lot of books, and we're going to talk about that a little bit more in a second, but many of these books he would have shipped from New Haven, Connecticut or ordered from shops in London, and at some point during his stay there, probably pretty on from what we can tell, Minor was also given access to two cells, a separate day room in addition to his bedroom, and he converted that day room into a kind of library lined with bookshelves. So overall he had this pretty comfortable existence at Broadmoor, considering the circumstances, and he received visits from family and friends, and he'd occasionally dine in the superintendent's home. According to Winchester's book, he even received visits from Eliza Merritt, who is none other than the widow of the man he'd shot. She'd supposedly forgiven him after Minor settled some money on her and her children, but whether or not this actually happened is still up for debate.

He would also get a lot of books, and we're going to talk about that a little bit more in a second, but many of these books he would have shipped from New Haven, Connecticut or ordered from shops in London, and at some point during his stay there, probably pretty on from what we can tell, Minor was also given access to two cells, a separate day room in addition to his bedroom, and he converted that day room into a kind of library lined with bookshelves. So overall he had this pretty comfortable existence at Broadmoor, considering the circumstances, and he received visits from family and friends, and he'd occasionally dine in the superintendent's home. According to Winchester's book, he even received visits from Eliza Merritt, who is none other than the widow of the man he'd shot. She'd supposedly forgiven him after Minor settled some money on her and her children, but whether or not this actually happened is still up for debate.

So Minor might have just been in this situation with his two cells, all of his books, his newspapers, engineering papers. Spent the rest of his days there unknown, but one day around the summer of eighteen eighty, while he was reading some of that material, he came across this sort of press release, and it was called an Appeal to Readers, and it was in a book that he'd ordered from a Library in London. So it was basically this request for English speaking volunteer readers around the world to help out with a massive publication project that was going on at Oxford University, which at the time was going to be called the New English Dictionary, and it was intended to be the biggest, most thorough collection of English words yet. So they needed they're soliciting some help for their new dictionary, they were writing.

So Minor might have just been in this situation with his two cells, all of his books, his newspapers, engineering papers. Spent the rest of his days there unknown, but one day around the summer of eighteen eighty, while he was reading some of that material, he came across this sort of press release, and it was called an Appeal to Readers, and it was in a book that he'd ordered from a Library in London. So it was basically this request for English speaking volunteer readers around the world to help out with a massive publication project that was going on at Oxford University, which at the time was going to be called the New English Dictionary, and it was intended to be the biggest, most thorough collection of English words yet. So they needed they're soliciting some help for their new dictionary, they were writing.

Yeah, So it seems Minor immediately realized that he was kind of in the perfect position to contribute here, seeing as how he had tons of time on his hands to read and he could get new books pretty much whenever he wanted. So he wrote to James Murray, who'd taken over as editor of the dictionary project in eighteen seventy nine, and he's the one who had drafted that press release just mentioned, and asked if he could help out. And as we mentioned in part one to this podcast, James Murray ended up being the Oxford English Dictionary's editor for forty years and was also its greatest and most famous editor. He's a really interesting character and probably deserves a podcast in his own right. Though he was around Minor's age, very intelligent and he loved learning, but he came from a poor family and had to quit school at fourteen, so he was basically self taught, which I think is pretty amazing considering all he accomplished.

Yeah, So it seems Minor immediately realized that he was kind of in the perfect position to contribute here, seeing as how he had tons of time on his hands to read and he could get new books pretty much whenever he wanted. So he wrote to James Murray, who'd taken over as editor of the dictionary project in eighteen seventy nine, and he's the one who had drafted that press release just mentioned, and asked if he could help out. And as we mentioned in part one to this podcast, James Murray ended up being the Oxford English Dictionary's editor for forty years and was also its greatest and most famous editor. He's a really interesting character and probably deserves a podcast in his own right. Though he was around Minor's age, very intelligent and he loved learning, but he came from a poor family and had to quit school at fourteen, so he was basically self taught, which I think is pretty amazing considering all he accomplished.

And I mean by self taught, you mean he knew lots of languages in astronomy, not just like he was an informed man.

And I mean by self taught, you mean he knew lots of languages in astronomy, not just like he was an informed man.

