The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 616 - The Floppers

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine floppers of the 1800's and early 1900's. Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources   Squarespace Rocket Money

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You're listening to the dollop. This is an American History Podcast or each week. I, user of clips for chip bags. What? What? user of clips for chip bags. What, what? Man who uses a weird contraption to throw a ball to his dog and someone who uses a keyboard for his computer, Dave Anthony, reads a story from American history

to a guy whose mouth is always open. Guess that, that is awful. Everything about what you've done is selfish and rude. Garrett Reynolds, who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. It's just supposed to be a simple way to introduce people to the show. You've weaponized it, you've selfishly utilized it.

And... What is it? It's called entertainment. Are you opposed to entertainment? I'm opposed to your entertainment. You're opposed to entertainment. Okay, look, the people clamor for my introduction. No, they don't. No. No, and as a matter of fact, I don't think you've done

one of the stupid, you know, chip bag owner things or whatever for a while. But it's also weird when it comes back into play. I just keep the chips from getting stale. I'm aware of what the product does. I'm aware of what the product, yes I am. Do you have one? I would encourage people to go to chipclip.com slash dollop.

To save 13% off your next chip clip bag of chip. Clip baggers. Chip clip chip. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yes Garret, you have anything else you want to tell people before We start the go adopt an animal. What are you doing? We should there's go to go to a pound and get an animal What are you crazy? They're the best animals. First of all, I would recommend you adopting number one, honey badger. Okay, just start the story. Number two, start the story. Lion. Number three, walrus. Those are the three best animals for you to adopt

and own, and they're very domesticated. But you're just getting the Florida fans involved now. January 1870. James G. Wheelwright married a woman whose last name was Baker. We did not know her first name. Sure. And there is suspicion that Baker was not her last name either. So we don't know her names. I could do. But henceforth, she was Mrs. Wheelwright. Okay. Gareth, she had a bone condition. Okay.

What? It's just we, um, yeah, you know what I mean you know what I mean Her bones would break okay with just the slightest blow Okay tap It was said James married her only because of her fragile bone condition. What is that? He's turned on to it or he feels bad. I don't know. Jesus. I mean, that is like the worst person to bang.

You can't call it banging. You just got to be like, yeah, like I'm going to like, right. Let's rock. I'm about to break your pelvis up. Yeah. Hey, seriously, it's like Sam Jackson and Unbreakable. Who? I banged.

Yeah, and that was terrible, wasn't it? I'm terrible. Yeah. Um, imagining me banging Sam Jackson for that movie while he just screamed. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Never broke any any little part of it. It's like a doll. He cared about her. Kara right. So he never broke her bones. Right. Gently made love to her. I don't even know if making love is possible.

I think this is I'm not going to tell you what I think it turns into. Go ahead. A month after the marriage, they went to the Utico railway station. Gorgeous. Where she broke her leg in a hole on the platform. Oh God. Oh my God. So they end on the platform. Oh, God. Oh, my God. So they end up suing.

Oh, okay. They save for 10,000, and then they end up taking a settlement for 5,000, which is equivalent of $120,000 today. So you can advantage to this person. Right? Yeah. They then left you.

I go on whole scale. You would have got a Udica. Yeah, you could come. Whole what? Huh? What? What? You do whole scouts? Huh?

What's whole? Can you hear what does that mean? Should we do the show? You said walkie talkies. What does it mean, whole scouts? When you go out and you scout for halls for hurting potentially following, you're looking for halls. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, a whole scout. It's like a Cub scout. In creepy. Well, yeah, it's completely not a Cub scout at all, but other than the name, the word, it's very much the same. We're on the same page. No. Yeah, in August, Mrs. Wheelwright, now going by Mrs. Thomas,

broke another leg in a hole on the platform of the Pittsburgh train station. Okay, I think someone's hole scouting. I really do. This time they made 6.5,000. So like they're going up. Yeah. They're making a lot more money. Right. And in July, financially, Dave, they're not in the hole. The dollop will be right back. In July, 1871, now going by Mr. and Mrs. Smiley of Cincinnati.

Where they're running on the names that fast. Yeah, it's pretty bad. They found an uneven sidewalk that she quickly tripped over breaking her right arm. They settled the city for $15,000. Mr. $15,000. Now that is a couple. Yeah, $360, 360,000. And Mr. $15,000 now that is

360, 360,000. Wow. A radius. And then they moved to Chicago. Oh, no, not the windy city. She's gonna blow, what, oh, she's dead for. On their second day there. Dear, you're not gonna believe this.

Miss, Muganas. Miss Muganasis. Miss McGunis. McGunis. Yeah. Broker Leg on a hotel. Oh God. In the hotel. The hotel.

The hotel settled for $8,000. Wow. So they're up, they're well over $500,000. Trash like way over. Yeah. Like maybe 600,000. Trash like way over. Yeah. Like maybe 600,000. Doing great. She wants to retire.

She's like, we, of course she does. We killed it. We killed it. She's also like, ow, ow. He's like, glad, babe. You got another break in you? Come on. I'm thinking we do some sort of cranium stuff.

What do you got left? Maybe we do a shoulder? How about some ribs? Hey, I get last one. We break it all. We break the whole thing. What does that got left? Maybe we do a shoulder? How about some ribs? Hey, I get last one, we break it all. We break the whole thing. What does that even mean? No, it all hurts so much. When I move it around-

Push the train, baby. No, my- No, I'm all spurs. Baby. I want to train. I want to see you when we're done. I want to see you- I think it's a plug.

Yeah, but I think that I knew- You're the one. That there's subtle breaks, a train would're done. I want to see you I think but yeah, but I think that I mean here is that there's subtle breaks a train would kill me I would No, yeah, it's all off you'll bounce off. No, I know I think I'm getting a little emotional No, I think what happens is that we we do the small breaks remember the the little ones Those are how we I hear you yeah a train I don't even think you'd have a lawsuit with a trade. I hear you. Here's what we're going to do. You trip, you fall off the golden gate bridge. I think again, you're going too big with what we, we have a very fine line and lane here and we need to stick in and to it. Mm-hmm. You're saying yes in a way that makes it, you acknowledge that

I'm right, but you're still sort of leading in the other direction. Yeah, I think we do it. Okay. So, uh, so she wants to retire and they have a fortune. But James, he wants more. James has already said a goal of 50,000, which is 1.2 million. So he's already said that's our, that's what we're looking for. So it's so easy for him to do that. is 1.2 million. So he's already said that's our, that's what we're looking for. So it's so easy for him to do that. Bill, like halfway there. Right. In your time, a few breaks away.

The New York Times quote, like a good wife, she consented to break some more bones. A fucking. Now, apparently it's not painful for her for whatever her condition is. And she actually enjoyed the being laid up time when she could really like the rest. Yeah. So in March 1872, now Miss Wilkins, walked into an open trench in St. Louis and broke a leg. Well, I'm starting to think some of this has to be on her. She's not good at walking. A whole lot of platform or uneven pavement, okay, but trenches.

Yeah. It's pretty obvious. This time they might have had word of what she'd done before or whatever, but they got suspicious. And they started investigation into their history and they took off, they just fled. Okay. So she broke off for nothing.

Yeah, exactly. Probably hard for her to flee. She's like, my name goes, he's like, babe, we gotta get out of here. Let's move. Hop, hop, hop. Yeah, I'll carry you. A month later, they're in Detroit.

