WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:17.540 5 noted men are swindled by 2 uneducated miners. 00:17.540 --> 00:21.500 A man buys a few dollars worth of brass for 3,000 dollars. 00:21.500 --> 00:23.760 The Battle of Bunker Hill never occurred. 00:23.760 --> 00:24.760 Can you imagine that? 00:24.760 --> 00:27.340 Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is Lindsay McCarrie back again with another assortment 00:27.340 --> 00:30.620 of odd facts and news items with which to regale you for the next few moments. 00:30.620 --> 00:33.920 Until we return to prove those statements, we hope you'll wait around for us just a moment 00:33.920 --> 00:34.920 or two, will you? 00:34.920 --> 00:35.920 Thank you. 00:35.920 --> 01:00.980 I will later. 02:00.980 --> 02:08.820 Can you imagine this? Listen. The Battle of Bunker Hill never occurred. And that is correct. 02:08.820 --> 02:12.660 The Battle of Bunker Hill never occurred. Why? Well, the fact is that during the War 02:12.660 --> 02:17.600 of the American Revolution on the evening of June 16, 1775, colonial forces under the 02:17.600 --> 02:21.860 command of Major General Israel Putnam and Colonel William Prescott started to entrench 02:21.860 --> 02:26.500 on an elevation north of Boston known as Bunker Hill. But probably because the soil was hard 02:26.500 --> 02:30.900 and unmanageable, they retired to another hill known as Breeds Hill. And there they 02:30.900 --> 02:34.540 dug in their trenches and waited for the British forces under the command of General Thomas 02:34.540 --> 02:40.460 Gage. At length the two armies met with considerable loss on both sides. Not on Bunker Hill, but 02:40.460 --> 02:45.860 on Breeds Hill. And so today the famed Bunker Hill monument is really completely misnamed. 02:45.860 --> 02:50.460 Well, here's a very interesting story that proves how the first flush of an exciting 02:50.460 --> 02:55.860 discovery may blind everyone to the use of common ordinary horse sense. It was in the 02:55.860 --> 03:01.060 summer of 1871 that two tanned leathery skinned prospectors showed up at the Bank of California 03:01.060 --> 03:05.660 in San Francisco. Slouching up to the teller's window, the spokesman for the two prospectors 03:05.660 --> 03:10.460 asked, Hey, me and my partner here, we'd like to know if we could store some cash away 03:10.460 --> 03:15.300 some valuables in this here bank. Valuables? Oh, I suppose so. You could rent a safety 03:15.300 --> 03:20.580 deposit box and put the valuables in it, but it'll cost money. And so? Well, I didn't 03:20.580 --> 03:24.980 expect to get nothing for nothing here. All right, we can pay for it. Very well. Your 03:24.980 --> 03:30.700 name, please? My name is John Slack. This is my partner, Philip Arnold. How do you do? 03:30.700 --> 03:37.700 And the valuables? Right here in this sack. Here, I'll dump them out for you. There you 03:37.700 --> 03:42.860 are, son. Lock them till we get back. And, hey, what are you standing there with your 03:42.860 --> 03:48.940 mouth wide open for? Ain't you ever seen diamonds, rubies and emeralds before? I've never seen 03:48.940 --> 03:53.700 that many in one place. Well, lock them up and give me the key. Me and my partner's got 03:53.700 --> 03:58.420 to get back to our diggings to get some more of these toys. Come on, Philip. And leaving 03:58.420 --> 04:01.820 the bank clerk staring after them, the two miners slouched off. Immediately the clerk 04:01.820 --> 04:05.380 rushed to the head of the bank, William C. Ralston, a shrewd, intelligent man with a 04:05.380 --> 04:09.620 flair for speculation. Ralston found the two miners, talked with them and offered to buy 04:09.620 --> 04:13.460 a half share in their discovery. But Ralston didn't do it before he heard the reports of 04:13.460 --> 04:20.420 geologists, one of whom said, Mr. Ralston, I've never seen anything like this in my life. 04:20.420 --> 04:25.500 Why, those stones are up there ready for anyone to pick them up. And they're real, no fakes. 