Yes, exactly. He was very highly regarded for his knowledge. But of course we're focusing on minor story here, so we'll just tell a little bit about the dictionary so you'll understand exactly how Minor was helping out from his cell in broadmore So, this Grand Dictionary project actually started in eighteen fifty seven with three members of London's Philological Society, Richard Trench, Herbert Coleridge and Frederick Fernival, who saw some serious deficiencies in the dictionaries that had been published so far, including those by Webster, which we talked about a little bit in the previous podcast. Samuel Johnson and Charles Richardson. They had two main problems with these existing dictionaries. On one hand, they didn't think that they were comprehensive enough. For example, some just included very difficult words.

Yes, exactly. He was very highly regarded for his knowledge. But of course we're focusing on minor story here, so we'll just tell a little bit about the dictionary so you'll understand exactly how Minor was helping out from his cell in broadmore So, this Grand Dictionary project actually started in eighteen fifty seven with three members of London's Philological Society, Richard Trench, Herbert Coleridge and Frederick Fernival, who saw some serious deficiencies in the dictionaries that had been published so far, including those by Webster, which we talked about a little bit in the previous podcast. Samuel Johnson and Charles Richardson. They had two main problems with these existing dictionaries. On one hand, they didn't think that they were comprehensive enough. For example, some just included very difficult words.

So words you would need to look up in the.

So words you would need to look up in the.

Dictionary exactly, and they felt a dictionary should really include every word in the English language. They also felt that every word, along with a definition, should have an authoritative etymology, so quotations from literary passages that would illustrate every meaning of every single word, including and this was a key point, one meaning. One quotation I should say that illustrated the word's earliest known usage in English.

Dictionary exactly, and they felt a dictionary should really include every word in the English language. They also felt that every word, along with a definition, should have an authoritative etymology, so quotations from literary passages that would illustrate every meaning of every single word, including and this was a key point, one meaning. One quotation I should say that illustrated the word's earliest known usage in English.

So try to wrap your mind around that for a minute. I mean, I think that's important before we go on. Imagine trying to find that earliest usage through every book printed in English and not have any sort of search engine capabilities. Of course, real people would have to go through these books reading and looking for the words. So, of course, since there would be a lot of words included, and each word might need the support of several quotations, there was no practical way that a dictionary staff could handle all of that on their own. So the plan was to involve these unpaid volunteer readers, enthusiastic readers, I guess, from all over the English speaking world. And that was the announcement that Minor saw in the paper or the book.

So try to wrap your mind around that for a minute. I mean, I think that's important before we go on. Imagine trying to find that earliest usage through every book printed in English and not have any sort of search engine capabilities. Of course, real people would have to go through these books reading and looking for the words. So, of course, since there would be a lot of words included, and each word might need the support of several quotations, there was no practical way that a dictionary staff could handle all of that on their own. So the plan was to involve these unpaid volunteer readers, enthusiastic readers, I guess, from all over the English speaking world. And that was the announcement that Minor saw in the paper or the book.

So in that article in the Nation by Joshua Kendall that we referenced in the previous episode. He compares it to quote what we now know of as the wiki model of creating and disseminating knowledge, which I think is a really cool way to think about it.

So in that article in the Nation by Joshua Kendall that we referenced in the previous episode. He compares it to quote what we now know of as the wiki model of creating and disseminating knowledge, which I think is a really cool way to think about it.

It makes it all makes sense when you think about it like that. Yes, we do have this modern way to look at it. Something to compare it to.

It makes it all makes sense when you think about it like that. Yes, we do have this modern way to look at it. Something to compare it to.

Yeah, wiki without the Internet exactly. So, for a number of reasons, real work on the Dictionary didn't get going until Murray came on board in eighteen seventy nine, and even then it was really slow going. For example, it took until eighteen eighty four to publish the first volume, which was a to ant, so very slow, very slow going.

Yeah, wiki without the Internet exactly. So, for a number of reasons, real work on the Dictionary didn't get going until Murray came on board in eighteen seventy nine, and even then it was really slow going. For example, it took until eighteen eighty four to publish the first volume, which was a to ant, so very slow, very slow going.