Uh-oh. Is this no storm? I'm on later there in Detroit. Uh-oh. There's a snowstorm. Uh-oh. And so they're like let's have now Miss Baker slip fall on the icy ground and she'll break both of arms two arms This is the time when the city had liability for your fall We can do it in front of the Canadian Pacific Railway or all the can. Oh, they they're going railway and so they're gonna try to get 8,000. That's their goal. But she falls, but she falls much worse than they thought she would. That was awesome. Now part two. She what? breaks her neck and dies. Oh shit. What the fuck what she what Dave? We just yeah, okay, we just matter. I know we just matter and now she's I mean what is he died right there and he's like oh 12,000

Well, he was planning on on asking for 15,000, but now I asked for 25 and he gets it all yeah, she I mean They're like well, yeah, she died. So he he's a good husband I mean, I guess. We're like, well, yeah, she died. So. He's a good husband. Gareth, can I say something even better than that? The best. He made the goal. He made the goal. Yeah. Come on, baby.

This is a success story. This is good. This is. He made a bet of nine. Imagine the plan. Imagine the plan when, like, this is your plan and then she dies and you're like yeah Wow single pivoting. Yeah, I feel I feel like you know, yeah, millionaire. Yeah Yeah, with a great saps with a star like my wife

Broken neck. Yeah, miss woman is her name Lady I'm mad. Oh God. I got my little soft bro lady. I'm at 25,000 because she did. This is what the time said quote. Still nothing could consider him for the loss of his beloved partner. And he's today a lonely and unhappy man. Bull shit.

Yeah, I don't buy it, right? I don't buy it. No, no. If you're willing to like throw your wife into that situation over and over again, you know what I mean? You're not like, Yeah, he's a hundred percent usinger.

As much as they want to frame it, like he did love her. No, he is. This is a classic con. Yeah. Who's usinger. So, the wheel rights were just one of the many who were making fake claims beginning in the 1860s.

And pretty soon after people started making fake claims like this, there were so many fake claims that new brand new accident insurance companies started going bankrupt. Okay. So as soon as these companies start forming and they're like we do accident insurance, people start getting in tons of accidents, driving them out of business. Right.

There's a family named The Freemans who were operating in the early 1890s. And before they got into the con business, they a musical family they performed in musicals like tour Which sounds so strange but back then not crazy. They normally yeah They started having accidents and Most were slips on banana peels. This is not normal. What? And their slips often resulted in paralysis.

So the banana. Wait. Okay, let's stop for a moment and talk. Can we chat a chat? Sure. So the banana peel thing. I just know from like Scooby-Doo. But that is...

So they're throwing banana peels on the ground and then falling on them themselves obviously. I don't think the streets were littered with banana peels. So they're... Or were they? Nope. And so they basically would just be like, oh my god, some careless person put a banana peel on your property and they'd be like, oh Christ. That's, yeah. Basically, that's what that's. So many slippery, more slippery things.

I by the way, I was trying to find a term I was very close to slaying slippery area. Yeah, sure. But there's so many oils, I mean, even water. You could, you could slip on? Yeah, I mean, there's tons of things. But somehow oils. I mean, even water. You could, you could slip on? Yeah, I mean, there's tons of things. But somehow, but it feels like that's a good go to. Yeah, how about potato skins?

The second part is when you say paralysis, fake paralysis, right? It's an easy one to fake. Yeah, it's easy. Well, I can't move. I don't feel that. I don't feel that. I don't feel anything.

So usually these happen on trains or city railroads, that's who they targeted. They always took a very low settlement because they want to avoid going to court. Yes, right. That makes sense. And then that way, the railroad company claims guys think that they've gotten one over on them, right?

Right. But this is before they really know the full trend of this, you mean? Sure. Right. So in June, 1894, 22 year old Freeman daughter, Jenny slipped on a banana peel and fell off the Illinois Central Train. Hopefully, the train didn't hit the peel. It's a real.

Three months later, Jenny slipped on a banana peel on the Chicago city railway. Hmm. What is going on? It's a real where there's a bunch of chimps roaming? So to sort of combat this growing problem of people. No more bananas. The nannas are now illegal. Come on. I mean, or you're gonna need one.

You got to eat the peel. Sorry, everybody. If she if these cases ever went to court and they found in her favor, would they appeal? I'll see you later. You'll see me in hell for that one. I will see you in hell. So to combat this, the railway claimsmen have started making index cards with the information of all the people who they suspect are fraud or doing stuff like this.

The people who've been paralyzed two to five times, those sort of things. That's right. So they had these index cards, and one claims man finds a bunch of different claims on the Freemans. Okay. And he sends out a request across the entire country asking if anybody in any of the railroad companies

in any city knows about this family and then replies start flowing in. So they're not changing their name. And changing your name was as easy as just saying you weren't that person, probably, right? You're probably getting asked. Yeah, they could, I think they could have easily changed their name, so I don't know why they did it. It's 1890s, like you could

have. Yeah. I mean, we're like, we've talked about with the previous couple. Yeah. So in May, Jenny had fallen in Boston again. And yeah, Gerrus, she fell on a banana peel. Yeah. Damn, this thing is just following her. And then she slips on a banana peel in September in New York. What are the, uh, now four peels? Yeah. They're everywhere. That's crazy. That same year, another daughter, Franny, who's 19, slips on a banana peel in Boston.

Did any part of them think might be time to try something besides a banana peel, but a banana peel works so well That they're like look it works. Why'd mess with it. It's work. It must have worked. Yeah, fantastic. So effective so Fanny is paralyzed and and so badly she can't control her bladder like she's is she really paralyzed Well, get it. Yeah, because they filed no $2,000 claim Imagine being like

All right, Fanny you're gonna have to poop when you fall to Remember you can't feel that touch and then you got a poop When the doctor comes shit all over yourself. All right, Fanny. Let's have a look here Can you feel this in your lower leg? Christ. She's paralyzed look at all this poop and Then another one of the Frevens comes by and slips on it. Oh God. We're just screwed. This city's gonna be bankrupted Well, Fanny slipped on a banana peel and then she pooped and her brother fell in it Well, Fanny slipped on a banana peel and then she pooped and her brother fell in it. The question is, I guess, why we had her getting her exam on the train. Because she can't move.

By the way, poop, much better one than a banana peel. Yeah, okay. You're not liking that pitch? Well, I just put a weird that there's poop on the train, but I guess. Well, the banana peel is weird too. I mean, you're right. I guess if it's on the tree.

You put eat bananas. Well, all right. In retrospect, my poop pitch is not great. So, some of pooped's got an anaple. Go ahead. So she files, she files this claim against the Chicago Rock Island of Pacific Railway on Christmas Eve 1984. Okay.

The girls at this point are very good at acting paralyzed. Right. Sorry. So by the way, that's a low bar. Well, but a doctor comes and is sticking pins in her legs and they don't move. Well, that just means they're like, mm-hmm. Well, I could do it. Let's see if you could do it. I'll play this game with you.

Okay, we'll do it next time you're over. We'll film it and I'll put pins in your legs and see if you can be paralyzed. Do I get a settlement if I am able to get through it? Is the question no sir. Okay, you get to continue to be on the podcast. So I don't like the territory we're in currently. I get it. I get it.

So Sticking pins and I should ask nothing. A railroad detective starts looking into the free mans and learns all the stuff that you know Some of the previously learned and the information's flooding in he discovers Then he also he goes around the neighborhood and he finds out that local police stations know about them They've been stealing they've been shoplifting the youngest kid is six and she got busted stealing umbrellas like they're just a criminal family right So now the cops are involved six and she got busted stealing umbrellas, like they're just a criminal family. Right. So now the cops are involved.

