The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 54 - Abolitionist Cassius Clay

Episode Date: February 1, 2015

Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Cassius Clay.SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCHPATREON...

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Hello I am Dave and Anthony and you are listening to the dollop on American
Starting point is 00:00:41 History podcast. Each week I take a subject from American History and I read it to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is about. He doesn't... What? Yeah you gotta be careful now. I know people were mean. Yeah. Stop it. He's smart. Assholes. Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one buck. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna come to tickling podcast. Okay. You are queen Fakie of Hade uptown. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what? Pray. Hi Gary. No. Is he done my friend? No.
Starting point is 00:01:32 The date October 19th 1810. Oh boy. Cassius Clay was born to General Green Clay and his wife Sally Clay and Claremont. He was great for his age. Yeah. They're home in the Richmond area of Madison County Kentucky. Okay. General Green Clay was a decorated soldier who served in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Two great wars. Two of my favorite wars. I love those. Green Clay was a very successful land surveyor who in addition to amassing more than 40,000 acres in various territories also had several lucrative businesses including distilleries, taverns and fairies. Okay. He was all over that shit. Things are
Starting point is 00:02:14 good. He could get you to the tavern and back from the tavern across the river. I mean it might take a minute. Cornered the market. Yeah. He made the booze. He brought it to the tavern. He got you to the tavern over the river. Yeah. Later in life he would be elected to the Kentucky legislature. Green was a contemporary of Daniel Boone. Okay. Friends with the Boone. Yeah. All right. He's Booning. Like Boone, Green Clay had set out from Virginia to explore the country as a 17-year-old and ended up working as a land surveyor in Kentucky. Back then land surveyors were entitled to take half of the land they surveyed
Starting point is 00:02:46 for a payment for their services. Boom. Because there are so many Indians trying to kill them in bears and shit. They did. You got half the fucking land. It's good. So anybody who has a land surveyor should have been rich but a bunch of them didn't because they just would like fuck off and go kill a bear and be like what did I do? Oops. That's career decisions. Yeah. His wife Sally was a Calvinist Baptist who raised the children to be honest and to fight for what they believed in. Fight for what they thought was right. Cassius later said that he owed his character development to her stern upbringing. He was the youngest of
Starting point is 00:03:18 six children. Okay. When he was a teenager a slave girl named Mary who was his childhood playmate stabbed to death a cruel overseer named Paine in a panic after he threatened her. I'm sorry the name was Paine. The guy the foreman's name was Paine. It's a little aggressive as far as it's a little over the top. Yeah. To hire a guy named Paine to watch over this. I mean you can have a regular name and inflict pain. What about Larry Larry Larry's a good name. Larry he really inflicts pain. That's better than that's better than pain inflicts pain. Pain. He actually gives you he's such a sweetie. He's redundant. Such a
Starting point is 00:03:56 softy. Mary was acquitted by a jury of 12 white men as it was clearly self defense. But Cassius' brother who was in charge of the farm at the time was pressured to sell her down the river. Now do you know what selling down the river means. She's going to it was the worst thing that could happen to a slave. You would basically at auction see grown men crying because selling down the river meant they were going deeper into the south where they were. It's worse. Brutalized. Right. Like up in Kentucky they were treated much better than they were down in Mississippi. It's amazing when you're like God I miss
Starting point is 00:04:27 Kentucky. What a bunch of sweethearts in Kentucky huh. Mary's fate would affect Cassius the rest of his life. Cassius attended the Madison Seminary St. Joseph's College in Bardstown. I have a little cold so this is going to be a little hard for me. You'll get through it. While there he got word that his father was dying. He rushed home while his father lay on his deathbed. He pointed toward the family cemetery and said I have just seen death come through the door. Then he died. Wow. What the fuck. That's a fucked up death. That is a great. I really want my last words to be something just super super insane. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Look at all the dogs and just die. You know just leave him with something like what does he mean. The peppercorns here. Oh no. They're throwing treasure. General Clay was generous to all his children as well giving them slaves and land. He even freed some slaves giving them $20 and 50 acres of land. That's I mean pretty nice. Yeah. Back in the day on the spectrum we're dealing with. That's pretty nice. That's pretty nice. Of course. Of course. It weird for the other ones who were like wait. Yeah. I still got to be a slave. Yeah. Yeah. Business is business. You know. So 15 of you get to be free the rest of you. It's real little
Starting point is 00:05:50 lottery. Yeah. You're on the fuck off part of the way. Pain. Pain. Get out here pain. Pain's dead. Yeah. I know he's dead but maybe you could have a new pain. Like a window pain. Sure. Cash is next attended Transylvania University in Lexington and then Yale. That's the second time I've heard of Transylvania University. I know. No. It's the second time. I don't remember what we previously talked about but they're yeah they're I wonder if it's still there. It's a terrible name for a year. If you like if you went to a doctor's office and that was a degree on the wall you'd be like I'm probably going to roll. Yeah. No stay. We need to draw some
Starting point is 00:06:25 blood. I'm going to suck on your neck. I mean. It was at Yale in 1831. He heard an anti-slavery speech by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. It changed the trajectory of his life. From then on cash is clay. It's been a great deal of his life opposing slavery and working for its end. All right. Good. Clay made his first anti-slavery speech on February 22nd 1832 during a celebration of George Washington's birthday. Clay was an emancipationist. All right. Not an abolitionist. They did not get along. Okay. Where emancipationists sought to eliminate slavery by gradual legal means while abolitionists wanted slavery to
Starting point is 00:07:08 end by any means possible. Okay. So they could they would be more violent or you know so they didn't care how it happened. It just happened had to happen now. Difference between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. That's what we're talking about girl. Their methods sometimes included violence and a disregard for the law of the United States. Clay and the emancipationists including his cousin Senator Henry Clay who is known as the Great Compromiser. Oh and the Great Compromiser and Lincoln hoped to maintain the law and the Constitution while ridding the country of slavery by peaceful means. That of course did not
Starting point is 00:07:40 work. Mm-hmm. Yeah right. Can't believe that. Yeah. Because people who own slaves are usually totally reasonable. Oh my god. For sure. For sure. After Yale Clay returned to the home his father had built which had been left to him. Awkwardly he also had slaves. Because the will stipulated he could not get rid of them for several years. And so this is weird. I'm super against owning you but I own you. Is that really something you have to honor? Yeah you have to honor or will. But like I mean what I'm learning so far is that my last words are gonna be nuts and I'm gonna put crazy shit in the will. Yeah you can put whatever you
Starting point is 00:08:22 want. All right my son needs to be in a pool for eight months after I die. You can wear one shoe for the rest of your life. Jingle keys for the next three weeks after my death please. It wasn't until 1840 that he was legally able to free the slaves as well as the other ones that were left him by his aunt Patsy. Like they were just at this point it was like a practical joke. Yeah yeah. Oh another prank four more slaves. Oh gosh. Here we go. That's just starting to feel like I was getting rid of some of them. By 1844 he had freed all of his slaves about fifty thousand dollars worth which is a super weird and awkward
Starting point is 00:08:59 thing to say. For you. To just to just put a price on people is very upsetting. Oh he freed about fifty grand worth of humans. It's just horrible. Yeah I mean I wonder why that was such a horrible time. Oh there goes fifty grand. We're not going to see that money again. No fifty grand is literally walking down the hill. Just going to get some new shoes. This was 17 years before the civil war but he was not able to free all the slaves because his father had left some to Cassius's eventual children. What that's that's fucking nuts. That's so so he's skipping a generation. Yeah he couldn't get rid of his slaves because he had to
Starting point is 00:09:44 give them to his kids when they turned 18 or whatever. Sorry those are I mean those are a trust fund. And the rest of you are going to have to wait 16 years. Listen Bill uh everyone's free except you're sort of a trust fund slave. You see this baby. That's your master. Yep. You know what I haven't come in a lady yet but when I do that's going to be your boss. Please hurry up and come sir. I will. I'm going to come as soon as possible and then it'll be from the coming it'll be 18 years. Then after that you're going to have the rest of your life to do what you like. You're on what's known as a long slave ride. Alrighty.