But still this wiki model of collecting illustrative quotations was pretty successful. You know. They were getting a lot of real work done, and they ended up getting millions of contributions from volunteers in England, Ireland, Scotland and the United States, people who would send in quotations from books and magazines and newspapers, and like we mentioned, you know, they were trying to go for the earliest known use. Some of these went back as far as the ninth century, and.

But still this wiki model of collecting illustrative quotations was pretty successful. You know. They were getting a lot of real work done, and they ended up getting millions of contributions from volunteers in England, Ireland, Scotland and the United States, people who would send in quotations from books and magazines and newspapers, and like we mentioned, you know, they were trying to go for the earliest known use. Some of these went back as far as the ninth century, and.

It was to this aspect of the dictionary that Minor was contributing, So he didn't really do any defining like he had done for websters. But as we've mentioned several times, he did become one of Murray's best contributors. He'd send in these small cards with quotations on them. By the thousand and eventually more. His personal library contained a lot of rare sixteenth and seventeenth century books in particular, and he'd search through these for appropriate quotes. And he even went a step further and would sometimes ask the oed editors what word they were working on, and then find quotes to go with those specific words.

It was to this aspect of the dictionary that Minor was contributing, So he didn't really do any defining like he had done for websters. But as we've mentioned several times, he did become one of Murray's best contributors. He'd send in these small cards with quotations on them. By the thousand and eventually more. His personal library contained a lot of rare sixteenth and seventeenth century books in particular, and he'd search through these for appropriate quotes. And he even went a step further and would sometimes ask the oed editors what word they were working on, and then find quotes to go with those specific words.

And I mean, just thinking about that makes my head hurt. That you would get a list, maybe a short list, of a few words they were working on, and then go look through your entire library for that word. I just I can't imagine. So in eighteen ninety nine, Murray said that Minor had sent in quote no. Less than twelve thousand quotes and added quote, so enormous have been doctor Minor's contributions during the past seventeen or eighteen years that we could easily illustrate the last four centuries from his quotations alone. So it's no wonder that Murray really wanted to meet Minor along the way, this guy who was contributing so much to the Dictionary. But their first meeting probably didn't take place quite like that dramatic legend that I think I compared it to Wilkie Collins. It sounded like a Wilkie Collins set up that we related at the beginning of part one of this podcast, the one that was published in The Strand in nineteen fifteen. That sensationalized account has the two meeting in eighteen ninety seven after Minor failed to attend the Great Dictionary Dinner, which sounds fun thrown at Queen's College in Murray's honor to celebrate the Dictionary's progress, And according to that legend, this was the first time Murray realized that his favorite contributor was actually an inmate in a mental asylum. But Winchester's research kind of turned up something different.

And I mean, just thinking about that makes my head hurt. That you would get a list, maybe a short list, of a few words they were working on, and then go look through your entire library for that word. I just I can't imagine. So in eighteen ninety nine, Murray said that Minor had sent in quote no. Less than twelve thousand quotes and added quote, so enormous have been doctor Minor's contributions during the past seventeen or eighteen years that we could easily illustrate the last four centuries from his quotations alone. So it's no wonder that Murray really wanted to meet Minor along the way, this guy who was contributing so much to the Dictionary. But their first meeting probably didn't take place quite like that dramatic legend that I think I compared it to Wilkie Collins. It sounded like a Wilkie Collins set up that we related at the beginning of part one of this podcast, the one that was published in The Strand in nineteen fifteen. That sensationalized account has the two meeting in eighteen ninety seven after Minor failed to attend the Great Dictionary Dinner, which sounds fun thrown at Queen's College in Murray's honor to celebrate the Dictionary's progress, And according to that legend, this was the first time Murray realized that his favorite contributor was actually an inmate in a mental asylum. But Winchester's research kind of turned up something different.

Yeah, Both through his research and the discovery of a letter written by doctor Murray and the Broadmore archives, we can see that Murray, though we might have thought that Minor was just a retired doctor or a doctor in the asylum at first. He probably was clued into Minor's actual situation by the late eighteen eighties, and probably visited him as soon as eighteen ninety one rather than eighteen ninety seven. Murray was always really sensitive to minor situation, though apparently never letting him know that he knew that Minor was mentally ill. So the two formed this kind of friendship that went beyond their working relationship. Murray even visited Minor on several occasions, though it's unclear, according to the Broadmor records, exactly how often that occurred. Murray would supposedly telegraph a head, however, to find out what Minor's exact mood was before visiting, and he would avoid coming if Minor was especially angry at the time.