And Chicago detectives rent a room above the Freeman's apartment. And they decide to make a hole in the floor to peep through to watch the paralyzed girl. It takes them several nights to cut up the boards. And then at the end though, they have a small hole. Hopefully no one falls in it. Well, Gareth, they're renting the apartment from a guy who's still living there. And he Pipping. Yeah. That guy's like, it's great to have six officers as my roommates. What are you doing to the floor that might affect the security deposit?

But he knew everything was going on. He was just making extra money. You guys like waffles? What's it like to be a cop? Hey, who wants an IPA? I ever tell you fellas the story about the time I cut my hand, shaman. Jeff, we're working. Yeah, I know. I just, we're kind of on the job. Since we only got the one bed, I have two pitches. Jeff, we're not actually going to sleep here. We're taking shifts. We sleep in shifts. Each one of us gets a shift of two hours. When I sleep,

I go. And this is the one that I please hold on. And this is the one I'm preferring. We all share the bed and we put on sleeping caps. And we all sleep in the bed together. Nothing weird. Oh, and that's weird. Well, I mean, nothing weird after that. I think that'd be cool. Well, the whole thing is weird. And you guys can pick the order of who sleeps next to each other. I would like to be somewhere in the middle,

just because I like kind of mix it up. So no, this would be, you know what I mean? No. You got how many of you, who wants to pick in a blanket? Okay, but yeah, quite time, right? It's a big old hole. So Jeff is in the living room and he's tiptoeing through to be really quiet, because you know, and he steps in the hole and he crashes his leg through.

Come on, come on. And so, Garrett, his leg is sticking through the Freeman ceiling. It hurts, you guys are liable. So, mother Freeman comes up and demands to know what's happening and the detectives that are there, they spend a little yard, right? They said there was a rat hunt going on and they had ripped up the boards to get at the

rats and then someone accidentally stepped in it. Me, they're not cops. We sleep together in the bed. Hi, hi there. So she buys it and she leaves. Oh, okay. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I love that a woman who just makes shit up for a living is like that makes sense. Okay. Can't sniff it out at all.

Yeah. So now when his leg goes through those cups like Jesus, you had literally one job to not walk in the hole. They totally thought they were fucked. They're like, that's it. It's over. Fellas. Fellas.

I fell in the spy hole Yeah, we can tell Jeff cuz you're in it. We can see you in it. I think we still can pull this one off Can you get out of the hole? No leg is trapped Trying to kick my way out a little Don't So yeah, so she leaves. So here's the good news. The detectives now have a much larger hole to look through.

Oh my God, she's like, okay. It is now a foot wide. Are you gonna fix it? No. It's now foot wide and 10 inches long. Jesus Christ. So to keep the light from coming through, they put a carpet down and then they go under the carpet to look down.

Oh, okay. Okay. So they're in such a complete darkness. She's really not suspicious. The paralyzed girl, Freddie, in the bed, when she looks up, they're looking right at her. And she's right in their eyes, but she can't see it. Right. Wow. Um, so for five days and nights, this is what's going on. The detectives and reporters from the Chicago, Chicago, to be unit, just sitting up there watching the reporters are. Yeah,

they brought in reporters. Interesting. That doesn't feel like the right order. Now, Garrett, this is a quote from Railway Surgeon magazine. Great publication. I actually didn't realize I still had that going and rocking money. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Quote, they have seen her take exercise by indulging in a hurdle race over all the chairs in the place. They have seen her dance more dances than some people ever heard of. And they have seen her manufactured cold feet in other symptoms of paralysis for the doctors. So for cold feet, she would put her feet in a bucket with ice in it right before the doctor came in. His feet are soaking.

Ah! Ah! A hurdle race is, you know, a gregis. Yeah. That's definitely a sign of not paralysis. Non-pious, right. Yeah. So the detectives now are like, let's set in Right. Yeah. So

The detectives now are like let's set in a new doctor to examiner and we'll watch Okay, so doctor comes in they do tests at one point one of the doctors raises up Fanny's leg in the air and then let's go It's supposed to drop down, but she forgot her whatever. It doesn't drop down. And then everyone's like, what the fuck? If you're paralyzed, that doesn't happen, obviously. So then the doctors leave and Fanny's mother burst into tears. She's like, you've ruined everything.

This is, this is gonna be our money. And then she starts slapping Fanny around. If she actually paralyzes her from slapping this will be a family nominant. So the next day detectives show up and they have warrants for Jenny, Fanny and the mom. Okay. So the women are yelling and begging for this not to happen. A detective picks up Fanny from the bed and puts her on the floor. The Chicago Tribune quote, she walked around and swore.

Oh God. So she was like, fuck it. Yeah, they knew the gig was up there. Are there even rats? I think tell me there's rats. Jeff falls through the hole. Whoa! Miss Freeman now is trying to like, what she's walking up the detectives and like stroking their faces like she's trying to,

she's trying to, she's like, well, I'll be sexy and hot. Hmm. I'll fuck my way out of this. Sure. And then they start to, they start to, she starts to fight when they're trying to handcuff her. Sure. And then she faints, like they're dramatically.

Ah. Ah. And then, and then they lose that banana. No. Then the lead detective yells up into the whole quote, well boys, have you seen all you want and from up above the here everything, sir? And then the women know they're fucked. Right. They know that the hole is not just a hole. Well, that's why if there's a hole in your ceiling, keep up appearances. Yeah, the after so they get arrested and prosecuted, go to jail.

But after the story of their banana slip fraud ring is put into a pamphlet by railway claimsman and then sent all around the country in the railroad bulletin, which is like their crime news thing that they send to each other. It's okay. Magazine type. Sure. There's a lot of ways to fake entries, right, and make a railroad. Sure, not everyone's doing the banana. We're doing peaches.

Gareth, we are brought to you in part by a square space. Gareth, you obviously know what square space is. Yep, ready. You want me to define it? Yeah, good. Square space is a, it's a place that's a web, it's like a website God. And if you are, go ahead, you go with it, but I will, I'm, go ahead. I should have rehearsed this better. It's, well, website domains, it's the whole, it's analytics, it's the whole, it's the whole bag of worms. I think they're correct the whole bag of worms. I think that correct term bad We have our dollop sources page our tour page your personal page my personal page all square space So look they have a bunch of different features over at square space

They have custom merch you can easily sell custom merch and create a Passive income stream if that's what you're into That engages with the audience and scales your brand you can design your products sell custom merch and create a passive income stream if that's what you're into. That engages with the audience and scales your brand. You can design your products in production and material shipping all ahead of you. All head of service. All head of service. Yeah. Yeah. They're furious. That's actually not what you're supposed to be. They're furious. They have reached out with a tone. I do not care for. They have a video collection, they host video content, they organize your video library

and showcase your content on these great video pages and sell access to your videos with the member areas. So that's really great. And then of course they have an asset library. Why don't you tell me what that is? Dave, this is the place you're gonna wanna go. If you need to see what's going on with that is. Dave, this is the place you're going to want to go. If you need to see what's going on with the things that you've gained and your assets. And you'll go in there, basically, you know

that scene in a detective movie where they're going through the microfish? It's that, but online. No, you can upload, organize, and access all your content from one place with the new asset library. Yes. You're able to manage all your products. Yes. From one central hub and use them across the Squarespace platform. Bingo. So not at all what you said.

Well, I, okay. So we obviously have been working with Squarespace for a long time. We have all of our websites with Squarespace. Mine, Garris, the- Jose. .podcast.com, Jose's. It's all the sources page. It's all Squarespace.

