December 28, 2024 • 39 mins
If you're like most English speakers, the first thing you think of when you hear the name "Fido" is, of course, a dog. But why? Join Ben and Noel as they delve into the story of Abraham Lincoln's favorite pooch, and how this little yellow pup became one of the first dog memes. (Also, please send us photos of your pooches. We're super into it.)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, fellow ridiculous historians, is that you. We're so glad
to see you. Joy, Yeah, Joy joining us for a
classic episode. Look, names are tough. We talked I can't
remember which show it was, but we talked about how
tough it is to name a car. We know it's
tough to name a pet.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And what is that? What is a toreg?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
He's still on it. So look, if you are investigating
like we did back in twenty eighteen, the names of dogs,
you will see the name Fido show up. And Fido
is not a name for people.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Sure Isn't you see it in branding for dog food
and all kinds of stuff dating back to this is
the beginning of advertising. I've been watching or rewatching, actually
a lot of classic Looney Tunes cartoons recently. Pro tip
for any Max subscribers out there. Every single one of
them is on there, back from the earliest ones like
the thirties, and Fido is often what they call dogs
(01:04):
in the show you know, bugs bunny Less, You're like here, Fido.
It's just kind of like a stand down, like coke
is for soda or xerox is for a photocop. Sure
Google for Internet search do we also have the do
we have the World War Two propaganda on Max? I'm
not sure. I haven't been through all of it enough
to know of what they've stripped, but I'm not one
(01:27):
hundred percent sure. I wouldn't be surprised. I know that
Disney has removed a lot of the problematic Disney cartoons
from you know, Disney Plus.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And we know how Fido became a default name for
dogs here in the West. Spoiler it goes back to
an amateur wrestler that we often bring up on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Good reach out on that guy. Thanks Abe Lincoln. Let's
jump right in.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome to the
(02:24):
show Ridiculous Historians, and thanks for tuning in. Whether you
have multiple PhDs and various specific aspects of the story
of human civilization, or whether you consider yourself an armchair
history enthusiast, one thing's for sure. You've probably probably met
a dog.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Probably I've met at least two dogs that was the
same dog, though you think so.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I think it was the same dog.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Why do you think that?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Because you showed me the pictures and I think it's
the angle.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, that's weird. I'm more of a cat person. But
now I've met multiple dogs in truth, and I've also
heard of Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yes, and today's story is about the confluence of these
two concepts. When we think about dogs, we always think
about strange dog names too, writ And there's one thing
that always baffled me when I was a kid, when
I traveled abroad, I didn't understand that dogs who grow
up in non English speaking countries don't speak English.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It's a weird thing, you know. And you probably ran
into dogs who spoke German when you were in Germany.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Are you teasing me, Ben?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
No?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I mean like like they when they bark, they do
it with like a German accent. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, they wouldn't respond to commands.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
There you go. Yeah, but I'll twist it around.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Also, and something that has nothing to do with this episode.
I think it's hilarious the way that other languages will
right the sound of a dog bark. You can look
it up for yourselves, folks. I think you'll enjoy it. Oh,
I forgot Hi, I'm Ben Whoa.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That was the longest preamble pre name drop opening ever.
My name is NOL and just to get it out
of the way and not get it out of the way.
This is a cause for celebration. We'd like to welcome
back with open arms, our super producer, Casey Pegram.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
It's been too long, Casey, thank you so much for
returning here to the States, here to the studio, here
to ridiculous history.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Casey's into dogs, right, you like dogs. I'm a dog person, absolutely, Yeah,
what would you say? You're more a dog person or
a cat person both growing up, so I'm pretty agnostic
or ambidextrous.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I got with your animal affection.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So it's it's interesting because we often hear of this
divide between cats and dogs, and with just a brief
nod to the science behind domestication, it's fascinating nol. Dogs
were domesticated by people, but cats largely domesticated themselves.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Cats do everything for themselves. Man, They're persnickety little creatures
who don't need us, and they will eat us when
we die in our apartments, sad and alone.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Or if the size difference was reversed, they would also
eat you totally.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
If I told you about how my cat like brings
little presents and like like just looks like they look
like Satanic rituals laid out on my doorstep, like decapitated squirrels,
and you know, with the guts in the shape of
a pentagram and horrifying. Yeah. Yeah, and I share a
bed with this thing. What am I thinking?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Colleague? And someone worked within the past, laur And Vogelbaum
has the same thing with her cat. That's because you
guys have indoor outdoor cats.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, I finally put a bell on that little bastard,
and now I'm hoping to give those things a fighting chance.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
See. I let my cats just be the agents of
chaos they were meant to.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
No, that's true, and Lincoln appreciated cats in addition to dogs,
cause he referred to cats as like one of his hobbies. Yeah,
but his old pal, his trusty sidekick through thick and thin,
well up to a point, was an old dog.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, it was a dog. And today's episode that we're
finally getting too is about this dog. It's also a
way to answer a question about dog names, because when
you think of a dog, you think of generic dog names, right, spot, sparky, Yeah,
things like that. And I don't know about you know,
(06:23):
but it's strange to me when I meet a dog
with a person name.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, like Stephen or Ashley. I love it though. I'm
a fan of it. When I first heard of a
pet that was named after a human, I thought that
was the most clever thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
The first one I met was neither a dog nor cat.
It was a turtle, and I was so impressed. His
name was Robert Lewis Stevenson.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That's great. He was a very trepidacious, explorative turtle for sure,
very slowly exploring his surroundings.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
He was tentative. But with dogs, there's one name that
always feels like the generic, the quintessential name.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
For a dog. Yeah, like a Kleenex yeah yeah, or
xerox yeah, but you know for a dog, right, or Google.
But for a dog, it's Fido right out here, boy here,
Fido here, Fido? You ever heard that in the Looney
Tunes cartoon?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Very popular in Looney Tunes and I think some Disney
stuff as well. These days, Fido isn't even in the
top one hundred common dog names.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
They're a named Stephen and stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah right, They're all named George Ashcroft or something. But now,
even with the popularity of Fido declining. Everybody in the
English speaking world at least associates the name Fido specifically
with a.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Dog like let me get a coke, you mean a soda? Right,
let me see that Fido, you mean that dog like that?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And it turns out right that there's a reason for this.
There is a traceable, specific reason that Fido became known
world over as a dog's name, and it goes back
to our boy, young rail splitter himself, Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah. Yeah, that old yellow dog we were talking about.
His name was Fido, and he was a mongrel kind
of a mixed breed yellow, floppy eared fellow that Lincoln
just adored. And he loved to play with Fido around
his home in Springfield, Illinois with his sons Tad and Willie.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Who are stories of their own, believe you me. Yeah,
as he before he became president, he had several dogs
and cats in his home in Illinois, and seems like
the crowd favorite was Fido. At least Lincoln's favorite was Fido.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
We'll get into a little bit more of the Fido
lore later, but for now, in his heyday, Lincoln, before
he became elected president, Fido he would walk around town.