Yeah, Both through his research and the discovery of a letter written by doctor Murray and the Broadmore archives, we can see that Murray, though we might have thought that Minor was just a retired doctor or a doctor in the asylum at first. He probably was clued into Minor's actual situation by the late eighteen eighties, and probably visited him as soon as eighteen ninety one rather than eighteen ninety seven. Murray was always really sensitive to minor situation, though apparently never letting him know that he knew that Minor was mentally ill. So the two formed this kind of friendship that went beyond their working relationship. Murray even visited Minor on several occasions, though it's unclear, according to the Broadmor records, exactly how often that occurred. Murray would supposedly telegraph a head, however, to find out what Minor's exact mood was before visiting, and he would avoid coming if Minor was especially angry at the time.

But when he did visit, they had these very cozy experiences, kind of like two well respected colleagues hanging out together. Murray and Minor would sit in Minor's day room and have some tea and have some cake in front of the fire, just like it was a normal kind of sit just catching.

But when he did visit, they had these very cozy experiences, kind of like two well respected colleagues hanging out together. Murray and Minor would sit in Minor's day room and have some tea and have some cake in front of the fire, just like it was a normal kind of sit just catching.

Up friends hanging out. So you'd think that maybe this friendship and having a purpose in the form of his dictionary work would have been really good for Minor's mental state, but his paranoid delusions just continued to get worse. He'd think that he was being drugged at night with chloroform, or tortured with electricity, or kidnapped from the asylum at night to be abused, so that nightly sexual abuse was still a big part of it, and he'd even tried to barricade his room at night to protect himself. And around the turn of the twentieth century, on December third, nineteen oh two, to be exact, he experienced a major setback. That morning, he actually mutilated his own genitals, and it seemed to be a desperate attempt to kind of put a stop to the indecent acts that he thought he was being forced to do every night. When asked why he did it, he said he did it quote in interests of morality.

Up friends hanging out. So you'd think that maybe this friendship and having a purpose in the form of his dictionary work would have been really good for Minor's mental state, but his paranoid delusions just continued to get worse. He'd think that he was being drugged at night with chloroform, or tortured with electricity, or kidnapped from the asylum at night to be abused, so that nightly sexual abuse was still a big part of it, and he'd even tried to barricade his room at night to protect himself. And around the turn of the twentieth century, on December third, nineteen oh two, to be exact, he experienced a major setback. That morning, he actually mutilated his own genitals, and it seemed to be a desperate attempt to kind of put a stop to the indecent acts that he thought he was being forced to do every night. When asked why he did it, he said he did it quote in interests of morality.

So after that he was kept in the infirmary for four months and then sent back to his rooms. But the delusions just persisted, and as the years went by, he continued to get worse mentally and work less and less, and also his health started to decline. So a lot of people including Murray, began to petition for his release to his family, and at first these petitions were denied, but the government finally relented in nineteen ten and then granted Miner's release and ordered that he be deported back to the States. So Murray, who had by that time been knighted for his work in the dictionary, and his wife visited Minor one last time right before Miner left the country on April fifteenth, nineteen ten, and he brought along a court photographer to document this final meeting between two friends and two really influential contributors to what was going to be a famous dictionary.

So after that he was kept in the infirmary for four months and then sent back to his rooms. But the delusions just persisted, and as the years went by, he continued to get worse mentally and work less and less, and also his health started to decline. So a lot of people including Murray, began to petition for his release to his family, and at first these petitions were denied, but the government finally relented in nineteen ten and then granted Miner's release and ordered that he be deported back to the States. So Murray, who had by that time been knighted for his work in the dictionary, and his wife visited Minor one last time right before Miner left the country on April fifteenth, nineteen ten, and he brought along a court photographer to document this final meeting between two friends and two really influential contributors to what was going to be a famous dictionary.