Starting point is 00:10:24 Cassius even bought slaves from neighbors and freed them. Okay so that's great. That's good. Most of the now former slaves uh he gave jobs to on his property. This did not sit well with his slave holding neighbors. As you can imagine because they're like really? You're going to let the you're going to give them money for doing what? We just gave you them. I let them live. Yeah that's it's what I'm calling a job. It's just how backwards was that world? Upside down. How dare you not own people you son of a bitch. My god did you hear? He's paying them for labor. Cassius is not owning people. My wife's fainted.
Starting point is 00:11:04 Clay then re-entered Transylvania University to get a law degree. While he was there he met Mary Jane Warfield daughter of a doctor and one of Kentucky's first horse breeders. The family especially the mother did not like Cassius. A little too apathetic for my taste. Yeah they were pro-slavery so also of course. Just before Cassius and Mary were married a former suitor of Mary's named Del Array Declarray sorry sent her a letter. In it he said Cassius had deflowered a young woman who had to move to Texas in disgrace and then he slept with his slaves. Clay went to Louisville to confront Declarray. He showed Declarray the letter and asked for
Starting point is 00:11:44 an apology. The Facebook would have just made this easier. Facebook would have just made this so much easier. How about a tweet? Hey prick. What up girl? None was coming so Clay beat the shit out of the man with a hickory stick he had brought just for just such an occasion. Well I almost forgot my beating bowl. Hey look I brought this whackity whack whack. A friend of Clay's held off others with a gun while Clay proceeded with the beating. Jesus. After Cassius was done he told Declarray where he was staying if he'd like to continue. Quickly word came that Declarray requested a duel. Oh boy. Twice they tried to duel. Oh shit. That duel was twice. They tried a duel but crowds showed up and were too large for them
Starting point is 00:12:32 to go on. How? So everyone's like people are going to be killing each other and they all came down to watch. I'm glad we got away from the time that too many people cancels a sport. Well it's just it was probably jockeying to get in the front. Yeah I mean I could imagine. But also if there's a crowd and you shoot you might hit someone in the crowd right. Listen you showed up to the fuck. That's why you don't want the fucking seats. Don't stand behind him. Yeah you want the bench seats not behind the goals. No it's great to see back here because the bullet comes at you. Oh my god. I just see the downside to my plan. Finally Declarray suggested they duel on the day Clay was supposed to be married. Of course. Perfect. Total fucking bullshit move. Clay went off to get married
Starting point is 00:13:16 and assumed if Declarray was serious and wanted a duel he'd request again. He married Mary on February 26. A couple days later word came from Louisville. The Declarray was calling Clay a coward for running away and said he would give Cassius a cow hiding if he ever saw him again. That's bullshit. What a little bitch move. He's a total bitch. Yeah. Oh you can't do this on the day of your wedding. Well somebody's a pussy. I don't want to kill a guy on my wedding day. My vows. It Cassius decided to pay Declarray a visit on a trip back from St. Louis. His visits by the way are not good. Once in Louisville he packed his pistol and waited in Declarray's hotel lobby. When Declarray walked into the hotel he turned pale and ran off. Clay waited an entire day
Starting point is 00:14:06 but the duel was not forthcoming so he left. The next day word came that Declarray had slashed his wrists in a tub. What? Yeah. Well. He's just a full on pussy. He just didn't. But why not at least at that point go for the duel option. Maybe he I don't know. Maybe he knew he couldn't win it or. But I mean. Maybe he was sad. I mean that's really. Who's the coward. Yeah. Well he maybe went I won. I'm dead. Yeah. You lose. You couldn't shoot me. Wow. That's a bold out. Yeah. I can't. I'll be dead. I'll be in the tub. I'll be in the tub of my blood. Clay entered politics and was elected to state representative from Madison County in 1835. He lost the next year and then was elected again in 1837 which was amazing because of his anti-slavery views. Yeah. His
Starting point is 00:14:57 speeches won him praise for his speaking skills but made many enemies for their content speaking against slavery in central Kentucky. He was threatened often. He dueled often. His wife was the only other anti-slavery person in his family. But he didn't have kids or anything. Right. He was started cranking him out but they were still big. Okay. So it's just kind of them against the rest of the genes. Yeah. But like all everyone her family and right most of his family. Although his cousin. What a bunch of lunatics not wanting to own humans. Humans. Can you believe this. In 1840 during his campaign for a seat in the assembly general assembly his opponent was Robert Wickliffe. Wickliffe was from a wealthy family and was pro-slavery. During a speech Wickliffe
Starting point is 00:15:39 insulted Mary Clay and Cassius of course challenged him to a duel. Of course. The duel was held on May the 13th 1841. Both Clay and Wickliffe missed each other three times at 10 paces. Okay. And what kind of guy I mean. Well they shoot and then they hand it to a guy who reloads it and packs it with the powder. And that's just so awkward. Puts the big round ball at it and then packs it and then hands it to him and then they shoot again. They should have had more on deck. They should have had more pistols ready to be. I don't think they do that. I mean maybe they did but but from what I've read. So then in between you're just kind of like so I just you know it looks like you are you losing weight. I am a little bit. Have you. Did you see the game last. I did and I will
Starting point is 00:16:25 tell you. Here we go. Bang. Shit. Cassius wanted to keep going for a fourth round but his friends talked him out of it. After the duel he pretty much gave up dueling because he received a letter from his mother telling him life was too valuable to duel. She used a lot of religious like yeah what are you doing. God put you on this earth. Blah blah blah blah. Although he did have another duel. He did have another duel with an officer in the army on his way to Mexico. Okay. That came later. Robert Wycliffe was still out for blood however. In 1843 he hired a man from New Orleans. Like this is the guy who insulted him. Yeah I was just going to say why why is he because he's anti-slavery. So they're just in a fucking rage. They're all in a rage. It just does remind you