He would go get a little trim at the barber shop,
and Fido would wait patiently outside for him, untied, just
perfectly loyal. What's the word? Fido is short for what fidelity?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Right? The name is Latin for faithful right. And for
about five years before Abraham Lincoln became president, he was
a lawyer, and Fido would just follow him everywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, I keep seeing mentions of Fido would even carry
parcels for Lincoln in his mouth.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, and he became sort of this walking business card
for Lincoln as well in town because they would see
the little yellow dog and they would know that the
lawyer Lincoln was around. It was about Yeah, but fame
changes things, right. In eighteen sixty three, as he was
preparing to move to the White House to serve as
Commander in chief of the US, people started to think
(09:41):
that Fido was maybe a little too friendly, a little
too outgoing.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Not even that, maybe even a little fragile, right, because
when in his hometown, you know, when the president won
the election, there were you know, all kinds of all
kinds of commotion, right, we had cannon fire fireworks.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Screaming pol politicians. Yeah, people farting.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, all of that, various noises and Fido it was
spooked by this. He was not excited about this. It
made him very uncomfortable and he, you know, totally kind
of Withdrew.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, he was described as a frisky mongrel in a
Life magazine profile of him at the time. So he
did not accompany. Originally, the Lincolns to DC. Instead, they
picked up a dog named Jip and two goats, Nanny
(10:35):
and Nanco and.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Get were the goats to mow the lawn at the
White House.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You know, my old co host, Scott Benjamin is all
about that.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, there's a service here in Atlanta where you can
rent a goat that'll clean up your their foliage.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, and it's not just in Atlanta. When Scott recommended
to me that I, instead of repairing my lawnmower, rent
a goat, I thought he was joking.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
But Gott doesn't joke about stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
He doesn't really joke. He's a very sincere dude.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
That's true. Shout out to Scott Benjamin or is I
like to refer to him f Scott Benjamin. So, yeah,
Fido stayed behind and it took a while, but the president,
it was very important for him that his old trustee
yellow dog Fido, had a suitable home with suitable affections
and spoilage.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Right, yeah, exactly, And that's why he decided to have
another person, a person he could trust, take care of Fido.
Back there in Springfield, he contacted John Roll, who was
a carpenter, and said, hey, you and your family, could
you take care of Fido. He's a great dog. You've
seen him around town. He's the one who carries parcels.
(11:43):
They were old pals. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And so he
was already familiar with Fido, but just like any helicopter
dog parent. As Lincoln left to pursue the presidency, he
also left behind detailed instructions for Fido's data care and
spoiling and the stuff he likes. Stuff he doesn't lie.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Now, dare we say conditions?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, additions? What were some of those? Hit us?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Whenever the role family was eating, they had to give
scraps from the table to Fido. Also, he could never
be yelled at or scolded for having muddy paws in
the house.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
This becomes a theme with Fido always having muddy pause right,
and being a little too eager to hop up on people.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And they gave him some equipment too, right, give the
roles some equipment.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, it was a custom couch that Lincoln himself had
built because, as we know, unlike the myth of Napoleon
being extra mega super short, he was just sort of
an average height, maybe a little shorter than average. Lincoln
was in fact quite tall, yes.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And some people have speculated is due to a condition
known as Marfan syndrome. But regardless of the cause, Lincoln
himself was one heck of a scarecrow. He was six
feet four, very skinny, looked like you could tie a
kite to him and he would fly away. And so
a couch that you would buy at the store was
(13:07):
not going to accommodate a man of his height.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
His lanky frame, His legs would just be hanging off
the side if he wanted to have a nice lie down, right,
So yeah, I say this custom coust was made of
horse hair. And it was also Fido's favorite piece of furniture.
And I'm sure you had familiar smells and all that.
And he made sure that the family that was taking
Fido got this piece of furniture so that he could
(13:30):
lounge around on it and feel super duper at home.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And it's tough to overstate the importance of this sofa
to Fido himself, because when he was frightened, this is
the sofa he hid under. When he was happy, this
is the sofa he lounged upon. In a very real way,
the sofa, second to Abraham Lincoln is the most important
(13:56):
thing in the home to fight him. We mentioned earlier
Lincoln's sons, right, Tad and Willy, yep, Tad Willie, and
they were of course hit by this. This was their
childhood dog. They're saying, oh shucks, good on Dad for
being the president. But why can't fight ocus.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
The end of an era? You know? But they I'm
sure Dad, all honest abe explained it to the boys
very gingerly, and I'm sure they came to understand. I'm
speculating here a little bit. But they seemed like good boys.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You might have said, look, I can do two goats.
It's the best they could do.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Well yeah, yeah, Hey, that's a good deal, though, man,
one dog for two goats.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Dogs don't mow your lawn either. Those goats, though, apparently,
were hell raisers in the UF House. The staffers did
not like them because they would like not only chew
up the grass like, they would chew up like everything.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Have you ever hung out with a goat with their
weird octopus eyes, you mean, greatest of all time? I'm flattered, nol,
thank you. No, the physical.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Goat, now I have not. I'd be afraid they'd buck.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, they're weird. They can be affectionate, but they will
eat or near anything.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, like you know, your fist or your heart. But
that's just with their cuddingness.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah. So yeah. So despite all the gestures and all
the reassurances you can make, anybody who has been a
parent who had to explain the loss of a pet
to a child understands that it's heavy and deep stuff,
whether it's just moving or whether the pet has passed away.
And perhaps ridiculous historians, as you're listening, you're thinking of
(15:28):
moments in your life when you were a child and
you lost a pet or you were somehow put out
of contact with it. It's very psychologically trying, and Lincoln
to go with Allegedly here allegedly, Lincoln attempted to combat
this by resorting to a relatively new technology at the time. Yeah,
(15:50):
he wanted to, you know, have a nice family portrait
of Fido. And we've got these images around today. It's great.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You can see them like lounging on what is it
like a look throw rug kind of situation. What do
we got here?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, it looks like he is on a table with
a nice rug or heavy tablecloth, and he's got his
paws just roguishly hanging off like he's ready to jump,
but he's comfortable.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And this is back when you would have had to
stand really still. Doesn't it seem like taking a picture
of a dog would be challenging and best.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, it would have to be a super chill dog. Yeah,
but be that as it may. Turned out, it worked,
and there's a pretty good photograph of Fido, which you
can find if you just google Fido, Abraham Lincoln. We
did find one wrinkle to the story here, at least
(16:47):
in terms of chronology, right.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, and this is how we start getting well, I
think we can use this as a jumping off point
into the kind of sad part of this story. There
is a story and by the name of doctor James Cornelius,
who curates the Abraham Lincoln collection at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum, who says there are some issues
with the chronology of when this photograph was taken. Original
(17:09):
reports suggested that Lincoln himself commissioned it, and it seems
maybe a little more likely that it was done in
the aftermath of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, when Fido would
have been a very famous dog and some eagle eyed
photog around Springfield thought it might be a hot ticket
(17:30):
item to have photographs of the dog that they could
sell to mourners.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, so you'll hear two different versions of the chronology here.
You'll hear that the photo was made after the assassination
or you'll hear that it was made beforehand. And regardless
either way, this photo gets into newspapers and Fido the
(17:55):
dog himself, and just the name Fido becomes universally claimed
in the US and probably a little bit beyond the
US as well. So this is when people start naming
their own dogs Fido. Right, A kid sees a dog
in the newspaper and the dog's name is Fido, and
they think, I'm gonna name my dog Fido, just like
(18:16):
President Lincoln's dog. And when Lincoln was assassinated in eighteen
sixty five in the Ford Theater. This did very little
to quell Fido's popularity. In fact, it added to it
isn't that correct.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yes, Ben, that's exactly right. People would line up to take,
you know, to meet the presidential dog. And here here's
a little bit of a breakdown of the story of
this photograph, as it kind of like weaves into this
part of the story. So this guy by the name
of F. W. Ngmeier had a photo studio in Springfield,
(18:55):
and according to the original story, it was in late
eighteen sixty or early eighteen sixty one. There are actually
three shots of Fido, one nice from the front shot
and then two profile shots where he's a little bit
more kind of hunkered down, like he's swimming in a
he's trying to ford a stream of some kind, right.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And the exposure makes them all look radically different.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah, it's true. The one from the front is very
Cepia looking, and then there's another cpo looking one from
the side that is very high contrast, kind of like
what the background is totally white and you can't see
any texture, is almost blown out. Yeah, and then the
last one, which I think is by far the most
successful of the photographs. Aesthetically, you can see that the
(19:37):
wall has kind of a shaded shadow you look to it,
and the dog's fur is properly exposed, and you can
see the texture of the rug. And there's a lot
more detail in this one.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, there's also the fur is so detailed that it
almost looks like Fido might have some German shepherd in them.