So we're in, we want you to be in. So head over to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash dollop to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. Bingo. Bingo, subongus, subongus. So Gareth, a really popular accident fake during the 1890s depression was to shoot yourself. Okay. So I don't know enough about history.

It's a blind spot. There in a depression. There was a depression in the early 1893. You know who actually found a great lot of a load of business in this era where the banana salesman. Yeah, um, oh, they won't okay So people are shooting themselves, okay? Where do you have a buddy do it? Didn't we talk about this some of this at some point? I think we did it I think we did it on a live online episode. I don't think we did it. Okay. I think that's over. We did it. Okay

so I don't think we did it. Okay. I think that's what we did it. Okay. So there were two authors publishing what was called Strategies and Conspiracies to defraud life insurance companies. They were two surgeons who worked for insurance companies. So they wrote this manual for them. Right. In 1896, they added a new chapter called Self-Mutilation in Accident Insurance.

Oh God. And they describe different guys. You want to know the difference between them and now better insurance? No! Or maybe worse. Maybe, I don't know. There was a guy named R Hicks.

He said he dropped his gun and it went off and shot him in the hand. But then they investigated him and then discovered he'd filed a bunch of different insurance claims For getting shot in the hand for the bunch of different companies. How many times can you do that people like your hand is looking How many times I did it? Yeah, this No, no, he did three months He did it one time and then just filed a bunch of Oh, god. I thought he had like,

I thought he was, looked like a Tommy gun shot him and he was like, you're not gonna believe it. You're live, Bull again. Jesus. He just has a hole in his hand and he keeps just cutting out a little bit. Yeah, right, right, okay, right. So he would have made 7,500,

but then they figured out what he was up to. Right. Hicks quote, I was perfectly satisfied to part with my hand for that price. And I was disgusted when I found out that the shot I put through my hand had not helpously crushed it. And I did all I could to induce the surgeon

who attended me to amputate. Wow, so he's pushing for amputation to get more money. Because he would make more money. Yeah, right. If the hands gone. Yeah, I get it because he would make more money. Yeah, right if the hands gone Yeah, I get it And I guess it would be harder to investigate if the hands gone, right? I mean well depends what they do with the hand I I know that you know, I would want the hand you keep it, but I'm an Adam's family family Well, yeah, that's quite a that's quite a time

But I feel like we're approaching again times when people would cut their foot or handoff for Some stability Well, well then unemployment was around 22% so it was pretty pretty high Yeah, another guy borrows a dollar from a friend and he buys an accident insurance policy was it with it and Then one night He lets his right foot and leg be crushed by a train. Oh, Christ. Go shoot it.

What are you doing? This guy's nuts. What are you doing, dude? You know what I mean? Like if you're talking to your buddy, you're like, so how would you think you're going to do? I'm probably going to just put my foot on a track and let a train go over. That man, why not see it?

What? Why not see it, what? Why not like say that like a nail from the train came off and impaled it or something? No, I just let a train run over it. I got it all planned. Don't worry. Yeah, it's good, it's a good plan. It's gonna be planned.

I don't think so. Well, he said he fell by the tracks, he said he fell down, but it was concluded that he did it on purpose, so he got back. Oh, so then that guy just has a mangled like... Oh gosh, just got- Such a bad idea. What am I gonna get for it? Nothing. By the way, you actually owe me a dollar.

No! Why- You- Still owe me a dollar, dude. Oh my god, I don't have any money. Well, I don't know, man. Should've thought about that. So, over four years in that depression,

they have records of 33 people losing left-hands, but only four using right-hands. Oh, so people are like, do the bad, do the hand you don't need. Yeah. Um, in, in the city's lawyers get involved, it's not just, it's not just railroads. People are injured by horse carriages and trolleys. They're usually poor people, obviously, um, and they would go straight to an attorney when they got hurt.

Mm-hmm. And the attorneys, the attorneys were so happy they would give out advances because they're like, yeah, this is a, this is an open shot. And then there's a lot of banana peel specialists in the early 1900s. That's just, okay, now let's just talk, let's talk. Let's talk, let's talk a little bit buddy. So What are you talking about bud? What do you mean? Well lawyers who specialized in banana slips? People who slip on banana peels There are specialists

Now what what do you mean? There are people who help you fall on a banana peel? No, it's their specialty to fall on a banana peel and get hurt Okay, so like the Freemans, there are people who are really good at the banana. So the banana thing is really prevalent. Is we call it the leader of slips? I think it's in the top five. I recall. Okay. There's the Anna Stula. She ran a boarding house in New Jersey, but she walked away from the boarding house and became a banana peel specialist. She slipped.

My term is really, I feel like putting a shine on, I mean, they're banana conners. Banana owners. Yeah. Banana owners. Yeah. Banana owners? Sure. She slipped so often on banana peels that she got the nickname banana Anna. That's great.

And I should have gotten it. That's a shit. Yeah. There's at least the records of at least 17 banana peel incidents and she made over $5,000. Christ. So nobody's connecting the dots, obviously. People aren't just like, man, this poor lady. I mean, she's probably using different names, but eventually they start to connect the dots.

Right. She was finally caught at 1910. She had been active for over four years and she told the court, quote, she had an old wound which she could cause to look like a flesh injury. So she had some sort of wound that would believe me. Yeah, yes. And she falls on the banana and then she's like, oh, my bleeder. And she falls on the banana and then she's like, oh my, I believe her.

And then oh my god. And she's sliced right through her. She can almost kill her. That got that banana pills. It's just jumping on her like an octopus. Jesus Christ, get it off of her. So she confessed to a lot more crimes and she gets sent to prison.

I've been doing watermelons too. The Cheolian Herald news quote, no more with a meek and lowly banana peeling furnish her with a livelihood. So now she's tough. A man who lived for years on accidents was William Hoke. He was 42 when he was finally arrested. The claims man noted that bananas were not sold on the train and Hokes banana peel was quote badly worn. Okay. This guy working a racket and he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not the train, that's not great, but the idea that he's using an old ruined peel.

Well, maybe they stopped. No, that doesn't work. I was saying, maybe they stopped selling bananas on trains like we said earlier, but no, he's just, look, the overheads. You could argue that someone ate one somewhere. I don't know where he is, but you can't be watching him. Yeah, so I'm gonna wanna, this is like three weeks old. This says like a bunch of shoe prints on it.

Imagine if, I imagine a fucked up look that it would have been used to over and over and over. I mean, how cheap and like there's just no, like, the idea that you're like, this is slip 34 on this appeal. I say a lot of money. I got the best appeal ever. Oh, this is a great one. Never let it go.

It's my- No, it's my- Look at Luck Banana. Now, if you'll excuse me gentlemen, I've got $5,000 to make. So every city started to have their own index cards of fakers. And the Boston Bureau alone had 403,000 cards in 23 filing cabs. Wow.

Wow. The most notorious fakers had their cars sent to railroads around the country. And then they would put the card up on a wall to try to identify them. But the card, they're just the description of the gag. Some of them have pictures. In 1905, reps from street car and insurance companies from around the country met and formed the alliance against accident fraud to share information in pool resources. At this point, it was estimated that $450,000 was lost per year to fakeers.

It's like Bitcoin. Yeah. But and so that that group does greatly decrease the amount of figures on trains. Right. Okay. So now you got to find a new target. Well, as time passed, there's only more and more people faking accidents because it's money. Dr. Frederick Moser from the Third Abino Railway in New York

wrote about the fakers he saw in the railroad hospitals. In the railroad hospitals? Yeah, there's railroad certions and railroads hospitals. There's two things he learned. That's what I said. So the things, and this is so, this is just because injuries happen so often that- I would imagine a ton of workers get injured right and and then also some passengers so they just not there's not a doctor going like these peels are an epidemic. Look at this in primary.