04:25.500 --> 04:29.700 It's amazing. Why, do you realize that we've barely begun to dig out the wealth from the 04:29.700 --> 04:34.580 earth? This mine and this region will soon rival South Africa as a diamond producing 04:34.580 --> 04:39.300 center. And San Francisco can become greater than Amsterdam as a cutting and polishing 04:39.300 --> 04:42.780 center. With that report ringing in his ears, William C. Ralston got together men like 04:42.780 --> 04:47.500 Horace Greeley, General George B. McClellan, Charles Louis Tiffany, founder of the famed 04:47.500 --> 04:51.940 Tiffany's in New York, and Wonder of Wonders, Baron Rothschild, head of the far-famed banking 04:51.940 --> 04:56.620 house. The men were enthusiastic and they met the two miners, Slack and Arnold. 04:56.620 --> 05:02.900 Mr. Slack, Mr. Arnold, my partners and I are prepared to offer you a top price of $700,000 05:02.900 --> 05:06.780 for your half interest in your mines. Now that's reasonable considering that you're 05:06.780 --> 05:11.100 the share in the final profits. And we put up the money for developments, equipment and 05:11.100 --> 05:12.780 labor. Now what do you say? 05:12.780 --> 05:18.020 Well, I ain't hankering to let go of it for so little. Your experts told you them stones 05:18.020 --> 05:22.780 are worth close to a million. And we brung in another bag full of diamonds worth easy 05:22.780 --> 05:23.780 that much. 05:23.780 --> 05:28.820 Yeah, but $700,000 is as high as we'll go. And you'll realize greater profits from your 05:28.820 --> 05:31.140 half interest when we start to work the mines. 05:31.140 --> 05:35.980 Well, all right. I reckon you're playing fair. We'll take it. 05:35.980 --> 05:40.580 And take the $700,000? They did. Ralston and his associates organized a company with a 05:40.580 --> 05:45.380 capital of $10 million. Gorgeous offices were opened. Then it was announced that San Francisco 05:45.380 --> 05:49.660 would soon replace Amsterdam as the center of the diamond industry of the world. Then 05:49.660 --> 05:54.500 when things were running along smoothly, two government geologists got a little suspicious. 05:54.500 --> 05:55.500 They went to the mine and... 05:55.500 --> 06:02.540 Take a look at this. This stone shows the marks of a lapidary's tool. It's been cut. 06:02.540 --> 06:06.580 There aren't any stones in nature that you'll find already cut. It's too good. 06:06.580 --> 06:10.820 Yeah. And I found diamonds and rubies and emeralds in the same matrix, in the same mother 06:10.820 --> 06:14.820 stone. And that just doesn't happen in nature. Boy, somebody's been taken to the tune of 06:14.820 --> 06:18.820 plenty of money. Why, these stones aren't worth over $10,000 at the most. They're all 06:18.820 --> 06:20.060 second rate. 06:20.060 --> 06:23.980 What happened? How did a man of Ralston's ability happen to be taken in on such an old 06:23.980 --> 06:28.380 dodge as a salted mine? Well, remember that it happened in the days when the United States 06:28.380 --> 06:32.460 was in a fever of excitement over nature's wealth buried under the ground. Gold and silver 06:32.460 --> 06:37.060 had been found in vast quantities. Why not diamonds, emeralds, and rubies? At any rate, 06:37.060 --> 06:41.460 it remains as one of the most gigantic swindles in the history of confidence games. Ralston 06:41.460 --> 06:45.660 and his associates repaid all the money advanced, but for a long time they were accosted on 06:45.660 --> 06:47.900 the streets by rude persons who asked... 