December 25, 2018 • 37 mins
In 1895, Gustaf Broman announced he would sail across the Atlantic in a 13-foot-long sailboat crafted from a cedar log. His route had an odd beginning -- he planned to start at Oregon, sail down to California, then put the boat on rails and ride it up to New York before finally reaching the Atlantic. Additionally, his log boat was anything but seaworthy. Some 4000 people gathered to watch Broman embark... but, eventually, his past came to light, and people began to wonder whether there was more to the story. (I mean, obviously there was. That's why we're doing a show about it.)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yea, how often have you wondered what exactly is a
milkshake duck? Welcome to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. And
(00:32):
by the time this episode is over, you will know
what a milkshake duck is. But I don't think we
should spoil it just yet, you know, I mean, I
I just learned it myself, Ben. Apparently it's part of
his eyed guys, it's a very very current creation. And
your noll, that's me. We are not milkshake ducks ourselves.
I don't think so. Neither of one would hope. Neither
(00:52):
of course, is super producer Casey Pegram. When we were
bandying this story about at first, I was a little
concerned that it might be and I pitched part of this.
I was a little concerned that it might be too
close thematically to some things we had done fairly recently,
like the one where the guy tried to start an
island nation. Similar similar, similar, Um, Sorry, I have the
(01:16):
tune to dark wing Ducks stuck in my head. But
it's milkshake duck, shake duck. Let's get dangerous exactly. So
our story begins with a fellow named Gustaff Bromancus, I
like to call him Broman. So Gustaf Broman makes big news.
We don't know a ton about his maybe his early life,
(01:38):
but we do know when he popped in the eyes
of the media, and that was in eighteen nine. He
made a pretty astonishing and ambitious claim. He did. He claimed,
or dare I say? He announced unequivocally that he would
sail a thirteen foot long boat made from a cedar
(02:00):
log across the Atlantic Ocean. This is big news, my friend,
big popping news. He decreed it feeding frenzy. And remember,
you know, the late eighteen hundreds, this is a time
when these sorts of stunts are tremendously popular. Right, So
he would ride this log, which he called the Gustaf
Adolph the Second in honor, of course, the King of Sweden. Right,
(02:23):
what else would you name a canoe? But here's the thing.
His plan seemed pretty ridiculous just just from the beginning.
So here here's how he pitched his decree. He said,
I am going to sail across the Atlantic in this
amazing boat I've made from a cedar log. I'm gonna
(02:43):
start in cous Bay, Oregon, which was then known as Marshfield,
and then I'm going to sail down the coast to
San Francisco. Notice the Atlantic is nowhere in the picture
here yet. And then he says, then I'm gonna hop
on a train with the boat and take the train
across the country to New York. So he's got a
thirteen footboat. How how is he transporting this thing? He's like,
(03:05):
he's he's got a shipping container. He's taking it on
the he's hitting the rails with it. So this this idea,
it seems seems pretty weird, Like why wouldn't you just
start in New York? Right? Yeah, it's almost as though
he's got ulterior motives ben almost And this is where
(03:29):
we learned a really weird phrase or a phrase that
was unfamiliar to us. Do you remember that quote that
was published about Gustav's journey, which said, I arrangement can
be made with the old land railroads. Upon his arrival
in San Francisco, he will place machinery in his boat
or put around wheels, and by the use of napta
or electricity around her, direct to New York by rail
and then prepare for a trans atlantic voyage. I'm sorry, naptha, right,
(03:53):
So what the heck is naptha. At first I was
confused because there's a brand of laundry soap called Fell's Naptha,
which is used for treating stains. But naptha is a
flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. So it's it's like a fuel. Yeah,
it's a fuel, natural gas, petroleum distillates, distillation, cold tar,
(04:16):
and pete, and in different areas and regions in different times,
it could also just be a word for crude oil
or refined products like kerosene. So let's amend this. On
my part, he was riding the rails, but he was
going to make his boat into a miniature train car
(04:37):
that was part of his stick, so it would actually
ride the rails itself on wheels. Yeah, I'd like to
see that people have done that. There's a have some
car stuff episodes in the back about like a rocket
sled on rails and things of that nature. But what
happened next? How did he get all this? How did
he accomplish all these amazing things? Well, then he didn't.
(04:59):
My and he just didn't. It was what they call
a fool's Errand it was almost as though, no, it
was as though he never really intended on having success
any of these because you, like you said earlier, it
seems a little like he's going around is, you know,
something to get to something else, right, And uh, why
do it this way? It just seems utterly wrong headed.
(05:20):
And it was, and he had no intention of completing
this mission right. Four thousand people reportedly came to watch
him attempt to sail down the coast again into San Francisco. Uh.
His ship, which was pretty impractical, was immediately blown into
a sand bar far enough from sure that nobody could
(05:42):
get close enough to ask him what was going on.
And he just kind of hung out there for a while.
He was out of reach, he was out of reach
from any assistance. And then finally, luckily the tides were
on his side and they kind of got him moving again.
The tides got him moving again, and on March four
teenth of he arrived in San Francisco aboard the steamer Arcada.
(06:06):
Not on not on the Gustaf Adolph. No, it was
in the cargo. Really, Yeah, why, I don't know, I
don't know. It's it's a little it's a little suspicious.
So the l A Times reported that the captain of
the steamer had taken Gustaf Roman aboard to prevent him
from drowning as his boat capsized over and over and
(06:28):
over again. We're getting some of this info from a
fantastic article on slate dot com called Meet Gustav Broman,
the nineteenth century man who attempted to cross the Atlantic
in a log boat by Matthew Decim And there's some
great exerts from reporting from the time, And there's a
really good ape he have mine, We're gonna get do
in a little bit. That just makes me fills me
with with joy. But here's a little exert from the
(06:50):
San Francisco call peace. Um, they were not feeling Mr.
Broman's boat situation or his what do you call somebody
that makes boat boat a shipwright? A shipwrights? Is that
what it is? A shipwright? Between a ship and a boat.
That's that's the good question. I would say, this is
more of a boat. Yeah, well, let's give him some cred.
(07:11):
Let's come a boat, right, a boat right? Um. They
took issue with his boat right teeing skills and had
this to say, the craft fitted with contrivances never before
seen on land or sea, and having more depth than
beam is about as safe for passenger services a bailiff. Hey,
they said, they laughed. Not content with the natural crankiness.
(07:36):
Consequent upon its unshiplike construction, the architect has riveted brass
chain plates and other articles to the rail and deck absurd,
which further raises her center of gravity, making her an
elegant and graceful capsizer. If it is safe to say
(07:56):
that the bold navigator will navigate his uncanny and an
interesting craft into some fake museum, they are really giving
it to him here, and it would be proven that
she was designed not for ocean travel but for the
midway nickel trade. And they had a good laugh. So
you ad libbed a lot of that. But I really
(08:17):
appreciate how you were going from Matt Barry at the
beginning to think, yeah, um, that's a true description, Like
that's that's we have to emphasize that. You can you
can feel the snark on the San Francisco call, but
everything they're saying about this log boat is absolutely accurate.
