The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 32 - The Leatherman - Smollop

Episode Date: November 12, 2014

Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds discuss The Leatherman.Tour Dates Dollop MerchSourcesPatreon

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No, no, no. No. No. No. No. My name is Dave Anthony I'm here with Gary Browns. The name of the fucking name is Gareth. And we're doing something called a the small up yeah and my name is Gareth Gary sometime in 1820s France a young couple named Borgley had a son Jules it's very French right now you were with Jules Borgley the Borgley family up the toilet once you start saying Borgley the whole your tongue wants Borgley your tongue just wants to roll around the Borgley family occupation was wood cutting construction I I see nothing wrong with what we're doing so far here they were lower-metal class during a

time when your social status was incredibly important your family's wealth could determine your entire future what kind of job you would have who you would marry and if you could go to school you're basically locked in okay young Jules Borgley met and fell in love with Miss Margaret Laron the daughter of a wealthy leather merchant sure so it's just a woodcutter and a leather family merge and finally an excited Jules approached Margaret's father to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage Margaret's father was like fuck no okay mostly due to the fact that Jules from it was from a lower class it was

almost like a pig asking to marry his daughter a dirty fucking pig okay easy I think you're getting a little venomous something of that nature yeah I mean I don't think he's on record with dirty dirty he may have actually been nicer and been in this situation than you yeah like big fucking you are a lot of the mother you are fussy and you eat slop fucking back and piggy your unsloppy pig looking at me fucking dumb eyes stupid curly tail Jules and Margaret did not give up but they pled they begged Jules had sit-downs with the leather merchant and eventually it was decided that Jules would be given the

opportunity to work in the family leather business okay all he had to do was figure out the trade be successful and then he'd be allowed to marry Margaret how can it go wrong seems like a simple hurdle to hop over easy Jules worked hard good he took to the business and was quickly given more responsibilities okay that's fine that's a good sign things are looking up that's a good sign for Jules one of those responsibilities was purchasing leather on the open market in 1855 he made a large leather purchase then in just a couple of days the price of leather dropped by 40% it was the night the leather crash it was

the 9-eleven of leather 9-eleven the price dropped to a new breakthrough in the tanning process before 1855 leather tanning had been done with tree bark and was very difficult work then the tanning industry discovered a chemical compound that could tan the leather in a lot less time with a lot less physical effort Jules was completely screwed he had not been paying attention to the technology happenings in the industry and because young Jules didn't have his eye on the technology breakthroughs he was stuck with a bunch of leather that could only be sold at a loss or should I say Margaret's father's business was stuck

with a leather yeah he's on the hook Margaret's father's leather business was ruined oh Jesus so he's probably not marrying Mark he had a little task and he did not do well yeah not good for the planning of the wedding Jules was crushed he was too ashamed to go back to his own family and just started wandering around Lyon France he just walked around homeless for two years a local doctor took care of his basic knees but one day Jules disappeared from Lyon and was never seen in the city or the country again he was missing for a few years he was probably wandering around Europe all sad and upset

about leather prices yeah in 1862 a man fitting his description showed up in the town of Harwinton Connecticut you know it's it's fitting his description that's telling he was just in a crudely stitched leather outfit head to toe leather from the Leatherman covered in loser leather that's his name he was called the Leatherman by those who encountered him I do love that feeling it's so absurd that my mind could connect to it immediately upon arriving Jules began a 10 miles per day track between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers in leather from Harwinton Connecticut his route took him to Bristol

Forestville Huffington Kensington Berlin Middleton and south along the Wesley's side of the Connecticut River to this shore towns he then traveled west to Westchester County in New York yeah he sounds like he's having a good time coming within a few miles with the Hudson River then back east of Connecticut from Danbury Connecticut he went north to Milford through Rexbury Woodbury Waterton play and back to Harwinton he did this in one month 365 miles in a month holy shit and then he walked the circle again and again no and again Dave and again Dave and again fuck and over and over no no no no people along his

journey gave him handouts but he didn't survive like camplets that were like get your shit together enough with the leather occasionally he would be invited to sleep in someone's shed or barn hot you know what bar to be good for you more of a barn what's the house look like the house is the house looks like you guys have nice food in the house is definitely not good little leather man I'd love to sleep in that house I think you'll be good with the goats okay the goats would be good too but Leatherman always chose to sleep outside or in one of his many caves along his journey circle oh just I

