The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 213 - Mashers and Hatpins
Episode Date: October 20, 2016Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine turn of the century mashers and the weapons used against them. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH...
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You're listening to the dollop! This is a bi-weekly American history podcast
each week I read a story my friend Gareth Reynolds. Who has no idea what the topic is
gonna be about you say in my name your body languages it's okay I'm the one
who's got to get back and fight the traffic it's okay it's okay it's okay
it's okay that's a long flight to just kick an ass that's a huge glassy in
flight shut up don't turn on me asshole not Gary Gareth okay someone or
something is tickling people is it for fun and this is not going to come to
tickle you clock out okay you are queen fakie of made-up town all hell queen
shit of lies though a bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what
pray so what happened was we sat down to record our first podcast since
we returned to America and the guys in Perth changed all the settings on the
zoom that we record on and I couldn't forget how to do it so we spent 20
minutes so we recorded some of it we didn't have 20 minutes we didn't have
because Gareth being a moron lives near Dodger Stadium where the Dodgers I love
how this turns into me being a moron because I live somewhere I just told
you it's cool I'm not asking you to take on my stress level very angry I'm not
asking you to take on my stress very you don't need you know you're angry at me
for living near a place where I'm gonna have to fight traffic
Gareth let me tell you sirp anger like that let me tell you something what are
you an X-man we're gonna be I'm the usurper we're gonna be a usurp your
emotions and I take it on his mind 1870 wait can I do the same jokes I did
before yeah okay so were the 1870s like was that like was that when disco was
big yeah okay yeah this is when a Saturday Night Fever came out yeah except
Saturday Night Fever was like a real fever back then you're like my boy's
dying he's got Saturday Night Fever I don't know if he'll be staying alive see
now I'm even punching it up yeah it's better it's better yeah we should always
rehearse it once you should always do it once and then realize the sound isn't
working yeah and then get it I think that's a good way to do it yeah yeah
okay okay before the 1870s women were mostly never by themselves in public
places what did I say before I was like I don't remember probably wasn't good
before this they always had a man with them to protect their woman right I
think I made a joke about how it's super different now which I've never made
that joke before although this is was mostly a upper-class idea right that
the upper-class women would not rich women weren't alone right poor women
whatever they're not they're not women no they're barely women right they're
poor you know a lot of the poor women were widowed or you know some bad it
happened so they were on their own right and so they would have to go to work or
whatever they would have to be on their own so they they were kind of not
considered part of this equation so the widows are just going to work alone and
the danger is that a woman okay keep going well so a woman alone at this
point they assumed that she was asking for it right now I remember this is
right around when we've got maybe a little further than this but but what the
implication there is that woman was alone right then she was asking for asking
for what I guess is the question I'll speak for the audience bad things to
happen to her interesting so if she's alone that's a signal to that go ahead
and trump her I'm yeah Trump away Trump on mashers would claim they were
justified because a woman was walking about all alone okay this is this is
new so which meant she must be loose okay couple a solo lady is a loose lady
couple red flags are sticking out now mashers okay mashers please tell me
that that comes from like bourbon mash or something okay so there there were I
didn't I didn't use the definition of mashers because there were three places
that supposedly came from one was two comedians were doing a show and they
went backstage and this and one of them said I mashed them and the other guy
said is that what you did to the ladies you mashed them and then and then that
that phrase caught on and masher was born so they had hacks back then too
hacks were still out in green rooms there's also a French word that it's
similar to that it may have come from and then I remember the third one but
there were three different versions of where it could have come from but what
does it what does it mean in this what masher okay we'll get into it okay not
liking what I'm hearing so far by the way when when a masher went to court the
masher was often fined for using inappropriate language okay for instance
five dollars for common woman for calling a woman a chicken or twenty five
dollars for calling her a cutie hello okay weird really weird specific word
fine it just pretty interesting and a chicken is negative yeah so a
compliment cost you more yeah you were not supposed to compliment single women