It's just more tickled by the very haughty, taughty nature
(08:40):
of the sick burns. Yeah, yeah, that's yeah, that's what
I mean, That's what I'm saying, Like snarky, and they
have that one line in the end from that excerpt
says she was designed not for ocean travel, but for
the midway nickel trade. And they were right that this
boat seemed designed for something else, but they didn't know
(09:01):
what the actual scheme was. You see, Goostaf Broman again
his real name, as far as we know, was sort
of already a celebrity, just not eboting circles. He was
a celebrity to law enforcement. Police across California knew about
this guy. And as soon as his boat made the
news is what is his elegant capsizing boat? Law enforcement
(09:25):
contacted reporters and gave them the hitherto unknown full details
of Broman's life story. And this is where it gets
stranger and stranger. We mentioned that earlier ap wire headline,
which is which is beautiful a Russian Finn. He is
(09:46):
a funny kind of finny cussus finny cuss, but there
is a method in his cussedness, for with all his
evil doings, he always comes out on top. So this
is where we learned about gooseta Off Broman and his
rap sheet that was like a mile off. Yeah yeah, yeah, okay,
So so you want to walk through some of these examples. Boy, yeah,
(10:09):
a funny kind of finny cuss. Indeed, so apparently he
was known all over California for running a series of
varying degrees of bonkers scams. And I'm laughing, But like
one of them, particular, is really cold blooded, right, Ben, Yes,
(10:30):
one is definitely not. It'll look. We are often tempted
to paint hilarious cartoonish con artists as what they are,
you know, buffoons, but we have to remember that a
lot of these people are cold blooded, right, So this
is a reptilian thing. Gustav Broman makes his law enforcement
debut in San Pedro, Los Angeles County. He is arrested
(10:54):
for or he had a hotel keeper arrested for robbing
him a hundred dollars. But then and later in court,
it was proved there was nothing more than a blackmailing
scheme that Broman had come up with to try to
extort money from the hotel. Uh. He ended up getting
caught essentially sleeping around with several women and citizens when
(11:15):
they found out about his deceptive nature, literally tarred and
feathered him and drove him out of town. People really
did that Yeah, people did that. That's amazing. So not
only was he a cuss, he was also a leech. Yes,
he was both a cuss and electris cuss, a lectris
cuss or a custard letch right, a cuss rous letch. No,
(11:37):
we're just churchifying words at this point. But I like,
I like cuss rus. It's like a filthy susceros. Right.
So so this this, although it may sound endearing because
there's that instant karma that hits him. Uh, this doesn't
really illustrate the true nature of this guy's behavior. The
real reptilian stuff occurs in Santa Cruz, where he and
(12:02):
his brother lived in what was described as a shanty. Yeah,
and there's a some outdated language in this one. The
ap refers to his brother as an imbecile, which today
would obviously be considered a pretty nasty pejorative. At the
time was like, it was actually a medical diagnosis. I believe, right,
it is correct for somebody with developmental disabilities have a
(12:23):
fair way of uh saying him, that's a very fair
way of putting. It comes from the Latin word imbecillas,
meaning weak or weak minded, and at the time it
included people at NIQ between twenty six and fifty according
to the testing methods they used. It's right, and I
believe there was even a time where people that were
categorized as that were sterilized. There was forced sterilization of
(12:45):
folks that were classified as being of lower i Q.
It was a whole thing. Yeah, And if you have
the morbid interest in this, we can break it down
for you. At the time when people use this, uh,
this sort of terminology as a description of cognitive ability,
because they saw imbecile was in between idiot and moron.
(13:08):
So an idiot was n Q of zero to twenty five,
imbecile fifty, and moron was fifty one to seventy. So
these were these pejoratives have very specific meanings, yeah, for sure. Um.
And again they were more or less like d S,
M level UM diagnoses or you know terms anyway. Um.
So Gustav's brother was in that was that in the
(13:30):
middle category of what you discussion. So he was certainly
not someone that could fully take care of himself, and
his brother really took advantage of that and in the
most ungodly awful way you could possibly imagine. Yes, he
committed he quite possibly we have to say that he
quite possibly committed fratricide. He took out two insurance policies
(13:55):
on his brother's life, one four or five thousand dollars
and the other four three thousand dollars. And let's let's
go to a handy inflation calculator here, just to see
how much money that actually was. All right, casey, if
we could have that handy dandy inflation calculator, sound que please,
so people know it's working and we're not just making
this up hand perfect three thousand dollars in the eighteen
(14:19):
nineties would equal a little bit more than eighty six
thousand dollars, and five thousand dollars would equal around one
hundred and forty three thousand dollars, almost one hundred and
forty four thousand. So these were significant amounts of money.
And took these two insurance policies out on his brother's life.
(14:40):
And then what happened not a month later, Yeah, the
shanty burned to the ground with the brother inside, and
he was also burned to the ground. The insurance companies
say this is sketchy. Yeah, of course it was. It's
never it's it's always a red flag when you take
an insurance policy on someone. Then a month later they
(15:03):
die in a tragic accident. That's that's not a good
look for And so the insurance companies say, we're not
gonna pay. This is ridiculous. The cops arrest Broman and
he has charged with arson and murder, and it does
go to trial. Yeah, and um, there's a woman at
(15:23):
the trial who, um really reads him the Riot Act
and gives a very strongly worded testimony against him. Um,
but he received a new trial and she kind of
changed her tune a little bit, almost as though she
were coerced or arm twisted in some way. Ben, is
that is that what you're thinking? Or turned? You know,
(15:46):
you can flip is what they call it in the mob,
right right, Nobody ever went broke betting on other people's
moral failings, you know what I mean. So he was discharged,
he got the insurance money, and then afterwards they learned
that the changed her testimony because he had promised to
give her a large a large lumpus scratch a piece, yeah,
(16:06):
a big if she would not testify against him on
that when that second go round, and then he I
guess maybe he cleaned up his act a little bit
null because he moved to San Francisco and decided he
was going to be a decent man. He was. He
(16:27):
was a wealthy man at this point, right, he got
those uh, those insurance pay that's true. I mean, I
don't know, it wasn't it wasn't like a millionaire money,
but enough to start a new life in new in
a new town, sure at that time. Yeah, So he
met a nice lady. He met a nice, nice woman.
She was named you will hear alternately described as Mrs
(16:50):
Lee Roy or simply Mrs Roy. She was both a
widow and wealthy, the old Mary, the wealthy widow scam
on to one W W, which is the origin of
the I R S tax form, the W two. Yeah,
is that true? Probably? Maybe? Okay, I'm going to choose
to believe that because that's what I do. So what happened,
(17:14):
what happened, Well, what happened was he uh, he put
a ring on it on Mrs Leroy, a quite a big,
big old rock, very valuable diamond ring. So things look
to be, um, you know, optimistic trending towards perhaps a
happy ending. If we want to believe in the inherent
goodness of all people. You mean the idea that people change,
(17:36):
that people can change for the better. Right, what is
it you always say, Ben, people don't really change that
it's become more people. We say people change, and that's true,
but it's a misnomer. As time goes on, we become
more concentrated versions of ourselves. Yeah, it seems like it
was happening with our boy, our boy Broman here. Possibly
the police did not believe that he had turned over
a new leaf. They had heard that Broman was back
(17:57):
in town. They're like, we got our on you, Broman,
because this is the time, this is the time in
American history where you could actually have someone go into
a town and then one of the towns people say,
you got a lot of nerves showing your face around here,
you know what I mean. I don't know if that
still happens in the US anymore. It's probably where the
(18:19):
expression get right out of town came from. We should
bring that back. That's good. I like to use it
from time to time, you know what, I think it fits.
I think it's really well, you know, But I only
use it in anger when I want someone to literally
leave town forever. But I say it in kind of
a funny way. So they're they're typically confused. They're probably
getting mixed message, get right out of town, and then
(18:39):
they go look and I'm like, no, go, I don't
want you here. Well, I hope you don't have too
many of those situations. Man, it sounds like real, real
weird Larry David moment. And I am flushed with enemies. Sir,
you're flushed with enemies. Well, then you might have something
in common with Broman. I hope none of your enemies
are in law enforcement. It they they say, you know,
(19:02):
we know what you're doing. You have a lot of
noise coming back here, and we don't have anything on
you yet, but we know how you operate, Gustav, so
we strongly advise you to leave the state. Don't make
this ugly. Yeah, you're right, then, he he was definitely
flushed with enemies. It looks almost as though he never
met a man or a woman, uh that he didn't
(19:25):
turn into an enemy as it turns as As it
turns out, the the woman from Santa Cruz, who herself
not a particularly law abiding citizens, she flouted the law,
flipped her testimony in exchange for ill gotten blood money.