don't know what else in there without any questions his journey circle or his crazy loop or his sad circle whatever it is you can reach me by cave he's just walking in a giant 365 mile circle sounds fine and good the people along his journey were very curious about him and want to know where he came from but Leatherman only spoke in grunts broken French or with gestures he must now am I fair to assess that none of those are helpful in America really he mostly communicated with what was described as a crude random pantomime a crude I don't think those two have ever been combined pantomime my nature is sort of soft not

the way this guy was talking about dicky fucking big day his leather suit made him look inhumanly large like a big leather bigfoot that's who you want doing the crude pantomime big leather bigfoot he was also extremely shy it would look people in the eyes now wanting vagrants were not surprising during this time America was not in the greatest shape there were land shortages population growth and unstable economy industrialization and westward migration stretched the country to the breaking point you imagine that nightmare situation living in those conditions a large group of men who were just

wandering around the country begging or looking for work American folklore is filled with stories of them especially hobos on trains in the 1870s local newspapers more and more frequently made the serious recommendation by editors and letter writers that the solution to the tramp problem is either to give them poison food oh my god to kill them or take them out and shoot them how are those three options you got three options you can murder them kill them or kill them like their plan was what's their tube their their their three prong plan was different ways to do it it's not if it should be done you know what

we should actually call it one a b1 a you know what I mean one a bc I think that'll be a good given poison food okay well I don't want to kill them you could take him out and shoot him in the back of the head sounds like they died just hit him with a goddamn break and break their fucking skull okay so your ideas just kill hobos that's the those are our options fair dear Hartford collar a solution to the tramp problem poison them to shoot them sincerely Larry and Brown you're welcome what made the Leatherman unusual and it is his incredible precision in his daily routine for whatever reason that endeared

him to people so the fact that he was coming he would literally come around the circle and why every if he went to your house at 4 3 34 days ago he's gonna show up at 4 again 34 days later like he was this crazy literally what's known as OCD I've never heard of it obvious circle disorder the 1885 Hartford Globe published in 1885 the Hartford Globe published an article describing exactly how punctual the Leatherman was for a hobo he had a compulsively regular schedule over an enormous territory and this means that on 34 different nights he slept in 34

different places after his schedule was printed in the 1885 paper he became somewhat of a celebrity oh god he was written about in the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune back then the press was very competitive and they will they would sensationalize story to sell papers and you know I mean can you imagine like a very different time if you fed him and he enjoyed your hospitality he would show up 34 days later at the same time looking for food again how did he not think he was getting poison hobo food he just didn't he just he was positive glass half full kind of hobo yeah bowl of poison food

half full he would continue to come back every 34 days unless something frightened him away he's like a fucking stray cat don't startle him the Leatherman oh god he saw a flash oh god Jesus Christ you might have blown the Leatherman for us he arrived so regularly families on the 34th day would have a meal prepared for him when he arrived he would grunt or make appreciative gestures and then quickly move along to keep his tight schedule two generations of the same family would have known him he walked for that long so we're talking 30 years yeah like now kids one day you're gonna be feeding the Leatherman yourself you

know how to do it now don't make any wild gestures and noises upon arriving for a meal he would wrap sharply with a stick on the door when the owner opened the door he would point to his mouth and grunt well isn't he delightful well I think somebody's a little hungry can we keep him mommy can we keep him after a couple of visits he wouldn't need to do that anymore he was always served outside at a small table Leatherman he's so he had like it like everybody's house he had like his own patio restaurant oh good Lord I mean honestly like that might be a fair trade at this point to just walk in circles and just get fed a

bunch I might just go that route I excuse me I'm gonna look at my calendar but I do believe it's been 34 days he was not known to bathe regularly and wore the exact same Leather outfit for decades that breeze so like Jim Morrison it breathes yeah exactly yeah who we've all known for a good smell problem after eating he would be off sometimes he would bow at Rainer's I love that so yeah good day I'm an Asian Leatherman today rain or snow hinder wheat hinder wheat rain or snow hinder wheat just like the post office eat or wind he ate outside sometimes he'd take a doggie bag to go he loved tobacco of course the Leatherman

dead he made pipes out of pieces of tin and hollow reeds his tobacco came from cigar stubs and he would find along his route so he's just picking up we've seen it but he's a hobo so that's what they're supposed to do I again we've seen it yeah I was creed if I if that to me is not a problem with what's happening I'm fine with that wrinkle he'd smoke when he set up his camp at night occasionally a person would go and sit with him while he smoked they wouldn't say a word well that's a good time I dare you I fucking dare you to go sit on the log next to the Leatherman you man like how why go there like I'm gonna