Starting point is 00:17:09 so much of like if someone says anything today you can't like you say the freedom of speech but you say something people will fucking do. So he's still out for blood. In 1843 Wycliffe hired a man from New Orleans named Samuel Brown to attack Cassius. Brown's chance came at a political rally and Fayette County on August 1st. As Clay was speaking to the crowd Brown called him a liar. Liar. And clubbed him with an umbrella. Ding. Okay so worst hit man ever. I mean can you imagine can you imagine a liar. Can I talk to you for a second. What is your goddamn plan. Well I called him a liar and then I hit him with my umbrella. It's like a Batman episode. But he must like he had to walk up to the stage and hit him like or maybe he was standing on
Starting point is 00:18:00 the ground but he had to like walk up close. Well that might have been his plan maybe is that like if he had a gun people would maybe be like get down but an umbrella people like I think he's expecting rain. What is he doing. I don't know. Well he did have a gun because he then drew his pistol and fired at Clay's chest. All right that's bad right. Back off yeah. Luckily Clay kept his favorite weapon his Bowie knife inside of his coat. Get the fuck out. The bullet struck the knife and bounced off harmlessly. Clay was naturally enraged. Holy shit. He pulled his knife out and went to work or as he later stated quote cut away in good earnest. That's deep quote. Brown has his skull cut to the brain in several pieces. One ear was nearly cut off his nose was slit one eye
Starting point is 00:18:49 was cut out and many other wounds. The entire time the attack was taking place spectators were hitting Clay with hickory sticks and chairs. But the fight continued. Brown's Brown's own friends were so concerned for his life that they grabbed him and threw him over a fence into a creek about eight feet down with friends like these so that he would be out of Clay's reach. I mean thank you. Is there maybe a better plan than to stop him. Quick throw him in the creek. Somehow Brown survived his injuries. Jesus. He then sued Clay for mayhem. Oh my god. What. Because people are awful. That's crazy. He said he made me look crazy when I tried to just kill him. No I got one eye in one ear. I'm gonna stir him. I did we shoot him in the belly. The trial was held in Fayette
Starting point is 00:19:52 County and Clay hired his incredibly popular cousin Henry Clay as his lawyer. Henry was a senator and as loved in Kentucky as Cassius was hated. Naturally Cassius was acquitted. Okay. Sam Brown who had a vastly different appearance now. What was the difference. No eye or brain or ear. He was always good. He had flaps of skin hanging off his head. No ear a slit nose and one eye. Yeah. Well other than that though. Sam Brown was killed in a steamboat explosion in Louisville in 1844. At which point you heard him say thank god. Oh it's over for you. In his autobiography Cassius would call Brown the bravest man he ever fought. How about that. Well that Cassius seems like a nice a very respectable. Yeah. He respects his
Starting point is 00:20:41 opponent. He does. But his opponents must have also been a long line of huge pussies. Huge pussies. Next Clay became a newspaper publisher launching a paper called The True American. He was one of the very few anti slavery newspaper men in the south. The wealthy slave owners saw his paper as a great threat mostly because it made very good points about slavery. Don't be logical right now. Like it was morally wrong. It was cruel. It resulted in lower wages for the working class and undercut everyone in the economy except for the wealthy. It's called trickle down economics. It's trickle down economics. In the first month of the paper's existence he received a death threat written in blood. Whoa. You are manner than the autocrats of hell. You may think
Starting point is 00:21:26 you can awe and curse the people of Kentucky to your infamous course. You will find when it is too late for life the people are no cowards. Eternal hatred is locked up in the bosoms of braver men. Yours better for you. The hemp is ready for your neck. Your life cannot be spared. Plenty thirst for your blood are determined to have it. It is unknown to you or your friends if you have any and in a way you little dream of. Sign the Revengers. If you're going to write a letter in what I'm going to assume is your own blood. Yeah. Let's cliff note it. We don't I mean that's a you probably pass out during that writing. There's a lot of words but it was really well written. It's well written but you could also just be like hey fuckface stop it. Revengers.
Starting point is 00:22:13 Do you I wrote one that says hey fuckface stop it and then I have the longer one which one do you think this is draft five. My doctor's concerned. I'm so weary. When Clay opened the letter open the paper. He had already taken precautions against those who might attack him. OK. He had the doors of his newspaper office fortify was sheet iron and the windows barred. He kept the building stocked with loaded weapons and iron pikes iron pikes just in case elephants came in. All right. You don't know. I love iron pikes. I mean that's quite a if some guys. You have guns. OK. Look if some guys break in. Yeah. And you kill him. What are you going to leave the bodies. No. You cut the head off and you put it out in front of the office. Of course. As a message.
Starting point is 00:22:55 It was a really message bike. Yeah. Yeah. He also he had also purchased two mortar cannons in Cincinnati which he intended to use against unruly mobs. He was really waiting for the fucking hammer to come in and the newspaper. Cannons. Lou Grant had that show Lou Grant in the 70s. No. Yeah. It's Ed Asner was a star. But yeah. He had he's a newspaper man. He had cannons. Well you've always got to have. I think most papers have cannons magazines too. Yeah. Yeah. Most. Yeah. He also filled the walls with gunpowder and had an escape hat. Wait. And that escape hatch built on the top of the building.
Starting point is 00:23:35 He told the printers that if the mob if a mob ever broke in and they were to go through the hatch and then blow up the building. Wait. But okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. Okay. First of all this. This hatch goes up right. Yeah. Okay. So you're going to stairs. So I think you go up and you climb down and then you climb down and then you blow it. I guess light the fuse on the back of the building. Right. Of course because the building's a firework. But do you not. Is there not a concern that having gunpowder in your walls could potentially blow the building up with you inside of it just by I feel like happenstance.