You know, from the cold blooded burning alive of a
person with a developmental disability. She was going to take
(19:46):
that money and run with it. Um. But hey, surprise, surprise,
she got her instant karma too, and he didn't pay.
Could could have told her that was coming, not exactly
a sha balon. So she came a gun informed, didn't
she been? And he knew, he knew that the cops
are on the way. Uh. This, this angry person from
(20:07):
Santa Cruz was threatening to kill him, and if she
really wanted to burn down the house, she could also
take him to jail for witness tampering, um, knowing that
she would get charged with perjury. So he took He
took the famous advice that so many sketchy people have received,
were given to one another throughout the years, and he
(20:28):
high tailed it from Mexico. He went south of the border.
He went down south to get out of the heat,
you know what I mean, wait for it to die down,
and there he would remain ben for a year's time.
I don't know, I don't know why I'm talking like.
I think it's from the AP report that we read
in the old timey language. I'm just kind of like
lapsing into that a little bit, yes time, And there
(20:49):
he took his constitutional indeed, well the better part of
four seasons, yes time. And as the season has passed
and he dissipated, so b been salid fourth yet again
for These States United, mopping his brow against the heat
of the Mexican son. Yes, yes, And so he returned
(21:10):
to California. He was next heard of in Sacramento, Sacramento,
which is the state capital of California. There we go,
can we get a correct answer game show? That's perfect?
How about? How about? How about can I get a
little round of applause? Do a little pat on the back?
Sound it? Now? It's fine, do any of that stuff, thanks, Casey.
(21:33):
So Broman has returned, and he's been living in Sacramento.
He had been visiting the house of a woman whose
last name was Brown, and he went to the chief
of police with a story, and he said, look, I
know we have a history, but I am coming to
you as a victim. Chief. I've been robbed. I've been
robbed of eight grand You gotta help me, Yeah, eight
(21:58):
big ones and some other colloquialisms for a thousand dollars
eight uh oh. In some writing. It would be a myle,
but it doesn't make sense spoken. Yeah, uh, acre, we
could make some up. Um similinas there you go. Yeah,
isn't similina the stuff that's in pasta? Yeah, there's also
(22:18):
similina flower. Yeah, that's why. That's that's what it is.
That's the flower that's that makes the pasta. Let's we
should keep going. I have a question for you. Yes,
what's the point of different pasta shapes? Oh? Some of
them hold sauces better in different ways, because it's really
it's like surface area. I've always been wondering that. Thank you, man,
that's what I That's what I heard. I'm also just
(22:38):
making this up, and I want to come clean with everybody.
I don't know if W two stands for wealthy widow. Um,
right to your local I R S Agent and ask them. Yeah,
they'll they'll they'll be they'll get right back to you,
I'm sure, and tell them we tell them, tell them
it's a matter of national security. Man, we're really we're
really dog paddling on this one, are we been? Well? Wait? Wait,
(23:00):
got Broman? Broman though this is an interesting turn, right.
He goes to the cops. He of all people, what
why would he do that? Because he said he got
robbed of eight Semlino's large But this man's on the
Belo list at every sheriff's office from Tijuana to San Louis, episbo.
It's speaking of like different times. Not only to do
(23:22):
the officers agreed to investigate this house with him, but
they let him come along as they execute the search warrant.
That's not done. That's not normal. Now, I couldn't do that.
I don't think they would do that. It was a
different time. It was a different time. So what happens
when they go in there, Well, the detectives searched detectives, officers,
(23:43):
whatever you want to call him. They they searched the
premises and they found twenty bucks in gold, which it's
it's kind of a lot if you do the inflation thing.
What's that about? Two d bucks? Just I'm just don't
just spit ball in it here. You want to do
it for real? Oh yeah, let's do it for real
and not so twenty dollars in again around the eight
(24:08):
nineties would be five hundred and seventy five dollars six cents. Okay,
So so you know a decent little hall um, and
he roman told them that he this was something he
did because he's like, he's like the crazy old lady
that keeps all our money in a mattress, only he
keeps his under the carpet or h didn't beneath the
floorboards because of experience. Right, well, he'd been robbed. I
(24:31):
wonder why, he said, Oh see, you believe me now,
I got robbed once before, and since then, I always
mocked my coin, meaning what like like he writes his
name on it, like he maybe puts a specific scratch
on it so you can see that I got dimsies
that those are mine, which I hate touching change so much.
(24:54):
Would you consider a gold piece change though? I would
probably have to just suck it up. Didn't touch it,
put it in your mouth? No, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. If well, uh no, he told the officer
to look behind the mirror, and then the officer found
a diamond ring. The police said, okay, wait, started interpt.
(25:16):
Did he have to tell the officers this is definitely
my coin because this is what the marketing looks like. Yeah,
he did that, Okay, I'm with you. Now I'm back
I'm back in it because that proved he was associated, right,
But the police, for some reason still did not believe
he was on the up and up, and they said,
you know what, I think he's I don't know what
he's getting up to, but he's up to something. By gum,
(25:40):
I mean, did he really think he was gonna like
bamboozle some actual police officers to help him rob somebody's house.
Doesn't that seem kind of seem like what's going on here?
So he's a real bold fellawist whom so an officer
came from Sacramento to obtain his record at the at
the request of at request of the police. And remember
(26:02):
Mrs Lee Roy or Mrs Roy the widow on Vallejo Street,
she gets subpoenaed. She didn't ask for any of this,
Ben not. She's just a wealthy widow caught miss Man's crossfire.
You know, it's not right, it's not right. So it
turns out Broman had the widow arrested for stealing the
diamond ring that he gave her. I'm sorry all classes
(26:24):
adding insult to injury with what a D what a
giant D. Yeah, And the judge was like, lady you know,
this is this is this is tough. This is tough
all around. You should Roman arrested for perjury, so you know,
she swore out a warrant, but apparently it was never
solved and the case in Sacramento was dismissed. Back to
(26:53):
the top of the story, I'm a little confused about
what he had to gain from this whole log jam
in situation. Ah, there's an answer, there's an answer. Okay.
So I was confused too, because it was like, I
don't quite his schemes seem to become more and more ridiculous,
you know, increasingly circuitous. I always mocked my coin, my
(27:16):
cod I p on all of them. Right, it's a
it's it's very strange. It's like Tommy Wizo and the spoons,
you know. But here is the theory. The theory comes
from a guy named Detective Anthony, who was one of
the many law enforcement officials familiar with Broman's escapades. This
(27:40):
detective believes that Broman had purposely made a terribly, terribly
substandard boat because he wanted it to look like the
kind of thing that would easily sink, because he was
planning on the boat to be found bottom up in
some beach, and uh, he was going to essentially commit
(28:03):
pseudo side our favorite if the word for faking one's death.