This is what Dr. Moser wrote, quote, some have their teeth pulled out, some irritate the skin by various substances which are injected under the skin to create abscesses. Crutches, spectacles, trappings, trusses, bandages, freshly slipped iodine are frequently employed to give the appearance of disability. I mean, you gotta do it. It, the economy is good. So if you're injecting, like making an abscess under your skin via injection.

It's not great. No, it's not great. And for a doctor to be like in my medical opinion, you did this. Yeah, this is bullshit. People also try to use their genetic abnormalities or strange medical conditions or preexisting injuries. I fell and I'm bald. What do you think? I got, I got two holes in my nose. Come on. My ears are big and they were fun when I got I got two holes in my nose come on My ears are big and they were fun when I got on your train. They're little ears Mod Johnson Could throw her shoulder and hips out of joint now. We got a skill and

Quote Hemorrhage at will one come on that's not something We're not talking about once a month, are we? No. Okay. So she regularly was able to bleed out when she wanted to make her at will. She can make it from where? Well, if the train lurched, she'd press a bottle against her third rib, quote, causing an awful appearance and producing blood from her mouth. What? So somehow she could press on her third rib and believe it was cause blood.

Yeah, she would believe like catch up. She is very much. She's catch up lately. What? They call their catch up mod. I'm sorry. If that is something you can do God wants you conning Yeah, I'm 100% like you have been chosen

Just like pushing your rib Like the dog like you actually I don't want to date you anymore cuz why that right there I that right there. Oh, not that rib. Yeah. So she then blamed the train. She said it lurched and I fell or whatever happened. Clames menu. We usually give her 10 or 20 bucks on the spot to get rid of her, which she was happy

to take and she did it hundreds of times. It is believed over the years she made $32,000. In then money. Yeah. Okay. I would imagine at some point a doctor was like, this is a serious condition. She was like, I'm good, Doc.

Doc, don't touch it. Don't you think that? Don't you think that you're seeing? That's my money maker. Yeah. Clayne has been called her the queen of fakers. She was finally arrested in 1912 when she got a five year term.

When she got out, she got a job, she tried to go straight, she got a job in a traveling minstrel show. Oh, cool. So at least she was like, cool, okay. Didn't last. In 1922, she went back to it. Well, Dave, again, when you have a gift to push a rib and bleed out, come on.

Mm-hmm. What are you going to do? Just sit on it. No, no, I would be disappointed. I'd be a rib push in. Some like George Smith had a lot of maladies. The New York Times described him as, quote, a human wreck. Nice. That's right.

That's postcard. His right leg was bruised and twisted. His right arm was as crooked as his character. He had four newly healed wounds about his head. The index finger of his right hand was missing. He was minus several teeth. And he said his spine was badly strained and twisted So this guy's like a con dream. Yeah, this guy's just falling If you if you have he falls you like boy, what was what's new?

We go a whole guy this finger was here a moment ago. I don't know where it's gone I'm a figure's gone. Oh boy. Look at how bruised it twisted my leg is I call that my five thousand dollar god. Oh boy, look at how bruised it twisted my leg is. That's called that, my $5,000 finger. Oh my god. Searches at this time are supposed to be impartial and just heal people, but they work for the railroads. And because the fakers at this point are considered like a big social mess,

like people are upset by them. So claims men would get info from them and they'd also get info from railroad cops and of course, Pinkerton's. They go talk to neighbors, we heard before, they'd rent apartments to watch claimants who said they could be in the same place. It also said such a weird thing where it's like,

if you're on a train and someone actually falls, you're like, Jesus Christ. So they're like, she's dead, you's like, if you're on a train and someone actually falls, you're like, Jesus Christ. Ha ha ha. Someone, they're like, she's dead, you're like, nah, nah. Oh yeah. I'm so happy. Oh, she bleeding from her mouth.

Okay. Yeah. Seeing it. Yep. In the 1920s, banana peel slip injury claims were in the top five classes of accidents that claims man investigate. I mean, it's really like I would just be like, you would be so easy to just be like, no,

there's not, there are no, no. No, y'all can keep fighting for this, but this is not, stop it. There aren't that many bananas. It's, have you walked around out here. It is a nightmare. There are bananas. We don't even grow bananas domestically. There are bananas everywhere and people fall in and hurting themselves. I'm a mango guy. I fell out to mango ride. Okay, get out of here weirdo.

What? I tripped on it. Get the hell out of here, Faker. And then he's just like a pickaxe mango. Give him I tripped on it. Get the hell out of here, faker. And then he's just like, I got a pick as bang. Give him a mango ride back then. I got other towns to try to mango. Yeah, so top five. A man who wrote up a definitive book on railway personal injury claims

told investigators to ask, quote, did the passenger carry lunch inclusive of fruit was fruit sold on the train? Did peel correspond to that of a fruit sold where other passengers eating fruit prior to incident? Could anyone attest to the appearance of peel on floor of a car after the accident. You would be so smart to just like, just like be a guy with dirt. Like then they'll be like dirt. Oh, I guess maybe someone had dirt. We're on the, we're looking out for,

for fruit discarded fruit pieces. Yeah, but what if you did that and they were like, no one slips on dirt. No one think people slip on or banana peels. I would be like, that's a crazy thing that isn't true. People don't slip on dirt or some rocks. I tripped on rocks. I don't know who put rocks.

Someone put rocks here. People only chip on banana peels. I mean, yeah, for the drink. I don't know. Rock seems weird. By the way, it's happening in the 1920s. So surely things are about to this will stop. The most famous banana peel artist was Frank Smith.

Hello. He was the most notorious in the business and claims men all over the country or after him. The near times were a feature by the people getting chased and he's throwing banana peels and guys are just walking over. It doesn't do anything. Yeah. Ha ha.

The near times were to feature about him in 1921, titled, Earned His Living by Slipping on Banana Peels. Okay. Smith worked with another man who would walk in front of him and drop the banana peel. Nice. See, I like that. I like that. This year, wrinkle.

That's a good, I mean you got a split it you probably got to give him 25% for the banana peel drop I give more probably but at least then there's a guy is just like I was eating bananas. I love them The guy I'm sure would also be a witness and be like I saw the whole thing. I did it. It's my fault, but it was on your property Frank always said he needs to get out of time quickly, so they would give him a settlement. Right. When he was arrested in 1921. I'm in a rush. The bulletin celebrated.

He was the only banana slipper who had his picture in the bulletin in all those years. The bulletin was made. Nice. It's cool. Frank got jail time and he told the police quote, the bulletin was made. Nice. It's cool. Frank got jail time and he told the police quote, you can't teach an old dog new trips. Well, I like that. That's guys. Yep. Uh, how's trying to murder you? Yeah. Boy, it's a boy.

Street accidents, uh, very common in cities. Cars are now everywhere, they're new. God, what if appeals on the road? Oh, shit! Regulating drivers is just kind of beginning. There's no licenses, there's no right away, there's no parking rules, there's no lanes, there's no road sides, there's no lanes, there's no road sides, there's no sidewalks. Trolley cars are hitting cars, they're hitting carriages, cars are hitting pedestrians. Crestrians, there's dream.

Yes, 100%. So the Lollock brothers, Daniel and Benjamin, are from Coney Island. And they get jobs at a laundry company called the Pure Wet Wash. Yeah. Gareth, they're washing them wet. Are you going off script or what?