on the street but they're all right they're asking for compliments they're
asking for it a man was not supposed to approach a woman on the street
totally really total no no no that you're a masher at that point what do you
mean I'm a masher that's a masher a masher a masher approaches a woman alone
yeah a masher if you just going up to her and talking to her you're you're a
masher at that point and that's bad well then yeah now it's I don't think it's
bad now you're confident hey I like you you're you're pretty you make my things
feel weird you'd like to go get coffee that's totally fine is that time is that
fine do you think that's fine one could be fine for just speaking to a woman
alone on the street regardless of the language it was just not done wow then
as the industrial revolution came into being women left rural areas and moved
to cities and this gave them the chance to go out on their own more often all
right someone's bound to say something to one it's not like the ladies wanted to
be chaperoned everywhere or sit in their house they actually would have
preferred they did have to be feeling outside they had feeling and emotion yeah
I believe what I believe they were human beings hmm it goes against what I think
yeah I know okay so with this newfound freedom came harassment it was much
more difficult to harass a lady in a small town imagine they're like you know
what we actually do want to be chaperoned now that we're seeing what
it's like without it turns out it's fucking horror that don't approach us
anymore go back to five bucks yeah you know what I'm gonna go with a chaperone
yep it was much more to be able to harass a lady in a small town because
everyone knew everyone else but there is an anonymity in cities in 1875 what
did the man look like who said something to you ma'am what did he look like a man
all right we'll get him we're looking for a man who's talking to women that's
actually what happened a lot which way did he go and what did he say in 1875 a
New York Times article scolded men for how they were treating women getting on
and off street cars men would quote pass her in and pass her out putting a hand
on her waist or shoulder turns out women were not into being handled by
strange men gosh mashers had all sorts of techniques one of the more common one
was for the masher to drop a letter he was hiding in his pocket at the post
office and then ask a woman if she had by chance dropped a letter oh god what a
weird excuse me miss you dropped the letter I'm not falling for the letter
drop again are you sure that's not yours I don't think it is do you mind checking
you sure man you won't pick it up and then the ideas they pick it up and you
check them out and then you talk to them and then you talk to them oh you like
letters I like letters I got a bunch of letters too you mash it what I'm not a
masher we're just a little bit having a postal connection I did not drop a letter
well I don't know I didn't drop a letter either I hate letters why are there
14 in your pocket huh cuz um you dropped all of them in my pocket maybe maybe
try to grab them oh you make my fun parts feel weird want to get coffee other
articles discussed whether women could walk around alone it was largely
accepted that women should not meet men on the street or he could turn out to be
a masher a lady was to wait to be introduced by a friend or relative I'm
just gonna take forever yeah I mean I'm not on I'm not on the side of grabbing
waste when they're coming off a trolley but the idea that the only way you can
meet someone is like with an intro to a proper intro we vetted him yeah he's
ready to meet you now I'm super excited thank god we had friends in common you
make my parts feel weird I am we're not gonna do the introduction anymore Bobby
in Los Angeles mashers were all over street corners on Saturdays which was
considered quote the principal flirting day of the week yeah mash today men would
just stand around insulting women as they come on we gotta get up we're going
mashing hey Jimmy you want to go mashing today I'm tired from mashing last
night ladies are gonna be out it's a Saturday all right I'll do it hair of
the dog mash got your letters yeah I got a pocket full of letters excuse me ma'am
did you drop a letter excuse me miss you dropped a letter excuse me lady you
dropped a letter all of you women have dropped letters when when bicycles were
invented became the rage in the 1890s the mashers took to riding around
insulting women insulting well but talking to them is considered right right
okay it was easier to write also so much more intimidating now to have like
because with the bike you can kind of circle that you can kind of shark the
prey a little bit hey come on what do you mean you didn't drop the letter miss
don't be weird don't be alone why there's so many letters around here if
you're not dropping huh looks like I had let a tornado hit right over here
surely one of these thousands of letters must be yours it was easier for them to
write up say something naughty and then speed off yeah a journalist described
the bicycle mashers of New York City quote he is always just in the pink of