Detective Anthony specifically says Broman will probably have his life
ensured for a big sum and after the boat has found,
a confederate will apply for the insurance money and he
and Broman will share it at his my belief from
my knowledge of this man. Question, sorry, I keep asking,
(28:26):
it's important. Why do this so conspicuously? Why make a
big show of it so he can have aunch of
witnesses that makes no sense, witnesses to his sad demise. Okay,
I guess that makes a lot. So it's like, oh, uh,
four thousand people really did see him do it, And
now now we see why he was going to sail
(28:47):
down the coast to San Francisco first, and it made
up this cockamami story about what he was going to
do by turning his boat into a rail car. He
had no intention of doing that. He wanted somewhere but
tween uh Marshfield and San Francisco for his boat. He
wanted to disappear and have his boat wash up on
a remote area. You gotta give this guy at least
(29:11):
a little bit of credit for his massive massive that's
just so so massive. That's probably what kept capsizing the boat,
quite possibly, quite possibly. So, how does Detective Anthony's theory
measure up up? It measures measures what happened? What happened? Well, yeah,
(29:35):
he had a fifteen thousand dollars in life insurance policy
that he took out on himself from the United States
Accident Insurance Association. When when, when up, upon discovering this
whole scheme, promptly canceled his policy. Probably good business move
to do that. Surely this guy's reputation for insurance fraud
or at least his like. Because here's the thing, even
(29:57):
when you get paid out for insurre en policies, doesn't
that make it harder to get insured again? I guess
he insured his brother before though, But what a series
of red flags? You think? Well, that's the that's the
tough thing. Um. There's a great book called Playing Dead
which details the ways in which people can attempt to
(30:18):
fake their deaths. And the thing that gets most people
caught is when they attempt to receive some kind of
money from an insurance agency or a will. Because to
do that you have to have someone you can trust
who is able to collect for you, and they don't
really have any compelling reason to hold up their side
(30:40):
of the bargain, you know what I mean. It's also very,
very difficult to fake your death. Just in case you're wondering,
what can I, in this modern age do to make
my life more interesting, don't try to. Don't try to
fake your death. So that maybe a lieu of a
comic book recommendation, we could just do a book recommendation.
You read books playing dead. I read a Plaine Dead,
(31:02):
A Journey through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood.
Weren't we going to maybe have an opportunity to interview
miss Greenwood? We did? We did stuff they don't want
you to know. Huh yeah, never quite happened. It was
that was that was our fault. I think I think
we were the ones who dropped the ball. And now
it's like sort of like forgetting someone's name and then
knowing them for years and then having to find it.
It's too late. You can't ask them any We can
(31:23):
follow I can follow up with the email thread from
I have an idea, what's your idea? Let's do it
for this show like a fresh start. There we go,
and let's pretend to be different people about that. What's
your what's your alter ego of choice lately? Oh man,
I'm not going to say it. On nex Powers astronaut
with a secret, that's a go to Yeah, nex powers
a secret. My mine is Neil Braun, Neil Braun Braun.
(31:46):
There we go. I'm a I'm a German attache. Nice,
I like it, or maybe i'll be Swedish. Nice, nice,
well done. I have been using the alias Casey Pegram
for quite some time, and I'm sorry about that. Casey.
I did have to stop. I don't know which one
of us it was, but the the heat got pretty
bad at jfk. Oh boy, Yeah, you've sullied my good name.
(32:10):
I think you sullied my fantastic alias Casey. Or maybe
there's a third Casey Pegram out there. There is, I've
seen him on Google. What Yeah, oh that's the one.
Then I was just having fun at a at an Applebee's.
Do you like Applebe's too? Ah? Yeah, you know, I'll
go to a Applebee's. What's their signature appetizer? Chicken? Crispers chicken? Yes,
(32:33):
some kind of chicken thing. We have to ask Paul.
Paul deck in Mission controlled decand is a huge fan
of the Applebee's because apparently when you're there your family, No,
that's olive guards. What are you at Applebee's. It's your
friendly neighborhood grill. There you go, there you go. And
by the way, I love the Monzarelli sticks. Monzrelli sticks
are usually you can't really mess up Monzarelli sticks. I've
seen it happen. It's not it can happen, they've but
(32:55):
they do a good job of it over at the Bees.
You like their at the Bees. So what you're saying
is they have a nice crispy exterior and a nice soft,
gooey into and they're not so hot that they burned
the roof of your mouth, and they're evenly cook and
are they are seasoned? Well, yeah, all the above. So
one time, this this has nothing to do with the
(33:15):
story of We're done right. We're basically now we're just
talking other chain restaurants. We're bringing some other restaurants. Well,
I wanted this thing about Applebee's for a long time.
I thought Paul was just pretending to like it, But
he's serious. We were on a video shoot one day,
and Casey, were you at that one? Absolutely? I was.
(33:36):
So we were on a video shoot one day years back,
and I think I was I was fuel producing or something.
I said, Okay, well we've we've wrapped this up. This
is a great shoot. It's time. It's time to grab lunch.
And we jokingly suggested to Paul that there was an
Applebee's nearby. He lost his mind and he had this
(33:57):
this shining almost no bowl childlike glee. I looked at
it more as the look of a madman. It's very similar,
kind of eyes glazed over, weird. Rict just smile and
we went and I think his his joy, his jubilation
was contagious. So if you ever want to make Paul
deck and stay or apparently Casey pegroom's, then just uh,
(34:21):
send us some send us some Applebee's tickets, is that
the right one? Gift cards or something good cards keep
and buy those that your friendly neighborhood Kroger, CVS even Yeah,
or you could just leave us a review on your
podcast app of choice. Yeah, please do it, and don't
don't don't be too harsh on us for this little
rambling tangent of an ending of the episode. We don't
(34:42):
do it that often. I don't think we're having a
good time. We're at the very end of the year
and the end of our ropes. And there are so
many there are so many casual dining restaurants that we
didn't get to mention. What about bob Evans. Was that
the one that's that's like only in like Pennsylvania, maybe
Canada and stuff. Yeah, they're us. Slogan is everybody is
(35:02):
somebody at bob Evans. Oh that's you know. The it's
also very like, yeah, it's we're all. We're all people.
We're all here at bob Evans. Have some pancakes. It's
a mistakesistential. Yeah, we are. We are punchy as can
be today. I love it. The universe is chaotic and
meaningless at bob Evans. Bob Evans ben Um. We gotta
(35:27):
get out of Yeah, you know what, this is the No,
it's not sure we're gonna record, so it's true. Yeah,
this is the third. This is the Christmas episode. If
you want to plug that. Oh, Casey says, it's Christmas.
Oh yeah, very popular holidays, very popular holiday, uh, you know,
celebrated by the religious and the secular alike, especially in
(35:48):
the US, especially in the U S. So um, happy holidays,
Merry Christmas, whatever you want to call it. To you
and yours, hope you are having a wonderful time on
one more or a bit round the sun. And as
you look back onen, we hope you find it more
full of fond memories than unpleasant ones. We hope that you,
(36:11):
regardless of your personal beliefs, get some get some quality
time in with your family. If you have that favorite
movie watch, or you have that favorite board game or
that family tradition, get together and play it. Yeah, Happy holidays, Uh,
all the best from all of us to all of you.
Should all acquaintance be forgot on days of old Langston
(36:32):
lengths lengths sign Gustaf Roman. There you go, oh oh,
before we go this is we had to actually travel
back in time. We actually never even explained what the
milk shaped duck was. Right to make this correction because uh,
and that was I had explicitly promised that it was
(36:53):
the first sentence of the show of So to explain
what a milkshakeed duck is, we have to give a
shout out to a winter feed called a very pixelated
boat Christmas and this No Noel, you said you had
never heard of this before. Now I only heard of
it like the other day. Super producer Casey Pegram turned
me onto it, and I think you know what, Casey,
if you're okay with it, could you read the tweet
(37:15):
that gave us the phrase milkshake duck. Yeah. So this
is a tweet originally tweeted out June twelve, and it
has already kind of entered the Internet lexicon as like
shorthand for this phenomenon. So it says, the whole Internet
loves milkshake duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes. Five
seconds later, we regret to inform you the duck is racist.