Starting point is 00:24:11 I feel like it's against fire regulations. Yeah. But couldn't someone like say it just makes your office very explosive. Oh no. If anybody comes in. No there's no smoking in here. Put that up. Oh Jesus. Unfortunately in August he came down with typhoid. The citizens of Lexington knew he was too ill for a fight and a crowd of 60 stormed the office showing his employees a fake court order. They dismantled his press and shipped it to Cincinnati. When Clay was well he just resumed printing his paper and then sued the leader of the mob. He won $2,500. Wow. Clay decided to fight in the Mexican-American war in 1846. Wait. Yeah. He had typhoid. No well after he was better. Okay. His wife was not pleased but he believed that if he fought the war
Starting point is 00:25:03 it would help his political chances back home and he'd have a better ability to fight slavery. Okay. Clay and his fellow officers will now remember on the way to Mexico he got a duel with another. Right. Okay. Mid. Yeah. Also he also shot a guy on the way down. But that was just for pleasure. That was a good time. That was just for Clay. Clay and his fellow soldiers were almost immediately captured by the Mexicans. The two majors leading his group had neglected to post sentries on the road while everyone slept. All right everybody. Shut up. Should we. Yeah. Should we leave a guy to watch. No. No. Let's just everyone get some rest. Let's everybody crash out. Long day tomorrow gentlemen. At one point the Mexicans were to kill. We're going to kill all
Starting point is 00:25:48 of the men because wanted escaped. But Clay stood up and told the Mexicans to only kill the officers like himself. He ripped open his shirt and showed them where to shoot pointing at his chest. Very bold. Fucking manly man. Very bold. Just up just up the manning the manliness 100%. I mean I just couldn't ever imagine being in a situation where you're going to die being fairly comfortable let alone being like let me tell you I know from my own heartbeat and right about here's a good spot. I try to pretend like I'm dead. Yeah. That's what I've always thought that that's the move. If there's blood around you just sort of take some of it put it on your shirt and just roll over. You do not stand up and go right here. Excuse me. Right in the fucking heart. How about this for an
Starting point is 00:26:33 idea. Just kill guys like me. Let the little ones go. The Mexicans were impressed with his bravery and they didn't kill anyone. Cassius Clay was now a war hero. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Legitimate war hero speeches were given honoring him. A resolution was passed for his valor by the Kentucky legislature. This was all amazing for a man who is deeply despised in his home state. We fucking hate you but it's really nice job. But honestly you have huge cojones. You have huge balls for being a fucking asshole. He was still constantly threatened for his anti-slavery views. Who would be threatening this motherfucker at this point. Well everybody you know he's fucking up the
Starting point is 00:27:15 still everybody gets stabbed or fucking killed. I know. I wouldn't go near him. This led Clay to being involved in many more fights and duels. In the summer of 18 his wife is like I'm like stop in the summer of 1849 Clay traveled to Fox down Kentucky to speak out against slavery at a local political meeting. He was then a member of the Liberal Party which hoped to elect anti-slavery delegates to the upcoming state constitutional convention. A local slave owner. Squire Turner. Sure. Normal name from normal time. Squire. It was running for office and giving a speech. After the speech Clay was going to give a counter speech against slavery. Was gonna. This had been going on throughout the campaign and Turner's family and friends were coming
Starting point is 00:28:00 increasingly angry. Since the speech was so close to home Clay did not bring his gun or bowie knife. Instead he just had a seven inch knife. Oh boy. You know what I'm not going to bring my big killing knife. I'm just going to bring the seven incher. Well I'm close to home. I think I won't need to kill. Just make points. As Squire continued his speech he started talking shit about emancipationists and he got very personal. Turner also went an hour past his allotted time. So my god could you imagine sitting in there. So it's fucking two hours this guy blathering about slaves. They give him like three minutes now and that's already too much. Oh my god. I'm not pro-slavery anymore. I'm pro-suicide. Wrap it up.
Starting point is 00:28:46 When it was finally time for Clay to speak Cyrus Turner the son of a pro-slavery of the pro-slavery candidate called him a liar and struck him with his cane. There's a lot of that apparently. You need to put little fences up on whatever these people are having these speeches and debates. Also everybody carries something to hit someone with. Well everybody hits someone with a hickory sticker. Hickory sticks or canes or like everyone's got something to hit a guy with. Which is really a short term plan. I mean not to say that you should go up there with a piece but you know pop. If you're gonna hit a guy. If you're gonna do it. Yeah do it. Do it. Clay was then surrounded by a crowd who began clubbing him. Another of Turner's sons Thomas tried to shoot Clay in the
Starting point is 00:29:25 head with a revolver but missed. Clay's 14 year old son Alicia. Okay so. Has the worst name ever given to me. I mean. Alicia is the worst name. I mean I assume you could call him Eli but Alicia. Yeah. I mean. Come put your pigtails on son. Hey son we wanted a girl. Hey have we made that clear. Where's Lisa. All right took your penis between your legs. Here's a dress darling. Oh man. So Alicia tried to hand his father a revolver. But ended up giving him a daisy. But Clay turned it down. What. While he's getting beaten up by. No. Not now. Not now. Instead. Clay tried to pull his knife. But it was wrestled away from him. Someone then stabbed him in the side with another knife. And then he was stabbed again. Blood was now gushing from his
Starting point is 00:30:22 side. Clay would later say. Quote. I felt the utmost indignation. Of course. And that. Who wouldn't be feeling that first and foremost. Later said so he. I am so indignant right now. Oh my God. Oh God. No. He grabbed his knife away from the attacker who had taken it. Cutting three of the man's fingers to the bone. That's spicy. He then stabbed Cyrus Turner in the gut. Yes he did. Clay believed he was mortally wounded and yelled out. His death words. I fall in the defense of the liberties of the people. Wow. I mean come on. I mean if I if I'm dying I fall down again. Not worth it. My belly hurts so bad. They got me right in my belly. Fucking slaves. Yeah my last words would be pathetic. I'd be like I'm pro slavery. Just stop beating me.
