September 5, 2024 • 9 mins
Mundane actions often have a curious backstory, as these two seemingly innocent tales from history will prove.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
When the stock market crashed in nineteen twenty nine, a
country that was in the midst of the Roaring twenties,
a time of excess and excitement, ground to a halt.
In Chicago, a booming downtown full of bustling business people
transformed almost overnight into long lines of citizens, endlessly waiting.
People waited for work, waited for money, and most importantly,
(00:58):
waited for food. In November nineteen thirty, a soup kitchen
sprang up on State Street to feed the hundreds of
thousands of job bless Chicagoans. It had no name, just
a huge marquee out front that read free soup, coffee
and doughnuts for the unemployed. Every morning, the State Street
Soup Kitchen served up three hundred and fifty loaves of bread,
(01:19):
one hundred dozen rolls, and thirty pounds of coffee, lunch,
and dinner was hundreds of gallons of fresh made soup.
No one was required to prove their financial need, and
no hungry soul was ever denied a second helping. It
was a mystery. The whole world was broken, and yet
somehow this unnamed soup kitchen, not affiliated with any major
(01:41):
companies or charities, had the means to feed over two
thousand people each day. Nearly a week later, Chicago's soup
kitchen mystery was finally sold. The newspapers reported that the
Windy City's big hearted benefactor was none other than the
notorious mobster Al Capone. Despite his reputation as a murderous grifter,
(02:01):
helping the common man wasn't always out of character for
Public Enemy Number one. He'd been giving handouts to orphans
and widows as the country crashed into the Great Depression.
Even before the economy crashed. He thought of himself as
kind of a capitalist philanthropist. He was a businessman, he said,
who simply gave the people of Chicago what they wanted,
(02:22):
never mind that what they wanted was alcohol made illegal
under prohibition. Capone acted like he funded the soup kitchen
out of the goodness of his own heart, and while
there may be some truth to this, the reality was
more complicated. Just like when he sold alcohol to beer
craving Midwestern nurse during Prohibition, Capone rarely did anything without
something being in it for him. Shortly before the stock
(02:44):
market crashed, Capone had been accused of perpetrating a gangman
shooting the press dubbed the Saint Valentine's Day massacre. On
February fourteenth of nineteen twenty nine, seven members of the
North Side Gang, one of al Capone's biggest rivals, were
found to death execution style in a Chicago garage, and
while he was never found guilty of orchestrating the hit,
(03:06):
most people believed that Capone was behind the attack. Shocked
by the brutality of the massacre, public opinion turned against
al Capone. By opening the Soup Kitchen in nineteen thirty,
Capone thought that he could get the public, if not
the police, back on his side, and not surprisingly, it worked.
Al Capone achieved nearly full hero status for his generosity,
(03:28):
even if the bounty of food and funds he offered
wasn't exactly his. You see, as part of his racket,
al Capone bribed and bullied supplies out of businesses under
his protection. In one case, a grocery store claimed that
he sent a shipment of ducks to another charity to
be put into Christmas baskets for the poor. Somehow, the
ducks mysteriously ended up in al Capone's kitchen. Despite its
(03:51):
dubious food sources, the soup kitchen continued operating until April
of nineteen thirty one, when it abruptly closed its doors.
Just a few months later, al Capone was found guilty
of federal tax evasion, which put him in prison and
put an end to his control over Chicago's vice. Whether
people believe that he was a good hearted Robin Hood
(04:11):
or the Napoleon of crime, Capone's kitchen did some real
good in a city down on its luck. Still, because
of its association with Capone, eating at the kitchen was
sometimes a trip into the city's cd underbelly. For example,
Thanksgiving dinner of nineteen thirty, nearly five thousand Chicagoans celebrated
with a hot meal of beef stew and cranberry sauce
(04:33):
at Capone's kitchen. The reason why it was beef stew
and not traditional turkey well. Earlier that week, someone had
stolen one thousand turkeys from a grocery shipment, and al
Capone was a cheater, a gambler, and a murderer. But
by serving turkey, he would have reinforced that reputation, and
he wanted to make clear to the world that he
was no Thanksgiving thief. Hear ye, hear ye. This tavern
(05:11):
dust possess beds of uncomfortable quality. The location is poor,
the breakfast inadequate, and the stabling fees unconscionable. This humble
writer suggests that ye seek accommodations elsewhere. That's the type
of review that you might have found on Yelp or
trip Advisor, if either service had existed in seventeen eighty nine. Unfortunately,
(05:32):
there was no Internet and no review aggregate sites available
during America's earliest days, but that didn't stop one dissatisfied
tourist from recording his opinions. Just a few months after
the constitution was ratified, a former Revolutionary war officer embarked
on a unique journey. He wanted to get to know
the nation he had helped create, and thought there was
(05:54):
no better way to do that than by seeing America
from the road. While most well off tourist vacation in
places like Saratoga and Niagara Falls, he would be stepping
off the beaten track to the more distant rural communities
that comprise New England and the American South. During the journey,
he took detailed notes remarking on everything from the quality
(06:14):
of the roads he traveled to the people he met.