(37:40):
So Gustaf Broman in that case, in this sense, is
a milkshake duck because he was, for a very brief time,
this American hero
Yea, how often have you wondered what exactly is a
milkshake duck? Welcome to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. And
(00:32):
by the time this episode is over, you will know
what a milkshake duck is. But I don't think we
should spoil it just yet, you know, I mean, I
I just learned it myself, Ben. Apparently it's part of
his eyed guys, it's a very very current creation. And
your noll, that's me. We are not milkshake ducks ourselves.
I don't think so. Neither of one would hope. Neither
(00:52):
of course, is super producer Casey Pegram. When we were
bandying this story about at first, I was a little
concerned that it might be and I pitched part of this.
I was a little concerned that it might be too
close thematically to some things we had done fairly recently,
like the one where the guy tried to start an
island nation. Similar similar, similar, Um, Sorry, I have the
(01:16):
tune to dark wing Ducks stuck in my head. But
it's milkshake duck, shake duck. Let's get dangerous exactly. So
our story begins with a fellow named Gustaff Bromancus, I
like to call him Broman. So Gustaf Broman makes big news.
We don't know a ton about his maybe his early life,
(01:38):
but we do know when he popped in the eyes
of the media, and that was in eighteen nine. He
made a pretty astonishing and ambitious claim. He did. He claimed,
or dare I say? He announced unequivocally that he would
sail a thirteen foot long boat made from a cedar
(02:00):
log across the Atlantic Ocean. This is big news, my friend,
big popping news. He decreed it feeding frenzy. And remember,
you know, the late eighteen hundreds, this is a time
when these sorts of stunts are tremendously popular. Right, So
he would ride this log, which he called the Gustaf
Adolph the Second in honor, of course, the King of Sweden. Right,
(02:23):
what else would you name a canoe? But here's the thing.
His plan seemed pretty ridiculous just just from the beginning.
So here here's how he pitched his decree. He said,
I am going to sail across the Atlantic in this
amazing boat I've made from a cedar log. I'm gonna
(02:43):
start in cous Bay, Oregon, which was then known as Marshfield,
and then I'm going to sail down the coast to
San Francisco. Notice the Atlantic is nowhere in the picture
here yet. And then he says, then I'm gonna hop
on a train with the boat and take the train
across the country to New York. So he's got a
thirteen footboat. How how is he transporting this thing? He's like,
(03:05):
he's he's got a shipping container. He's taking it on
the he's hitting the rails with it. So this this idea,
it seems seems pretty weird, Like why wouldn't you just
start in New York? Right? Yeah, it's almost as though
he's got ulterior motives ben almost And this is where
(03:29):
we learned a really weird phrase or a phrase that
was unfamiliar to us. Do you remember that quote that
was published about Gustav's journey, which said, I arrangement can
be made with the old land railroads. Upon his arrival
in San Francisco, he will place machinery in his boat
or put around wheels, and by the use of napta
or electricity around her, direct to New York by rail
and then prepare for a trans atlantic voyage. I'm sorry, naptha, right,
(03:53):
So what the heck is naptha. At first I was
confused because there's a brand of laundry soap called Fell's Naptha,
which is used for treating stains. But naptha is a
flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. So it's it's like a fuel. Yeah,
it's a fuel, natural gas, petroleum distillates, distillation, cold tar,
(04:16):
and pete, and in different areas and regions in different times,
it could also just be a word for crude oil
or refined products like kerosene. So let's amend this. On
my part, he was riding the rails, but he was
going to make his boat into a miniature train car
(04:37):
that was part of his stick, so it would actually
ride the rails itself on wheels. Yeah, I'd like to
see that people have done that. There's a have some
car stuff episodes in the back about like a rocket
sled on rails and things of that nature. But what
happened next? How did he get all this? How did
he accomplish all these amazing things? Well, then he didn't.
(04:59):
My and he just didn't. It was what they call
a fool's Errand it was almost as though, no, it
was as though he never really intended on having success
any of these because you, like you said earlier, it
seems a little like he's going around is, you know,
something to get to something else, right, And uh, why
do it this way? It just seems utterly wrong headed.
(05:20):
And it was, and he had no intention of completing
this mission right. Four thousand people reportedly came to watch
him attempt to sail down the coast again into San Francisco. Uh.
His ship, which was pretty impractical, was immediately blown into
a sand bar far enough from sure that nobody could
(05:42):
get close enough to ask him what was going on.
And he just kind of hung out there for a while.
He was out of reach, he was out of reach
from any assistance. And then finally, luckily the tides were
on his side and they kind of got him moving again.
The tides got him moving again, and on March four
teenth of he arrived in San Francisco aboard the steamer Arcada.
(06:06):
Not on not on the Gustaf Adolph. No, it was
in the cargo. Really, Yeah, why, I don't know, I
don't know. It's it's a little it's a little suspicious.
So the l A Times reported that the captain of
the steamer had taken Gustaf Roman aboard to prevent him
from drowning as his boat capsized over and over and
(06:28):
over again. We're getting some of this info from a
fantastic article on slate dot com called Meet Gustav Broman,
the nineteenth century man who attempted to cross the Atlantic
in a log boat by Matthew Decim And there's some
great exerts from reporting from the time, And there's a
really good ape he have mine, We're gonna get do
in a little bit. That just makes me fills me
with with joy. But here's a little exert from the
(06:50):
San Francisco call peace. Um, they were not feeling Mr.
Broman's boat situation or his what do you call somebody
that makes boat boat a shipwright? A shipwrights? Is that
what it is? A shipwright? Between a ship and a boat.
That's that's the good question. I would say, this is
more of a boat. Yeah, well, let's give him some cred.
(07:11):
Let's come a boat, right, a boat right? Um. They
took issue with his boat right teeing skills and had
this to say, the craft fitted with contrivances never before
seen on land or sea, and having more depth than
beam is about as safe for passenger services a bailiff. Hey,
they said, they laughed. Not content with the natural crankiness.
(07:36):
Consequent upon its unshiplike construction, the architect has riveted brass
chain plates and other articles to the rail and deck absurd,
which further raises her center of gravity, making her an
elegant and graceful capsizer. If it is safe to say
(07:56):
that the bold navigator will navigate his uncanny and an
interesting craft into some fake museum, they are really giving
it to him here, and it would be proven that
she was designed not for ocean travel but for the
midway nickel trade. And they had a good laugh. So
you ad libbed a lot of that. But I really
(08:17):
appreciate how you were going from Matt Barry at the
beginning to think, yeah, um, that's a true description, Like
that's that's we have to emphasize that. You can you
can feel the snark on the San Francisco call, but
everything they're saying about this log boat is absolutely accurate.