Murray was accompanied back to the States on a steamer by his brother Alfred, but it was really a long time before he actually made it home to Connecticut. Immediately went back to that hospital for the Insane in DC that he was at previously, which is now Saint Elizabeth's, and he spent almost ten years there, kind of in the same way that he lived at Broadmoor, as a privileged in may who still had nightly outbursts. So his problems kind of continued to progress, and in between he would sort of spend his days reading and painting, and doing, you know, his activities that he enjoyed, but still in ill health.

Murray was accompanied back to the States on a steamer by his brother Alfred, but it was really a long time before he actually made it home to Connecticut. Immediately went back to that hospital for the Insane in DC that he was at previously, which is now Saint Elizabeth's, and he spent almost ten years there, kind of in the same way that he lived at Broadmoor, as a privileged in may who still had nightly outbursts. So his problems kind of continued to progress, and in between he would sort of spend his days reading and painting, and doing, you know, his activities that he enjoyed, but still in ill health.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So by nineteen nineteen though, he was finally allowed to go back to Connecticut to be near his family, and he died there March twenty sixth, nineteen twenty, you know, having been in prison the majority of his life by that point, or the hospital rather so, even though he lived this life of anonymity while he was locked away for so many years, his name is still pretty well known. It's still in the preface to the Oxford English Dictionary in fact.

So by nineteen nineteen though, he was finally allowed to go back to Connecticut to be near his family, and he died there March twenty sixth, nineteen twenty, you know, having been in prison the majority of his life by that point, or the hospital rather so, even though he lived this life of anonymity while he was locked away for so many years, his name is still pretty well known. It's still in the preface to the Oxford English Dictionary in fact.

Yeah, which ultimately that dictionary took seventy years to complete. It was completed in nineteen twenty eight, which was a decade after Murray's death. And I think I found I saw this in that Nation article that we mentioned. Give us some stats, yeah, some stats to kind of boggle the mind in the end. The first edition, not including the supplements that were published after. But that first edition, published in nineteen twenty eight, had four hundred and fourteen thousand, eight hundred and twenty five headwords, so to speak, defined by one million, eight hundred and twenty seven thousand, three hundred and six illustrative quotations over fifteen thousand, four hundred and ninety pages.

Yeah, which ultimately that dictionary took seventy years to complete. It was completed in nineteen twenty eight, which was a decade after Murray's death. And I think I found I saw this in that Nation article that we mentioned. Give us some stats, yeah, some stats to kind of boggle the mind in the end. The first edition, not including the supplements that were published after. But that first edition, published in nineteen twenty eight, had four hundred and fourteen thousand, eight hundred and twenty five headwords, so to speak, defined by one million, eight hundred and twenty seven thousand, three hundred and six illustrative quotations over fifteen thousand, four hundred and ninety pages.

Pretty incredible, very incredible, and it sounds like Minor was a pretty significant part of all of that. So in recent years consequently, more people have taken an interest in his life. And of course there's Winchester's book that you mentioned in the beginning, and there's maybe even going to be a movie. Do you have any more info on that?

Pretty incredible, very incredible, and it sounds like Minor was a pretty significant part of all of that. So in recent years consequently, more people have taken an interest in his life. And of course there's Winchester's book that you mentioned in the beginning, and there's maybe even going to be a movie. Do you have any more info on that?

I don't have any more and fill on that when you look it up. It just says that the movie The Professor and the Madman is in development. Apparently Mel Gibson bought the rights to the movie in nineteen ninety eight, and they've gone through a couple of different directors I think, and they're working on it. But I don't know when it's supposed to come out, but I think that'll be an interesting one to see when it does.

I don't have any more and fill on that when you look it up. It just says that the movie The Professor and the Madman is in development. Apparently Mel Gibson bought the rights to the movie in nineteen ninety eight, and they've gone through a couple of different directors I think, and they're working on it. But I don't know when it's supposed to come out, but I think that'll be an interesting one to see when it does.

Yeah, it sounds like it would be a fantastic movie. Actually, I'm imagining the how you dramatize the dictionary writing scenes, though sort of like computer movies, they have to have scenes of like rapid typing maybe page flipping through the country book.

Yeah, it sounds like it would be a fantastic movie. Actually, I'm imagining the how you dramatize the dictionary writing scenes, though sort of like computer movies, they have to have scenes of like rapid typing maybe page flipping through the country book.

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