Pure wet. Okay. What are you saying here? They want, they want the clothes that you bring in. They're gonna wash them wet. Okay. Pure wet. Pure wet.

You're soaking. I need to. Yeah, we wash them wet. Yeah, but I can. I'm going to call the pure wet wash. Yeah, I would. I was not pure. There's no pure drying pure wet wash. I mean, I can't. These are drenched. These are fully soaked. Sure, there's a dry shop. It's probably a dry shop. If you ever thought about maybe getting into business

with the dry shop, we just wet them. We didn't even wash them. I guess I'm super pure. We just wet them down. Okay, so these are just wet. They're wet. They smell very, how long have they been wetted? They smell kind of moldy. We just say. You can take them to the very, how long have they been

weathered? They smell kind of moldy. We just say we're gonna wet them. Okay. All right. Okay. Well, um. Okay. I'm gonna let you. No, no, no, no, no. Nope. Nope. Go. Tell your friends. Appeal. Oh God! So after they worked there for the wall, they opened up their own laundry place. And while they're there, Daniel meets a guy named William Weiss, who was what's known as a runner for Manhattan accident lawyer.

Runners got a third of the lawyer's fee. They would run around to find cases. So basically creating some. Well, ambulance chaser is basically. Oh, okay. Okay, right. So Daniel starts working as a runner. And Benjamin joins him soon after. Now they bought the lawyer 20 in cases between December 19, 24 and July 19, 25. But they feel like they're not making enough money. So they have a talk with the lawyer and the lawyer tells them to quote, go out and get some company to frame up a case with you

and then I settle it. So he tells them, right?, he's like, so you guys worked at the pure wet wash company. They're insured. They have accident insurance. So go talk to some of the drivers and get them to say that they were in an accident. And the lawyer writes down what he's looking for, what kind of injuries, what he needs. So the ideas for if I people are in a cab and the laundry driver hits him. Okay.

So Dan, it goes to work. And some people, they're in the cabs, they can hit twice in two weeks by uh... different drivers what what what part of this is fit wears reality what part what part of this is totally made up the people getting hit obviously are like people getting hit are all in

how are they getting hit the the trolley drives into them probably not that i mean the trolley the the truck drives into the problem of the hard and then they're all like, oh my God! But is the truck in on it? Everybody's in on it. Right, okay, gotcha, okay. Yeah, it's a full, full set up.

Right. So in two weeks, like the same people are in a cab, it gets hit by different trucks. Sure. Then Daniel starts putting fake claimants into actual accidents. So a trolley gets hit by somebody and then he has people say I was on the trolley or he gets people on the trolley, you know, it was quick as you can, then they come out. Right. That still happens. I know someone who saw a bus get hit in L.A. and he said he watched like 20 people run on it. Yeah. Well, yeah, give us a train.

Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes the cab drivers were in on it. Sometimes they weren't. Sometimes the accident never occurred and they just put in claims saying an accident did occur. Sometimes they took names from the phone book and just said they were people in an accident. They just made up.

And pretty, they're like, I can make this simpler. Yeah, it sucks getting hit, right? Okay. But Daniel's like, I'm still not making enough money. So he goes out on his own. Daniel's like, I'm still not making enough money. So he goes out on his own. And he takes cases to other attorneys and gets bids. So he would like have somebody be like, this guy fell in a manhole or whatever. Sure. How much are you willing to give for whatever the settlement,

like what percentage, like he's out there just like getting all these lawyers to bid on the case. Right. A main attorney he worked for was named Morris Katz. One time a claimant dies. So Daniel has another guy, Irving Führer, pose as the guy who died. Now someone didn't know he died, right? He wasn't like, that's right, y'all took my life.

And in order to get some back, I'm gonna need some money. Just put some coins under my tongue like I'm going through Haiti. He's like, Well, an investigator talks to Irving. He said, quote, we understood you were dead. Yes, I was dead and I have been dead.

And I'm going to need to be compensated for my death. I have been grieving myself. I have been hurt viciously to the point of passing away. And I, on account of what Joel's company did, I'm going to need to be taken care of because I have passed away. I'm looking to get somewhere in the area of five to 10,000 dollars. I am very be out. I'm gone. I have died.

Yeah, I mean, it's not a thing, but yeah, I have a somewhere. Brat me a chick soon. For I don't know how much longer I'll be in this limbo before I get called up to the big time. Limbo? Are you saying in purgatory? Yeah, I'm in the in between.

That's the call it. So I'm here with us. I above temper I am a zombie man. I let you feel my pulse but you all don't freak out if you didn't feel nothing. I ain't got a heart that's functioning in a brain that works. I'm right here. Well, if you're on the in between or whatever, we're not going to pay you because no, I will be paid.

No, you're dead or whatever. No, I'm, I am, I have passed away. Yes. But I'm not passed on. There's a difference. Really compact. It says if you're a zombie, you don't get paid. I can't. I'm not a zombie. There's a difference. Really contact. It says if you're a zombie, you don't get paid. I can't. I'm not a zombie. There's nothing about brain.

I'm a zombie. I am the undead that is vastly different than a zombie. That's also in the context. No, zombies are eating brains. I'm not I have no thirst for brains. It says undead also don't get paid. I'm not even undead. I'm recently passed. I'll tell you what, I have a feeling I will be okay. If I get a little money, I can go see a doctor who could probably fix me up a little bit.

But as far as now goes, I have died and I am dead. And I am upset. My wife is widowed. So I'm gonna need something. I have found $3,000, but I'm pissed. Cause all right find three thousand dollars, but I'm pissed because I'm not I have died Do you have any idea how expensive a funeral is gonna be the way I want to do it? Don't care. I want a Chinese dragon. That's expensive Okay, and that caught you got to have eight feathers under there moving the dragon around so it looks like a tail swarge

So I expect some money coming my way for I have died. Can I ask you a quick question? If it's quick but don't expect an answer for sure. What in the fuck are you talking about? I have died and I want money, $1,500 minimum. No. How about a dollar? Yes, okay So they ask and we understand you're dead and if you're erving or plight quote no, I am not I've been up in the cat skills good Lord The investor to keeps questioning until fear Irving fear finally snaps and says quote what what's the difference? Give me the money. Come on.

It's enough already. So the Lollock brothers set up their headquarters a couple of blocks from the courthouse and they bring in a house attorney Samuel Coppleton. Now Irving Führer becomes their number one flapper. Oh, he's like, he's good. Yeah. Daniel has a whole notebook of people who would take a fall for $5.

Wow. If an insurance company wanted a medical examination, Daniel had doctors on the payroll. The doctors were sent the flopper's fake name, they're addressed, the injuries they have, and they get three to five bucks a pop. The ones that had a ton of victims coming through, the doctors were called accident mills. And so the business takes off.

Just keeps getting bigger and bigger. So people are just, I'm trying to imagine like how many people on the streets are down at a time. Every day are you seeing someone fall? Let's go through this because it's the brothers favorite fake claimers are Xboxers and teenage girls. Wow, what? I assume because the boxers could take the punishment. They're used to pain. And probably had maybe some previous injuries that would align. Yeah. Teenage girls, sympathetic figures. Empathetic. Yeah. Yeah. So by 1926, they had on the payroll cops, hospital clerks, ambulance drivers, newspaper reporters, insurance employees,

shopkeepers, and neighborhood lookouts. So who are they, who are they going after the most, the city? Anybody. Any business with insurance? Anybody. So if someone falls in your company, I got demon. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Their huge organization alone leads to a 20% rise in New York liability insurance rates. Man, they're making $3 million a year. Oh my God, not then, today's money. Then. What? Yeah.