It's just more tickled by the very haughty, taughty nature
(08:40):
of the sick burns. Yeah, yeah, that's yeah, that's what
I mean, That's what I'm saying, Like snarky, and they
have that one line in the end from that excerpt
says she was designed not for ocean travel, but for
the midway nickel trade. And they were right that this
boat seemed designed for something else, but they didn't know
(09:01):
what the actual scheme was. You see, Goostaf Broman again
his real name, as far as we know, was sort
of already a celebrity, just not eboting circles. He was
a celebrity to law enforcement. Police across California knew about
this guy. And as soon as his boat made the
news is what is his elegant capsizing boat? Law enforcement
(09:25):
contacted reporters and gave them the hitherto unknown full details
of Broman's life story. And this is where it gets
stranger and stranger. We mentioned that earlier ap wire headline,
which is which is beautiful a Russian Finn. He is
(09:46):
a funny kind of finny cussus finny cuss, but there
is a method in his cussedness, for with all his
evil doings, he always comes out on top. So this
is where we learned about gooseta Off Broman and his
rap sheet that was like a mile off. Yeah yeah, yeah, okay,
So so you want to walk through some of these examples. Boy, yeah,
(10:09):
a funny kind of finny cuss. Indeed, so apparently he
was known all over California for running a series of
varying degrees of bonkers scams. And I'm laughing, But like
one of them, particular, is really cold blooded, right, Ben, Yes,
(10:30):
one is definitely not. It'll look. We are often tempted
to paint hilarious cartoonish con artists as what they are,
you know, buffoons, but we have to remember that a
lot of these people are cold blooded, right, So this
is a reptilian thing. Gustav Broman makes his law enforcement
debut in San Pedro, Los Angeles County. He is arrested
(10:54):
for or he had a hotel keeper arrested for robbing
him a hundred dollars. But then and later in court,
it was proved there was nothing more than a blackmailing
scheme that Broman had come up with to try to
extort money from the hotel. Uh. He ended up getting
caught essentially sleeping around with several women and citizens when
(11:15):
they found out about his deceptive nature, literally tarred and
feathered him and drove him out of town. People really
did that Yeah, people did that. That's amazing. So not
only was he a cuss, he was also a leech. Yes,
he was both a cuss and electris cuss, a lectris
cuss or a custard letch right, a cuss rous letch. No,
(11:37):
we're just churchifying words at this point. But I like,
I like cuss rus. It's like a filthy susceros. Right.
So so this this, although it may sound endearing because
there's that instant karma that hits him. Uh, this doesn't
really illustrate the true nature of this guy's behavior. The
real reptilian stuff occurs in Santa Cruz, where he and
(12:02):
his brother lived in what was described as a shanty. Yeah,
and there's a some outdated language in this one. The
ap refers to his brother as an imbecile, which today
would obviously be considered a pretty nasty pejorative. At the
time was like, it was actually a medical diagnosis. I believe, right,
it is correct for somebody with developmental disabilities have a
(12:23):
fair way of uh saying him, that's a very fair
way of putting. It comes from the Latin word imbecillas,
meaning weak or weak minded, and at the time it
included people at NIQ between twenty six and fifty according
to the testing methods they used. It's right, and I
believe there was even a time where people that were
categorized as that were sterilized. There was forced sterilization of
(12:45):
folks that were classified as being of lower i Q.
It was a whole thing. Yeah, And if you have
the morbid interest in this, we can break it down
for you. At the time when people use this, uh,
this sort of terminology as a description of cognitive ability,
because they saw imbecile was in between idiot and moron.
(13:08):
So an idiot was n Q of zero to twenty five,
imbecile fifty, and moron was fifty one to seventy. So
these were these pejoratives have very specific meanings, yeah, for sure. Um.
And again they were more or less like d S,
M level UM diagnoses or you know terms anyway. Um.
So Gustav's brother was in that was that in the
(13:30):
middle category of what you discussion. So he was certainly
not someone that could fully take care of himself, and
his brother really took advantage of that and in the
most ungodly awful way you could possibly imagine. Yes, he
committed he quite possibly we have to say that he
quite possibly committed fratricide. He took out two insurance policies
(13:55):
on his brother's life, one four or five thousand dollars
and the other four three thousand dollars. And let's let's
go to a handy inflation calculator here, just to see
how much money that actually was. All right, casey, if
we could have that handy dandy inflation calculator, sound que please,
so people know it's working and we're not just making
this up hand perfect three thousand dollars in the eighteen
(14:19):
nineties would equal a little bit more than eighty six
thousand dollars, and five thousand dollars would equal around one
hundred and forty three thousand dollars, almost one hundred and
forty four thousand. So these were significant amounts of money.
And took these two insurance policies out on his brother's life.
(14:40):
And then what happened not a month later, Yeah, the
shanty burned to the ground with the brother inside, and
he was also burned to the ground. The insurance companies
say this is sketchy. Yeah, of course it was. It's
never it's it's always a red flag when you take
an insurance policy on someone. Then a month later they
(15:03):
die in a tragic accident. That's that's not a good
look for And so the insurance companies say, we're not
gonna pay. This is ridiculous. The cops arrest Broman and
he has charged with arson and murder, and it does
go to trial. Yeah, and um, there's a woman at
(15:23):
the trial who, um really reads him the Riot Act
and gives a very strongly worded testimony against him. Um,
but he received a new trial and she kind of
changed her tune a little bit, almost as though she
were coerced or arm twisted in some way. Ben, is
that is that what you're thinking? Or turned? You know,
(15:46):
you can flip is what they call it in the mob,
right right, Nobody ever went broke betting on other people's
moral failings, you know what I mean. So he was discharged,
he got the insurance money, and then afterwards they learned
that the changed her testimony because he had promised to
give her a large a large lumpus scratch a piece, yeah,
(16:06):
a big if she would not testify against him on
that when that second go round, and then he I
guess maybe he cleaned up his act a little bit
null because he moved to San Francisco and decided he
was going to be a decent man. He was. He
(16:27):
was a wealthy man at this point, right, he got
those uh, those insurance pay that's true. I mean, I
don't know, it wasn't it wasn't like a millionaire money,
but enough to start a new life in new in
a new town, sure at that time. Yeah, So he
met a nice lady. He met a nice, nice woman.
She was named you will hear alternately described as Mrs
(16:50):
Lee Roy or simply Mrs Roy. She was both a
widow and wealthy, the old Mary, the wealthy widow scam
on to one W W, which is the origin of
the I R S tax form, the W two. Yeah,
is that true? Probably? Maybe? Okay, I'm going to choose
to believe that because that's what I do. So what happened,
(17:14):
what happened, Well, what happened was he uh, he put
a ring on it on Mrs Leroy, a quite a big,
big old rock, very valuable diamond ring. So things look
to be, um, you know, optimistic trending towards perhaps a
happy ending. If we want to believe in the inherent
goodness of all people. You mean the idea that people change,
(17:36):
that people can change for the better. Right, what is
it you always say, Ben, people don't really change that
it's become more people. We say people change, and that's true,
but it's a misnomer. As time goes on, we become
more concentrated versions of ourselves. Yeah, it seems like it
was happening with our boy, our boy Broman here. Possibly
the police did not believe that he had turned over
a new leaf. They had heard that Broman was back
(17:57):
in town. They're like, we got our on you, Broman,
because this is the time, this is the time in
American history where you could actually have someone go into
a town and then one of the towns people say,
you got a lot of nerves showing your face around here,
you know what I mean. I don't know if that
still happens in the US anymore. It's probably where the
(18:19):
expression get right out of town came from. We should
bring that back. That's good. I like to use it
from time to time, you know what, I think it fits.
I think it's really well, you know, But I only
use it in anger when I want someone to literally
leave town forever. But I say it in kind of
a funny way. So they're they're typically confused. They're probably
getting mixed message, get right out of town, and then
(18:39):
they go look and I'm like, no, go, I don't
want you here. Well, I hope you don't have too
many of those situations. Man, it sounds like real, real
weird Larry David moment. And I am flushed with enemies. Sir,
you're flushed with enemies. Well, then you might have something
in common with Broman. I hope none of your enemies
are in law enforcement. It they they say, you know,
(19:02):
we know what you're doing. You have a lot of
noise coming back here, and we don't have anything on
you yet, but we know how you operate, Gustav, so
we strongly advise you to leave the state. Don't make
this ugly. Yeah, you're right, then, he he was definitely
flushed with enemies. It looks almost as though he never
met a man or a woman, uh that he didn't
(19:25):
turn into an enemy as it turns as As it
turns out, the the woman from Santa Cruz, who herself
not a particularly law abiding citizens, she flouted the law,
flipped her testimony in exchange for ill gotten blood money.