sit next I'm not looking him that's why yeah there was no TV so what else are you gonna do you're gonna Larry's gonna be like I'll fucking go sit next to the God in Leatherman I want to smell the Leatherman smells good I want to get inside that leather just give a big whiff oh boy I'm getting them I'm getting the spins I'm spinning a little over here can't see oh god wow that's a bad call he gained fame merchants use photos of the Leatherman to advertise their goods what I guess if they sold leather it makes sense but if it's anything else it's the craziest shit but what if it's like enjoy beef jerky for frosted flakes

hey you know what Leatherman likes beans can of beans can of beans sandals brought to you by this lunatic look at this nut job how about some apples look at this lunatic dot dot dot how about some apples look a man in a big leather suit how would you like a hat tennis rackets take a look at this terrible man mmm biscuits gum brought to you by this smelly freak one woman gave Leatherman a brand new pair of boots to wear but he just took them and cut them up he gave her back the souls and grunted thanks and wanted off he just took the leather he just took the leather that literally must have

been what she said when she walked in the door he's just dying laughing he just what thanks just like I'm gonna absorb this into my into my costume it'll be part of me the souls are not it I don't need those he had a leather pack also known as a man purse I think oh yeah he carried everything you own a knife and a hatchet he made himself a steel pan scissors and ice pick and a French prayer book dated 1844 well that's something mm-hmm it was assumed by many that the Leatherman was Roman Catholic he wore a religious medal and carried the prayer book with him and refused to eat meat on Fridays what now I will be

having fish yes you're talking to a man who cut the souls out of the shoes I follow rules today it's tilapia yeah and also probably the pope was like is there any way to tell him to stop supporting us please please please please I beg if we could just maybe nip this in the bud a little I beg of thee keep go give him all the leather some people cross the Leatherman at the quiet house whoa Plymouth Connecticut a camera was hidden behind a bed sheet while he ate then the sheet was dropped and a photograph was taken that was the last time Leatherman stopped at the quiet house take that was the elephant me

people feeding me for free what I don't know which way is upright the person taking that picture of him or him one day in Branford Connecticut he stopped at Harding's grocery he ate a loaf of bread a pound of milk crackers a can of sardines a quarter of a pie two quarts of coffee a gill of brandy and a bottle of beer when he left he went down the road a half mile to the Chisney house and ate his usual two-quart meal like what the fuck is happening what fucking he's a monster like who can eat that well even if you were starving though that's insane I don't know if you're starving or you're training that's like

the left side of the menu at Denny's yeah that's a yeah that's what Andre the giant consumed but he wasn't a large man he stood five seven and weighed 160 pounds without the leather although if you're walking 365 miles you're gonna be a little little thin down even though the people treated Leatherman well they did not trust him some people did not treat him kindly people would often try to get him drunk and get him to reveal his past secrets he began to avoid places where he had bad experiences okay sweet that happened in New Haven locals came out of the tavern and decided Leatherman would spill his guts

if he had some booze in him so they held him down and poured alcohol down his throat is there not a quicker like more friendly route literally drowning and waterboarding a man and Brandy I don't think so maybe just be like hey Leatherman Brandy not in the 1870s you just get a funnel but what kind of person gets forced to drink I mean be like oh I'm shitface in the town of Forestville he was thrown into a horse trough this sounds like some of the shine is coming off the allure of Leatherman these incidents cause Leatherman to avoid town centers and he stuck to country roads and train tracks people became

concerned in 1877 when a raw sore appeared on his lip newspapers across the area reported on his condition Jesus hear ye hear ye Leatherman has a derpy it's like how E news started Leatherman herpes we have more the early winter was very cold the sore was aggravated the skin on his hands face and chest was for frostbitten causing it to become hard and swollen his skin cracked and it was blood but he wouldn't take take help from anyone knew anyway they would he was like I'm not just give me some biscuits just let me become a cold let me become a walking cold sore you know what you know what a

zombie is we're headed there I'm good the people on this 34-day route tried to get him to take lodging but he refused children followed him and discovered he was living in caves setting fires that warm the rocks one of the most reported on stories was his arrest in Middletown Connecticut Leatherman was taken into custody by the Connecticut Humane Society what so the sore on his mouth could be treated so an examination proved the sore to be cancerous ah within an hour he escaped and was back on the move escaped his days were numbered did he free any other Leatherman he picked up a stove and threw it through the wall and

then all the Leatherman man free and that's where there's that song look at the Leatherman run free look at the that ratchet was like no everyone was amazed when he survived the great blizzard of night of 1888 cities were shut down all over the Northeast all modes of transportation were halted hundreds died Leatherman was presumed to be a victim of the storm but he had built a makeshift hut in Southington Connecticut and weathered the storm the biggest blizzard of the 19th century only slowed him down by four days Leatherman Leatherman on the 9th of December 1888 he came to the home of