Normal people. This is Yeah. Yeah. Normal people. This is like an industry. Normal people are now walking to work, looking for accident cases they can refer to a lawyer. So people are going to work like hoping there'll be a car accident so they can rush over and go, gotta, gotta catch, ain't no five Broadway. Wow.

And then they get a referral fee. So everyone's on the lookout for an accident victim. A reporter called it quote, I'm just tying my shoe. A reporter called it quote, a daily hunt for the maimed, the halt, and the blind. If someone gets hurt, a few runners would come over trying to get the victims business. Wow. A Baptist minister in Harlem

had a deal to send his hurt parishioners to an attorney. Wow. If the cops or insurance investigator found out about a fraudulent case, the claimants would just vanish or no one could remember what happened. Attorneys would deny everything

or they'd say an ex office worker was involved. Joe Plastic. What? Joe Plastic. Made 26 claims in 1926. And then he got arrested. And in court, he said he couldn't remember any of them. I don't remember, you know, I don't think I've even fallen once.

As a matter of fact, I've never fallen. Even as a child, I came out walking. You filed 26 claims. No, I didn't. No, I never fell. No, I didn't. I've, no. I've, I never felt, no, I have, no, I haven't fought. No, no, I had 20, no, I didn't, no. I've, I didn't fall and I would fall. I promised I'd have a fell.

I have fought. What's that in your pocket? This? Yeah. I had a banana two weeks ago and I've been holding on to the peel for a little while, just because I'm missing it. Why is it all footprints on it?

Why does the banana peel have footprints on it? Yeah. Because I like to eat a mushy. So before I have one, I treat it like a, like a, I just kind of step on it, and then I mush it up. And then I squeeze it out, like it's a bit and then I squeeze it out like it's a bit of um Yeah, like it's a bit of toothpaste and that's how I eat it and it was the best one I ever had and the most mushy one

I ever had so that's why I squeezed it out of my mouth like toothpaste two and a half weeks ago That's why I got the peel aha, but you didn't expect to go here and answer did you I never fall So Bet you didn't expect to go here and answer did you? I never thought. So he says he can't remember. He also said he says he goes, I can't remember anything. But if damage suits have been brought, then they must have happened. That's the thing on the win on the witness. Dan, he said, quote, I've suffered from lack of memory for the last few years. I think I felt so much so I don't know specifics, but I have fallen and I believe I am old.

Also, that is literally every time there's some kind of Senate hearing or congressional hearing. Totally. Someones shit fucked up. I don't remember like every banker's like, I don't know, probably not. I don't know. Maybe not. I don't know. Can't tell, probably not. I don't know. I don't know, can't tell, but nothing.

Prosecutor, perhaps you were hit on the head and that has affected your memory. Plastic, I don't remember. No, wait, I was hit on the head once. Yeah, prosecutor. What, prosecutor, when was that plastic? I don't remember. Oh my God.

So just go, I like that. The very Trump. The other guys in the law like organization start splitting off on their own just like the law looks at, right? They're using their own attorneys, just as the law looks did. So Irving Führer is one of those guys.

He's their number one flopper and he breaks away. When Irving first started his career. The agent flopper. Yes. The first day started his career. He was an agent flopper. Yes. The first day of his career, back when, he did five flops. Wow. He now described himself as a quote, specialist in vault light, manhole cover,

and seller door flops. Wow. Well, and New York too. I mean, like, I'm sure it was the different back then, but still, there's so many times that you'll be walking in New York and you'll be like, boy, this is really dangerous. Yeah, 100%.

So he would just walk the streets in New York, looking for a place to have an accident. That's a pretty good one. And he just needed a crack in a sidewalk or an open manhole or a sellerar door and down to go. Right? Imagine falling through manholes for a living. Eh, well, here I go. There's no picnic, but there's a little money

at the end of there. There's a pot of gold at the end of that sewer rainbow. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to have my fibby asshadded. What? He would often do it in front of a cop, like he would make sure that, like if a cop was coming,

he'd be like, I'll wait till he gets close and then I'll fall. Cause that would give the claim more weight. Right. The accident racket called it taking a flop. Sure. Uh, they're called floppers at his peak. Irving was flopping 50 times a month.

Oh, fucking hey. Early on you yellow eyes are right They really could they'd not a lot of manholes anymore. I pulled off a couple of cellar doors, but Nobody saw it these cops. I tell you they get so distracted so I got one claim But I don't know if it'll go anyway. Can you bump your head on anything? I did, I ran into a wall and I said that I tripped out of an an appeal but I don't know. It's just such a saturated market now, it's hard to tell. A lot of these people who are flopping on even flopping like I used to, you know, in order

to flop you got to really fall. Like when I fell in that manhole 30 feet. I mean, that's a commitment I deserve to get paid for something like that. Yeah, yeah, it's just these kids now are coming out there They just and then I try and like I used to I Don't know oh Christ you pat burn me sorry. Sorry. I'm not gonna sue you Sorry. So early on he realizes he's he's flopping so much he needs a partner to keep track and he brings in a guy named Benjamin douche who uh, douche pardon?

douche oh, douche. Um, so douche followed him. Douche followed him with a really big notebook and he would write up everything about the accident? So, it would be a location. Shocked that someone isn't like, hey, this guy does, like, but there's so many people doing it. I know, but this guy would be like, I think he hired a guy to follow him. Well, but it's all different names.

They used different names. He got a flop partner, right? That's right. Well, but it's all different names. They used a flop partner. Right. Sure. So in the book, they put the location, the date, the aliases he used and how they would like frame the claim to say what happened. You got to hope nobody gets their hands on this guy's little book. Yeah, right. One example from author Ken Dornstein quote, Harry Schneider in front of Joe's restaurant, 10 Delancey Street on December 8th, 1925, Broken Door Stop, Broken Platform. He was eventually caught and Irving told the cops. He said he would walk two blocks two blocks from one flop to do another flop, at least two blocks.

But after a while, Irving and Douch, thought the attorney they were using, Moses Cohen was screwing them out of money. So they go to the lawless and they ask, uh, Daniel, can you collect the money from Cohen? And then that ends up with Cohen being forced to work for the lawless. Wait, who's Cohen? Cohen's the other lawyer? Cohen's the lawyer that, um, okay, Irving is using. Right, okay. So they just get folded into the organization. Right. In 1927, Erving's office was rated and the cop sees the notes. Office.

Well, is there anyone who's ever needed an office less? The fuck does he have an office for? Well, he's got a lot of claims going on. He's probably got a lot of paperwork. I mean, I can't put a match it like. You should not be like that. You should not like exactly. They raided it because they're like he has an office.

Yeah, it's probably a lot of evidence in there. He's like, hey, where did I flop in February? I want to make sure I don't go to the same manholes and the cellar doors. I mean probably. Yeah, Irvin Flopper. Hold please. Yeah, I'm interested in flapper with you. Why?

So they so by now accident gangs are in cities all over the countries in Baltimore. Frank Bobson got a job as a streetcar driver simply to get into accidents with other street cars Fire him Quote his gang would fill his car at a time known to him and he would race Madly through the street until he found another car or wagon into which he could smash it He kept crashing street cars until it was obvious what was happened. The woodpoint, he was arrested. Can you imagine being a regular passenger on a car where like eight weirdos get on.

And then the guys just fucking throttled it and you're just looking right at it. It's gonna fade. You go a little fast. They think he's going a little fast. Uh, yeah. And driver, I feel like there's another problem ahead. If you wanna be, I see it, I see it, thank you. Shut up, let him, shut up, let him drive.