You know, from the cold blooded burning alive of a
person with a developmental disability. She was going to take
(19:46):
that money and run with it. Um. But hey, surprise, surprise,
she got her instant karma too, and he didn't pay.
Could could have told her that was coming, not exactly
a sha balon. So she came a gun informed, didn't
she been? And he knew, he knew that the cops
are on the way. Uh. This, this angry person from
(20:07):
Santa Cruz was threatening to kill him, and if she
really wanted to burn down the house, she could also
take him to jail for witness tampering, um, knowing that
she would get charged with perjury. So he took He
took the famous advice that so many sketchy people have received,
were given to one another throughout the years, and he
(20:28):
high tailed it from Mexico. He went south of the border.
He went down south to get out of the heat,
you know what I mean, wait for it to die down,
and there he would remain ben for a year's time.
I don't know, I don't know why I'm talking like.
I think it's from the AP report that we read
in the old timey language. I'm just kind of like
lapsing into that a little bit, yes time, And there
(20:49):
he took his constitutional indeed, well the better part of
four seasons, yes time. And as the season has passed
and he dissipated, so b been salid fourth yet again
for These States United, mopping his brow against the heat
of the Mexican son. Yes, yes, And so he returned
(21:10):
to California. He was next heard of in Sacramento, Sacramento,
which is the state capital of California. There we go,
can we get a correct answer game show? That's perfect?
How about? How about? How about can I get a
little round of applause? Do a little pat on the back?
Sound it? Now? It's fine, do any of that stuff, thanks, Casey.
(21:33):
So Broman has returned, and he's been living in Sacramento.
He had been visiting the house of a woman whose
last name was Brown, and he went to the chief
of police with a story, and he said, look, I
know we have a history, but I am coming to
you as a victim. Chief. I've been robbed. I've been
robbed of eight grand You gotta help me, Yeah, eight
(21:58):
big ones and some other colloquialisms for a thousand dollars
eight uh oh. In some writing. It would be a myle,
but it doesn't make sense spoken. Yeah, uh, acre, we
could make some up. Um similinas there you go. Yeah,
isn't similina the stuff that's in pasta? Yeah, there's also
(22:18):
similina flower. Yeah, that's why. That's that's what it is.
That's the flower that's that makes the pasta. Let's we
should keep going. I have a question for you. Yes,
what's the point of different pasta shapes? Oh? Some of
them hold sauces better in different ways, because it's really
it's like surface area. I've always been wondering that. Thank you, man,
that's what I That's what I heard. I'm also just
(22:38):
making this up, and I want to come clean with everybody.
I don't know if W two stands for wealthy widow. Um,
right to your local I R S Agent and ask them. Yeah,
they'll they'll they'll be they'll get right back to you,
I'm sure, and tell them we tell them, tell them
it's a matter of national security. Man, we're really we're
really dog paddling on this one, are we been? Well? Wait? Wait,
(23:00):
got Broman? Broman though this is an interesting turn, right.
He goes to the cops. He of all people, what
why would he do that? Because he said he got
robbed of eight Semlino's large But this man's on the
Belo list at every sheriff's office from Tijuana to San Louis, episbo.
It's speaking of like different times. Not only to do
(23:22):
the officers agreed to investigate this house with him, but
they let him come along as they execute the search warrant.
That's not done. That's not normal. Now, I couldn't do that.
I don't think they would do that. It was a
different time. It was a different time. So what happens
when they go in there, Well, the detectives searched detectives, officers,
(23:43):
whatever you want to call him. They they searched the
premises and they found twenty bucks in gold, which it's
it's kind of a lot if you do the inflation thing.
What's that about? Two d bucks? Just I'm just don't
just spit ball in it here. You want to do
it for real? Oh yeah, let's do it for real
and not so twenty dollars in again around the eight
(24:08):
nineties would be five hundred and seventy five dollars six cents. Okay,
So so you know a decent little hall um, and
he roman told them that he this was something he
did because he's like, he's like the crazy old lady
that keeps all our money in a mattress, only he
keeps his under the carpet or h didn't beneath the
floorboards because of experience. Right, well, he'd been robbed. I
(24:31):
wonder why, he said, Oh see, you believe me now,
I got robbed once before, and since then, I always
mocked my coin, meaning what like like he writes his
name on it, like he maybe puts a specific scratch
on it so you can see that I got dimsies
that those are mine, which I hate touching change so much.
(24:54):
Would you consider a gold piece change though? I would
probably have to just suck it up. Didn't touch it,
put it in your mouth? No, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry. If well, uh no, he told the officer
to look behind the mirror, and then the officer found
a diamond ring. The police said, okay, wait, started interpt.
(25:16):
Did he have to tell the officers this is definitely
my coin because this is what the marketing looks like. Yeah,
he did that, Okay, I'm with you. Now I'm back
I'm back in it because that proved he was associated, right,
But the police, for some reason still did not believe
he was on the up and up, and they said,
you know what, I think he's I don't know what
he's getting up to, but he's up to something. By gum,
(25:40):
I mean, did he really think he was gonna like
bamboozle some actual police officers to help him rob somebody's house.
Doesn't that seem kind of seem like what's going on here?
So he's a real bold fellawist whom so an officer
came from Sacramento to obtain his record at the at
the request of at request of the police. And remember
(26:02):
Mrs Lee Roy or Mrs Roy the widow on Vallejo Street,
she gets subpoenaed. She didn't ask for any of this,
Ben not. She's just a wealthy widow caught miss Man's crossfire.
You know, it's not right, it's not right. So it
turns out Broman had the widow arrested for stealing the
diamond ring that he gave her. I'm sorry all classes
(26:24):
adding insult to injury with what a D what a
giant D. Yeah, And the judge was like, lady you know,
this is this is this is tough. This is tough
all around. You should Roman arrested for perjury, so you know,
she swore out a warrant, but apparently it was never
solved and the case in Sacramento was dismissed. Back to
(26:53):
the top of the story, I'm a little confused about
what he had to gain from this whole log jam
in situation. Ah, there's an answer, there's an answer. Okay.
So I was confused too, because it was like, I
don't quite his schemes seem to become more and more ridiculous,
you know, increasingly circuitous. I always mocked my coin, my
(27:16):
cod I p on all of them. Right, it's a
it's it's very strange. It's like Tommy Wizo and the spoons,
you know. But here is the theory. The theory comes
from a guy named Detective Anthony, who was one of
the many law enforcement officials familiar with Broman's escapades. This
(27:40):
detective believes that Broman had purposely made a terribly, terribly
substandard boat because he wanted it to look like the
kind of thing that would easily sink, because he was
planning on the boat to be found bottom up in
some beach, and uh, he was going to essentially commit
(28:03):
pseudo side our favorite if the word for faking one's death.
