The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 482 - The Counterfeiter

Episode Date: May 25, 2021

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine counterfeiter Owen Sullivan.SourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. This is a

bilingual American History podcast where each week I, Dave Anthony, human reach a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds also human who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. It's just weird that you steal my intro. It's a good credit. Yeah but it's a good credit. You should have your own, you know what I mean? A couple of human men. Human, human. Hey, how about that? Why is it you why is it human and not human? Oh, buddy. Let's dig deeper into that on today's episode and it's a really important episode of the dollop. And then we'll go to the intro music and then

we'll start intro, intro, intro, intro, intro, intro, intro, intro, intro, and then we'll go three, two, one, back. Start the podcast. And called it quote, his jam-packed. Jam-packed? I'm the fucking hippo guy! Dave, okay. My name's Gary. My name's Gareth. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tickly Podcast. Okay. This is like an ad on a five-part coefficient. My room's a place! Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep, no hippo. That's like no hippo. Action, partner. Hi, Gary. No. Nicely done, my friend. Okay, I don't know the exact date, but 1723. Year of our Lord

Jesus Christ. Okay. Saviour de Piper. Sure, sure. John Sullivan was born in the town of Fethard, Ireland. Fethard. I sure was. Yes, he's gonna have an Irish accent. Why do I already sound beleaguers? I saw babies come out in Ireland. Oh, it's been so hard. I'm pregnant myself! Starting at a young age, he was always in trouble. Okay. He said he was, quote, always in all kinds of mischief. I never minded a father or mother, but went in on all manner of vice. Okay, jokie. So, yeah. His test came back positive for Irish. I don't, you don't expect just a five-year-old to be into vice, but that's what this guy was, all manner. Listen, sure. Did he

know at five he was like, he was a vicey? He must have. I've been down at the brothel. I'm a bit of a vicey, I am. Oh, yeah, you name it. Cigarettes, women, alcohol, drugs. I love it. Just a wee one. I'm five. So, at eleven, his parents couldn't handle him anymore. They were just like, it's too much, and they locked him in his room for an unknown, but very long period of time. Jesus. It's not great. That's... What are we gonna do with the boy? I will just put him in his room forever. Don't you worry about a thing. Okay. We'll let those four walls raise him. They only gave him water and bread during his... Hey, our boy. I mean, that's fucking

torture. I mean, can you believe that that was like, there was a time when that was passable? I love you, son. Here's some bread. I love you, dad. Oh, no, you'd love me so much. Yes. Bread and water again. There you go. That's my boy. Fantastic. Boy, I've got a real bread voice. We're having a nice stew. I smell it under the crack of the door where you slit my loaf. Nice, right? No, it smells nice. When do I get my make bucket back? You don't, son. Come on now. Oh, I want my make bucket. Yeah, it's not happening. So that didn't actually work, that... Abuse? Didn't make the situation better? That attempted to straighten him out. It didn't, for some reason, fly. Weird. And so he got out and

he was, quote, ten times worse. Yeah, yes. You, I mean, you've created an enemy. Yeah, no, it's not good at all. So, his parents then sent him to live with a very strict school master. Smart. Definitely doubled down on the abuse. Yep, beat him. It's probably the way to go for sure. Absolutely. There, John said an evil spirit started visiting him while he slept. And it would call out his name. John. John. John. You fancy a cigarette with me, boy? Yeah. I am the ghost. I am an evil spirit. Come on, take my hand. We'll go down to the pub for five. Okay. Yes, take my hand. Oh, they know me at the pub. I bet they do. You gosh, you're tiny. Yeah. I'm a bit of like a mentor type figure to you as

far as apparitions go, I can tell. Oh, yeah, I love it. It's wonderful. Oh, good. Okay. You want to play? Just a ghost and a boy. What are you all staring at? Boys, you want to play Blackjack? I'm here with me ghost dealer. So, this spirit visiting would continue for several minutes during the night. And after every night, well, after three nights, the schoolmaster was like, all right, I'm going to sleep in the room with you if this is what's going on. That's it. I'm going to beat the fuck out of this spirit. So the spirit keeps saying the name and doing his thing. And then ministers are summoned and people pray and they move John to a different house. Did the did the headmaster see it?

So the headmaster corroborate it? I assume that he did. We'll get to why in a second. Okay. Okay. Still, the spirit is still going, John, John, John. It happens exactly 11 p.m. every day. Maybe he just had to go to the toilet. It's very possible. I've got to go, John. Number two, John. Bring ghost paper. So finally, they move him back in with his parents. And that seems to do the trick. All of a sudden the spirit is gone. It's suspicious, isn't it? Dave, it's a bit suspicious. And this is all based on John's account of what happened. This is him telling that story. That's his version. So we don't know what the schoolmaster would have said or the ministers or anything else. Okay,

We couldn't reach anyone else for comment, but John says once you move back home the ghost after off. Yeah, the go-fet it goes go-fet off Right well put yeah, so back at home. He just goes straight back to me and a bad boy, right? Okay, and at 13 he got out from under the quote tyranny of his parents by running away Okay So he wanders he goes west he wanders around Ireland for a bit and then there's tons of poverty So it's just all on display. He's seeing you know, how how fucked things are and Then he meet he meets some men who are about to set sail on a boat for Waterford and he asked if he could climb on board because he says he wants to go visit his aunt in Waterford

And they're like yeah, man that that sounds cool. So they take a young lad on the ship 13 year olds, right? And he told them his name was Owen Sullivan, which is sure which ends up being the name he's gonna go by for the rest of his life Okay So Normal stuff interesting. Yeah, I mean, I don't really see the angle that changing his name yet, but I guess we'll just Yeah, well, we'll see what happens, right? Sure. Yeah, there is no angle. That's just what he is. I guess he just didn't want it. He didn't want People to connect him to the apparition but no to get back to his parents that he got on a boat or something

I think he just wanted you know, he is running away Okay, I assume Yeah, so he drift he goes to Waterford. He dressed on Island for a while and at some point He he's talking about some rich guy and he tells him that he's an orphan that his parents are dead and And the man says well, you can come live with me And so Owen becomes an indentured servant for six years Is that is is that that doesn't seem like a great deal? Well Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of poverty around so there are a lot of indentured servants. Yeah, okay

I assume it's a nice pad. Like I don't know why I do that But it's like that in that moment if that's the movie. It's like well, unfortunately, mister I've had a bit of a rough run that start starts out my parents abused me after that is Talking to a spirit and then my parents plum died soon after that. Oh boy I've taken great pity upon you your story pulls at my heartstrings Why don't you be in forced labor with me for six years? Oh, that's right. Nice. Yeah. Okay. Oh You feel like what you need is a loving boss Yeah, right. All right. I'll be a slave then. It's right, right

Perfect. Yeah. All right. Okay. I guess I've done that then Wait before we go back. There's just one thing. I've got to tell you Oh go on. I Love having my shoes cleaned when I wake up So if there's not fucking cleaned the back of my hand you get all right. Okay. All right. Yep Yeah, come on your loveless sack of shit. Holy shit. What the fuck is this? This is a street That's what we're gonna take to walk back to my house

Why are you so alarmed by it? It's just fine. It's all good. I'm happy with streets and whatnot. It's all good What kind of expression listen boy you work at the house now you watch him out. You don't talk like that. It's very loose Holy fuck now Exactly another street now. You're gonna need to get over the street thing. Eventually There's a lot of them on the way back. Jesus fucking Christ. That's just a lamp post. What do you buy? No, put your eyes back in your head. Sorry Crazy It's all good. It's all good. Yeah