So ing Meyer fw Ngmeyer has also become the subject
of investigation, especially by a guy named Dick Hart in
his book Springfield, Illinois Nineteenth Century Photographers.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
But the problem is that apparently between eighteen sixty and
eighteen sixty one, Ingmeier wasn't didn't have a photography studio.
He was actually working as a minister in the Baptist faith.
I guess that was his weekend job. And then he
was also a sewing machine salesman.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, he was selling sewing machines and probably preaching on
the side as well. He ran a bunch of ads
in various papers for his sewing machine agency. But he
didn't even start paying for a photographer's license until eighteen
sixty two.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I'm sorry, a photographer's license.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Uh huh. It was a different time.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
That seems yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Wow. Well also it's a really new technology, so you
probably it's a new technology. You probably them just spitballing here. Man.
You probably have to have some sort of training.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Safety training. They got those flash bulbs. They can take
your eye out of burn your fingers a bit best.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I mean, new technology is always a pain. Have you
ever watched videos of someone attempting to start a model
t It's crazy? You can break your arm.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Well, I just would like to You got to like
pull it like a lawnmower.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You have to crank it. Yeah, yeah, you have to
starting a chair a crank.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Oh okay, that's crank.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
And if it gets cantankerous, it will fly back with
such force that will break.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Your fork kick at you. Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
So probably I would like to think take it a
photograph was not that dangerous or didn't have that possibility
for danger, But you had to have some training. And
what you brought up here is really important because we're
looking again at the timeline. So that's eighteen sixty two, right.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That's right. That is allegedly when he began to pay
for this license and installments I'm imagining, and that's that's
ten dollars total for the license, which was you know,
a pretty penny back in eighteen sixty.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Two, and he first ran an ad for his photography
business in October of eighteen sixty four because there were
a lot of soldiers passing through nearby Camp Butler. It's
important to say that this chronology of the license and
the advertisements, this chronology does not prove that Ingmar did
(22:34):
not take those pictures of this pooch in eighteen sixty
or eighteen sixty one, but it calls it into question,
you know, that's right.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And this is all from a fantastic post, you know,
speculating on this chronology, because again a lot of this
stuff is just that speculation, but it comes from a
pretty solid source, the guy by the name of doctor
James Cornelius, who's the curator of that Abraham Lincoln collection
at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. So if
anyone knows he got to know.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, he's the leading expert. Literally, he sold a matched
set Ingmar that is, sold a match set of four
photos with identical back marks, which are think of it, likenk.
You may have seen your parents do this. Writing on
the back of a photograph with the name and date,
(23:24):
the time or description.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, yeah, like like a time code that you would
see cameras these days. Actually, well not so much, but
like they used to be when you get the prints,
maybe that annoying little watermark in the bottom left hand
corner that was the time and the day. There's something
kind of similar, if not more analog at play here.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Right, yeah, exactly. And in this book that we mentioned
by Heart, there's this match set of four photographs that
Ingmar sold with these back marks, and in the Heart
book they're dated back to eighteen sixty five and eighteen
sixty six. The fotographs are the following. A hillside tomb
(24:02):
in Oak Ridge Cemetery, a photograph of Lincoln's old home.
Photograph of a horse known as Old Bob, which I
think is a cool horse name.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Is that the same as old Robin? Is that short
for it? Because I've seen it both ways? You have
two horses, because Rob could be short for Bob, could
be short for Robin, Bob could be short for yeah, yeah,
because Robin is I don't know. The photograph that I'm
seeing is actually captioned President Lincoln's horse Old Robin.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
It's gotta be the same horse, because I've seen the
same photograph and then I'm looking at the description from
doctor Cornelius. So maybe doctor Cornelis is just so familiar
with him that he calls him old Bob, Oh Bob. Yeah,
he's spent a lot of time researching this.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Also in the photograph, might maybe they were more formal,
you know, that was the that was the horse's Christian name.
But if you were familiar, you could call him old Bob.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
But most importantly, that fourth photograph is the high quality
profile snap a fighto.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And you know these look like ben These look like
the kinds of postcards you would buy at a gift
shop for like the Grand Canyon or President Abraham Lincoln's
boyhood home or what have you. Right, Yeah, So the
theory here is that no, these photos were not commissioned
by Lincoln himself during his life. They were done as
a kind of get rich quick scheme by this guy
(25:23):
Ingmeyer when Lincoln's death brought droves of mourners and people
paying their respects to Springfield.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
So why do we believe doctor Cornelius's a version of
the events. Well, that's primarily because he has matched times
and dates into a single unified chronology, and the story
about Lincoln commissioning the photographs actually comes to us through
(25:51):
John Roll primarily. And you can't really We're not saying
role is lying, but it's very easy for him to
be mistaken. You can't really blame someone for getting the
details of a dog picture a little bit off, you know,
decades and decades later.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I have heard of worse historical blunders, my friend.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Right, So doctor Cornelius finds a kicker a nail in
the chronological coffin. Here he says that if the Lincoln boys,
Tad and Willie had a photograph of Fido in the
White House, why does it not have that same back mark,
the mark that Ingmeier used to distinguish his photographs, right,
(26:33):
why doesn't have one from eighteen sixty to eighteen sixty one.
The thing is, the one surviving copy today is identical
to the images from eighteen sixty five in both the
label and the back mark that indicates the provenance of
the photo. If someone took a photo of Fido for
the boys in eighteen sixty one, why would it have
(26:54):
needed the label President Lincoln's Dog. You can find the
family's photo album today in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Museum or apple Plum. That's the acronym that is, that's
a literal mouthful of word salad. Yeah, but you can
you know, you can find the photo album today and
(27:18):
it doesn't have all of the photos. About half of
them are missing, but the other half are in the
Lincoln Financial Foundation collection in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And so
to Cornelius, to doctor Cornelius, all of this evidence points
to the photo being taken in eighteen sixty five.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I think had some good detective work there from the
good doctor.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I agree. He is the Sherlock Holmes of Abraham Lincoln
Dog Photos. Dog photos. Yeah, guys, you might be saying, look,
I get it, the dog picture was probably made in
six not sixty one. But for Pete's sake, for Fido's sake,
(28:04):
can't you just let me enjoy a cute picture of
a doggo?
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah? I mean seriously, it was like one of the
original dogo memes. But also, you know, we really did
spend a lot of time talking about those pictures. I'm
fascinated by the whole the mystery of it. And then
when things make their way into official accounts, that then
proved to not be the case. But this story does
take an interesting turn. Dare I say, a pretty sad
(28:28):
turn for old Fido.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Yeah, yeah, you're right. So obviously it's a national tragedy
when Abraham Lincoln is assassinated and it turns out that
Fido also met an unfortunate end. In eighteen sixty six,
about a year after Lincoln's assassination, Fido, again very much
a dog of the people, never met a person he
(28:52):
didn't like. Fido is walking along, minding his own business,
and he sniffs across somebody who appears to be sleeping
on the sidewalk.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I thought you were going to say, sniff's a crotch
of someone who appeared to be sleeping on the side.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Possibly both. I bet you. I bet you if you
if a friendly dog met Union, didn't move, the first
thing you would do is sniff your body.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
He wants to be sure if you're cool. But this
guy was not cool, As it turns out, there's a
couple of accounts of the story, conflicting accounts. We'll go
with the most sensationalized, depressing account, which is that first
that is, which is that this intoxicated gentleman, this roused
about this. This kind of delinquent guy woke from his
(29:33):
drunken stupor and stabbed the dog, you know, to death
with a knife.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
In a panic, right attacked. Yeah, well the yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
And I've even seen it was even written up that
it was more malicious that he was just like in
his drunken rage. Should probably read that when actually it
was a letter that came from the caretaker of the dog.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yes, in nineteen fifty four, John Roll, the caretaker of
Fido himself, laid the following information to Time magazine.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Okay, so more of an interview than a letter, But
here we go. I didn't realize this came so late
in the game. He must have been quite old.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
So you can see how he could get some facts wrong. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So, but the way he tells it is a little
bit more. This is the most malicious account of this guy.