06:47.900 --> 06:53.460 Say, I got some diamonds here I'd like you to take a look at. 06:53.460 --> 06:59.100 And thus ended the gigantic diamond swindle of 1871 when two famous bankers, a leading 06:59.100 --> 07:02.780 artist, a noted soldier, and the man who founded one of the leading jewelry concerns of the 07:02.780 --> 07:08.580 world were all taken in by two leathery-skinned, rough-talking miners. 07:08.580 --> 07:11.900 And here's another case in the American Southland where the principal character learned that 07:11.900 --> 07:16.220 all is not gold that glisters. And by the way, that's the way Shakespeare said it originally, 07:16.220 --> 07:22.020 all is not gold that glisters, not glitters. Anyway, it was on February 21, 1939 that three 07:22.020 --> 07:26.780 men walked into the malt shop of Herbert Siegel of Los Angeles. One of them, a rather tall, 07:26.780 --> 07:29.500 elegant-looking gent wearing a monocle, remarked... 07:29.500 --> 07:35.500 Say, I'd like to settle down here and own a little shop like this. I imagine you do 07:35.500 --> 07:36.740 a pretty good business. 07:36.740 --> 07:39.380 Oh, it's not so bad. 07:39.380 --> 07:40.860 What would you take for it? 07:40.860 --> 07:43.380 Well, I really don't know. 07:43.380 --> 07:47.980 Well, how about $2,000? I'll offer you that. 07:47.980 --> 07:48.980 $2,000? 07:48.980 --> 07:49.980 Mm-hmm. 07:49.980 --> 07:55.980 Well, I hadn't thought about selling, but that's a pretty fair price, all right. If 07:55.980 --> 07:59.980 you're anxious to buy, I'll sell for that. 07:59.980 --> 08:04.380 The elegant gentleman wearing the monocle had only $1,000 in cash on his person, so 08:04.380 --> 08:05.820 said his partner to Mr. Siegel. 08:05.820 --> 08:11.340 Tell you what, I've got a box here with dental gold in it. The gold's worth $5,300. 08:11.340 --> 08:16.820 Whew, $5,300? Say, isn't it pretty dangerous to carry that around? 08:16.820 --> 08:21.900 Oh, no, but I'll tell you what we'll do. My friend here will give you the thousand he 08:21.900 --> 08:28.220 has in cash. I'll give you this gold, and you give me $3,000 for the gold, and we'll 08:28.220 --> 08:31.740 come back later with the sales forms, and I'll buy back my gold. 08:31.740 --> 08:33.780 Let me see the gold. 08:33.780 --> 08:36.700 All right, here you are. 08:36.700 --> 08:42.060 Well, it looks like a lot of gold. All right, it's a deal. 08:42.060 --> 08:47.420 Mr. Siegel paid $3,000 for the gold. The men left with the money and left Mr. Siegel holding 08:47.420 --> 08:54.700 not the bag, but the box filled with dental gold. Mr. Siegel waited and waited and waited. 08:54.700 --> 08:56.180 Then he went to the police who told him, 08:56.180 --> 08:58.260 Mr. Siegel, you've been swindled. 08:58.260 --> 08:59.260 Swindled? 08:59.260 --> 09:04.380 These aren't gold dental fillings. They're brass, and you paid $3,000 for them. 09:04.380 --> 09:08.300 And so Mr. Herbert Siegel of Los Angeles, his eyes blinded momentarily by the flagrant 09:08.300 --> 09:18.260 flash of brass, paid $3,000 for a few dollars worth of junk. Can you imagine that? 09:18.260 --> 09:29.500 Well, well, well, what's this? Oh, it's the annual banquet of my lodge. Yowza, some fun, 09:29.500 --> 09:33.980 huh? There'll be speeches, jokes, paper hats, many cigars, and then the annual election 09:33.980 --> 09:37.300 of officers. And when that's all over and the new president is announced, the whole 09:37.300 --> 09:41.820 gang will rise and sing. 09:41.820 --> 09:47.380 Well he's a jolly good fellow, For he's a jolly good fellow 09:47.380 --> 09:53.520 Which nobody can deny, Which nobody can deny, which nobody can deny 09:53.520 --> 09:57.680 For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow 09:57.680 --> 10:03.620 For he's a jolly good fellow, Which nobody can deny 10:03.620 --> 10:07.780 We won't go home until morning, We won't go home until morning, 10:07.780 --> 10:12.780 We won't go home until morning, till daylight does appear. 