Starting point is 00:31:28 I want to see your point. Okay. Okay. I'll do anything. I'll suck your dicks please. Both men were carried away to their expected deathbeds in the same building. Awkward. Yeah. Cyrus Turner died 32 hours after the fight. It was an agonizing death. Clay could hear it from his room. Clay himself was so close to death that the Lexington Observer and reporter went ahead and printed his death notice on June 16th. To the surprise of everyone Clay did not die. Wow. The Lexington Observer and reporter then printed a retraction. Lexington Observer shitty paper. Get it right here. On June 20th. We now have to make some corrections and although we are gratified to state Mr. Clay still lives it is believed to be out of danger
Starting point is 00:32:14 yet it is our sad duty to announce his adversary Mr. Turner is dead. No really. We're sure this time. Oh that is a paper that if you're Clay. Oh you framed that motherfucker. You put that on the wall. Remember when I died and then didn't die. Oh yeah there's the headline about when I died. Oh I guess I'd believe your paper if you knew whether or not I was alive. Well that's a good point but I will say that I'm immortal so I'm not gonna stick with what I think. It took Clay a full year to recover. He explained I allowed no probing of the wound and ordered nothing to be given to me relying on my vigor of constitution and my destiny. Which was smart. If there's one thing we've learned from that time. Yeah doctors keep doctors the fuck out of everything
Starting point is 00:32:59 you're dying of. Because they're putting their dirty mitts in your hole. I don't know. Try coughing in it. Hmm. What if I put my hand in pig shit and cram it in the hole. Oh that's a great idea. Let's do it. Oh it's looking like the hole's bigger and he's getting sicker. I don't know why. Lesson learned. I thought the pig shit would work. Well cross that off the list of things to not put in a wound. Nine hundred fifty thousand more things to try. The reaction to the fight was the opposite of what Clay wanted. Voters were so disturbed by the violence that the Emancipation Party gradually lost party in Kentucky. He didn't do shit. No but they blamed him for just being out there speaking. For being awesome. For being Superman. Later Clay got word that a mob was
Starting point is 00:33:40 headed for his home with the intention of driving him across the state line. Clay fortified his house with two cannons some rifles and a few loyal friends. His wife and children refused to go. His daughter offered his daughter's offer to load the rifles. His daughter's Tommy and Jeff and the cannons. OK. Yeah right. The mob heard about the fortification and abandoned their plans. Jesus. Leave him alone. People should just leave him the fuck alone. Do you get it. Do you get it. Leave him alone. Although. Clay had inherited his father's wealth. He did not inherit his business since his farm and businesses were neglected when he went to war in Mexico and he made a horrible investment in a bank in Cincinnati. He declared bankruptcy in 1856. All his land
Starting point is 00:34:21 and furniture were sold at auction as were the slaves that had been left for his hairs. Though they were bought by his mother's new husband and some of them will return to Clay's home. Other than that Clay's own family did nothing to help him out of the financial mess. Yes. But they came to the auction. His brother Brutus purchased many items at the auction and his mother bought two thousand two hundred acres of land and drew up a document allowing him to stay in the house. OK. So they could have. I guess they thought it was cheaper to buy it at auction as opposed to like just giving him money to help him. Yeah. Anyway. Did they just really love options. What if you like lost your house and then your mob shows up
Starting point is 00:35:05 and buys it. Yeah. You can live in it. I mean I want it now. Well I told you you could help me keep it. It's mine. You can stay in the basement. You're a good boy. Yeah. You go. Put your posters up. The fight over slavery continued to heat up. Clay became friendly with abolitionists in the state even though he disagreed with their desire for violence. It's go time. Yeah. Eventually the abolitionists because they were so aggressive were driven out of Kentucky by mobs. During this time Clay wrote a public letter to the local pay paper saying he would defend his home and family to the death if pro-slavery groups came for him. They did not. Yeah. Nothing happened and Clay remained the leading voice of the anti-slavery movement in Kentucky. He also was now well known across the
Starting point is 00:35:47 United States. The New York Times had begun printing his letters and speeches in the 1840s. Clay was now in great demand as a public speaker. Throughout the 1850s he traveled the country giving speeches in big cities. It was while he was in Illinois giving speeches that he met Abraham Lincoln. Alrighty. Who had married Mary Todd a friend of Clay's wife. As the presidential election of 1860 Grineer, Rumblings began for Cassius Clay to run for president. Okay. But he soon began to see Lincoln as the answer for the Republican Party. Get out of here. Yeah. At the convention in Chicago the party was split. Some wanted William Seward. Some wanted Edward Bates of Maine. Then Clay stood up and spoke to his fellow Republicans. We are now on the eve of a civil war. We, the border
Starting point is 00:36:35 state residents, call upon you to nominate Abraham Lincoln who knows and understands our aspirations. Give us Lincoln and we will push you your battle line from the Ohio River to the Tennessee where it belongs. Give us Lincoln and we will unite the strength of our Union sentiment and with the Union Army and bring success to your legions. Do this for us and we will go home and prepare for the conflict. So okay. He swayed everyone to vote for Lincoln. So we're talking with this is the architect. Lincoln was elected president in 1860. Cassius Clay was very close to being vice president. His name was called that at the Republican vice president naming committee meeting in Chicago but he was not present at the time. What? The nomination went to someone else. Was he just
Starting point is 00:37:21 fucking saving a baby from a river or something? He might have been taken a leak. Did anything happen while I was gone? Oh my god. Seriously? I said to hold it. Can you just hold over 10? I just took the world's biggest piss. Anyway, who was dumping this guy? What I miss? What I miss? Something is not agreeing with me. Because he campaigned so hard for Lincoln, Republicans felt that he should be awarded with a high level position. New York papers called for him to be made secretary of war but William Seward believed naming an emancipation leader in the position would immediately start a war. He was also not given a position in the cabinet for the same reason. What? Clay blamed Seward. Lincoln offered him minister of Spain. Oh perfect. Exactly what