So So He he's a foot boy. That's what his job was for the he's a foot boy guy's wife Yeah, he's a foot boy. I think it just means always underfoot always there to get you what you want. Oh Okay, so he's not just like like dealing with her feet all the time He just kept his whole job is to rub her feet Maybe lick the toes more milk to the toes bottom, but I suppose I'd have a spot. Yes After six years, he starts missing his family again and one day his master tells him to deliver a letter and

He rides 20 miles to deliver the letter and then he just keeps going on the horse and rides for another 50 miles Until he thinks he's far enough away and he again finds himself in Waterford He so he's not that far from his parents at this point and And but he's at a pub in Waterford and he drinks some wine and then falls asleep because he's feeling sick And he won't tell anybody Who he is or where he's going? He's just refusing to tell anybody quote. Okay. He's just a drunk whiner who's sick Yeah, quote after I got well and went down to the wharf where I saw several pastures going on board of a vessel bound for Boston. Oh boy, oh boy

So, okay, this is just completely spontaneous. There's no plan. Sure He just sure offers himself up to the captain as an indentured servant to pay his passage on the ship Which is really common some people who just wanted to get to America. They would they would they would offer their Whatever four years five years to the captain and then when the captain got there he would sell them as indentured servants How long? How long does it take to get to America on a boat from iron? I think it's about right. I think it's about nine weeks at this point So so you agree to work for the captain for four years yet, not for the captain the captain you basically turn over your

Your labor for four years and then hit the captain sells you when he gets to America Oh, so you're basically you're like a you're like a Free agent with a deal. Yeah, so like when you go there, you're like available for okay. Wow. Yeah, it's good Wow, it's a good. It's great. Yeah, it's By the way, it's pretty close to what we do in America now The story of Amazon So So the guy says yes, and he signs up for four years of indentured servitude

Jesus now the trip is hard Well, like I said about nine weeks across the Atlantic and the captain and he didn't have enough food for all the people Who were aboard which was pretty common? Sure, that's great. That's a good way to do that for sure So you'd feel because then some people will die and that's cool. Yeah, well you it's very costly to get food, right? All right, it's time for another potato war I'll gather round we're gonna toss three into the middle Well, so they didn't want to buy a bunch of food and they knew

Going in like the map was like well, whatever 30% of them will die and then the other 60% 70% Imagine getting on a boat where you know that 30% of the people are gonna die. I mean aside from carnival It's it's just so fucking crazy, but that's that's in carnival's ads like it's in the ad Try our buffet 30% of you will die. Look at this lovely dance floor Water slides live bands 30% aren't coming back carnival cruise lines. Be really careful. Oh so Maybe more than 30% So so like I said the captains would make money by selling the ones who are still alive and though as long as they made money

From the trip they were fine with whatever people dying So okay pack them all in with famous little as possible and turn a proper sure so Owen's hungry because there's not a lot of food on the ship and He goes to the captain and he tells him he will give another three years of indenture servitude if he could eat as Many biscuits as possible in 90 minutes. No No, no, what Dave Dave Dave David Dave David Dave Dave David

Dave what's happening? He what kind of cool hand Luke bullshit bet did he I mean that is just how it meant back then this is just what life was on the sea Can you imagine the captain's face? He probably like what mr. Captain I love to offer up another three years, but there's one condition the captain's probably like man Whatever he says, I'm gonna do it like that's seven years. That's a lot of money He just asked for an all-you-can-eat biscuit window I just like to be able to eat as many biscuits as possible the captain's probably like and what else that's it

Oh, yeah for sure. That's perfect here. There's 30 biscuits. That'll probably do it Well, you know, this is nine weeks, right? Do you know how the body works? You're not a biscuit camel the captain The captain laughed and was like, yeah, but he had a counteroffer 20 minutes now he said the just slight adjustment would be that Owen could not drink anything while he was eating the biscuits. Oh My god that what a fucking prick That is so I mean I I know Owen is probably going to take this deal But it's got to be because he doesn't understand how important liquid is to the digestion of dry biscuits. That's right. I

Mean, it's like the saltine tree. He's gonna be able to like have two of them be like pop pop pop Yeah, pop pop pop pop pop pop pop up a half a water. Yeah, just a paste like nightmare in his mouth That's just like eating drywall. I assume and Like it didn't say this explicitly, but I would assume that he because it's a nine-week journey It was like every day or every other day probably every he got to do it Like it couldn't have just been once but maybe it was I don't know Well, I mean Look if he's the go no matter what it's crazy

Yeah, but if he's negotiating like every two days he gets a 30 minute Biscuit bash or was it 90 minutes 90 minutes 90 minute biscuit bash that makes Not a lot of sense, but more sense than asking for a 90 minute biscuit window. Yeah, once yeah 90-minute biscuit window for three years. It's a pretty bad Fucking deal. I mean seven years of your life to get to America with one 90-minute biscuit session like It's just I'm a fucking business man, aren't I? Oh You really flaced us. Well, good luck with your biscuit buffet

So whatever it helped him survive the trip which a lot of people didn't survive right, you know, so sure he's sure so After the ship arrives in Boston Owen was sold to a captain Gilmore who had land in Maine Okay, so for two and a half years own work the land Chopping wood clearing it right. He's just clearing the land sure, but things start getting a little spicy between France and England and There's attacks the French align with Native Americans

And so there's trying to be a tax around and they're they're pretty close to that Maine is not a good place to be at that point Right, so the family decides to move to Boston, but they sell Owen before they go right sure Okay, so I Pretty rough run so far curious if at any point like things go well in any way so You can abandon me fully, but I want five biscuits

Okay, you just can't have them with any any walk. That's usually the rule. Oh Well, I followed for that before that just means I get two biscuits. I was assuming yeah, no Well, it is a deal. Have a good life. Thank you These are the drier for you see it's been around for a couple of weeks Very difficult to Trudy, yeah, it's a very difficult biscuit to fill a shoe through. It's not great. I gotta be honest Oh, I don't know any way one of you could potentially just spit at my mouth. No, please It's very dry. I'm worried that I've kept off. I'm worried. I'm concreting my own mouth

That's that's yeah, it's part of the we actually have a side bet that your mouth become concrete within within about six minutes That's pretty close to boy. I'll tell you one thing. I'm not getting better. I just biscuit negotiations Yeah, you're getting worse Thank you Oh Okay, I don't know what you're saying so milk Maybe someone could piss in my mouth. No, no

Have a good life. Okay, bye-bye So he is, he's sold to a military guy, he's sold to a commanding officer at a nearby fort. And you know this is back in the 1700s, so the fort is like totally isolated, you know, it's not a great situation, and there is now fighting happening, so. Good, so he's going into a really good situation. Now, servants are allowed to join the military, but their wages went to their masters. So he wasn't supposed to fight, he was just supposed to be the servant of this commander, but then he joins the military even though the commander didn't want him to, he did anyway.

Okay. After a time he became the regiment's chief armorer and learned metalworking and engraving. Okay, so it seems like he's got a trade now. Yeah, he's got a trade, that's right, he's got a trade. He's very successful, he's moving up the ranks. Then he gets married, marries a young lass, really started drinking at that point, he really started hitting the old ball. Okay, well that's what you do, right?

I mean it's like you finally, you've got your life partner now become the worst version of yourself. That's right. He looks at the world like contracts and he just signed her to a lifetime one. He's like, I didn't do it for any biscuits, you silly woman. You could have gone five out of me at least, do you? Anyway, I'm off to get blackout shit-conned. His wife drank also, they were both huge drinkers, they're both very angry drunk. Okay, good, that always makes for a good pair.

So quote Owen, I unhappily married a wife and she was given to take a cup too much and I for my part took the same. Okay, so he didn't get in the right marriage and they both drank a lot. That's right. So he starts blowing off work, he starts blowing off his duties and his behavior is getting worse, which he blamed on his wife's quote aggravating tongue. Yes, 100%. And he ends up being such a mess that he gets demoted all the way back now to just common soldier.