He says, quote, we possessed the dog for a number
of years until one day the dog, in a playful manner,
put his dirty paws. There's dirty paws again upon a
drunken man sitting on the street curbing, which I think
that means like whittling, and in a drunken rage, thrust
(30:31):
his knife into the body of poor old Fido. So Fido,
just a poor yellow dog, met the same fate as
his illustrious master assassination.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So that's that's the most sensationalized version. But as as
we've established earlier, that may not be entirely accurate, and
even today people disagree on the specifics. We're talking about
this guy right who's on the street whittling his pine
stick or whatever, but we haven't given him a name yet.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
No, we haven't. And that's the thing about the way
these kinds of stories get passed around. It's really easy
to want to demonize the man who murdered Abe Lincoln's
old yelled mongrel dog in the streets in a drunken rage,
but a little less cut and dry when you actually
realize that there was a human here with the story.
(31:24):
Another spin on the story that you can find comes
from a story in the Illinois State Journal from eighteen
ninety three, and here is a quote from that that
also gives some pretty pretty sad details to the end
of old Fido's life, whichever way he ultimately went, whether
by force or by accident. Quote, he Fido was exceedingly
(31:45):
friendly and had a habit of showing his congeniality by
depositing his muddy yellow four paws plump on the breast
of any who addressed him familiarly.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Oh, and you can't yell at him for his pause.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, that's another one of Lincoln's conditions to the role family. Hm.
I continue. His excessive friendliness eventually caused his death in
a very unique way, and that Fido suffered the fate
of his master assassination. The dog, which was a yellow
fellow of moderate size, ran against Charlie Plank, who was
whittling a stick with a sharp, long bladed knife. By
(32:17):
an accidental move while the dog was expressing himself in caresses,
the blade was buried deep in his body. He shot
out the door like a flash and was never seen
again alive. Apparently it was a week or more before
they found his body a month. Yeah, behind the old
chimney stack of the Universalist Church there in Springfield.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
So he got stabbed and ran in fear, right, That is.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
What animals tend to do when they are mortally wounded.
They want to go die alone. I think a house
or something.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
And I think humans qualify as animals. It's true that part.
Charlie Plank's story doesn't end with this murder of Fido.
We know a little bit more about him. He had
a couple of other encounters with law enforcement after he
was Oh, we didn't mention it. He was a veteran, Yeah,
(33:11):
that's right. He was a veteran of the Civil War.
He was a member of Company G of the one
hundred and fourteenth Illinois Infantry Regiment, which was considered a
pretty illustrious company if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, And we
know that he had been beaten and robbed by two
men on North seventh Street in eighteen sixty five. We
(33:33):
know he got in an argument with a guy named
Peter Burns in eighteen sixty eight, ending the argument by
drawing a revolver with small shot and shooting Burns in
the shoulder. Again, it was a different time he also
got He also was involved in a court case. Burns
(33:55):
was fined at the sum of three dollars quote for
using language to Charles playing calculated to provoke a breach
of the peace. Language you say fighting words. Oh my goodness,
I said, you wastrel, you dunderhead astrel? Is that like
a wasskly rabbit. It's a wasteful or good for nothing person.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
As that must have fallen out of popularity. I don't
know that one.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
So we know what roughly happened to Plank. He had
his up seat, his downs. He had been in some
legal altercations. He moved to Michigan, eventually worked as a
clerk and expressman, and passed away in March of nineteen seventeen.
He is buried on the grounds of the Grand Rapids
(34:41):
Veteran Home. Now, this sounds like it's all ending on
a downer, but this is that's not the case, because
when we look at Fido, you know what it reminds
me of. It reminds me of how Max the gorilla
in South Africa grabbed such attention and locked into the zeitgeist.
(35:02):
The photography is a relatively new medium. People love animals.
There's a picture of an animal that is published and
syndicated papers across the nation.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
People are against stabbing animals.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thank God, generally speaking.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, that's part of the story. I didn't know, though.
I knew about Fido, and I knew he was Abe
Lincoln's old yellow mongrel best friend for life. I didn't
know that that kind of more melancholy part of the story.
So it's interesting. But yeah, and to this day, I mean,
like you said, Fido equals dog, like Xerox equals you know, photocopy.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Right right right? Or Google equals Internet.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Search you mean WebCrawler. What are you talking about Google?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
What are the other ones? There's Prodigy like yeah, and uh,
you know lactose and that's a different that's a different
thing entirely. You might still have your AOL CDs friends
and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
I keep a stack of them to use as coasters
and just to hand out to people as party gifts
when they come by the house.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I always love to frisbee though, huh. Me and my
old dog would would frisbee those things.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Oh, man, tell us about your old dog.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
It's too soon, man, really yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Wow, A beloved pet.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
A beloved pet, very much. So I love pets and
we hope you do too. Yes, Fido became the world's
most famous dog for a.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Time because I think of a more famous one.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Because mass media was going out.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Let's see, how was that one they shot into space? Right?
Speaker 1 (36:32):
H you make that up? No, the Russian dog and
then there though I can't remember, we can find it.
His name is on record, and we should do a
thing on animals in space. But spoiler, there are a
couple of doubters, and.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That especially if you're again like you should be against
animal cruelty.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Right right, And so, although Fido's life ended too soon,
he remains immortal as a symbol, the symbol, at least
in American English, for all things cannot He is the
quintessential I believe we used the word earlier, the quintessential
image of a faithful, friendly dog, a good boy, a good.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Boy with b o ye it comes that good boy?
Aw Snap, what up?
Speaker 1 (37:19):
What up?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Family show? Looking up for yourself.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
So here ends our story of the rise and fall
and immortal fame of the most famous presidential dog, the
frisky yellow Fido. But the story doesn't stop there, and
it doesn't stop with Fido. If you haven't checked it
out yet, do check out our community page Ridiculous Historians,
(37:44):
where I believe Noel. Was it you or was it
one of our fellow listeners who started that awesome threat about.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Past there's a cat thread. I think it's specifically about cats,
and yeah, I posted a picture of my my good
boy bad boy. Really Ert Robert Fernando because he's, you know,
like I said at the top of the show, always
bringing creepy little tribute dismembered tribute. Yeah, I'm not a fan.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
He might be trying to teach you to hunt. Yeah,
but do let us know about the dogs in your life.
Send Casey and NOL and I some pictures, find us
some ridiculous historians. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter,
and Facebook, where we are Ridiculous History or some variation thereof.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
It's true and as always, thank you to our super
producer Casey Pegram, our super researcher Christopher Hasiotis and Alex
Williams who composed our banging theme.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And super special thank you to our returning contributor Laurie L. Dove.