Starting point is 00:38:09 he's been training for. Clay said he didn't want to have anything to do with an quote old effet government like Spain. Spain taking a little shrapnel. Clay said he'd like to go to Russia and Lincoln agreed. He was named minister to Russia. Okay. Before he left for Russia, Mary and Cassius decided their home was too small and they would expand it into what would become known as Whitehall. As Clay prepared to leave, the south fired upon Fort Sumner and the civil war had begun. Washington DC being so close to the south was considered an immediate danger of being raided by rebels. Clay and Senator Lane of Kansas quickly formed a militia to guard the White House until military reinforcements arrived. So he did everything. I mean everything. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:38:59 he's yeah everything. Some of the militia camped out in the east room of the White House. The battalion became known as the Clay Brigade and increased Clay's celebrity. So he's just like a fucking rock star at this point. He's like he's like Bruce Willis in Die Hard but he's real. Yeah. Yeah. When it came time to depart for Russia, it was the site of the entire Clay family would go. Okay. Off they went or they stayed for a few months until they realized they couldn't handle the cold then everyone but Cassius returned against his wishes. So they were all like it is cold here. Stay. Bye. No. We love you. Goodbye. Yeah. This is just him. Yeah. He's alone in Russia. This guy's really going for a weird life. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:45 Sending Clay to Russia turned out to be a brilliant tactical move. Zara Alexander II was a huge fan of Cassius. He kept Russia from recognizing the Confederacy and more importantly from providing them with aid. And then Russia also pushed Britain and France not to recognize the Confederacy. Clay also helped sway the Russians to sell Alaska to the United States even though he got no credit. All the credit went to Secretary of State William Seward who Clay hated. It bothered Clay for the rest of his life that Seward got all the credit. He called Seward quote the meanest ableist and most cowardly enemy. Meanwhile, the guy who tried to assassinate him is the bravest. Yeah. The best guy. Yeah. I love that brown guy who shot me in
Starting point is 00:40:29 the gut and then I cut into pieces. I like that guy's going places. The mother fucker. We got credit for Alaska. Hand me that hickory stick. Clay returned to the US briefly in 1862. He found a depressed Lincoln stewing over whether or not to release an emancipation proclamation. Oh get the I mean this is almost like Forrest Gump. A student in the background of everything key for slavery. Yeah, pretty much. Lincoln was worried that Kentucky would not join the union. Clay thought otherwise. Lincoln sent Clay to Kentucky to find out. Clay did and when he returned he informed Lincoln that Kentucky would join the union. Lincoln then released the proclamation on September 22nd. We've never
Starting point is 00:41:10 heard of this one either. So first I've heard of the emancipation proclamation. Clay went back to Russia and stayed there until 1869. He was without his family and wife for six years. So he got to fucking. Yeah, all right. He was not good at court etiquette, but the Tsar's family found it charming and overlooked his constant blunders. Rumors began circulating back home about his love of Russian women. Other rumors said he was constantly getting into fistfights with Russian men, even nobles over women. Can both be true, please? I mean, as far as I'm concerned, they are. But both are true. In 1867, he found himself in the middle of a scandal when he tried to help a woman. The woman found herself in debtor's prison after her restaurant went belly up. She
Starting point is 00:41:53 was Irish. Irish lady living in Russia. Okay. Opened a restaurant. First of all, who wants Irish food? Who wants stew? How about potatoes? What about different potatoes? How about some potato water? Would you like some cabbage with your potatoes? Any Irish listeners are probably like, oh, we're going to get away with them when I don't have to. No, motherfuckers. No. Dragging you back in. Never. And it's potato-based humor. Hello, I'm a stereotype. Come on in. Did Mickey all stereotypes? How about some whiskey? Clay helped bail her out, bought back her furniture that was being sold at auction, and gave her money to rent another house. But he soon found out that she sold all the furniture and did not pay him back any money. He had her tossed out of the house and
Starting point is 00:42:43 sold her remaining furniture. She then made false claims that he attacked her and tried to fuck her 14-year-old daughter. Word got back to the US and the press went wild. Clay was investigated by Congress and the Russians. Both concluded the woman was lying, but Clay's reputation had taken a hit. They made a lot of cartoons. They sent the attack. Oh, right. You know, the big cartoon. Yeah. Like a boner in a 14-year-old's mouth or something. Yeah. Very subtle. Garfield did that. Two years later, he returned to the US. His relationship with his wife had not been a good one for a while. Why? I can't explain. Oh, the fucking? I don't know. And Clay decided to take up that up a notch by visiting friends in New York for a year before returning home to Kentucky. Jesus. I'm back in
Starting point is 00:43:33 the States. I'm going to hang with you boys for a while. Aren't you married? Uh, yeah, kind of. Anyway, let's go beat the fuck out of some guys and meet chicks. When he did return home, shit was not good. Oh, boy. Can you imagine that walk up the driveway? She's going to be fucking pissed. How are you doing? Hey, baby. But that's one of the things, like, after you stay there for a little while and after a couple weeks, you're like, fuck, I think I blew up when I got home. Yeah. And then you're still going like, fuck, I really don't want to go home. Because it was going to be worse and worse and worse. Yeah, he just keeps getting worse, but you also don't want to go because it's already bad. Yeah. And then it just snowballs
Starting point is 00:44:10 and you're like, it's been a year. And eventually like, all right, fuck it, I'm going to go get the shit kicked out of me. And it's amazing too, probably, that the one person he was afraid of is his wife. His wife had been given $8,000 to expand the house. Okay. She spent $30,000. Oh, interesting. Also, his younger children acted like they didn't know him, mostly because... He'd been gone for seven years? Yeah, they didn't know him. I mean, what's going on around here? They don't even know me, right? This former baby's acting like it doesn't recognize me. Mary and Cassius managed to keep up appearances until 1871, when a boy arrived from Russia. He was four. Oh boy. His name was Leonid Petrov. Clay renamed the boy Lonnie Clay and adopted him. Okay. He's a terrible
Starting point is 00:44:59 boy-namer, by the way. Yeah, not good. He's a terrible boy-namer. Lonnie. That one is Lonnie, and that one's Elisha, and that one's Bridget. Mejules, my boy. Here's Samantha, my son. When Mary asked if the boy was Cassius' son, he just wouldn't answer, neither confirming or denying. So, how are you? You've been good? Uh-huh. Good, yeah. Whose son is this? So, what are you... And now, let me tell... They had to walk me through with the architecture, because I notice you've really added on here. Whose boy is this? Oh, my God. Do you ever get, like, that pain in your lower back? Okay. It'll just keep you up at night? Okay. I'm going to go out for a little while, so... Move! Around the same time, the Tsar sent a painting of a famous ballerina named Anna Petrov.
Starting point is 00:45:44 Oh, boy. That clay hung in White Hall. Oh, boy. Wow. This painting is called Rubbin' it in. This is the Hall of Fuck You. Hey, honey, you want to come into the Who I Bone room and look at the pictures? Clay's personal photo album, also. I mean, it's never good when you post another girl on your Facebook. No. Or anyone. Or any or the wall above the fireplace. Clay's personal photo album also contained a couple of pictures of her. Years later, Clay would say he didn't abandon his own flesh and blood like so many others have, so he basically said the boy was his. Right. Turns out Mary was not at all happy with the boy's arrival or the painting of the ballerina. After two weeks of
Starting point is 00:46:33 the child being in the home, she took all the kids and moved to Lexington. They were eventually divorced in 1878 after 45 years of marriage. Now back in the States, Clay didn't have much to do. His whole life had been devoted to getting rid of slavery, and that was now done. He didn't have much left to offer in the political world. Now he was living in a huge house with his son, Lonnie, the Russian boy, who was now his son. Yeah. His neighbors continued to hate him, partially blaming him for the war. Okay, Jesus. Then a succession, which is true. Well, yeah, but it's nice to see that they haven't changed their opinions on whether or not it was good. Then a succession of black foremen who worked on his farm were killed by the Ku Klux Klan.