Okay. So during days off, Owen keeps honing his skills as a silversmith and one day he casts a Spanish dollar, right, so he just makes a Spanish dollar and without thinking he leaves it out on his workbench and someone sees it, some snitch and turns them in. Okay. And so he gets arrested and put on trial for counterfeiting. Oh, I'm going to get docked biscuits, aren't I? He ends up playing guilty to making the coin, but then he's still somehow acquitted.

Okay. Now he's super charming also, like he's really, people like him. He's got that thing. Okay. So maybe that's a part of it. But anyway, in 1748, the regiment breaks up. So Owen goes to Boston and he opens up an engraving business, right? He's got great.

Isn't it crazy how like you could just open a business like anybody could just pretty much try to open a business. Yeah. Whereas now like no idea of trying to compete in the marketplace is bonkers. Yeah. So two men come in and they offer him money, a lot of money to engrave a plate to counterfeit New Hampshire's currency. Okay.

Okay. So here we go. So this, I mean, this is, this is a hinge moment. Yeah. This is one of those swing moments. Well, where would you like to have a life of crime? Yeah, I suppose. Yeah, it's all right.

Yeah. All right. So he does it. And the business transaction gives Owen an idea. Counterfeiting. There we go. He said it was a, quote, easy way of getting money. Well, yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Making it is cry. Yeah. It's a very, it's a very, it's quicker. Yeah. It's quicker. Crazy easy.

Yeah. So soon he was making counterfeit Massachusetts notes. Now, Massachusetts was actually the very first society in the western world to create a paper currency. And they did that in 1690. So they were the very first. Okay. Okay.

Now the rich didn't want paper currency. They wanted everything. Oh God. Take me back. Right. Gold, silver. They wanted it in coin. Right.

Basically, if currency is based in metals, they would have more control. Yeah. It's finite amount. Yes. So they have most of it. Control X amount. Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. Paper money allowed the pours to do business easily. And there's other reasons like the rich needed a universally accepted currency for international business. So whatever, the rich are against paper currency. Right. Also religious people are against it. Hmm.

They claim. That's the body of Christ. They claim paper money was immoral and supernatural. Man, can you imagine a day when the church didn't like money? Oh my God. When they, when they finally figured out that they should, they should be into money, everything turned around. Oh yeah.

Really? Yeah. Oh, by the way, I need my jet plane funded. Jesus told me about it. So like a Protestant minister compared paper money to the quote, the Pope's doctrine of trans sub ostentation that prayed upon lay people's will to believe he said using paper money instead of silver and gold was blasphemous. I mean, you know, I hope there is a God and I hope he does come down or she comes down

someday. Yeah. Yeah. Just be nice to have just the clarity pass. Another religious guy said paper money was a quote, abomination to the righteous God. Silver and gold were eternal, which God had created as measurement. Paper money disrupted the natural order God had created. Oh gosh.

What? Oh man. I mean, really just who calls God a dumbass more than religion? Over the years. I mean, it's just crazy. So they were one of the wealthy guys in Boston was Thomas Hutchinson. He's a very wealthy leader and a leader in the movement to get rid of paper currency. So a couple months before he had gotten a bill passed in the legislature to retire all paper

currency within two years in 1749 he did that. So the Boston even post warned getting rid of paper money would force the state to go back to a barter system. Okay. Quote. Right. We shall have the pleasant sight of a housekeeper groaning under the burden of a barrel of flour to market to barter for mutton.

Wait, can you say that one more time? Yeah. That's a very. We shall have the pleasant sight of a housekeeper pleasant sight. So they're selling this flower barter. I think they're being sarcastic. Oh, okay. Okay.

I mean, I hope they're being sarcastic. It's hard to tell. Okay. Yeah. We shall have the pleasant sight of a housekeeper groaning under the burden of a barrel of flour to market to barter for mutton. So yeah, she's she's gonna. What is the flower mutton exchange?

Oh, it's it's really good right now. It's a two to one. It's a great deal. Oh, that's great. That's great. And I got plenty of. Buy your mutton. So on May 1st, 1749, Thomas Hutchinson's house caught on fire.

Just okay. Happenstance, I'm sure. Yeah. No, for sure. And then working class people gathered outside to watch and started chanting, let it burn. Let it burn. Let it burn. That's I mean, if you're him, is that the time where you're like, maybe I'm a villain?

Unfortunately for them, the house was saved. But that's how important. Paper money was to the working guy. Like it's right. It's a big deal. So yeah, maybe the greatest example of paper money leading to a reversal. Have you all heard of the biscuit currency? I've also quite valuable.

I know it sounds bad. I heard about a guy. No, you just. Yeah, go on. No, I heard about a guy that got a three year indentured servitude for like ended up being like three and a half biscuits. The name's Owen. Pleasure to meet you.

Oh, hey. How are you? I didn't know that was. Yeah. I, wow. Shit. I negotiate. I fight pretty hard for biscuits.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know anybody who's looking for that sort of negotiate. Well, let them know I'm doing a biscuit for a year. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No one's really. One biscuit one year in my life.

Okay. You're not going to find a better deal than that. Oh, but there's one caveat. We must be able to have liquid. This whole non liquid thing. It's really, I almost died in banger. Yeah. So our only, I guess stipulation is that there can't be any liquid.

Well, you didn't even know about it till I just was telling you. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Fine.

Fine. I don't need any liquid. Okay. But I might need to have one of you all piss in my mouth. No. No. We're out of, we're out of piss. We traded it all for mutton.

Oh. Smart. Okay. But the deal stands. Okay. These are, these are two month old biscuits. Fucking hell. Really.

I wish I, it's just I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. So, so maybe the greatest example of paper money leading to a reversal of the social order like the religious guys were worried about were counterfeiters like Owen Sullivan. Oh, right. Now neighbors noticed that all of a sudden Owen started living large. Right. Man. Hasn't he seen good fellas?

You're not supposed to do that. Right. So he's living large. He's buying all this stuff. He's living way over his means. And they know he doesn't have that much. Anybody want a biscuit? They know he doesn't have that much of an income.

There you are. You wanted your kids. Go, go downtown. Get yourself a couple of biscuits on me. All right. How are you doing, Lenny? Thanks for watching the car, the bike when I was out. There you are.

Take a couple of biscuits home with you in my mind. Can I get a couple of whiskeys, please? Two biscuits in front of Barton. Excuse me, mate. Yeah. Why don't you need a biscuit? There you are. Take one.

These biscuits seem a little suspicious, yeah? What are you talking about? I've got a bunch of... What are they talking about issued? The biscuits. Government issued. Yeah. What are you talking about?

Are they state biscuits? I buy my biscuits. I buy my biscuits. With all my money. I've got a lot of money. I've got a lot of biscuits. Yeah, it takes you pretty good for all, Owen, if you ask me. My name is Owen.

There you go, son. Don't worry your pretty little head. I have five biscuits. Call me in the morning. Be glad you did. I have a bunch of biscuits. Well, hello there, sweetheart. You looking for a man with biscuits?

Hey, mate. Yeah. Are these biscuit fits? Well, you suggested that these are fake biscuits. Counterfeit biscuits. Yeah, that's right. I don't see... You're calling them biscuit fits.

I don't see them on official mark. What? There's a mark right at the bottom here. Look. Massachusetts biscuit. Get the fuck out of here. I'll fuck you. You don't know what you're...

Hey, take two biscuits. I got my biscuits. As if I ain't hard earned my biscuits. Where did you get all the biscuits, Owen? Where did they come from? I've got a machine. I've got a machine. Take two biscuits.

So... And I have a wife. They like to drink, like we said. And they like to get angry and yell and fight. Sure. So one day they're arguing. And she yells, quote, you 40,000 money maker.

