When young Albert Tirrell killed his lover Maria Bickford on Beacon Hill, it sparked a scandal that rocked Victorian Boston in the 1840s. Ā It was a tale of seduction, murder, and the unlikeliest of defenses. Ā In the end, he would be found not guilty, in the first successful use of sleepwalking as a defense against murder.
We apologize for Nikkiās head cold, some rough cuts that resulted from editing out her sniffles, and the couple of sniffles that made it into the final cut.
Your humble hosts are traveling this week, trying to see the first total eclipse of our lifetimes. Ā While weāre gone, listen to the story of the 1806 eclipse, the first total eclipse seen in Boston after European colonization.
During a late nineteenth century canoe craze, recreational canoeing became Bostonās hottest leisure time activity. Ā Young lovers took advantage of the privacy and intimacy of a canoe to engage in a little bit of illicit romance, leading a humorless state police agency to ban kissing in canoes on the Charles River.
Continue reading Episode 41: Canoes and Canoodling on the Charles River
Despite our liberal reputation today, for years Boston was a bastion of official censorship. Authors and playwrights whose works were considered obscene had to create a watered-down āBoston version.ā The Watch and Ward Society decided what art, theater, and literature was permissible, and what would be Banned in Boston!
The 1942 fire at Bostonās Cocoanut Grove nightclub killed a staggering 492 people, making it the deadliest fire in Boston history and one of the deadliest fires in US history. For Boston, it is the deadliest modern disaster of any type. Only the smallpox epidemics of the early 1700s and the 1918 Spanish flu rival it for loss of life.
This weekās show is about Charles āKingā Solomon, also known as Boston Charlie, whose criminal enterprise placed him at the head of organized crime in Boston throughout the prohibition era. Ā He reached influence at the national level, set policies in play that led to tragedy at the Cocoanut Grove, and in death, left a wake that may have led to the rise of Whitey Bulger.
Continue reading Episode 38: The Reign of Charles āKingā Solomon
Your humble hosts are out having summertime fun this week. Ā Donāt worry, thoughā¦ Jake is flying solo this week, and bringing you this weekās historical anniversaries. Ā Weāll be back next week with a real episode.
In this episode, we continue our tale of Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, picking up at the end of the War of The Spanish Succession. Ā Weāll learn about some of the most fearsome and notorious pirates in history, as well as one of the most ineffective. Ā Weāll see how one of these pirates gave a founding father his start in public life, which US presidentās great grandfather bought a former pirate as a slave, and what other presidentās great grandfather decapitated a pirate with an axe. Ā
Continue reading Episode 36 Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, Part 2
With a partial āMuslim Banā in place, itās important to remember that vilifying āenemy aliensā is one of the darkest chapters of our nationās history. Ā A hundred years ago, Americans were all too willing to imprison or even deport their neighbors of German descent. Ā Here in Boston, the preeminent director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was affected, along with almost a third of the orchestraās musicians.
Continue reading Episode 35: The Boston Symphony Orchestra in World War I
Shiver me timbers! Ā This is the first in a two-part series about Bostonās role in the Golden Age of Piracy, from 1650 to 1726. Ā A few pirates set sail from our city, some preyed on the shipping coming in and out of our port, and even more met their ends on the gallows in Boston. Ā Weāll hear stories of daring raids and buried treasures, of mutiny, jailbreak, and double crossing.
Continue reading Episode 34: Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, part 1