fashion or what he regards as such his eyes are roving and the mobility of his
face as a whole is striking his head had a weather vane action which is helpful
to him in his maneuvers he delights in writing hands off and with one foot on
the pedal boy this guy's asking for it so he's got owl head according to this
article and yeah no he's got 360 vision as a matter of fact so he can spin his
head around and he goes hands off and one from the pedal he may be an owl he
sounds hourly he has a charismatic way of slowing down whenever he meets a
wheel woman young or middle-aged who he thinks might be outraged by his
attention and he is always able to dismount with grace so so are the
mashers are they just looking to upset the women I think I think that it's a
combination I think some are looking to upset them I think others are thinking
maybe if I approach this lady she'll be loose and I'll be able to get right
okay but I think a lot of it's just to upset them but I but there are probably
a lot of lonely dudes out there who do not have me to me it feels like they're
definitely trying to get laid but it's in there's just no real options so
they're almost like kamikaze pilots who are just like yeah there were no pickup
artists guidelines at this point well there's one have a letter have a letter
in your pocket right besides that how did I meet Stacy over here why I
convinced her that she dropped a letter what do you mean I thought I did drop
that letter haha no I wrote that letter like a sociopath now you have two kids
from me street cars became a favorite of mashers to approach woman two young
ladies boarded a streetcar in New York to get away from two mashers but the men
followed them and sat next to them one worst-case scenario mobile mashing one
kept nudging one of the women with this elbow and the girls became more and more
scared and one finally jumped off the moving car to get away okay the men
were then arrested okay it's it's just for giving them the elbow you know I
mean it's so weird your honor I did not mean to give her the elbow such as see
my elbow just moves on its own you're on it well I see no reason to prosecute
this man he's just got a wobbly elbow hey sometimes I can't help it well you're
no longer allowed to have people sit on your left sometimes okay sometimes I
just if there's a boob around it's especially you know into that are you
familiar with the term talking yourself out of a sale or or the little pussies
all right I'm actually definitely retracting what I said earlier and you
are getting fined in in New York why should I said big pussies
honestly contempt of court without question the hell's happening I was
seriously about to let this guy go in New York on the L-Chain there was an
older masher around 60 who would harass women on their way to work I've been
mashing for 41 years one woman heard him quietly excuse me ma'am did you drop
that letter one woman heard him quietly whisper into her ear good morning
little girl no no no no no no no no no he should be arrested oh he's Joe
Biden in her he continued to pay her condom when she tried to move away he
linked his arm and hers and held her kept her there she finally struggled and
got away when she told the story at work two other women said they had been
harassed by the exact same man no God serial masher pervy Pete masher's would
even drop off masher notes grandpa mash wait what in Florida a woman moved to
the city of Ocala and within six hours she received a note from a masher at the
boarding house she was residing in oh my god in Chicago a Frenchman sent a note
to a respectable young woman asking if they could meet she took the note to the
Chicago Tribune who printed it and called him publicly a masher wait so
they're leaving letters now like this is now like a little romantic so this is
what went down a guy wrote a letter he's from France he's like hello I would
like to meet you he's like Serena de Berge a mash yeah and then all of a
sudden it's in print in the Chicago Tribune of like a look at this French
monster excuse him oh man that was just communicating between you and me I just
like to meet yeah and the meat the article made fun of his blonde
mustache and hair calling him an albino son of a bitch you try to be nice to a
lady the next thing you know you public freak he sued the paper for $20,000
that's right New York dealt with the masher problem for years the police had
done their I think it's still dealing with the man yeah it hasn't ended
private citizens rose on alert but it went on across the country editorial
after editorial discussed the masher problem and offered solutions they
included everything from demanding harsher punishments to saying mashers
should be beaten in the street okay but questions were always pointed toward the
victim as well what was she doing there why was she wearing that yeah was she
wearing a mashing outfit yeah she's get on a patch got expect to get
matched at this point she's wearing clothes for it she's walking alone she's asking for it a
Philadelphia newspaper excuse me ma'am did you drop this letter
Philadelphia newspaper asked quote he will often not speak to a woman who
offers him no encouragement it is manifest that the girls are to blame