Ooh. And all the neighbors hear it. Oh, boy. And they go and tell the authorities. So that clearly... Whatever that language is clearly tells people that he has made 40,000 fake dollars. Yeah. Right.

On August 28th, 1749, Owen's workshop was searched. And... Oh, man. They found a mold for casting dollars, ink, copper plate, and pieces of paper that Owen had practiced forging officials signatures on. You got nuts shit on me. Oh, fuck. I meant everything.

You got everything on me. Point to one thing that implicates me. He also had 30 counterfeit Massachusetts notes on him. And the bills were not very good. The print was too black and it was super easy to tell they were fake, just looking at them. So he's arrested, he's put in jail. Now, in jail, he reaches out to a friend and he makes a deal with a friend. And would get him out of jail, pay the bail that he had if Owen engraved three plates

to make counterfeit New Hampshire bills. I love that predicament where it's like, alright, I'll get you out, but commit the same crime. But more. Like a worse... A more egregious version of the crime you've already committed. So to do that, he needs a New Hampshire note to copy, a sheet of copper, and a metal chisel. Sure. Which is super easy to get into jail by braving a guard or getting a...

He has to make it in jail? Yeah, he makes it. I didn't realize he was going to be doing this in jail. Yeah, he's going to make it in his cell and that's the only way he can get bailed out. That's like an escape room. I just can't imagine the guard walking by. What are you doing there, Owen? Not just masturbating under that sheet again with a pot.

Alright. A real weirdo in there, huh? So either a guard can be bribed or there's a lot of debtor prisoners. But debt prisoners would be able to leave all day and then they had to come back at night. So it was like... Oh, they had the Epstein. Yeah, they had an apartment situation. Did Epstein have that?

Yeah, when Epstein was first... The first time that he was convicted or whatever, he was able to leave all day, basically. It's fine. It's a totally fine thing. And it didn't lead to a bunch of other crimes. Right. No, it's all good. Yeah, that worked out well. For sure.

Yeah, yeah, yep. So, he makes the plates in his cell. Sure. Of course. And he gives them to his friend. His friend takes them and hides them at the bottom of a sled in a barn on a board. I mean, at the end of this, there needs to be an undercover boss of how the jailers work. I mean, in order to sneak that stuff in is crazy.

Oh, it's insane. But then for him to produce it in cell is nuts. And then for that guy to come in and be able to get it out. Yeah, no, it's all crazy. So, the guy, when he gets the plates, he pays Owen's bail. And Owen gets out. He goes on trial in the fall of 1750. The jury then convicts him of, quote, wickedly, falsely and deceitfully forging bills.

I like the caveats on the crime. Now, this is his punishment. He is locked into the pillory in front of the old state house. So, right? What's the pillory? That's the hands and the head through the world. Right. Right.

Right. That classic thing. So, he's locked there in front of what? In front of the state house. Okay. So, he's okay. And how does that work? Do you pull like shifts on that thing?

No, no, it's actually not that long. He's only in there for two hours. Apparently, it really hurts your back. And it's a public shame. Yeah, sure it hurts your back. So, he has his head and arms locked between two pieces of wood. People are walking by or looking at him. It's that thing.

It's the best time to just do, you know, a quick finger up the, you know. The buggy? No. I wasn't going to say that. That would have crazy way to finish. I thought that was so vanilla. I thought we were on the same. Put the finger in the buggy.

That's a child's game. Where's the donkey? Oh, it's not pin the tail on the donkey. It's put your finger in the buggy. So, after two hours, he's taken out of the pillory and then he gets tied to the whipping post and without a shirt on, they lash him 20 times on his back. After that, he's free. Well, I mean, dude, you know, I'm just trying to think like if I were to be

threatened with a jail sentence or that, which would you take? At that one year. I guess you take that. Yeah, but it's, they'll give me. Yeah. So he goes back to counterfeiting. Of course. Now he sets up a new business model.

So he, he's the engraver. This one I don't get caught for. That's to wrinkle. So he's the engraver. Other people would print it and then other people would distribute. Right. So it's a whole network. Okay.

Right. So he could expand his business as an engraver. He could keep moving around and creating engraving plates and setting up different operations everywhere. Yeah, right. He'll franchise his counterfeiting. And he has a knack for getting people to trust him and he's charming and persuasive.

So. Okay. But now. By the way, that, that has sneak and biscuits written all over. Yeah. Oh, fuck. Yeah. So unfortunately around this time to the two guys who had first come to

him and asked him to make the, the plates for the New Hampshire bills. Yeah. They get busted holding fake bills and they both snitch and offered to testify against Owen saying it was all his plan. Okay. So Owen flees Boston and he heads to Providence, Rhode Island where he sets up a new counterfeiting operation. Brings in a bunch of new associates.

They're not, they're not criminals. They're mostly like farmers and millers and boatmen, people who needed a side hustle to get by. So it's just guys who aren't making up money. They need some side. It's, it's the gig economy. Yes. Yeah.

So they printed and spread out about 12,000 pounds of Rhode Island money, which back then is a fucking shitload of money. Okay. They counterfeited for two years. Wow. Owen skills got better and better. The boss getting caught will do that to you. You're like, well, I think the goal now is to actually try to get it done

properly. Yeah. We're thinking about not making it look like shit. We've got a new model. It's called don't make this suck as much. So now there's a paper, a newspaper called the Boston post boy. Sure. Yep.

Of course there is. Did you read the post boy? And they said, Owen's notes were quote exceedingly well counterfeited so that without inspecting very narrowly few, but what may be deceived. So it really easy to good bills. Yeah. Really good counterfeit bills. And then that report was printed in other papers around New England.

So Owen's becoming known at this point. Right. Which is what you want as a counterfeiter. Absolutely. You want to get your name out there. Get your name in lights. Yeah. So one of the crew's wives gets caught passing a fake bill.

And then the entire operation starts to fall apart. Okay. We need to tighten it up over there. People start getting arrested. Several are put in jail. The government offers a reward for Owen. So Owen tries to make a run for it with one of his partners, Nicholas Stevens. And they ride out into the woods from Providence.

And then they, they, they had grabbed all the money that they had printed up and they, they divvied it up between the two of them. And then they went their separate directions. Are they just going to like live like Ewoks? I don't know what they're going to do. There's a lot of plans. All right. Well, we got all the, we got a ton of money and we're in the woods.

This will work. I'm going to pay that tree for a house. But what happened was Stevens turned back and went back to Providence and turned himself in, hoping to get a lighter sentence for being a snitch. Uh, Owen got caught a week later. So Owen's put in jail with his gang and he tells them all smart, smart again. It's just, it's, it's how you should do it. All right, boys.

Well, I hope you enjoy your reunion. Good luck getting your fucking story straight. Yeah. Now remember, no talking about crime or the case. For that side of that, you're free to express yourselves. We know the camaraderie that comes with gangs. So now, now to prove that someone has been counterfeiting, and this may have been why he got off in the first instance, you have to prove their intent.

You have to prove that. How, I mean, how hard is that? They meant to make it and do it. So most people could just say, no, I just, I just, I didn't make this. Someone gave it to me. I'm, oh, it's very hard. So you have to connect, you have to connect them to the, but I mean, okay, I guess that's maybe a little difficult, but as we learned in his last crime, he left all the stuff out.

Right. Um, so, so he's in with his gang and he tells them all to say they thought the money was real and that he would take the fall. He would say that he had duped all of the men in his own gang with fake money and then they'd all walk and he'd be the only one to take the fall. This is not what he's, what's the twist here? There's no twist that like that's really what he's going to do. Yeah.

Is he just doing that to be a good dude? Yeah. So there was a time when people were. Yeah. Yeah, no. Yeah. And you would take the, even crime had morality. Yeah.