But his most brutal commentary was reserved for the inns
and taverns where he spent the night. The officer's private
journals contain one scathing review after another. He wrote that
Jacob's tavern in Thompson was and I quote not a
good house, often intolerable, bad road, while mister Allen's inn
(06:36):
was and I quote a very indifferent house without stabling. Meanwhile,
Buck Tavern and Delaware garnered some rare, if not faint,
praise when he called it a better house than the
appearances indicate. Now, these negative reviews make up the bulk
of the officer's diary from the period, and that might
tempt you to write him off as a fussy traveler.
(06:56):
Some tourists just can't be pleased after all. But more
likely he put so much emphasis on accommodations because he
knew how important they would become as the country grew.
Inns and taverns have been an important form of the
infrastructure going back to the days of the Roman Empire.
Travelers couldn't get very far without a place to rest
and feed their horses, so before the advent of railroads,
(07:18):
these businesses were truly critical for long distance travel. Along
with safe roads, they made a territory a nation. At
the same time, inns served a secondary function as public
gathering places. They were the spots that locals would head
to for a drink and a meal at the end
of the day, the places where people would swap stories
and discuss which politicians they supported. Initially, most inns were
(07:41):
simply public houses or pubs, or you could book a
room for the night. Now technically licensed taverns in early
America were supposed to offer a minimum of three beds
and stables for six horses, but as the officer discovered
in his travels, many towns didn't have a single business
that met those standards. But after his visit things started
(08:02):
to change. Local mayors were so embarrassed to have him
receive poor lodgings in their community. They immediately enacted plans
to erect more substantial hotels. And that's without him ever
bothering to publish his opinions. Truth be told, he didn't
have to because their guest wasn't just any revolutionary war officer.
He was none other than President George Washington, who had
(08:23):
just been elected to his first term in office. His
tours from seventeen eighty nine to seventeen ninety one were
away for him to see the country that he'd be
leading and to meet the people that he would serve
as president. And thanks to those tours, America is now
full of hotels that once hosted the first president. Many
of them proudly advertised the fact, even if Washington himself
(08:45):
didn't have glowing things to say about them. The good
news is you can always check for yourself. Washington's private
journals are all online now, as accessible as any Yelp review,
So the next time you're planning some travel, consider checking
them out for some recommendations. After all, who would you
trust more some anonymous wanna be travel blogger or America's
(09:08):
first President. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
(09:32):
winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
and television show, and you can learn all about it
over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time,
stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
When the stock market crashed in nineteen twenty nine, a
country that was in the midst of the Roaring twenties,
a time of excess and excitement, ground to a halt.
In Chicago, a booming downtown full of bustling business people
transformed almost overnight into long lines of citizens, endlessly waiting.
People waited for work, waited for money, and most importantly,
(00:58):
waited for food. In November nineteen thirty, a soup kitchen
sprang up on State Street to feed the hundreds of
thousands of job bless Chicagoans. It had no name, just
a huge marquee out front that read free soup, coffee
and doughnuts for the unemployed. Every morning, the State Street
Soup Kitchen served up three hundred and fifty loaves of bread,
(01:19):
one hundred dozen rolls, and thirty pounds of coffee, lunch,
and dinner was hundreds of gallons of fresh made soup.
No one was required to prove their financial need, and
no hungry soul was ever denied a second helping. It
was a mystery. The whole world was broken, and yet
somehow this unnamed soup kitchen, not affiliated with any major
(01:41):
companies or charities, had the means to feed over two
thousand people each day. Nearly a week later, Chicago's soup
kitchen mystery was finally sold. The newspapers reported that the
Windy City's big hearted benefactor was none other than the
notorious mobster Al Capone. Despite his reputation as a murderous grifter,
(02:01):
helping the common man wasn't always out of character for
Public Enemy Number one. He'd been giving handouts to orphans
and widows as the country crashed into the Great Depression.
Even before the economy crashed. He thought of himself as
kind of a capitalist philanthropist. He was a businessman, he said,
who simply gave the people of Chicago what they wanted,
(02:22):
never mind that what they wanted was alcohol made illegal
under prohibition. Capone acted like he funded the soup kitchen
out of the goodness of his own heart, and while
there may be some truth to this, the reality was
more complicated. Just like when he sold alcohol to beer
craving Midwestern nurse during Prohibition, Capone rarely did anything without
something being in it for him. Shortly before the stock
(02:44):
market crashed, Capone had been accused of perpetrating a gangman
shooting the press dubbed the Saint Valentine's Day massacre. On
February fourteenth of nineteen twenty nine, seven members of the
North Side Gang, one of al Capone's biggest rivals, were
found to death execution style in a Chicago garage, and
while he was never found guilty of orchestrating the hit,
(03:06):
most people believed that Capone was behind the attack. Shocked
by the brutality of the massacre, public opinion turned against
al Capone. By opening the Soup Kitchen in nineteen thirty,
Capone thought that he could get the public, if not
the police, back on his side, and not surprisingly, it worked.