We worked on a sound queue for you.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Laurie. Here we go. I like that and please don't
forget to join us next time when we talk about
historical mooning.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
We were so proud of them.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yes, yeah, that's good. On. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Oh, fellow ridiculous historians, is that you. We're so glad
to see you. Joy, Yeah, Joy joining us for a
classic episode. Look, names are tough. We talked I can't
remember which show it was, but we talked about how
tough it is to name a car. We know it's
tough to name a pet.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And what is that? What is a toreg?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
He's still on it. So look, if you are investigating
like we did back in twenty eighteen, the names of dogs,
you will see the name Fido show up. And Fido
is not a name for people.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Sure Isn't you see it in branding for dog food
and all kinds of stuff dating back to this is
the beginning of advertising. I've been watching or rewatching, actually
a lot of classic Looney Tunes cartoons recently. Pro tip
for any Max subscribers out there. Every single one of
them is on there, back from the earliest ones like
the thirties, and Fido is often what they call dogs
(01:04):
in the show you know, bugs bunny Less, You're like here, Fido.
It's just kind of like a stand down, like coke
is for soda or xerox is for a photocop. Sure
Google for Internet search do we also have the do
we have the World War Two propaganda on Max? I'm
not sure. I haven't been through all of it enough
to know of what they've stripped, but I'm not one
(01:27):
hundred percent sure. I wouldn't be surprised. I know that
Disney has removed a lot of the problematic Disney cartoons
from you know, Disney Plus.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
And we know how Fido became a default name for
dogs here in the West. Spoiler it goes back to
an amateur wrestler that we often bring up on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Good reach out on that guy. Thanks Abe Lincoln. Let's
jump right in.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome to the
(02:24):
show Ridiculous Historians, and thanks for tuning in. Whether you
have multiple PhDs and various specific aspects of the story
of human civilization, or whether you consider yourself an armchair
history enthusiast, one thing's for sure. You've probably probably met
a dog.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Probably I've met at least two dogs that was the
same dog, though you think so.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I think it was the same dog.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Why do you think that?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Because you showed me the pictures and I think it's
the angle.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, that's weird. I'm more of a cat person. But
now I've met multiple dogs in truth, and I've also
heard of Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yes, and today's story is about the confluence of these
two concepts. When we think about dogs, we always think
about strange dog names too, writ And there's one thing
that always baffled me when I was a kid, when
I traveled abroad, I didn't understand that dogs who grow
up in non English speaking countries don't speak English.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
It's a weird thing, you know. And you probably ran
into dogs who spoke German when you were in Germany.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Are you teasing me, Ben?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
No?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I mean like like they when they bark, they do
it with like a German accent. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well, they wouldn't respond to commands.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
There you go. Yeah, but I'll twist it around.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Also, and something that has nothing to do with this episode.
I think it's hilarious the way that other languages will
right the sound of a dog bark. You can look
it up for yourselves, folks. I think you'll enjoy it. Oh,
I forgot Hi, I'm Ben Whoa.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That was the longest preamble pre name drop opening ever.
My name is NOL and just to get it out
of the way and not get it out of the way.
This is a cause for celebration. We'd like to welcome
back with open arms, our super producer, Casey Pegram.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
It's been too long, Casey, thank you so much for
returning here to the States, here to the studio, here
to ridiculous history.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Casey's into dogs, right, you like dogs. I'm a dog person, absolutely, Yeah,
what would you say? You're more a dog person or
a cat person both growing up, so I'm pretty agnostic
or ambidextrous.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I got with your animal affection.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So it's it's interesting because we often hear of this
divide between cats and dogs, and with just a brief
nod to the science behind domestication, it's fascinating nol. Dogs
were domesticated by people, but cats largely domesticated themselves.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Cats do everything for themselves. Man, They're persnickety little creatures
who don't need us, and they will eat us when
we die in our apartments, sad and alone.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Or if the size difference was reversed, they would also
eat you totally.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
If I told you about how my cat like brings
little presents and like like just looks like they look
like Satanic rituals laid out on my doorstep, like decapitated squirrels,
and you know, with the guts in the shape of
a pentagram and horrifying. Yeah. Yeah, and I share a
bed with this thing. What am I thinking?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Colleague? And someone worked within the past, laur And Vogelbaum
has the same thing with her cat. That's because you
guys have indoor outdoor cats.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Well, I finally put a bell on that little bastard,
and now I'm hoping to give those things a fighting chance.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
See. I let my cats just be the agents of
chaos they were meant to.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
No, that's true, and Lincoln appreciated cats in addition to dogs,
cause he referred to cats as like one of his hobbies. Yeah,
but his old pal, his trusty sidekick through thick and thin,
well up to a point, was an old dog.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, it was a dog. And today's episode that we're
finally getting too is about this dog. It's also a
way to answer a question about dog names, because when
you think of a dog, you think of generic dog names, right, spot, sparky, Yeah,
things like that. And I don't know about you know,
(06:23):
but it's strange to me when I meet a dog
with a person name.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Yeah, like Stephen or Ashley. I love it though. I'm
a fan of it. When I first heard of a
pet that was named after a human, I thought that
was the most clever thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
The first one I met was neither a dog nor cat.
It was a turtle, and I was so impressed. His
name was Robert Lewis Stevenson.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
That's great. He was a very trepidacious, explorative turtle for sure,
very slowly exploring his surroundings.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
He was tentative. But with dogs, there's one name that
always feels like the generic, the quintessential name.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
For a dog. Yeah, like a Kleenex yeah yeah, or
xerox yeah, but you know for a dog, right, or Google.
But for a dog, it's Fido right out here, boy here,
Fido here, Fido? You ever heard that in the Looney
Tunes cartoon?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Very popular in Looney Tunes and I think some Disney
stuff as well. These days, Fido isn't even in the
top one hundred common dog names.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
They're a named Stephen and stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah right, They're all named George Ashcroft or something. But now,
even with the popularity of Fido declining. Everybody in the
English speaking world at least associates the name Fido specifically
with a.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Dog like let me get a coke, you mean a soda? Right,
let me see that Fido, you mean that dog like that?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And it turns out right that there's a reason for this.
There is a traceable, specific reason that Fido became known
world over as a dog's name, and it goes back
to our boy, young rail splitter himself, Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah. Yeah, that old yellow dog we were talking about.
His name was Fido, and he was a mongrel kind
of a mixed breed yellow, floppy eared fellow that Lincoln
just adored. And he loved to play with Fido around
his home in Springfield, Illinois with his sons Tad and Willie.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Who are stories of their own, believe you me. Yeah,
as he before he became president, he had several dogs
and cats in his home in Illinois, and seems like
the crowd favorite was Fido. At least Lincoln's favorite was Fido.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
We'll get into a little bit more of the Fido
lore later, but for now, in his heyday, Lincoln, before
he became elected president, Fido he would walk around town.