for his presence upon the streets let them lay aside their dashing boldness
and manner which they often foolishly imagine denotes independence but which
is as dangerous as it is unseemly it is a little messy for them to try to be
independent that is kind of sending the wrong I think we can all agree women
shouldn't be outside yeah I think obviously they've entered the real world
you know they're in the locker room now thank you sorry sorry you just sit foot
in the locker room hey welcome to the locker room and then there's just the
sound of a locker closing oh no hey what's up lady oh god the locker room
Carol run save yourself I'm in the locker room grab it you can hand me
some of those tic-tacs we're in the locker room a Salt Lake City paper wrote
quote as a rule the well-behaved girl is free to come and go as she pleases
secure from obnoxious looks or remarks eventually women began to fight back
physically in 1895 in st. Louis miss maple putt-off was working at the exposition
with her sister a masher came by and started speaking to them I love that a
guy who just tries to talk of conversation is a matter it's very
confusing as to what the line is because there's no doubt in my mind there's no
line there's no doubt in my mind that men are extremely creepy and that a lot of
these guys are totally creepy yeah but then by the same token it is just it's
just hard to wrap your head around a society where you literally can't like
talk you can't talk to someone so I think the deal is is that is that so you're
essentially because of society's rules you are essentially a creep if you do
this so anybody who crosses that boundary is what today would be a guy who
would go grab someone's ass or something like oh like our future president
right our future president right Hillary Clinton right right big-ass grabber he so
I think that I think that just because he's breaking that norm that he already
is a creepy guy or else I wouldn't do it does that make sense it makes sense but
I bet you there I bet you there's also like there had to be like like speak
easy's but of like hitting on people where it was like you go into a place
and they're just like you understand we're allowed to mash tonight and then
you can go up to a girl and be like excuse me miss she's like don't give me
the letter trick here you don't need to oh my god a real conversation so I
wasn't even introduced by a friend so so this woman miss Mabel put off is working
at the exposition with her sister and a masher comes up and starts speaking to
them and they ignored him but he continued talking so they left and went
back to work then the master showed up there and began talking to them again
okay now this is crossing the mash line yeah he then asked Mabel if he could
have a hat pin or quote anything to remember you by she punched him in the
face that'll do that's a memento and then she kept punching a crowd gathered
to watch and he finally ran off kept punching is always good and Norfolk
Virginia two sisters Ida and Madeline Shaw were on a car when a man started
making quote goo goo eyes at them so they moved so they moved on the car and
he followed as he approached them they jumped up and gave him quote a severe
punching with their fists great what a great era yeah
miss Josie Sanchez was a rather large woman who was described by a newspaper
as Amazonian cool good time for the press she and a friend walking to a
theater in San Francisco when a masher said something offensive Sanchez
recognized the man as he had done this several times before and he was much
smaller than she was so she picked him up and threw him through a store window
just dynamite she was arrested for malicious mischief and paid 850 for the
damages to the store which she said was worth it totally worth it totally worth
it yeah that is that's the last time you get mashed at if you don't want it yeah
the last time in Ohio miss Frank Gibbert beat a masher unconscious on a
streetcar this would be a great era when she was done all the passengers
applauded well then but women didn't just use their fists they also started
using weapons first women began beating mashers with parasols but that was
nothing compared to what was coming in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania there was a
well-known masher and the police had received endless complaints about him
and he had a favorite street corner that he would hang out on his MO was to drop
a handkerchief when a woman walked by and say oh miss you have dropped your
handkerchief so really it was just kind of a spin on the letter game really
seems like the pattern was whatever it was in she dropped something miss you
dropped your dog oh wait I don't have a dog who want to go out on a date
eventually four women came up with a plan to deal with him one woman was used
as bait to lure him down a street oh boy when he was in the right place the
three other women stepped out with cow hide whips it's like all of a sudden
it's the man with no name yeah yeah they whipped him and he tried to fight back
punching one of the women he was then punched from behind knocked down and
whipped more eventually he got up ran off bleeding from several cuts on his
body oh man okay well that might be the end of that match that's what time to go