James Bernard of North Haven he was brought to the fire by the family he was cold and wet half the lower lip on his right side was eaten away they gave him coffee and milk and cake and pie he drank six bowls of coffee bowls I mean that's loaded should we give him a cup now give him the stuff that doggies now he's in that lip oh good god look at this fucking give him a bowl don't give my good mugs he put a piece of leather over his lips so he could eat just did we even explain what that even means he put I mean for fuck sake good Lord Leatherman oh love to be able to talk to him yeah he seemed grateful he

declined tobacco when he was his lip had fallen off I got I got to feel it's from that um no I'll just keep my leather mouth when he was warm and hadn't eaten enough he got up to go and left on March 24th 1889 Henry Miller brought his fiancee to a cave to show her where Leatherman stayed when he was in the area he saw the body of Leatherman Leatherman was dead that marriage was fucking do yeah oh this is kind of weird huh boy I was taking out here for a little fun thing anyway there's a body want to make out oh I was hoping to fuck you the fuck feels like it's out of the question yeah right at the fuck you right

I feel like a fuck as possible the Westchester County coroner said he died of cancer his death was reported on the front page of the New York Sun and the Hartford Times and many other papers he was buried in Olsenang New York in a Potter's Field he was not buried in his leather outfit a simple iron pipe marked his grave okay why wasn't he buried in his leather out seriously he may I mean what does he need to put in a fucking will yeah it's pretty clear like happier and leather I've got like one thing that I like to wear just fucking let me die and be buried in it he was pretty clear in if I walked around my whole life in

one suit and you switched suits when I was dead yeah I'm upset in 1953 someone gave him a used headstone with the name Jules bugle carved in okay it's a used headstone that's how Leatherman would have wanted it and I saw a video of it so on the front it says his name but then on the back it's someone else's name is like been rubbed off it's like a highlights you can notice the differences I didn't know you could get it you said what happened to the was the person not using it anymore I've been dead so long just go ahead and take it that is so fucking true how like what I don't think why are there used headstones not a lot

of people who are like yeah you know what you can get rid of that just use the it's not loose leaf yeah go ahead and flip it around flip it around you can write on the back right on the back scribble out what was on the other side the Globe Museum in New York purchased the Leatherman's clothing the Globe Museum from who who the fuck sold it it's nobody's to sell it should be in his coffin the guy who decided that Leatherman didn't want to be buried in his leather sold it Dave he made a moral decision the suit was made of heavy pieces of raw leather estimated to have weighed more than 60 pounds Jesus Christ

holy shit 300 the fucking back pain oh god his shoes were made of thick wooden soles nailed to leather the Globe Museum then just a man in the outfit he ran among the crowds at the museum growling I am hungry give me a child to eat so so that guy's a terrible job so his memory was was secure that guy's worse than the wild man of Borneo um he's worse than Ufti I think I want to see them together and I can maybe make a decision I think if I heard Ufti Gufti okay first of all Ufti had to put on tar horsehair this guy had to put on a suit but a man died in after wearing for 30 years and the the addition imagine the ball smell from

the pants if the ball smell from the pants also the addition of give me a baby to eat it's like that's not what Leatherman said give me a bit that's a nice little change protests from people who knew the Leatherman caused the museum to stop what is maybe the greatest life show ever the suit has disappeared his pictures are still found in family albums so people took pictures of them and they passed them on and now Leatherman is today leather leather men are completely different today what today Leatherman are completely out there but no one's still strong no one's happy to these days

to see a Leatherman show up looking for food some people are Dave some people hey you got any apples do you want to be fucked hey Leatherman here got any apples this is obsession with apples the idea of advertiser is getting behind him knock knock Leatherman here how's your asshole excuse me leather man got apples got any apples boy that's crazy that's the story the Leatherman there's the greatest video which I can post yeah I post it's the videos tremendous it's just it's like a from years ago like a a reenactment no like a guy like the local Hewington Connecticut station and there's like a big bearded guy walking

around and then the Leatherman and he was like that goes to different places he went to the grocery store and it's really fucking awesome he was obsessed with apples yes really it's tremendous that's amazing all right that's a small up a good smile up congrats to everybody bye everybody