He would go get a little trim at the barber shop,
and Fido would wait patiently outside for him, untied, just
perfectly loyal. What's the word? Fido is short for what fidelity?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Right? The name is Latin for faithful right. And for
about five years before Abraham Lincoln became president, he was
a lawyer, and Fido would just follow him everywhere.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah, I keep seeing mentions of Fido would even carry
parcels for Lincoln in his mouth.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, and he became sort of this walking business card
for Lincoln as well in town because they would see
the little yellow dog and they would know that the
lawyer Lincoln was around. It was about Yeah, but fame
changes things, right. In eighteen sixty three, as he was
preparing to move to the White House to serve as
Commander in chief of the US, people started to think
(09:41):
that Fido was maybe a little too friendly, a little
too outgoing.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Not even that, maybe even a little fragile, right, because
when in his hometown, you know, when the president won
the election, there were you know, all kinds of all
kinds of commotion, right, we had cannon fire fireworks.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Screaming pol politicians. Yeah, people farting.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, all of that, various noises and Fido it was
spooked by this. He was not excited about this. It
made him very uncomfortable and he, you know, totally kind
of Withdrew.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, he was described as a frisky mongrel in a
Life magazine profile of him at the time. So he
did not accompany. Originally, the Lincolns to DC. Instead, they
picked up a dog named Jip and two goats, Nanny
(10:35):
and Nanco and.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Get were the goats to mow the lawn at the
White House.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
You know, my old co host, Scott Benjamin is all
about that.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, there's a service here in Atlanta where you can
rent a goat that'll clean up your their foliage.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, and it's not just in Atlanta. When Scott recommended
to me that I, instead of repairing my lawnmower, rent
a goat, I thought he was joking.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
But Gott doesn't joke about stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
He doesn't really joke. He's a very sincere dude.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
That's true. Shout out to Scott Benjamin or is I
like to refer to him f Scott Benjamin. So, yeah,
Fido stayed behind and it took a while, but the president,
it was very important for him that his old trustee
yellow dog Fido, had a suitable home with suitable affections
and spoilage.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Right, yeah, exactly, And that's why he decided to have
another person, a person he could trust, take care of Fido.
Back there in Springfield, he contacted John Roll, who was
a carpenter, and said, hey, you and your family, could
you take care of Fido. He's a great dog. You've
seen him around town. He's the one who carries parcels.
(11:43):
They were old pals. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And so he
was already familiar with Fido, but just like any helicopter
dog parent. As Lincoln left to pursue the presidency, he
also left behind detailed instructions for Fido's data care and
spoiling and the stuff he likes. Stuff he doesn't lie.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Now, dare we say conditions?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, yeah, additions? What were some of those? Hit us?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Whenever the role family was eating, they had to give
scraps from the table to Fido. Also, he could never
be yelled at or scolded for having muddy paws in
the house.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
This becomes a theme with Fido always having muddy pause right,
and being a little too eager to hop up on people.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And they gave him some equipment too, right, give the
roles some equipment.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, it was a custom couch that Lincoln himself had
built because, as we know, unlike the myth of Napoleon
being extra mega super short, he was just sort of
an average height, maybe a little shorter than average. Lincoln
was in fact quite tall, yes.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And some people have speculated is due to a condition
known as Marfan syndrome. But regardless of the cause, Lincoln
himself was one heck of a scarecrow. He was six
feet four, very skinny, looked like you could tie a
kite to him and he would fly away. And so
a couch that you would buy at the store was
(13:07):
not going to accommodate a man of his height.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
His lanky frame, His legs would just be hanging off
the side if he wanted to have a nice lie down, right,
So yeah, I say this custom coust was made of
horse hair. And it was also Fido's favorite piece of furniture.
And I'm sure you had familiar smells and all that.
And he made sure that the family that was taking
Fido got this piece of furniture so that he could
(13:30):
lounge around on it and feel super duper at home.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And it's tough to overstate the importance of this sofa
to Fido himself, because when he was frightened, this is
the sofa he hid under. When he was happy, this
is the sofa he lounged upon. In a very real way,
the sofa, second to Abraham Lincoln is the most important
(13:56):
thing in the home to fight him. We mentioned earlier
Lincoln's sons, right, Tad and Willy, yep, Tad Willie, and
they were of course hit by this. This was their
childhood dog. They're saying, oh shucks, good on Dad for
being the president. But why can't fight ocus.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
The end of an era? You know? But they I'm
sure Dad, all honest abe explained it to the boys
very gingerly, and I'm sure they came to understand. I'm
speculating here a little bit. But they seemed like good boys.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
You might have said, look, I can do two goats.
It's the best they could do.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Well yeah, yeah, Hey, that's a good deal, though, man,
one dog for two goats.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Dogs don't mow your lawn either. Those goats, though, apparently,
were hell raisers in the UF House. The staffers did
not like them because they would like not only chew
up the grass like, they would chew up like everything.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Have you ever hung out with a goat with their
weird octopus eyes, you mean, greatest of all time? I'm flattered, nol,
thank you. No, the physical.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Goat, now I have not. I'd be afraid they'd buck.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, they're weird. They can be affectionate, but they will
eat or near anything.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, like you know, your fist or your heart. But
that's just with their cuddingness.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah. So yeah. So despite all the gestures and all
the reassurances you can make, anybody who has been a
parent who had to explain the loss of a pet
to a child understands that it's heavy and deep stuff,
whether it's just moving or whether the pet has passed away.
And perhaps ridiculous historians, as you're listening, you're thinking of
(15:28):
moments in your life when you were a child and
you lost a pet or you were somehow put out
of contact with it. It's very psychologically trying, and Lincoln
to go with Allegedly here allegedly, Lincoln attempted to combat
this by resorting to a relatively new technology at the time. Yeah,
(15:50):
he wanted to, you know, have a nice family portrait
of Fido. And we've got these images around today. It's great.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You can see them like lounging on what is it
like a look throw rug kind of situation. What do
we got here?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, it looks like he is on a table with
a nice rug or heavy tablecloth, and he's got his
paws just roguishly hanging off like he's ready to jump,
but he's comfortable.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
And this is back when you would have had to
stand really still. Doesn't it seem like taking a picture
of a dog would be challenging and best.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, it would have to be a super chill dog. Yeah,
but be that as it may. Turned out, it worked,
and there's a pretty good photograph of Fido, which you
can find if you just google Fido, Abraham Lincoln. We
did find one wrinkle to the story here, at least
(16:47):
in terms of chronology, right.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, and this is how we start getting well, I
think we can use this as a jumping off point
into the kind of sad part of this story. There
is a story and by the name of doctor James Cornelius,
who curates the Abraham Lincoln collection at the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum, who says there are some issues
with the chronology of when this photograph was taken. Original
(17:09):
reports suggested that Lincoln himself commissioned it, and it seems
maybe a little more likely that it was done in
the aftermath of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, when Fido would
have been a very famous dog and some eagle eyed
photog around Springfield thought it might be a hot ticket
(17:30):
item to have photographs of the dog that they could
sell to mourners.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, so you'll hear two different versions of the chronology here.
You'll hear that the photo was made after the assassination
or you'll hear that it was made beforehand. And regardless
either way, this photo gets into newspapers and Fido the
(17:55):
dog himself, and just the name Fido becomes universally claimed
in the US and probably a little bit beyond the
US as well. So this is when people start naming
their own dogs Fido. Right, A kid sees a dog
in the newspaper and the dog's name is Fido, and
they think, I'm gonna name my dog Fido, just like
(18:16):
President Lincoln's dog. And when Lincoln was assassinated in eighteen
sixty five in the Ford Theater. This did very little
to quell Fido's popularity. In fact, it added to it
isn't that correct.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yes, Ben, that's exactly right. People would line up to take,
you know, to meet the presidential dog. And here here's
a little bit of a breakdown of the story of
this photograph, as it kind of like weaves into this
part of the story. So this guy by the name
of F. W. Ngmeier had a photo studio in Springfield,
(18:55):
and according to the original story, it was in late
eighteen sixty or early eighteen sixty one. There are actually
three shots of Fido, one nice from the front shot
and then two profile shots where he's a little bit
more kind of hunkered down, like he's swimming in a
he's trying to ford a stream of some kind, right.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And the exposure makes them all look radically different.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah, it's true. The one from the front is very
Cepia looking, and then there's another cpo looking one from
the side that is very high contrast, kind of like
what the background is totally white and you can't see
any texture, is almost blown out. Yeah, and then the
last one, which I think is by far the most
successful of the photographs. Aesthetically, you can see that the
(19:37):
wall has kind of a shaded shadow you look to it,
and the dog's fur is properly exposed, and you can
see the texture of the rug. And there's a lot
more detail in this one.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, there's also the fur is so detailed that it
almost looks like Fido might have some German shepherd in them.