to a new corner at least right yeah it's time to switch up the area I'm gonna
start dropping pens I'm just going to the new corner totally injured excuse me
ma'am you dropped your handkerchief drops some blood excuse me ma'am you dropped two
of your teeth oh no shit no shit sorry keep going as you were do you want to
go out and get a drink some tip boy these are really dropping like raindrops
over here in Chicago in the 1890s woman was on a street car when a masher pressed
his knee against her she was wearing she was wearing a silk must be belt
fastener on her skirt with a long steel pin she whipped the pin out and stabbed
him in the leg interesting he screamed in pain and ran off the street car she
wiped the blood off the pin with a handkerchief as everyone on the car laughed
it's great it's also it's both a time of violence and of a lack of humanity yeah
but it is like it's it's good that there's public support for women to be
able to like just you know like that if they're breaking the rules do whatever
yeah and you'll stop them yeah it's got to be like a freeing a freeing moment
when you can throw a guy through a store window for under a grand hat pins would
become the weapon of choice hat pins became more and more popular beginning
in the 1850s women were straw hats and started using hat pins to secure them as
the styles of hats changed so did the pins the hat pins became longer and
decorated the height of hat pins was from 1890 to 1935 that's when the bonnet
strings went away oh boy and hairstyles got more crazy they were more elaborate
and upswept women used artificial hair pieces to help hold down a hat and hat
pins okay many hat pins so now they can just like hat pins usually usually made
out of silver but also copper sometimes gold oh boy in the 1880s they were six
to eight inches long but in the 1890s as the size of ladies hats got bigger and
bigger oh boy time of birds huh yeah hat pins got bigger and bigger as we get
into the 1900s hat pins grew up to 12 inches whoa shit that's a long yeah the
hats were so big it was that's a hair sword yeah okay the hats were so big it
was not uncommon for a woman to have a dozen hat pins holding one up so she
could just Wolverine be like get out of here they were designed to look like
flowers leaves bugs and were set with diamonds and other stones like emerald
she's put a crazy bug on me it's done me they could be used for all sorts of
things that turned out in West Philadelphia an ice man asked a woman if
he could use her hat pin an ice man ice man that's a guy selling ice a guy not
like a Batman villain or something okay this is ice man and then the silver
surfer also asked for an ice pick was the usurper there yeah okay good so
an ice man asked a woman if he could use her hat pin because his partner had
taken their axe up the street she obliged and he used the hat pin to chip
off a piece of ice and he delivered the ice to her he told her he usually carried
a hat pin to use on the ice but his wife had borrowed it and forgot to give it
back nurses were also known to use their hat pins to chip off ice to use on
patients with fevers so these are ice picks well that just shows how serious
of a business they are I mean they're no Joe they're not fucking around yeah
they're not breaking hat pins were dangerous a miss Tetro in Scantra in
Pennsylvania moved to avoid a streetcar and fell hard on the pavement she had
cuts on her head shoulders and back she was taken to the hospital but seemed to
be most upset that she had lost her hat pin interesting when she returned home
she felt the sharp pain in her right hip oh boy looking at it she discovered the
hat pin was embedded in her hip oh silly me that's just deep inside of me oh
foolish me of course Henry call off the search it's deep in my bone
people became concerned because the hat pins were so large they stuck out of
hats and could do serious damage to someone's face what is going on the
Trenton evening time just having cactus head walking around town the Trenton
evening times wrote in February 1908 quote one sees them in twos and threes
miniature a rape hears a flashing with most deadly threats at the human eye why
the hat pin must be of such abnormal length that it protrudes inches of steel
in all 8 to 10 on either side of the female headgear no man can fathom he
can merely marvel at the recklessness with which women go about armed in this
manner that's crazy streetcars were overcrowded and jerky which caused people
to be impaled on hats Jesus what excuse me your hat pins got into my throat a
little but the potholes I don't know the Indianapolis news wrote quote a woman
doesn't need a revolver or bone arrow when she wears half a dozen of these
pins no hat pin is considered worth the name whose head doesn't protrude at
least two inches behind the hat crown in Pasadena, California there were said to
be around 130 passengers on a streetcar one day a young woman wearing a large
hat secured by hat pins was standing in the way of the conductor he tried to
move around the dangerous hat but as he did she also moved to get out of his way
and they moved toward each other and the hat pin went through his nose dude how
many times have you had that interaction where you're like oh I'm going