Detective Anthony specifically says Broman will probably have his life
ensured for a big sum and after the boat has found,
a confederate will apply for the insurance money and he
and Broman will share it at his my belief from
my knowledge of this man. Question, sorry, I keep asking,
(28:26):
it's important. Why do this so conspicuously? Why make a
big show of it so he can have aunch of
witnesses that makes no sense, witnesses to his sad demise. Okay,
I guess that makes a lot. So it's like, oh, uh,
four thousand people really did see him do it, And
now now we see why he was going to sail
(28:47):
down the coast to San Francisco first, and it made
up this cockamami story about what he was going to
do by turning his boat into a rail car. He
had no intention of doing that. He wanted somewhere but
tween uh Marshfield and San Francisco for his boat. He
wanted to disappear and have his boat wash up on
a remote area. You gotta give this guy at least
(29:11):
a little bit of credit for his massive massive that's
just so so massive. That's probably what kept capsizing the boat,
quite possibly, quite possibly. So, how does Detective Anthony's theory
measure up up? It measures measures what happened? What happened? Well, yeah,
(29:35):
he had a fifteen thousand dollars in life insurance policy
that he took out on himself from the United States
Accident Insurance Association. When when, when up, upon discovering this
whole scheme, promptly canceled his policy. Probably good business move
to do that. Surely this guy's reputation for insurance fraud
or at least his like. Because here's the thing, even
(29:57):
when you get paid out for insurre en policies, doesn't
that make it harder to get insured again? I guess
he insured his brother before though, But what a series
of red flags? You think? Well, that's the that's the
tough thing. Um. There's a great book called Playing Dead
which details the ways in which people can attempt to
(30:18):
fake their deaths. And the thing that gets most people
caught is when they attempt to receive some kind of
money from an insurance agency or a will. Because to
do that you have to have someone you can trust
who is able to collect for you, and they don't
really have any compelling reason to hold up their side
(30:40):
of the bargain, you know what I mean. It's also very,
very difficult to fake your death. Just in case you're wondering,
what can I, in this modern age do to make
my life more interesting, don't try to. Don't try to
fake your death. So that maybe a lieu of a
comic book recommendation, we could just do a book recommendation.
You read books playing dead. I read a Plaine Dead,
(31:02):
A Journey through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood.
Weren't we going to maybe have an opportunity to interview
miss Greenwood? We did? We did stuff they don't want
you to know. Huh yeah, never quite happened. It was
that was that was our fault. I think I think
we were the ones who dropped the ball. And now
it's like sort of like forgetting someone's name and then
knowing them for years and then having to find it.
It's too late. You can't ask them any We can
(31:23):
follow I can follow up with the email thread from
I have an idea, what's your idea? Let's do it
for this show like a fresh start. There we go,
and let's pretend to be different people about that. What's
your what's your alter ego of choice lately? Oh man,
I'm not going to say it. On nex Powers astronaut
with a secret, that's a go to Yeah, nex powers
a secret. My mine is Neil Braun, Neil Braun Braun.
(31:46):
There we go. I'm a I'm a German attache. Nice,
I like it, or maybe i'll be Swedish. Nice, nice,
well done. I have been using the alias Casey Pegram
for quite some time, and I'm sorry about that. Casey.
I did have to stop. I don't know which one
of us it was, but the the heat got pretty
bad at jfk. Oh boy, Yeah, you've sullied my good name.
(32:10):
I think you sullied my fantastic alias Casey. Or maybe
there's a third Casey Pegram out there. There is, I've
seen him on Google. What Yeah, oh that's the one.
Then I was just having fun at a at an Applebee's.
Do you like Applebe's too? Ah? Yeah, you know, I'll
go to a Applebee's. What's their signature appetizer? Chicken? Crispers chicken? Yes,
(32:33):
some kind of chicken thing. We have to ask Paul.
Paul deck in Mission controlled decand is a huge fan
of the Applebee's because apparently when you're there your family, No,
that's olive guards. What are you at Applebee's. It's your
friendly neighborhood grill. There you go, there you go. And
by the way, I love the Monzarelli sticks. Monzrelli sticks
are usually you can't really mess up Monzarelli sticks. I've
seen it happen. It's not it can happen, they've but
(32:55):
they do a good job of it over at the Bees.
You like their at the Bees. So what you're saying
is they have a nice crispy exterior and a nice soft,
gooey into and they're not so hot that they burned
the roof of your mouth, and they're evenly cook and
are they are seasoned? Well, yeah, all the above. So
one time, this this has nothing to do with the
(33:15):
story of We're done right. We're basically now we're just
talking other chain restaurants. We're bringing some other restaurants. Well,
I wanted this thing about Applebee's for a long time.
I thought Paul was just pretending to like it, But
he's serious. We were on a video shoot one day,
and Casey, were you at that one? Absolutely? I was.
(33:36):
So we were on a video shoot one day years back,
and I think I was I was fuel producing or something.
I said, Okay, well we've we've wrapped this up. This
is a great shoot. It's time. It's time to grab lunch.
And we jokingly suggested to Paul that there was an
Applebee's nearby. He lost his mind and he had this
(33:57):
this shining almost no bowl childlike glee. I looked at
it more as the look of a madman. It's very similar,
kind of eyes glazed over, weird. Rict just smile and
we went and I think his his joy, his jubilation
was contagious. So if you ever want to make Paul
deck and stay or apparently Casey pegroom's, then just uh,
(34:21):
send us some send us some Applebee's tickets, is that
the right one? Gift cards or something good cards keep
and buy those that your friendly neighborhood Kroger, CVS even Yeah,
or you could just leave us a review on your
podcast app of choice. Yeah, please do it, and don't
don't don't be too harsh on us for this little
rambling tangent of an ending of the episode. We don't
(34:42):
do it that often. I don't think we're having a
good time. We're at the very end of the year
and the end of our ropes. And there are so
many there are so many casual dining restaurants that we
didn't get to mention. What about bob Evans. Was that
the one that's that's like only in like Pennsylvania, maybe
Canada and stuff. Yeah, they're us. Slogan is everybody is
(35:02):
somebody at bob Evans. Oh that's you know. The it's
also very like, yeah, it's we're all. We're all people.
We're all here at bob Evans. Have some pancakes. It's
a mistakesistential. Yeah, we are. We are punchy as can
be today. I love it. The universe is chaotic and
meaningless at bob Evans. Bob Evans ben Um. We gotta
(35:27):
get out of Yeah, you know what, this is the No,
it's not sure we're gonna record, so it's true. Yeah,
this is the third. This is the Christmas episode. If
you want to plug that. Oh, Casey says, it's Christmas.
Oh yeah, very popular holidays, very popular holiday, uh, you know,
celebrated by the religious and the secular alike, especially in
(35:48):
the US, especially in the U S. So um, happy holidays,
Merry Christmas, whatever you want to call it. To you
and yours, hope you are having a wonderful time on
one more or a bit round the sun. And as
you look back onen, we hope you find it more
full of fond memories than unpleasant ones. We hope that you,
(36:11):
regardless of your personal beliefs, get some get some quality
time in with your family. If you have that favorite
movie watch, or you have that favorite board game or
that family tradition, get together and play it. Yeah, Happy holidays, Uh,
all the best from all of us to all of you.
Should all acquaintance be forgot on days of old Langston
(36:32):
lengths lengths sign Gustaf Roman. There you go, oh oh,
before we go this is we had to actually travel
back in time. We actually never even explained what the
milk shaped duck was. Right to make this correction because uh,
and that was I had explicitly promised that it was
(36:53):
the first sentence of the show of So to explain
what a milkshakeed duck is, we have to give a
shout out to a winter feed called a very pixelated
boat Christmas and this No Noel, you said you had
never heard of this before. Now I only heard of
it like the other day. Super producer Casey Pegram turned
me onto it, and I think you know what, Casey,
if you're okay with it, could you read the tweet
(37:15):
that gave us the phrase milkshake duck. Yeah. So this
is a tweet originally tweeted out June twelve, and it
has already kind of entered the Internet lexicon as like
shorthand for this phenomenon. So it says, the whole Internet
loves milkshake duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes. Five
seconds later, we regret to inform you the duck is racist.
(37:40):
So Gustaf Broman in that case, in this sense, is
a milkshake duck because he was, for a very brief time,
this American hero
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