So ing Meyer fw Ngmeyer has also become the subject
of investigation, especially by a guy named Dick Hart in
his book Springfield, Illinois Nineteenth Century Photographers.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
But the problem is that apparently between eighteen sixty and
eighteen sixty one, Ingmeier wasn't didn't have a photography studio.
He was actually working as a minister in the Baptist faith.
I guess that was his weekend job. And then he
was also a sewing machine salesman.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, he was selling sewing machines and probably preaching on
the side as well. He ran a bunch of ads
in various papers for his sewing machine agency. But he
didn't even start paying for a photographer's license until eighteen
sixty two.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I'm sorry, a photographer's license.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Uh huh. It was a different time.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
That seems yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Wow. Well also it's a really new technology, so you
probably it's a new technology. You probably them just spitballing here. Man.
You probably have to have some sort of training.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Safety training. They got those flash bulbs. They can take
your eye out of burn your fingers a bit best.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I mean, new technology is always a pain. Have you
ever watched videos of someone attempting to start a model
t It's crazy? You can break your arm.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Well, I just would like to You got to like
pull it like a lawnmower.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You have to crank it. Yeah, yeah, you have to
starting a chair a crank.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Oh okay, that's crank.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
And if it gets cantankerous, it will fly back with
such force that will break.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Your fork kick at you. Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
So probably I would like to think take it a
photograph was not that dangerous or didn't have that possibility
for danger, But you had to have some training. And
what you brought up here is really important because we're
looking again at the timeline. So that's eighteen sixty two, right.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
That's right. That is allegedly when he began to pay
for this license and installments I'm imagining, and that's that's
ten dollars total for the license, which was you know,
a pretty penny back in eighteen sixty.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Two, and he first ran an ad for his photography
business in October of eighteen sixty four because there were
a lot of soldiers passing through nearby Camp Butler. It's
important to say that this chronology of the license and
the advertisements, this chronology does not prove that Ingmar did
(22:34):
not take those pictures of this pooch in eighteen sixty
or eighteen sixty one, but it calls it into question,
you know, that's right.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
And this is all from a fantastic post, you know,
speculating on this chronology, because again a lot of this
stuff is just that speculation, but it comes from a
pretty solid source, the guy by the name of doctor
James Cornelius, who's the curator of that Abraham Lincoln collection
at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. So if
anyone knows he got to know.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, he's the leading expert. Literally, he sold a matched
set Ingmar that is, sold a match set of four
photos with identical back marks, which are think of it, likenk.
You may have seen your parents do this. Writing on
the back of a photograph with the name and date,
(23:24):
the time or description.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, yeah, like like a time code that you would
see cameras these days. Actually, well not so much, but
like they used to be when you get the prints,
maybe that annoying little watermark in the bottom left hand
corner that was the time and the day. There's something
kind of similar, if not more analog at play here.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Right, yeah, exactly. And in this book that we mentioned
by Heart, there's this match set of four photographs that
Ingmar sold with these back marks, and in the Heart
book they're dated back to eighteen sixty five and eighteen
sixty six. The fotographs are the following. A hillside tomb
(24:02):
in Oak Ridge Cemetery, a photograph of Lincoln's old home.
Photograph of a horse known as Old Bob, which I
think is a cool horse name.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Is that the same as old Robin? Is that short
for it? Because I've seen it both ways? You have
two horses, because Rob could be short for Bob, could
be short for Robin, Bob could be short for yeah, yeah,
because Robin is I don't know. The photograph that I'm
seeing is actually captioned President Lincoln's horse Old Robin.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
It's gotta be the same horse, because I've seen the
same photograph and then I'm looking at the description from
doctor Cornelius. So maybe doctor Cornelis is just so familiar
with him that he calls him old Bob, Oh Bob. Yeah,
he's spent a lot of time researching this.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Also in the photograph, might maybe they were more formal,
you know, that was the that was the horse's Christian name.
But if you were familiar, you could call him old Bob.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
But most importantly, that fourth photograph is the high quality
profile snap a fighto.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And you know these look like ben These look like
the kinds of postcards you would buy at a gift
shop for like the Grand Canyon or President Abraham Lincoln's
boyhood home or what have you. Right, Yeah, So the
theory here is that no, these photos were not commissioned
by Lincoln himself during his life. They were done as
a kind of get rich quick scheme by this guy
(25:23):
Ingmeyer when Lincoln's death brought droves of mourners and people
paying their respects to Springfield.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
So why do we believe doctor Cornelius's a version of
the events. Well, that's primarily because he has matched times
and dates into a single unified chronology, and the story
about Lincoln commissioning the photographs actually comes to us through
(25:51):
John Roll primarily. And you can't really We're not saying
role is lying, but it's very easy for him to
be mistaken. You can't really blame someone for getting the
details of a dog picture a little bit off, you know,
decades and decades later.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I have heard of worse historical blunders, my friend.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Right, So doctor Cornelius finds a kicker a nail in
the chronological coffin. Here he says that if the Lincoln boys,
Tad and Willie had a photograph of Fido in the
White House, why does it not have that same back mark,
the mark that Ingmeier used to distinguish his photographs, right,
(26:33):
why doesn't have one from eighteen sixty to eighteen sixty one.
The thing is, the one surviving copy today is identical
to the images from eighteen sixty five in both the
label and the back mark that indicates the provenance of
the photo. If someone took a photo of Fido for
the boys in eighteen sixty one, why would it have
(26:54):
needed the label President Lincoln's Dog. You can find the
family's photo album today in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Museum or apple Plum. That's the acronym that is, that's
a literal mouthful of word salad. Yeah, but you can
you know, you can find the photo album today and
(27:18):
it doesn't have all of the photos. About half of
them are missing, but the other half are in the
Lincoln Financial Foundation collection in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And so
to Cornelius, to doctor Cornelius, all of this evidence points
to the photo being taken in eighteen sixty five.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I think had some good detective work there from the
good doctor.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I agree. He is the Sherlock Holmes of Abraham Lincoln
Dog Photos. Dog photos. Yeah, guys, you might be saying, look,
I get it, the dog picture was probably made in
six not sixty one. But for Pete's sake, for Fido's sake,
(28:04):
can't you just let me enjoy a cute picture of
a doggo?
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah? I mean seriously, it was like one of the
original dogo memes. But also, you know, we really did
spend a lot of time talking about those pictures. I'm
fascinated by the whole the mystery of it. And then
when things make their way into official accounts, that then
proved to not be the case. But this story does
take an interesting turn. Dare I say, a pretty sad
(28:28):
turn for old Fido.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Yeah, yeah, you're right. So obviously it's a national tragedy
when Abraham Lincoln is assassinated and it turns out that
Fido also met an unfortunate end. In eighteen sixty six,
about a year after Lincoln's assassination, Fido, again very much
a dog of the people, never met a person he
(28:52):
didn't like. Fido is walking along, minding his own business,
and he sniffs across somebody who appears to be sleeping
on the sidewalk.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I thought you were going to say, sniff's a crotch
of someone who appeared to be sleeping on the side.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Possibly both. I bet you. I bet you if you
if a friendly dog met Union, didn't move, the first
thing you would do is sniff your body.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
He wants to be sure if you're cool. But this
guy was not cool, As it turns out, there's a
couple of accounts of the story, conflicting accounts. We'll go
with the most sensationalized, depressing account, which is that first
that is, which is that this intoxicated gentleman, this roused
about this. This kind of delinquent guy woke from his
(29:33):
drunken stupor and stabbed the dog, you know, to death
with a knife.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
In a panic, right attacked. Yeah, well the yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
And I've even seen it was even written up that
it was more malicious that he was just like in
his drunken rage. Should probably read that when actually it
was a letter that came from the caretaker of the dog.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yes, in nineteen fifty four, John Roll, the caretaker of
Fido himself, laid the following information to Time magazine.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Okay, so more of an interview than a letter, But
here we go. I didn't realize this came so late
in the game. He must have been quite old.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
So you can see how he could get some facts wrong. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So, but the way he tells it is a little
bit more. This is the most malicious account of this guy.