Right. Okay. So the only problem with this is that, uh, Stevens said he had taken the money from Oh, and knowing it was forged out. So he would be the only outlier, right? Nicholas Stevens. Right. Right.

So the rest of the crew sticks to their story and Owen takes the blame. He also tells the authorities that he's hidden $4,000 and would not say where it was until the rest of his crew was set free. Interesting. Because he knew that that amount of money out there would freak out the government. Right. Okay. So Owen goes and gets the cash, which usually is like stashed out in a forest in a hedge

or behind a rock. Every. Sure. This, this story is littered with people being like, and then I put the money in a hedge. Like it's just super common. That's what a hedge fund is. America just had, yeah, just trees and bushes with money in it. Like that was just.

Sure. Right. Yeah. Okay. That sounds fine. Yeah. Normal. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't use banks. I use the bramble. So, so Owen gives up the cash. He tells the authorities where it is. And then him and Nicholas Stevens, uh, plead guilty and they're the only ones. Everyone else gets off. They're all free.

Okay. So, Owen gets put into the pillory for 90 minutes. Okay. And now this is the common punishment that he didn't get before, which I don't know why. Where someone walks by with their finger and. Yeah. They, they wet it and they put it in his ear. No.

Bunger. Come on, dude. Keep up. Sorry. Branding and, and cropping of the ears. So they slice your ears off and they brand your. Your whole ear off. Yeah.

They slice off your ears. So. Your whole. What the fuck. So if you're a crime guy in this time. People know. Yeah. They're like, oh, look, a brand.

And he's the guy who keeps saying, huh. And you would get branded with whatever your thing was. Right. She's, well, hopefully you had a short, shortly worded crime. Uh, yeah. I mean, like it would be tea for you. Like it would be tea for thief and stuff like that. Now he was getting branded for an R, which I don't know why R.

It should be a C. Rep scallion. Yeah. Could be reps. Now, for some reason though, the, uh, constable doing it. Burns him above his hairline, which means. He can hide it. What kind of.

And that means you're going to have to wait three months until you can cover it up. Wait a minute. And then instead of cutting off his ears, um, he just cuts the edge of his ear. Like slice. I just pierced him. This is like a Claire's. So Owen, like he, he, he had a charm. He knew how to work people and he somehow had worked either the authorities or the guy

doing it. Like he had worked them a little bit. And so he didn't get that's out of a punishment. Now, Nicholas Stevens did not have that. So, man, that rendezvous was pretty awkward. Oh, and where's your branding? Oh, it's into my hair. Wait, it's under your what?

Oh, you're having trouble hearing me. Sorry. He just took the tops off. So Owen talks the jailers into letting him watch Stevens branding and cropping. Okay. Doki. I gotta be there. I gotta be there.

You guys, I got, I just got to see it. I want to see it so bad. It is what. Do we know why? Why he wanted to be. Is it just morbid curiosity? Oh, okay. He was the snitch.

Gotcha. Okay. Jesus. So they take Owen there and Owen sees him and he fucking loses it. And he pushes away from the guards and he grabs one of their swords. Jesus. And then he holds it up and he yells at the constable who's there to do the branding and the cropping.

And he says, you cut Stevens. You do it the way you're supposed to do it. He burns an R into both of Stevens cheeks. Oh my God. And then fully crops his ears. Oh my God. And then. Oh my God.

And then Owen runs off right into the crowd and then they can't find him. He just disappears. What? What? I mean, come on. Now he was supposed to get. Wow. He was supposed to get jail time after the R.

Dave, I'm still not over the R and the R and the ears getting removed. I mean, that's just how it was. That's just how it was. It's a good time. So a few days later, now he's supposed to he's supposed to have sort of a prison sentence after the branding and that stuff. So he's supposed to be jailed for a few years. So right couple of days later, he comes back into town and turns himself back in.

Okay. And he's put in jail, which he then breaks out of a few days later using another sword he took from a guard. I mean, what's going on with the swords and the guards? It's not good. It's pretty easy. Did you just put it in your little sheet thing? Right?

I mean, maybe they had a little string that you pull and the sword just falls out of the sheet. Okay. Right. It's a shitty bang bang sword. So he flees to Duchess County, New York. And so this, this entire scenario of what he did to Nicholas, the turning himself in and breaking out, it, it blows up his rep.

Like people are just like, this guy's just what a crazy madcap. Right. Okay. Guy this is. So it also doesn't hurt that everyone's really sympathetic towards him. One paper called him quote, a man of good address. So they just, they like him for whatever reason. They just like him.

It's weird because you would think that they wouldn't, but then you're right. Like we have so many of those figures now where it's because of the like celebrity. You overlook so much shit. Yeah. You know, like people are just like, well, yeah, but we like him. Well, that's a problem for standards. I wish I could think of a big criminal guy who people like. Hmm.

Hmm. Hmm. If only there was a two part podcast about that guy. Hmm. Can't think of anything. Timothy Leary. Yeah. That's the one.

So, uh, his, his, his also hit when he got, when you get punished, when you're in the gallery, when you're, um, when you're about to get cut and branded, you get to speak. It's just like when you get to speak, when you're on the gallows, you get to give a speech. So he was also giving speeches and P and a good speaker and people liked him. Like it made him sympathetic. So, you know, he, you got to be pretty collected to be like bent over at that angle about to get your ears cut off and be like, and another thing.

So it makes swatted Dover, New York, right along the, uh, Connecticut border. There's like a strip of land on the Connecticut, New York border. That's. I would like a, I don't want to say desolate, but like a wooded area that really, there's not a lot of people there and it's a good place to hide. Um, okay. So it's sparsely, you know, populated. It's a difficult place to travel through because there's rivers and woods and marshes and swamps.

Sure. And so that also allows, it's an easy place to hide counterfeiting materials and money. You know, you can just stick it. Oh, think of all the bushes and bush and old. Oh, you got that bog money. Hollow log and, you know, the places where you put money. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah.

So he ends up setting up a shop in a cave in a very inaccessible area of a wooded swamp. He hid the opening of the cave with brush and a tree stump. And then tree stump, a tree stump in a cave is going to be like, well, that looks weird. And then, um, the cave has a narrow opening and then a long tunnel that opens up into like a big chamber, a big room. So there he puts down wood panels on the floor. He brings in tables and chairs and a bed. There's even a welcome to crib.

There's even a small opening that acted as a window to let light in. So he's like been lotting. Yeah. A hundred percent. Okie dokie. And this is where he sets up his counterfeiting operation. Right? What?

Ok. He starts with a whole, he gets a whole new crew. And now this area, because it's so sparse. I've got a chipmunk, a squirrel, a bobcat and a raccoon. These are my creature friends. Hey, there's a jaguar out here that wants to see. Yeah. Well, we're what we call the counter critters.

And, uh, it's basically what we do is we're a bunch of wild animals that counterfeit together in that right squirrel. Was that squirrel? Okay. Yeah. Squirrels don't talk too much, but, uh, wasn't I Irish? Yeah. Yeah.

Counterfeiting everything. Also, yeah, he's got a whole new crew and this area, criminals have been here for, it's always been like a hideout place. So they're, they're already here, a lot of criminals. Okay. So, I mean, he, so he opens shop in a cave and in the surrounding cave area, he's able to find other criminals to keep the operation going. Okay.

That's normal. They make, they make fake money for Connecticut, New York, and they become known as the Dover Money Club. Okay. Nice. Most of the crew have already been convicted of a crime and had their ears cropped or branded. I mean, uh, stumbling upon this group in the woods, probably on like a hike would be a little terrifying.

Just ours all over their faces, ears cut off, branded, living in caves. It's the hills have eyes. It's just. Yeah. Right. Right. It's not good. Uh-huh.