right oh you go oh you just imagine swords now yeah now little swords are
involved yeah and if you overdo it you get one through your nose we're losing
eye lord hat pins also sometimes used to save babies in st. Louis miss FH Jordan
was in the kitchen when she heard her six month old baby laughing in its crib
she looked it on the baby and saw a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike
okay the baby was reaching toward it the woman ran into the kitchen and grabbed
a pot of boiling water her screams cost her upstairs neighbor to run downstairs
wielding a large hat pin mrs. Jordan poured the boiling water on the snake
which hissed and lept at her and her neighbor then stabbed the snake with a
hat pin that's not that's not you don't say that they're saving babies that's
saying they kill snakes what saving a baby and the saving a baby is like it's
choking on baby food and I dislodged it from its throat with a little hat pin
there was just a snake in a crib for no reason she saves a baby weird order to
in the crib I think it might have been outside the crib but still hot water and
hat pin that snake was like I just want to leave I want no funny business just
passing through ladies although most happens became a weapon of self-defense
May 28th 1903 Leo T. Blaker from Kansas was visiting New York City she got on a
stagecoach which was very crowded the man next to her moved closer oh boy he
was older and nicely dressed the horse quickened its pace and the coach jumped
causing everyone to grope their neighbor now the man was touching her hip
to hip shoulders shoulders excuse me then he lifted his arm and put it low
across her back yes Leone reached for her foot long hat pin and sunk it into
his arm he screamed and got off the coach at the next stop I do like that men
that that's that's where they draw the line if they get stabbed they run yeah
they're like all right all right I didn't know you were stabbing it must be
such an amazing thing to see oh and then you know there's totally some other
dude is like I saw the what he did do back there that's guys in the city huh
huh just grab your back oh god damn it and Brooklyn a young woman was walking
home at night when four men tried to rob her they told her but she just flung
her beehive around she spun around and around and around they told her to hand
over her purse and whatever jewelry she had one of the men grabbed her by the
arm at which point she whipped out two hat pins and quickly stabbed him in the
shoulder oh the other men tried to grab her but she just went on a stab in one
of them she stabbed several times three of the robbers ran off a policeman
nearby heard her scream and ran over in time to catch the last robber Jesus
fucking amazing four dudes yeah with a hat pin yeah in St. Louis the night your
woman was walking home late one night when three men approached she was
suspicious and loosened two hat pins amazing that she's like turning the
corner and she's like just adjust in my hair got two girls ready to go when I
need them got him in the chamber got him ready to go bring it up sure enough they
attacked her they dragged her into an empty lot where she managed to get her
hands on the two hat pins and stabbed two of the men it's great it's the
fucking best hat been defend hat pin defense stories appeared in newspapers
frequently all over the country the women were painted as heroic instead of
just objects of crime society was changing and seeing women were capable
of defending themselves hat pins could also break off when they entered the
body oh a mrs. Cooper stabbed her husband with a hat pin when he was getting
into bed wow didn't want anyone to know what she had done so he didn't say
anything wait why did we know why yeah she he said that she was being unfaithful
oh boy that'll show you so she stabbed it with a hat I thought this was a safe place
she told you how I'm feeling you asked me how what I was thinking about I know
I'm sorry well we're not telling anyone about this the wound was in his thigh
now part of the hat pin broke off and the hat pin traveled through his body and
finally lodged itself in his lung which caused wait wait wait wait it went from
his thigh yeah all to his lung well it must have been somehow she put a
torpedo hat pin in him what I don't know how it went in his bloodstream I don't
know what happens but it's not like a kid it's not like floating around you like
a canoe apparently it is maybe what is this interspace could be full of water
it's okay so you might have been you might have been I'll tell you I'll tell
you if you stab me with something in the knee and someone tells me that it
penetrated my lung I'm gonna be like I want to see a real doctor well he died
three months later Jesus she was arrested for manslaughter a better
boyfriend was like awesome though now we don't have to worry about sneaking around
right in October 1908 in Pittsburgh there was a Mardi Gras celebration on
the streets oh boy young men started throwing confetti into the faces of
women well look every guy has a different angle on how to speak to him or
they would rub they don't seem to like it when you throw paper at their face like