Starting point is 00:47:15 Then things got really weird. What? Then things got really weird? It started after the boy came to Whitehall and Mary left with the children. Clay's servants, all of whom he had set free years before, began to revolt against him. It started subtly with the servant stealing property from his home. Then they began to threaten him outright. When Lonnie came down with an illness, Clay discovered that servants had been beating and starving the boy. He lost it and forced all the servants to leave one day in 1877. Now he was really alone. So September 30th, 1877, Clay and Lonnie were riding a mule across the property
Starting point is 00:47:53 when Cassius spotted a man in the woods. It was Perry White, the son of the cook Clay had fired. Clay had intercepted letters from Perry to his mother in which threats were made about Clay. Clay got off the mule and told White to raise his hands. White did, but then he reached for his gun. Clay shot him in the neck and the heart, which are two really important places. Are they? I'm not a doctor, but that sounds treacherous. That's a bad place for a whole. Okay.
Starting point is 00:48:22 Clay then fled to get authorities. When help arrived 45 minutes later, White's family was already taking away the body. That meant they had all known his intentions or had at least been lurking as part of the plot. Yeah. Crazy, right? Yeah. So it must have been, it must have been that they were mad about the wife leaving. It must be, right? But so he's not living there. So he's not living there for years. And then he comes back. What is the race of the servants? They're all black. So how could black, how could you? It's fucking insane. Like how you'd, no matter what he, like, look, yes, of course, look, he went out.
Starting point is 00:49:01 He fucking, you know, he blazed the trail for a little while, but he also helped free them and fought for their freedom. How can you take the guy who freed him? How could you take that personally? It's insane. So whatever happened is fucking crazy. Wow. Now Clay was making headlines as the emancipator who had to kill a black man. Oh, fuck that. Imagine that the fucking press. Exactly. Imagine Fox News. How apeshit they are going apeshit. The pro-slavery papers had a field day mocking the man who had killed a black man. He had fed and housed. Clay was tried and acquitted on all grounds of self defense, but Clay began to deteriorate mentally after the incident. Okay. So now he's older and he has spent
Starting point is 00:49:43 his life always being concerned about being attacked for fucking years. Yes. Has been attacked, has been in dual. So he's probably got a little bit of PTSD. Sure. And now he's getting crazy and like paranoid, which makes sense. Yes. Right. Well, and he also, he can't do anything right. Right. No matter what he does, the public is like, what a fucking loon. Yeah. So he's, what a shit head. Here's another cartoon. He began to see conspiracies everywhere. He grew increasingly paranoid. He believed there was a vendetta against him and that his ex-wife was the leader. Okay. When they divorced, one of the stipulations was that she couldn't marry until he died. That's a good lawyer. That's a good lawyer right there. Imagine being able to get that
Starting point is 00:50:33 shit going today. I mean, could you imagine? No. So the last thing I want to put in here, Heather, is that you can't marry until a bit. All right. So she gets half of everything. I'll obviously be paying the child support and she can't fuck no more later. Still mine, bitch. So now he thought she was trying to kill him so she could marry someone else. Well, listen, that's why you don't put that in your fucking divorce. That's exactly why, something that you can focus on. Yeah. He's getting a little cuckoo banan. Yeah. So he's clearly got something to dementia. Clay bought four ferocious guard dogs that patrolled the White Hall. He stalked the house with loaded guns and bowie knives.
Starting point is 00:51:16 Some people reported that anyone who went near the house had a warning shot fired over their heads. His two cannons were set up in the house and filled with rocks, nails, bricks, and other shrapnel. He started calling his home Fort General Green Clay. He was now nicknamed the Lion of White Hall. I'll take it. It's not a bad nickname. So wait, what is happening to Little Lonnie? Well, he's still there. Okay. He's just like, Dad. Dad, what's going on? Why are you putting all those nails in that cannon? Don't worry about it, son. God, I got taken care of this. Don't worry about it. You dumb old mom's trying to marry someone else. I'm going to blow your mom's head off with a brick. That's that's the milkman. That's not my mom, actually. Well, the point is,
Starting point is 00:52:06 I fucked my way through Russia. Clay was really only close to his sons, Green and Lonnie. But then Green died in 1883. And then Lonnie left for the University in Richmond. Clay was now completely alone. Aside from the occasional hired hand and rare visit from his children. In his memoirs, Cassius wrote that he was so lonesome at night that he would let bats fly through the windows so he could hear the sounds of life in the house. Listen, the only person you want saying that is Bruce Wayne. That is the greatest. That is really sound. That is the greatest sense that has ever been read on this broadcast. That is really low. He's so lonesome at night that he would let bats fly through the windows
Starting point is 00:52:49 so he could hear the sound of life in the house. Oh, that's right. Existence. Oh, I'm not alone. Oh, it's nice to hear. Hey, little bats. It's nice to hear. Listen to him. Oh, the pitter-patter of little wings. My only friends. A New York Journal reporter managed to get Cassius to let him in for an interview. He described Whitehall. Oh, boy. Ready? Fences are dilapidated. There is no sign of life about the place. One statue stand among the trees, a ghost of the grandeur of other days. Great marble vases, which once graced the approach to the main entrance have fallen. The blinds are all clothes drawn. No dogs bark even to greet or warn an intruder. Grass has found its way up in crannies where it should not be. The silk curtains in the great
Starting point is 00:53:40 door are frayed and faded. On the floor were old newspapers and bits of boxes. A long table was littered with books, papers, boxes of odds and ends, scraps of string. A box of eggs stood on the floor near a pair of shoes. Close to the fire was the tumbled bed before the fire an armchair over which a soiled woman blanket was tied. Who wouldn't want to live there? Where should I put my shoes? Near the eggs. Well, don't step on the eggs. The reporter also noted a cult revolver and bowie knife were always within reach. The reporter heard nothing about, sorry, the public had heard nothing about Cassius Clay for years, but that all changed in 1894. Clay had become smitten with Dora Richardson, the sister of a sharecropper who worked on his land. Though
Starting point is 00:54:35 she was very poor and belonged to, quote, the criminal class, as Clay said, she seemed beautiful to him. Okay, I think it's nice to point out that a lady you dig is part of the criminal class. Uh huh. Listen, he likes a bad girl. He wrote an article for the New York Journal praising her long red hair, her gray eyes and her voice. On November 13th, they married. He was 84. And she was 15. Oh, shit. Oh, my God. What the fuck now? Okay. No. Now, does this now think back to when he was in Russia and a woman accused of trying to fuck her 14 year old daughter. Yeah. Why not? Clay's children had desperately tried to stop the wedding. Why talking to men about it, officiating officiating it to judges before he finally married her in secret. When news of the