The hills don't have ears though. No, no ears. So these guys took, they take pride in, in their brands and their ears being cut off because it shows that they're seasoned criminals. It's like, yeah, we're bad asses. Sure. Right. We have people in the area with cropped ears from Reverend Samuel Peters, general history

of Connecticut. Quote, New Haven is celebrated for giving the name of pumpkin heads to all new englanders. I'm sorry. What the? Uh-huh. All new englanders are called pumpkin heads. It originated from the blue laws, which enjoined every male to have his haircut round by a cap. So it's basically a bull cut situation.

Right. Okay. And that, and they, everyone was forced to have that haircut. Yeah. So it's like the anti Beatles take, they're like, everyone's going to have them up top. So when caps could not be had, they substituted a hard shell of a pumpkin, which being put on the head every Saturday, the hair is cut by the shell all around the head. You know, there's just a lot of times when I'm like, we are regressing in every way,

but this is not one of those times. I mean, they are putting fucking pumpkin helmets on people to cut their hair properly. America had a time. Before it was America, when our ancestors, the people who formed our country would put pumpkins on their head and cut around it, I mean, it's just, I mean, I feel like I would be like the black and white infomercial person. I'd look to the camera and be like, there's got to be a better way. Well, there was apparently a reason for it.

To continue on with the quote, such persons as have lost their ears for heresy and other wickedness cannot conceal their misfortune and disgrace. So you can't grow your hair long over your ears. Oh, I, but that still doesn't justify the pumpkin, which I thought what you were about to do. I would like part that like, look, I get it. It's fucking crazy. I'm still not over the fact that they're like the best unit to use on this is the pumpkin.

Like we just need to get those seeds out of there and then this is our standard pumpkin cut. I just imagine they were using bowls and then some guy rolled in one day, he's like, I forgot the bowl. Oh, don't worry. It's just that I'll carve out this pumpkin and we could put it on his head. And I like that somewhere else is like, we came up with a really woody term for them. It's like anybody would have called the pumpkin heads.

Absolutely. It's pretty, it's there. It's right. It's like hanging fruit or veg, I guess. So that's what it was like there at the time. Now Owen was making very, very high quality bills that were almost impossible to tell from the originals. Okay.

The Delver Money Club creates a large network of people to pass bills all over Connecticut, Rhode Island, Rhode Island and New York and Massachusetts and Owen hits the road to making cravings for associates. So it's the same thing thing you try to set up in Providence, but now he's actually doing it. Right. So there really, there really aren't cops at the time. Colonists would be appointed or elected as sheriff or judge.

And then more than like stopping criminals, they usually were just like chasing runaway pigs or fixing potholes or dealing with drunks. Like it wasn't like where the detectives to figure out this crime that's going on. It just wasn't a thing. Right. Well, let's get back to that. So there's just not, it's just not enough people to stop a counterfeiting gang plus it's really hard.

Like I said, you'd have to start with a guy passing bills and then work your way up the chain and authorities didn't even know if they could prosecute someone in one colony for forging currency in another. And then you got to prove they were doing it on purpose. Like it's kind of a nightmare. That one is my favorite, prove they were doing it on purpose. So like I said, most took, most took it, most hid their, hid their, their money in hedges and rocks or somewhere in the forest.

Yeah, or maybe in their pumpkin helmet. No, no, no, get up there. Now there's a frontiersman named Robert Rogers, who had been raised in the forest of New Hampshire. Super frontier man kind of guy. His father had been a frontier man. That's who he was raised by. His father had died when he dressed up in a bear skin and snuck up on a friend's the bear hunting camp.

And then his friend shot him thinking he was a bear. Jesus Christ. I mean, come on. I mean, hilarious joke. Oh man, what a fun prank. I mean, how did you think that was going to go literally covered in the toe? I'm going to go trick my armed friend into thinking I'm a bear. That'll go.

Well, that moment when they, when they ran over and took the bear head off and he was like, I really Jesus Christ. Tom's under here. I thought this bear ate Tom. I thought he didn't even digest him. Hold on. Wait a minute. No, we just killed Tom.

I thought it'd be funny. Oh my God. Tom back. I can see the problems with my prank. You know what we were and we're hunting bleeding out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I just tell you really convincing outfit, the feet, the feet sold it, the feet sold it.

You know what? Now it's okay. Dying like this. Now that I hear that. Oh, God. So funny. Fuck. I just want to look so real.

It was amazing. You did your homework. Oh man. Even now I'm like, is the bear dying because he's throwing so much of the fur on you. Yeah. The bear's dying. Look at all you. I'll tell you what.

You're not a bear because you have smaller guts. But gosh almighty. Well, a buddy, talk about leaving on a high note that was a killer joke. Oh, that was a good one. I'll tell you what, rest of my life, I'm always going to think twice before I shoot a bear. Because of your death, because of your death now. I'm living rent free in your head every time you go bear hunting, man.

Well, you're not living anywhere anymore because it's fair prank. Man, it's just, hang on as long as you can because let's savor the flavor of this. This is just, I'm going to go ahead and prank of the year. I'll give it up. That was fantastic. I got to say, I got a whole different perspective on the, what it's like to be a bear now, you know. I'll tell you, I, it's, it really, I bet you got inside the head of the beast.

I could tell. Yeah, really did. It was so convincing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well done, Tom. Okay. You know, it's a shame that you're going to go.

I am. I just went to the bathroom, both, both, they just came out. That's usually a. Okay. And it's usually a, it's happening. It's a sign that it's close. Yeah. But, uh, all right.

Well, we'll probably get out of here before that goes down. Can I just tell you one last thing? Sure. Oh, shoot him. Kill the fucker. Son of a bitch. Tom. It's on.

You're good. Um, anyway, so Rogers meets Owen when he's out hunting and Owen comes out from behind a bunch of pine trees and shows him a lot of cash. Okay. Oh, wait, say that again. So not, not the guy who died Rogers to his son. No, no. Yeah.

So he's out hunting and Owen comes out from behind a bunch of pine trees and shows him a lot of money, a lot of cash. Hey kiddo need cash? Let's. I've been officially say this is the weirdest fucking time in American history, but it really this like forest commerce situation is pretty wild. I mean, you know, like we're the, this bank has a lot of branches because it's a tree. So they start talking, they have, they have a lot in common and pretty soon.

Well, how can you have a lot in common with Owen? I mean, it's just not much. Oh, then I negotiated a biscuit transfer. Oh, really? Same here. My dad was killed by his friends or a bear hunters because he was just like a bear. I think that might happen to my dad. I sold myself into servitude for three years because I wanted a biscuit for 90 minutes of

all you can eat biscuits. I traded three years of my existence. And then Rogers just goes, uh, I guess I'm gonna have to go back to the bear thing. My dad got killed by bear hunters and he dressed up like a bear. That's sort of my go-to story. I just do it mostly dad. It's a genetic flaw. So, uh, so pretty soon Rogers is in the counterfeiting game with, uh, with Owen.

Okay. Sure. Well, I mean, look, when a fella pops out of a tree with money, you listen. Yeah. And in January 17, want to talk about money? Oh, Jesus Christ. Yes. Uh, hey buddy, you got a side hustle?

Oh my God. In January 1775, Rogers is arrested and at that point he had 24 men working under him. Now with the French and Indian war going on, men are needed and Rogers offers a trade his freedom for the 24 men to be soldiers. Wow. And the governor in New Hampshire lets him go and makes him a captain in the state's regiment. So he's overseeing his own men.

Can you imagine coming out of that negotiating session like you're running a huge counterfeiting operation? How did it go? I'm a captain in the army. Uh, wait, I thought you were getting jail. You wait. Hold on. What?

Huh? We're a platoon. What the fuck just happened? Well, we were going to go to jail, but now we're an army squad and I'm in charge. Wait. Oh, and plus we all get as many biscuits as we can eat for the next nine minutes. Did you tell them the bear? Come on, let's move.