Let him focus. And now if you haven't noticed by now, a lot of these names are Jewish names. They ran the rackets, which, they're seen as a social problem, right? The, the accident rackets. So they're like seeing as harming the fabric of society on top of that, right? Anti-Semitism. Yeah. So the whole business is like framed as this foreign evil problem. Weird, in America? Right. Yeah, can you imagine? Now, the lawletx start expanding way too much. And at one point, Benjamin buys a studa baker and

ensures it under a different name. And then two weeks later, he files a claim and says he got into an accident with a car that had five people in it. He said the driver of the other car was Herman Lotz and he had four people in the car with him. He took all the name, this didn't actually happen. He took all the names from the files of his attorney, Morris Katz. He just, people that they had worked

with before. He just took their names out. And they had set it up all before the accident with a claims adjuster from the insurance company. So the insurance company sends a doctor to Katz office to look over the three teenage girls that were supposedly in the car. Huh? And what? What do you talk? Three teenage. Oh!

There's, give the three teenage girls some here to check them, give them a once over to see who they are. And which ones were they in? Because who are they? The three young women who were in the accident with the stuidabaker. What do you need to see them for? I'm a doctor. Okay, and what's the point?

I want to look at their injuries. They're severely injured. They can't get... They can't be... They're two injured, they even be looked at by a physician of any kind. You told me that they would be here. I called you. You did? I set up a meeting. Okay, they're here. With okay?

They're here. They're here. No, they know that then possible. You they're all I think you brought them here for me to see them. Then they're here. I assure you, but they cannot be looked at, sir. Why? Because there's a lot, there's a lot that I don't think you'd be ready to see. They are so, they are so badly injured. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. Combined into one. All three of them combined into one. So when you meet them, they might look like one. And that's because they all were mushed into each other at the time of the, it's a tragic story, sir.

It's a tragic, tragic story. Do you know what accident fraud is? No. Why are you interested? Actually not. So he goes to meet these girls. And the girls are like not ready for the accident. For the accident or for the invention for the to talk to talk accident, or for the inventor, the doctor.

To talk about, to talk about the accident. They haven't worked there. So it's become, they're so sloppy now that it's like, oh, there's still guys following up, right, yeah, right. They've gotten so big they've over extended, so they can't like, try and do a thing. Give the story properly and, right? Exactly, exactly.

Yeah, they're just following somebody false claims at this point. So they don't like talk to the girls and about what they're enough about their injuries. They just basically give them pieces of paper with their injuries on and go, okay, right before the doctor comes in the door. So he starts questioning them and they don't really seem to know about their own injuries That was me who got that So he leaves the office and goes straight to the police station and the next day most of the main members of the the brothers organization are arrested. Wow

Oh, no of the main members of the brothers organization are arrested. Wow. And there's hate cuff. Oh, no! There we go, my shoulder! Oh! The three teams immediately putt guilty and they testified against everybody else. Nice. A year later, the Lolic brothers

and their main partner would give them three years in syncing prison. Boy, jail. Sometimes, Daniel. The sentencescing prison. Boy, jail. Sometimes Daniels. The sentences used to be like awesome. Yeah. Like that to me, I'd be like, yeah, that's worth it. Yeah, that was all right.

After sometime Daniel and Benjamin testified against everyone else involved in their accident. Nice. They figured every lawyer, every lawyer they work with, they figured. They named the doctors, they named it insurance adjusters, and everyone gets disbired or they lose their license to work in the business or they're put in prison. So that was like the biggest organized ring, but then in 1928, a nationwide war is basically started on the accident records.

Like they, they, they're like, we got to get all these guys. So it's like the bar associations and states and like everybody's working against them. There's hearings, there's crackdowns, and it's like they make it look like it's all sort of cleaned up, right? They're like, oh, we got them. They declared an end to ambulance chasers. Bananas made illegal. It's like, right.

Yeah, so that's kind of where that part ends. And it's like, the 1920s were the heyday. Right. Accident craziness. But obviously it still goes on, like, especially in Glendale. I've heard it. Yeah. Right. but obviously it still goes on, especially in Glendale. Yeah, right. But yeah, so it's more like under, it was like kind of mainstream.

Yeah, in a way. Like all these people were doing it. And now it's more like. Doesn't it just been fun to walk around and like. Oh my God. Just to see everyone just falling and flopping and. So good. Yeah, it's like watching the World Cup. Oh my god just to see everyone just falling and flopping and so good Yeah, it's like watching the world cup

That's I in team yeah The sources are accidentally on purpose by Ken Doranstein the joy at Harold news the Indianapolis star of the New York Times Chicago Cheapy god damn that it's so like Chicago, to be God damn that it's so like. It I mean it always kind of like is so interesting to hear about these. You know what it's kind of like black mirror. It's like always like you and I'm sure that's there's like 30 people who are like, yeah, you say everything's black, mirror, or Brewster, you're always on this podcast. But it's like, the, it's all these things where you're like,

oh yeah, of course that makes sense, but I would never have imagined, but of course, accident fraud on that level is like such an easy win. It's kind of surprising that it doesn't happen more. I mean, it still happens, right? I mean, I've seen people, really? Yeah, especially Los Angeles.

There's definitely like, like, so the thing now is like they are on highway and they cut in front of a truck and then hit the brakes and the truck hits them. Right. And then they're all like, oh, oh, but they didn't get hit that hard. Well, have you ever seen the Russia dash cam shit? No, yeah. Like that shit's incredible.

Every like rush in a Russia in your car, you have to have a dash cam. Otherwise, people are going to roll in front of your car. If you want to have a little bit of fun, go down the hall on YouTube of just watching Russian people faking injury on a like some people literally like the car will stop and someone will like fall on the hood and be like My body and then they'll see the dash camera be like, yeah, fuck you But I've also seen like in grocery stores and stuff like people fake slips and all that stuff. Yeah Yeah, it's still going on they just acted like they got rid of it But they really didn't get rid of it. It's still we can't get rid of it because it's American ingenuity

Yeah, it is the American spirit Yeah, and I and there's tons of stories of like people who like this person sued over 2,000 stores or something like that stories come out Yeah since sued over 2000 stores or something. Like if the stories come out, you know. Yeah, I at all does come back to like this, you know, again, I mean like the, I was talking to my dad about his family and how, you know, like one of my uncles lives in Germany and another one lives in England. And my father was kind of lamenting the way that

you know, there's just not the social help that there is in those countries. And you know, he was kind of, but without actually going like, yeah, it's because they're better countries. And I was like, well, yeah, but you know, that like, it's nothing you did, these countries just, they still do some of that shit. But in America, it's very, it's nothing you did, these countries just, they still do some of that shit. But in America, it's a great system where we, we, you know, we would rather reward the banana peel era than just be like, hey, we can fund social security forever. Yeah, that's right.

That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's cool. You put it that way, it's right. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's cool. You put it that way, it's cool. Yeah, and now, yeah, that's great. Well, that's good. What a fun little era. Yeah. What a cool time. I mean, banana peels, who knew?

Nope. Not me. It's weird how that carried over into animation forever though. Right. Right. Because of course it makes sense, right? Yes. But Anapile slippers were a big thing.

So of course they put it in cartoons. Yes. And then once it was in cartoons, And I remember as a kid being like, does that work? I remember trying as a kid to be like, no. I did too. I think we were together for that.

Yeah, we were small children. Together at the same time. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. It's great. Well, there you go. A little bit of a little slice of American pie. Everybody got hurt. Yeah, that's that's the moral. Tally how is that we say? Tell you. Tell you. How is that what you say tell you how tell you