10:12.780 --> 10:16.780 Till daylight does appear, till daylight does appear. 10:16.780 --> 10:20.780 We won't go home until morning, we won't go home until morning. 10:20.780 --> 10:28.780 We won't go home until morning, till daylight does appear. 10:28.780 --> 10:31.780 Yes, sir, for he is a jolly good fellow. 10:31.780 --> 10:35.780 I have no doubt that you've sung that very same song many, many times in your days. 10:35.780 --> 10:37.780 But where did it come from? 10:37.780 --> 10:39.780 Well, that I'm afraid is more or less of a mystery. 10:39.780 --> 10:42.780 One thing's sure, it's very, very old. 10:42.780 --> 10:45.780 Older than any student of the history of music can vouch for. 10:45.780 --> 10:49.780 For instance, one source I found says that this tune, known to us today as 10:49.780 --> 10:52.780 For He's a Jolly Good Fellow or We Won't Get Home Until Morning, 10:52.780 --> 10:59.780 has been known for many centuries by the Arabs of Egypt as Malbruk Safur Leel Harbi. 10:59.780 --> 11:04.780 Another source reveals that there is a possibility that the tune was carried into the land of the heathen 11:04.780 --> 11:06.780 by Christian crusaders. 11:06.780 --> 11:10.780 And still another authority claims that that song commemorates the unsuccessful attempts of 11:10.780 --> 11:16.780 John Churchill, first Duke of Malboro, to undermine the monarchy of Louis XIV of France. 11:16.780 --> 11:19.780 At any rate, the tune is certainly an old one. 11:19.780 --> 11:24.780 And the oldest lyrics we've been able to find seem to bear out the latter story of the Duke of Malboro. 11:24.780 --> 11:28.780 Here we have our male quartet singing an English translation of ancient verses 11:28.780 --> 11:33.780 to the original of the melody we know today as For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. 11:33.780 --> 11:35.860 To fight the foe in battles 11:35.860 --> 11:37.780 Merito, mirito, might程 11:38.260 --> 11:39.780 To fight the foe in battles 11:39.780 --> 11:41.780 Sir Malboro has gone 11:41.780 --> 11:43.780 Sir Malboro has gone 11:43.780 --> 11:45.780 Sir Malboro has gone 11:45.780 --> 11:47.780 To fight the foe in battles 11:47.780 --> 11:49.780 Merito, mirito, might程 11:49.780 --> 11:51.780 To fight the foe in battles 11:51.780 --> 11:53.780 Sir Malboro has gone 11:53.780 --> 11:55.780 He will return at Easter 11:55.780 --> 11:57.780 Merito, mirito, might程 11:57.780 --> 11:59.780 He will return at Easter 11:59.780 --> 12:01.780 When all the wars are done 12:01.780 --> 12:08.780 He will return at Easter, mi-re-to, mi-re-to mi-re-te-ne. 12:08.780 --> 12:14.780 He will return at Easter when all the wars are done. 12:14.780 --> 12:19.780 Sirmale Raine fell in battle, mi-re-to, mi-re-to mi-re-te-ne. 12:19.780 --> 12:26.780 Sirmale Raine fell in battle and now is in the grave. 12:26.780 --> 12:36.780 And now is in the grave. 12:36.780 --> 12:39.780 And despite the story in that song, the words, 12:39.780 --> 12:42.780 Mirito, Mirito, Miritena, have absolutely no meaning. 12:42.780 --> 12:44.780 Can you imagine that? 12:44.780 --> 12:47.780 Well, I guess it's about time once more to turn you over to your own announcer, 12:47.780 --> 12:50.780 and until we meet again on another session of Can You Imagine That, 12:50.780 --> 13:00.780 this is Lindsay McCary saying, goodbye now. 13:20.780 --> 13:30.780 Can You Imagine That? 13:50.780 --> 14:00.780 Can You Imagine That? 14:20.780 --> 14:30.780 Can You Imagine That?