Did you tell them the bear dad story? Of course I did. I was dressed like a bear for the negotiation. Let's get to these biscuits. Times of wasting. So Rogers becomes so important in the regiment that nothing was done to him when a counterfeiter was caught by a constable. And when he's being caught, he tried to eat an incriminating note from Rogers.

Finally, our hero emerges. So they get the note out of the, out of the guy's mouth and it's, and it just, it, it's just proof that Rogers is a counterfeiter. And then the counterfeiter snitches on Rogers and Rogers is not arrested because he's become too important of a military guy. Yeah. It's like when NFL players are, you know, basically abusers, but hey, they could run real good.

And Rogers is sort of a unique dude. He's using his frontiersman skills to train infantry and he's not, and he's overseeing a thousand soldiers now. Like he's moved up. He's got a huge army. They're known as Rogers Rangers. Okay. So it's, he's, it's all very interconnected.

Well, he's, he's right. He's too big. He's like the banks too big to fail. Like you can't take this guy down because he has a thousand men like, right. And then, and then we are the Lehman brothers. So also the counterfeiters under Rogers in his gang, new Owen, it's a bunch of different names. James Time or John McDaniel, John Pearson, Isaac Washington, Benjamin Parlin.

So yeah, it's just the whole thing. The whole thing's just fucking crazy. So now this is when Owen really starts to drink a lot around this time. Oh, good. It's time to bring in that. Yeah, for sure. He takes it up a notch and he becomes really argumentative and demanding. He's always had a quick temper that's always been part of him.

So the guy who took the, the rap for his crew is now just lashing out at them over small issues. Right. It's just a completely different energy. He's lost his charm when five associates of Owens were arrested in Newport, the Boston Evening Post called Owen, quote, the famous villain Sullivan and said, our gallows has grown for him for a long time. So things are turning like the press is like, no, let's get this guy and let's kill this

guy. Yeah, basically in New York, there are so many counterfeit bills that the Treasury put unnoticed in newspapers telling anyone who had bills with certain dates on them to come in and exchange them for new ones. Wow. That bad. So there's. Wow.

Okay. So Rhode Island is even harder hit than that. In Colonial officials were under more and more pressure to stop counterfeiting. States put rewards out for Owens capture, but again, who's going to arrest them? Like there's no, right? There's no, no one can do it. Right. And then on January 21st, January 21st, 1756, businessman, Ella Follett Beecher.

What? Ella Follett Beecher. I'm almost an elephant. I don't tell anybody. I said nothing, nothing, nothing. That was my penis. Okay. I assume that Ella, Ella Follett is short for Eli, I would assume, or Eli short for

yeah. I would hope so. Or, or maybe there are people around named Follett that we don't. Sure. Or maybe it's an elephant steak. So I mean, are you going to, are you going to man up and do something about my dog and take care of your situation? So Beecher just goes into the Connecticut generalist, he just walks in one day and he's

like, Hey guys, I got something to tell you. He says he wants to end counterfeiting and he would catch Owen and his whole crew. Okay. He just needs some back. I need one bear outfit and a pumpkin helmet. So the legislature agrees to pay his expenses to hunt Owen and New York kicks in. Okay. So he's a bounty hunter now.

Yeah. I mean, essentially they found a guy who could maybe do it. That's it. It's a bounder fitter. A bounder fitter. Right. Okay. But then he goes out and he quickly finds out how hard it's going to be.

He arrests two of Owen's crew. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, see this is how you manage an animal. Stop it. What is it? What is Jose doing? Jose decided that it was time to claw the back of the chair that I was on, making some noise and I said, No, no, no, I'm not going to distract from the show Jose.

And I did. You would not even notice that anything happened. Well, except for you screaming, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I think that to the, to the most people, they're not, they're going to hear as much of that as Stevens would. Let's, let's keep, let's keep this one rocket. So he arrests two of Owen's crew and the local judges just let the guys go. Okay.

Beechard wanted to extradite them to Connecticut. They said no. And then on top of that, they made Beechard pay for the time that they had spent, the judges had spent on the case. So they were like, you got to cough up some money because we were here for a little while. So judges are like babysitters. Welcome to bullshit town. So we've worked for eight biscuits an hour at time six.

So Beechard then hires 11 deputies and Owen hears this and he flees into a swamp and then heads up into the mountains, fleece into a swamp. I have to swap creature. He makes his way to a friend's house, which has always been his sort of escape place. He's got, he's got like an escape situation set up. Okay. At the same time, Beechard catches a tavern owner who's giving out fake bills and he gets the guy to snitch on Owen and the money club.

Okay. The guy also told Beechard where Owen's hideout cave was. It's the one that has a tree stuff. He goes to the cave. Owen's not there, but they find all the stuff. Beechard then, because they found the cave and he knows this is where the, you know, the center of it all is, he starts just doing a door to door search of all the homes in the area.

Wow. What a, what a wild course of action. They're waking people up in the middle of the night, like two a.m., one a.m. and just searching. Excuse me, ma'am, is Owen in here? That's crazy. I'm interrogating these people. Jesus.

At one a.m. on March 13th, Beechard and his deputies enter a home. There they found some recently tracked dirt on the bedroom floor. Aha. Dirt. Someone has been outside. Need we say more? Outside. So why don't you tell us where the dirt came from?

We already know. So they search more and there's a woman sleeping on the bed in the bedroom. I can't believe this dirt might lead to something. I mean, the idea that you're like dirt, hmm, that's suspicious in this day and in that time to be like dirt. You don't see that every day. Well, I guess the key was, is that it was fresh dirt. Oh, fresh dirt.

Yeah, you don't see that every day. Fresh. This ain't mold and dirt. This is newer dirt. Look at this. Look at this dirt. Holy shit. That's fresh.

God, it's. Yeah, it's posted. Mud is. I mean, it's fresh. I agree. It's fresh. Look at this. I want everyone to take a look at this.

Look at this. Look at that dirt. I'll tell you what. Yeah. I'm gonna fucking kill this homeowner. I'm gonna fucking kill this guy. This guy is bad. He's bad to the bone.

He's got fresh dirt. Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, that's just evidence. We're not. Yeah, we're not. Remember, we're not after him. We're not after him because of what he did to the dirt.

We have him. What? Well, hold on a second. Let's just be clear with what's happening here. Okay. The dirt is going to lead us to him and we want him. But again, it's nothing to do with the dirt. Oh, I'm sorry.

He didn't do anything to the dirt. Oh, hold on. I'm sorry. I'm, I'm working on the dirt posse. We must have crossed and gotten mixed up. I'm on the dirt. Oh, okay. What?

Oh man, this could have gotten really weird because I would have killed that guy. Yeah. I still kind of want to, but. Well, we're not going to kill him. We're going to take him in. Yeah. But again, I mean, it's dirt. Wow.

I didn't. What are you guys working on? I'm a. Well, he's counterfeited a ton. But, you know, so we're just, we're trying to shut down the operation. We caught him red handed. He was living in a cave with a stump and everything. So we think that's probably where some of the fresh dirt came from.

Some of that cave dirt, that's some fresh stuff up there. So. So I guess that's a higher priority than the people who carry dirt around and put it in their house. Yeah. Again, I mean, not. Yeah. I mean, I've never even really heard of that.

Class of crime. So it's a. Oh, let me, let me show you. You've never seen the dirt cops. I would. Yeah. I would rather take care of my situation right now than kind of hear more about the dirt cops.

Your memory at all dirt cops. You don't remember us. That's not doing. I would. How would that even ring a bell that you guys said that a bunch or. Yeah. It's like our thing. We're like the dirt cops.