Al Capone achieved nearly full hero status for his generosity,
(03:28):
even if the bounty of food and funds he offered
wasn't exactly his. You see, as part of his racket,
al Capone bribed and bullied supplies out of businesses under
his protection. In one case, a grocery store claimed that
he sent a shipment of ducks to another charity to
be put into Christmas baskets for the poor. Somehow, the
ducks mysteriously ended up in al Capone's kitchen. Despite its
(03:51):
dubious food sources, the soup kitchen continued operating until April
of nineteen thirty one, when it abruptly closed its doors.
Just a few months later, al Capone was found guilty
of federal tax evasion, which put him in prison and
put an end to his control over Chicago's vice. Whether
people believe that he was a good hearted Robin Hood
(04:11):
or the Napoleon of crime, Capone's kitchen did some real
good in a city down on its luck. Still, because
of its association with Capone, eating at the kitchen was
sometimes a trip into the city's cd underbelly. For example,
Thanksgiving dinner of nineteen thirty, nearly five thousand Chicagoans celebrated
with a hot meal of beef stew and cranberry sauce
(04:33):
at Capone's kitchen. The reason why it was beef stew
and not traditional turkey well. Earlier that week, someone had
stolen one thousand turkeys from a grocery shipment, and al
Capone was a cheater, a gambler, and a murderer. But
by serving turkey, he would have reinforced that reputation, and
he wanted to make clear to the world that he
was no Thanksgiving thief. Hear ye, hear ye. This tavern
(05:11):
dust possess beds of uncomfortable quality. The location is poor,
the breakfast inadequate, and the stabling fees unconscionable. This humble
writer suggests that ye seek accommodations elsewhere. That's the type
of review that you might have found on Yelp or
trip Advisor, if either service had existed in seventeen eighty nine. Unfortunately,
(05:32):
there was no Internet and no review aggregate sites available
during America's earliest days, but that didn't stop one dissatisfied
tourist from recording his opinions. Just a few months after
the constitution was ratified, a former Revolutionary war officer embarked
on a unique journey. He wanted to get to know
the nation he had helped create, and thought there was
(05:54):
no better way to do that than by seeing America
from the road. While most well off tourist vacation in
places like Saratoga and Niagara Falls, he would be stepping
off the beaten track to the more distant rural communities
that comprise New England and the American South. During the journey,
he took detailed notes remarking on everything from the quality
(06:14):
of the roads he traveled to the people he met.
But his most brutal commentary was reserved for the inns
and taverns where he spent the night. The officer's private
journals contain one scathing review after another. He wrote that
Jacob's tavern in Thompson was and I quote not a
good house, often intolerable, bad road, while mister Allen's inn
(06:36):
was and I quote a very indifferent house without stabling. Meanwhile,
Buck Tavern and Delaware garnered some rare, if not faint,
praise when he called it a better house than the
appearances indicate. Now, these negative reviews make up the bulk
of the officer's diary from the period, and that might
tempt you to write him off as a fussy traveler.
(06:56):
Some tourists just can't be pleased after all. But more
likely he put so much emphasis on accommodations because he
knew how important they would become as the country grew.
Inns and taverns have been an important form of the
infrastructure going back to the days of the Roman Empire.
Travelers couldn't get very far without a place to rest
and feed their horses, so before the advent of railroads,
(07:18):
these businesses were truly critical for long distance travel. Along
with safe roads, they made a territory a nation. At
the same time, inns served a secondary function as public
gathering places. They were the spots that locals would head
to for a drink and a meal at the end
of the day, the places where people would swap stories
and discuss which politicians they supported. Initially, most inns were
(07:41):
simply public houses or pubs, or you could book a
room for the night. Now technically licensed taverns in early
America were supposed to offer a minimum of three beds
and stables for six horses, but as the officer discovered
in his travels, many towns didn't have a single business
that met those standards. But after his visit things started
(08:02):
to change. Local mayors were so embarrassed to have him
receive poor lodgings in their community. They immediately enacted plans
to erect more substantial hotels. And that's without him ever
bothering to publish his opinions. Truth be told, he didn't
have to because their guest wasn't just any revolutionary war officer.
He was none other than President George Washington, who had
(08:23):
just been elected to his first term in office. His
tours from seventeen eighty nine to seventeen ninety one were
away for him to see the country that he'd be
leading and to meet the people that he would serve
as president. And thanks to those tours, America is now
full of hotels that once hosted the first president. Many
of them proudly advertised the fact, even if Washington himself
(08:45):
didn't have glowing things to say about them. The good
news is you can always check for yourself. Washington's private
journals are all online now, as accessible as any Yelp review,
So the next time you're planning some travel, consider checking
them out for some recommendations. After all, who would you
trust more some anonymous wanna be travel blogger or America's
(09:08):
first President. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
(09:32):
winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
and television show, and you can learn all about it
over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time,
stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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