He says, quote, we possessed the dog for a number
of years until one day the dog, in a playful manner,
put his dirty paws. There's dirty paws again upon a
drunken man sitting on the street curbing, which I think
that means like whittling, and in a drunken rage, thrust
(30:31):
his knife into the body of poor old Fido. So Fido,
just a poor yellow dog, met the same fate as
his illustrious master assassination.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
So that's that's the most sensationalized version. But as as
we've established earlier, that may not be entirely accurate, and
even today people disagree on the specifics. We're talking about
this guy right who's on the street whittling his pine
stick or whatever, but we haven't given him a name yet.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
No, we haven't. And that's the thing about the way
these kinds of stories get passed around. It's really easy
to want to demonize the man who murdered Abe Lincoln's
old yelled mongrel dog in the streets in a drunken rage,
but a little less cut and dry when you actually
realize that there was a human here with the story.
(31:24):
Another spin on the story that you can find comes
from a story in the Illinois State Journal from eighteen
ninety three, and here is a quote from that that
also gives some pretty pretty sad details to the end
of old Fido's life, whichever way he ultimately went, whether
by force or by accident. Quote, he Fido was exceedingly
(31:45):
friendly and had a habit of showing his congeniality by
depositing his muddy yellow four paws plump on the breast
of any who addressed him familiarly.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Oh, and you can't yell at him for his pause.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, that's another one of Lincoln's conditions to the role family. Hm.
I continue. His excessive friendliness eventually caused his death in
a very unique way, and that Fido suffered the fate
of his master assassination. The dog, which was a yellow
fellow of moderate size, ran against Charlie Plank, who was
whittling a stick with a sharp, long bladed knife. By
(32:17):
an accidental move while the dog was expressing himself in caresses,
the blade was buried deep in his body. He shot
out the door like a flash and was never seen
again alive. Apparently it was a week or more before
they found his body a month. Yeah, behind the old
chimney stack of the Universalist Church there in Springfield.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
So he got stabbed and ran in fear, right, That is.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
What animals tend to do when they are mortally wounded.
They want to go die alone. I think a house
or something.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
And I think humans qualify as animals. It's true that part.
Charlie Plank's story doesn't end with this murder of Fido.
We know a little bit more about him. He had
a couple of other encounters with law enforcement after he
was Oh, we didn't mention it. He was a veteran, Yeah,
(33:11):
that's right. He was a veteran of the Civil War.
He was a member of Company G of the one
hundred and fourteenth Illinois Infantry Regiment, which was considered a
pretty illustrious company if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, And we
know that he had been beaten and robbed by two
men on North seventh Street in eighteen sixty five. We
(33:33):
know he got in an argument with a guy named
Peter Burns in eighteen sixty eight, ending the argument by
drawing a revolver with small shot and shooting Burns in
the shoulder. Again, it was a different time he also
got He also was involved in a court case. Burns
(33:55):
was fined at the sum of three dollars quote for
using language to Charles playing calculated to provoke a breach
of the peace. Language you say fighting words. Oh my goodness,
I said, you wastrel, you dunderhead astrel? Is that like
a wasskly rabbit. It's a wasteful or good for nothing person.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
As that must have fallen out of popularity. I don't
know that one.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
So we know what roughly happened to Plank. He had
his up seat, his downs. He had been in some
legal altercations. He moved to Michigan, eventually worked as a
clerk and expressman, and passed away in March of nineteen seventeen.
He is buried on the grounds of the Grand Rapids
(34:41):
Veteran Home. Now, this sounds like it's all ending on
a downer, but this is that's not the case, because
when we look at Fido, you know what it reminds
me of. It reminds me of how Max the gorilla
in South Africa grabbed such attention and locked into the zeitgeist.
(35:02):
The photography is a relatively new medium. People love animals.
There's a picture of an animal that is published and
syndicated papers across the nation.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
People are against stabbing animals.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thank God, generally speaking.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, that's part of the story. I didn't know, though.
I knew about Fido, and I knew he was Abe
Lincoln's old yellow mongrel best friend for life. I didn't
know that that kind of more melancholy part of the story.
So it's interesting. But yeah, and to this day, I mean,
like you said, Fido equals dog, like Xerox equals you know, photocopy.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Right right right? Or Google equals Internet.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Search you mean WebCrawler. What are you talking about Google?
Speaker 1 (35:45):
What are the other ones? There's Prodigy like yeah, and uh,
you know lactose and that's a different that's a different
thing entirely. You might still have your AOL CDs friends
and neighbors.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
I keep a stack of them to use as coasters
and just to hand out to people as party gifts
when they come by the house.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
I always love to frisbee though, huh. Me and my
old dog would would frisbee those things.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Oh, man, tell us about your old dog.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
It's too soon, man, really yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Wow, A beloved pet.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
A beloved pet, very much. So I love pets and
we hope you do too. Yes, Fido became the world's
most famous dog for a.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Time because I think of a more famous one.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Because mass media was going out.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Let's see, how was that one they shot into space? Right?
Speaker 1 (36:32):
H you make that up? No, the Russian dog and
then there though I can't remember, we can find it.
His name is on record, and we should do a
thing on animals in space. But spoiler, there are a
couple of doubters, and.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That especially if you're again like you should be against
animal cruelty.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Right right, And so, although Fido's life ended too soon,
he remains immortal as a symbol, the symbol, at least
in American English, for all things cannot He is the
quintessential I believe we used the word earlier, the quintessential
image of a faithful, friendly dog, a good boy, a good.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Boy with b o ye it comes that good boy?
Aw Snap, what up?
Speaker 1 (37:19):
What up?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Family show? Looking up for yourself.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
So here ends our story of the rise and fall
and immortal fame of the most famous presidential dog, the
frisky yellow Fido. But the story doesn't stop there, and
it doesn't stop with Fido. If you haven't checked it
out yet, do check out our community page Ridiculous Historians,
(37:44):
where I believe Noel. Was it you or was it
one of our fellow listeners who started that awesome threat about.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Past there's a cat thread. I think it's specifically about cats,
and yeah, I posted a picture of my my good
boy bad boy. Really Ert Robert Fernando because he's, you know,
like I said at the top of the show, always
bringing creepy little tribute dismembered tribute. Yeah, I'm not a fan.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
He might be trying to teach you to hunt. Yeah,
but do let us know about the dogs in your life.
Send Casey and NOL and I some pictures, find us
some ridiculous historians. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter,
and Facebook, where we are Ridiculous History or some variation thereof.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
It's true and as always, thank you to our super
producer Casey Pegram, our super researcher Christopher Hasiotis and Alex
Williams who composed our banging theme.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And super special thank you to our returning contributor Laurie L. Dove.
We worked on a sound queue for you.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Laurie. Here we go. I like that and please don't
forget to join us next time when we talk about
historical mooning.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
We were so proud of them.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
Yes, yeah, that's good. On. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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Noel Brown
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