Starting point is 00:55:34 wedding became public, the community was immediately outraged. A mob of 30 men showed up at White Hall, believing Clay had gone crazy. He was holding the girl prisoner. A totally valid. Yes. That's fair to think that there's something wrong here. Clay stepped outside armed with two guns and a bowie knife. He's like 84. Here we go. Let me dust off the old bowie knife. Got one more in deep and shed me. Violence was avoided when the girl came to the window and said she wasn't being held prisoner and was his wife. We can assume that everyone left far more bummed than when they arrived. Yeah, I fucking bet. So we don't get to kick his ass and she's into it. Fuck, this is gross. Let's
Starting point is 00:56:16 just go. 84. Oh, I'm just walking back. I just keep picturing. I'm humping her. Hey, stop saying that man. Come on. Just think about it. Stop. The marriage to Dora would only last four years. Oh boy. Most of her life. Later, Clay would give several reasons for marrying her. One was that she was his house cleaner and people would talk if she lived there. Two. Not good. Two, she was an orphan and he was helping her. These are not valid. To marry her. Three. And finally, that it was a social experiment. Quote. Oh my God. In marrying Dora Richardson, my peasant wife, I not only married to please myself, but to vindicate the principle that the prince and the peasant shall intermarry if they choose. Sure. He's a scientist
Starting point is 00:57:05 of sorts. So that's nice. Social experimenter. He can't. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Remember how great he was when he was just stabbing and shooting people? He's taking a turn. I will say what is refreshing is to hear that people were outraged because in this time you never fucking know. Well, but also look, this is a guy who clearly had some mental issues and this is what happens when there's no help around. Yes. You just go fucking nuts and you marry 15 year olds and you get crazy dogs and you live with eggs on the floor. Like you know what I mean? Look, you put eggs in your shoes and you marry adolescents. It's what happens. Like this is what happens if no one is there to help. Yeah. When Clay was 92 years old, three married a four year old.
Starting point is 00:57:51 He married a badger. I just want to show that a prince can marry an animal. Listen, a lot of people are saying badgers are filthy animals. I'm just showing that you can marry and domesticate them. Free the badgers. When Clay was 92 years old, three men broke into Whitehall late one evening in an attempt to either rob or attack the old man. But Clay was still Clay. He shot one, eviscerated a second with a bowie knife and seriously injured the third before the intruder escaped. Oh my God. 92. Three guys can't take a 92 year old Clay. He fucking shot one and he gutted another one. He eviscerated a man at 92. 92. This is all I've been waiting for.
Starting point is 00:58:37 I mean, imagine. Imagine being able to get your shoes on at 92 or your eggs. Clay passed away on July 2 1903. And as a testament to his anti slavery work, mourners at his death included both white and African Americans. A newspaper on the day of his funeral wrote quote, never was a more striking scene witnessed on the way to Richmond where the funeral services were to be held from every humble Negro cottage alongside the road and at every crossroads, the mothers and large children carrying those who were too little to walk. The Negroes were lined up to pay their respects to the man whom they honored as the Abraham Lincoln of Kentucky or as Abraham Lincoln, except his this right Abraham Lincoln is from to Kentucky. But didn't he didn't we can.
Starting point is 00:59:29 Didn't he moved to Illinois? He was yeah, Illinois is right. Yeah, thanks. But anyway, so aside from the his own slaves who he free to try to kill him, he was still thought of you would. Yes, I will I get that. It's just when you honestly the big the big red flag and all that is the you know marriage to a 15 year old. It's a little weird. It's a little tough. That's a tough one to swallow. You try to recapture your youth. You tell me how you're doing at 92. Yeah, no, yeah, you get a yeah, get more horses on your fucking carriage. On November 11th, 1912, nine years after the death of Cassius Clay, Herman H. Clay, a descendant of African American slaves who had grown up at Whitehall and was freed by Cassius Clay, named his son, Cassius Marcellus
Starting point is 01:00:19 Clay in tribute to the abolitionists. Cassius and Clay Jr. developed as a heavyweight champion boxer who became famous. After converting to the nation of Islam, Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Ali was quoted that he changed his name and denounced his slave name, which is amazingly ironic. Yeah. Wow, that's crazy. So he so his relatives were from Whitehall, and they were freed by Cassius Clay, Cassius Clay, and then in return, one of them named their son, Cassius Clay, who then had another son, Cassius Clay Jr., who then became Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali because he thought the name was a slave name, but it was a slave name, but it was but it was the name of the man who freed the slaves. Wow, that's fucking crazy. Good God. Yeah. That's amazing that Muhammad
Starting point is 01:01:20 Ali didn't know. He made a very quick decision. He didn't know. It is technically a slave name. It is, but it's also not at all a slave name. No, it's not like a slave name of a guy who kept them slaves all their lives and worked them to death. It's the name of the guy who spent his whole life trying to free slaves. I mean, pining to free slaves. Yeah, that was all he did. That was his whole existence. And you know, there's a couple other things. And marrying young girls, a bunch of rush for a little while, fucking bunch of Russian ladies. Anyway, besides that, you know what? Martin Luther King was also a Flander. Like he messed around his wife, but we don't think about him that way. We think about the great things he did. Yes. So I think
Starting point is 01:02:01 the same thing should go for Cassius Clay. I agree. Occasionally, a man who helps free the slaves can also bone children. This turned into a bummer. Okay, that's a weird end. Sure, it's a weird end. Let's put the good on the bad on the scales. And I think you'd find that the good. But back then it was legal. Now you could marry a 15 year old in Kentucky. You could marry a 12 year old in a long time with Georgia. So. Wow. I don't even know what that age is now, but I'm sure you can still marry a 15 year old in some places. I think it's it's listen, I'm on all the websites. I believe it's 16. 16 year old. I just don't just the sex is upsetting. Yeah, that's upsetting. But other than that,
Starting point is 01:02:49 that's fine. You know, apparently from what I read, the family wanted her to marry because they thought it would help them get financial security because they were super, super, super poor. I mean, they were sharecroppers. So their life was no fucking walk in the park. I'm sure it got better. So they basically sold her off kind of. Sure. And she took it for the family, literally. Oh, okay. Any more dates to play? You. Well, yeah, that's probably why we don't. That's probably why a lot of people don't know about Cassius Clay is because of what he did at the end. Yeah, it wasn't like, you know, he's a real Rube. Yeah. All right. Well done. Well, we stopped slavery.

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