a bitch they're good to it okay others would rub the women's faces with a
tickler just like a feather I guess okay hopefully after a while the women
started holding their hat pins and getting ready for the next asshole to
throw confetti in their face oh boy and then the stabbing began oh boy the next
day hundreds of men visited local doctors to get treatment for hat pin stab
once wow that's crazy Marguerite Leblanc was walking home in New York when
quote a man well-dressed and of dark complexion thought to be an
Italian walked up behind her hey how you doing a pretty lady hello you like a
me bald he put his arm around her and said ah what they pretty girl and try
to kiss her mm-hmm she pushed him off whipped out a hat pin and stabbed him in
the arm and then in his cheek oh so that means it went through he ran away
after screaming in 1908 people in a Spokane Washington became concerned as
a new industry was born jam holiday became began paying kids aged five to
twelve five cents each for butterflies they caught the butterflies were then
chloroformed and sent to the modern art and planning company to metalize them
for hat pins okay he yeah created a butterfly genocide and used the
children as his Nazis that's correct okay make sure even though the hat pin was
clearly being used by women to protect themselves there was a backlash a man
wrote in to the Sun newspaper quote I am a veteran of the Civil War wounded
seven times and left for dead I was confined there but enough about what
I'm trying to hit on women I was confined three months in 14 days in Libby
prison but I was never so thoroughly scared as when I ran alongside one of
these women with that three acre hat and hat pin like a sword twice I have
barely escaped being spitted I nearly lost my left eye last Saturday
afternoon I dodged dead at least 16 times a week on average you know what he
never says in there is that it's unwarranted he's probably out there
purving out yeah he's purvin and he's getting stabbed and he's like god damn
it come on I like to just grab stuff this is worse than I wanted no I'm not
as fighting for the blacks to continue to be slaves I'm a good person in January
the Oregon legislature passed a bill prohibiting the wearing of hat pins over
10 inches long we just don't want our men to die from it any longer in March
2010 Chicago City Council took up deliberate deliberations on the following
questions are women's hat pins long hat pins which are women's long hat pins
which menace the noses eyes and faces of other people a public nuisance it
seems like you've answered it in the question more than 11
odd women despite the danger of hat pins be allowed to wear them for self
protection Alderman baller said there was a law against wearing large hats in
theaters so why not stop the dangerous hat pins quote I'm going to teach the
women of Chicago that they must stop wearing hat pins a foot and a half long
Jesus some of the pins stick out five to six inches beyond the brim of their
hats from the gallery a woman yelled out doesn't your wife wear long hat pins
no you bet she doesn't she wouldn't do such a thing the women who had packed
the meeting prepared a letter quote on behalf of thousands of women in Chicago
who are occasionally on the streets after dark I want to express an objection
against the proposition to curtain the use of hat pins a hat pin is a woman's
weapon of defense she is no more permitted to carry a revolver or other
weapon than is a member of the sterner sex I always feel safe going home at
night with a hat pin available I get it ready in my hand until I'm safe within
my door of my home the women applauded another woman said quote if the men of
Chicago want to take the hat pins away from us let them make the streets safe
no man has a right to tell me how I shall dress and what I shall wear yeah
it's not that they don't it's not that they don't have a point it's just like
you know I mean the stop calling them hat pins mini-swords right they're tiny
sort they're fighting for the right for mini-swords right and I think that they
should be allowed to carry many so she should be allowed it considering what
men are doing yeah they should be allowed to have hair swords yeah the
resolution was referred to committee three weeks later the city council by a
vote of 62 to 2 passed the anti hat pin ordinance oh gosh as the men made their
vote women in the gallery hissed and booed oh this mashing celebration yeah
I can't wait to figure you ladies god damn it they're back they're back yeah
the ordinance stated no person a while on public streets or in any street or
elevated car or public elevator or other public place you could have just said
public place anywhere just say anywhere shall wear any hat pin no one anywhere
it shall wear any hat pin exposed point of which shall protrude more than one
half inch beyond the crown of the hat when the vote was complete the women in
the gallery chanted shame shame yeah okay a Chicago newspapers was concerned
that women were just looking at hat pins as weapons of self-defense quote but
may women not come to use the hat pin for offense as well as defense if the day
arrives when a woman looks upon the hat pin as purely a weapon she may wear her
hat pin in a sheath at her side okay women may be ready to draw at the