And then everyone. Nobody's ever. Nobody's ever. I hear a bunch of stuff and nobody nobody's scared of the dirt cops. No. Anyway, I got to bust this guy. I don't want to let all this fresh dirt go to waste. Look.

So good luck to you. Let's just exchange information in case it's in a crossover with a lot of these kind of guys. We'll be getting into dirt as well. I mean, the money's dirty, but it doesn't have dirt on it. So I don't know if we need to exchange any information. Are you working with the guy? I don't even know.

Are you sort of a private firm? The dirt. No, we're. No, I'm I'm government funded. So I'm dirt for what are you? Are you a dirt posse? Are you dirt cops? We're trying to get we're trying to get the how did you get the government to help?

I really am in the middle of getting we I'm in the middle of getting him, which is kind of like the priority. I don't have time to get a, you know, behind the scenes on what the dirt cops or dirt posse sort of. It's dirt cops. We did. We did talk to the. You said it was dirt posse.

And then you said dirt force moments ago. So it's hard to track. You know, there's a lot of names for a group that I've never heard of. Yeah, apparently. Okay. Well, I mean, we did talk to the legislature and they're mulling it over. So well, I would not hold your breath, honestly, but I am going to finish my investigation because Owen is probably here.

Okay. So you guys can take this dirt. If that's what you want. I don't know if that's evidence for you, but I'm going to finish. I'm going to go to the room where there's a woman in the bed. They something my suspicious might be coming. I'm in the middle of that part right now. So, um, so you guys take care.

Awesome to meet you and cross paths. Don't say dirt stuff again, because I don't really need to hear it. So awesome to meet you guys. Good to find out about your existence. Super strange, honestly, but take care. All right. Good luck to all you guys. I mean that.

Okay. They're not with us. This is the sand boys. Okay. So look to the sand boys and the dirt cops or the dirt posse. That's awesome for you guys. Good luck to everything. I'm really, really fruitful for you guys.

Yeah. All right. Dirt out. Soil up. Fucking weirdos. So, uh, so they, they pick up the bed while the woman is sleeping in it, and they move it to see what's under the bed. Oh, okay.

And a floorboard under the bed has been cut in half and it is not nailed down like the others and they lift it up and they find a tunnel. Okay. Now the tunnel leads to a chamber and inside that chamber, there's a fireplace that has been rigged. So it's, it's the tunnel goes from the bedroom down to the main room and there's a, he created an event under the fireplace of the house. So the smoke would go from his rigged fireplace in his chamber into the fireplace.

I mean, this guy, this is like El Chapo. So a deputy yells Owen's name into the tunnel and Owen knows there's nowhere to go. So he just comes out and surrenders. Yeah. That's how you know you're screwed. Do you find me? How are you doing there boys? I'm in me bowl.

I'm a mole man. There's no Owen here. Let me guess you found dirt. So he's starved. He's exhausted. I can't imagine the dirt leading to this solution. Yeah. So they get him out and he tries to immediately bribe Beecher with counterfeit money.

Hey, can I interest you in some more crime bills? Beecher took a pass. So they take him to New Haven, which is in Connecticut and Beecher is hailed as a hero. Caterfitting punishments, however, are very lenient in Connecticut. So they send Owen to New York. New York had the strictest punishment for counterfeiters in the colonies death. Oh, wow. Jesus.

So Owen was tried very quickly. By biscuits. He's tried very quickly, found guilty and sentenced to die. Wow. He refused to give up of any of his accomplices. He doesn't give up anybody. Okay. He was due to be taken to the gallows on May 7th, but the hangman couldn't be located.

Well, I mean, okay, couple things. One, I mean, look, it's pretty easy to just schedule that guy, right? I mean, it's not like an everyday thing. I can't remember my other problem. That one is so big. Yeah, that's not great. Is that vacation? Did anybody say Burt?

We got a guy to kill. Yeah. I think he's out of town for two weeks, isn't he? Fuck, is he doing that dirt force thing? Yeah, he's working with the, no, I think it's dirt cops. They call it the dirt posse is what they went by. Yeah, but it's like a weekend thing and he goes off. Fuck.

Yeah, it's like a dirt fantasy thing. Yeah. Dirt fantasy grown up camp. Yeah. So, so they have to delay it until the 10th. And then how hard is it to replace that guy? Like the other thing that happened was the night before someone cut down the news. So they couldn't, I guess they couldn't put up another one.

And kind of maybe there's a union and they have to call the union guy. Like, I don't know. Sorry, these are not mandated nooses. So not to be a nuisance, but that's the breaking news. Now the gallows were on what is now a city hall park. And it's, it's just a tree with a rope. It's, it's literally. Well, you're going to need, we got to bring in the professionals though.

We don't want to mess this up. You know, next thing you know, we're hanging the tree from Owen. It's not going to be good. So the three days later, he's brought back there on May the 10th. And now there's a large crowd that gathers because they want to see this. Can you, I'd so, I mean, I guess we've kind of gone back to being so desensitized that we do, we are able to like watch death pretty comfortably. But it's just so morbid to be like, Oh, a man will die.

Hit me like, Oh, I got to check this out. Yeah, I would say having gone through the pandemic, I think that if they had hangings and made them public, they could fill a stadium. I would sadly agree that you could get a lot of eyeballs. Not that I don't think my fellow Americans have no humanity anymore. But man, wow. Yeah, it's fleeting. So this again, gives Owen a chance to speak to a crowd.

Right. And he gets up there and he brags that he had counterfeited $12,000 of Rhode Island money, 22,000 pounds of New Hampshire money, 3,000 pounds. I can't get and then a bunch more New York's like he just, he just starts rattle it off. Strange, strange me a culpa. He said he hoped his associates would destroy the money, the plates and counterfeit stuff so they would avoid being hung like him.

And then he put a big wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth and chewed it until it, his mouth started to turn black. And then he grinned and he said, quote, I cannot help smiling as Tiz the nature of the beast. And then he was hung. Wow. What a crazy finish. Oh my Lord.

Like the sopranos ending is like, whoa. He's 33 years old. Oh my God. He felt like we were dealing with like a fifth. I know, right? God damn. So then after right after he died, what a crazy, what a crazy, crazy way to go out.

Crazy. Chew a bunch of tobacco and be like, yeah. His story was written up and published in a paper first in the newspaper. And then it's a short autobiography. They think that it was taken down while he was in jail. Like right before he died, like someone wrote it all down while he told him.

He died poor. His only possessions were a horse and a saddle. So like he'd got up and then down. His career as a counterfeiter was only seven years. Only one other member of the Dover Money Club was punished. The other 28 either were never caught or were acquitted. Because again, it's very hard to convict someone of counterfeiting. So you have to prove their intention.

Right. Now Rogers Rangers became famous for their military successes. And his name, his name was known in the U.S. and England that people would write about him because he was a white guy with Native American and European fighting skills combined. Okay. Been successful. The U.S. Army Rangers consider Robert Rogers to be their forefather.

Recruits still read his rules of ranging. But it wasn't for Owen Sullivan and counterfeiting. Yeah. The Rangers may never have been formed. Wow. There's the ripple effect. That's crazy. So yeah.

So if you're an Army, if you're in the Rangers, I mean, you've got Owen to thank. That's right. Wow. Most of this was taken from Anthony Weber's book, Early American Chronicles, an American Newgate calendar chronicling the lives of the most notorious criminal offenders from Colonial America and the New Republic.

Well, that's a crazy little story, Dave. Crazy little story. Yeah. Well, why don't we, like we said, we'll break this down in our opinion feature that we'll put up on Patreon. So if you would like to hear us break it down like game film and get politically angry, you can join the Patreon. And we're going to start uploading video of the podcast on the

Patreon as well. So if you want to see how dynamic this gets, you can join us there. So join us there. If not, we sign bears.