slightest provocation these petty coated to swashbucklers oh really asshole
they intimidate men at the point of the hat pin into giving up his seat and on
street car they're not buccaneers is it not possible that women may use force to
secure the dream of the militant suffragette at the point of a hat pin is
he talking about a military coup via hat pins he is he's saying that women are
gonna get the vote via hat pin and will all be voted hat pin party for that
careful don't let them have had pins they'll get the vote they'll do
everything they'll be mashing us with a no time next thing you know they'll be
taking men's seats on street cars oh the nerve it sounds crazy but the writer
understood the ramifications of the hat pin working women and suffragists had
taken control of the debate speaking out against mashers and praised that hat
pins allowed women to move freely in public without an escort yeah they
fought back against the idea that women's fashion or their freedom had
anything to do with being a victim that was all due to the warped mashers mind
they said not all cities were against the hat pin recognizing women should be
allowed to protect themselves in Washington DC Mayor Sylvester explained
that women could stab robbers and mashers all they wanted quote we have a
little liberal yeah a tad bit stab away okay quote we have in Washington 16,000
more women than men and numbers of women are obliged to go about the streets at
night without escorts and numerous instances have come to the attention of
this department where women as a sale by marauders at night have used hat pins
with telling effect 16,000 more women and that's where I would live yeah right
yeah for sure mash away he acknowledged there would always be accidents but the
hat pins value outweighed the occasional loss of an innocent person's eye oh god
I yeah the hat pins fucking took out eyes Jesus the eyes have it ah men
threatened by the hat pin so men men felt threatened by the hat pin would
freeing would freed up women to stroll about and they began to tell tales about
innocent men who are harmed but what was being now called the hat pin pair called
the what hat pin pearl oh god I mean can you imagine the embellishment on those
stories you know they say that Danny might never hit on a woman again went
right through his tongue it oh Jesus what did he do he probably just said
excuse me ma'am yeah all he did was rub his penis on this woman and then she and
he said and he said I've got a gift for you and she put one through his tongue
oh what year is this by the way 2016 okay I maybe have a little out of line
I'm not gonna lie hit my head pretty hard a week ago sort of forgot what's
going on one story was it and can I be president yes all righty one story is
that a 19-year-old girl in Scranton was supposedly playing with her hat pin like
fake sorting it with her boyfriend and accidentally stabbed him kinky huh whoa
what and killed it whoa what I think she's a murderer another story of a guy
on a streetcar who was stabbed in his ear and died a week later so he just was
sitting on the car in the league so that kind of means his brain then right so
all these stories started coming out like that Jesus more cities passed laws
against hat pins Milwaukee Pittsburgh Baltimore New Orleans Sydney Berlin
Paris it was a worldwide hat pin situation that is crazy soon war on hat
pins soon World War one would break out and with it the hat pin peril died out
but the real end of hat pins was bobbed hair and smaller hats the flappers were
coming and the 19th amendment in 1920 giving women the right to vote Jesus
that's crazy I don't even know we just used to treat women great well yeah
obviously do yeah no there's yeah our big issue is that we still struggle to
actually have equality well this still happens all the time women women getting
grabbed on subways and shit oh yeah well I think even if you think about like
the the Trump thing like you know there's a lot of this this is this is
prompted nine women or so to come forward and be like oh he's did this to me
but even outside of that like it it feels like most women are comfortable
saying yeah this is something that happens to us all the time and it's
happened for so long and that it really sit when something like that just becomes
the norm it you just accept I mean it is it's almost like it's almost like the
like the racism that we still have in our culture like we just you eventually
are just like all right well we did as good as we can we guess we really tried
hard and we got a we got a pretty pretty good system pretty good you know you
can't hit them ah you know yeah and you can't you can't force yourself but a
touch here and there in the locker room but yeah so I mean it almost feels like
it's a little more fair if women have happened I think women should go back
to wearing hat pants just our stabbing dude yeah I mean I've probably got two
or three friends that would would definitely change their game oh I can
figure some friends years yeah they'd be like yeah I'd be like I can't I don't go
to big wings anymore I got a hat pin twice two Sundays in a row I don't go
there anymore all right we sign them we sign cores you