The Artifact: The Gadget Cane

In this episode of STBYM’s The Artifact, Robert discusses various gadget canes, from Benjamin Franklin’s walking stick to Edgar Alan Poe’s cane sword… 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi. My name is Robert Lamb and this is the artifact,
a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. In
our recent Stuff to Blow Your Mind series, Oil and
Troubled Water, we discussed eighteenth century American polymath Benjamin Franklin's

(00:31):
experiments with oil, experiments which inspired him to carry a
small quantity of oil on him at all times, hidden
in a special compartment of his bamboo walking stick. This
detail can't help but add to the mystique of America's
weirdest founding father, and it ties directly into the larger
topic of special items hidden in canes or walking sticks.

(00:57):
As Michelle Debjek explored in a twenty seventeen Mental Floss article,
one can find various antique walking sticks and canes with
all manner of special gadgety features, ranging from the possibly
practical to these somewhat ridiculous. There's a nineteenth century cane
with a coin weighing gadget built into the handle. There's

(01:18):
a magic lantern projector cane, a cider pressed walking stick,
an architect's cane with drafting tools hidden inside, a spy
camera cane from the nineteen eighties, a nineteenth century cane
containing a miniature croquet set, a microscope cane, and a
nineteenth century eagle headed crossbow cane. There's even a spitting

(01:39):
cane that naturally reminds one of the gimmicked weapon umbrellas
favored by Batman villain the Penguin. All of these gadget
canes clear novelties extend from the popularity of cane swords
or sword sticks in eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. Now,
the basic appeal of a hidden blade is understandable. I

(02:00):
remember when I was a child and I first saw
Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes in the Granada television series.
I watched him whip out a cane sword and I
was totally won over by the coolness of the thing.
But the popularity of this sort of concealed weapon actually
had to do with how uncool openly carrying a sword

(02:22):
had become in polite society. Then, as sword canes became fashionable,
the idea of hiding other various things such as gadgets
and curios in a cane or walking stick became the
new fat Now to be clear, sword canes are weapons.
Murderers have used them in committing their crimes, and they
are often banned by local or federal laws as they

(02:44):
are in essence concealed weapons. They also sometimes factor into
historical mysteries, including the death of nineteenth century American author
Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's cause of death remains a matter
of dispute, and the theories range from illness to murder
and even cooping election fraud. Will likely never know for

(03:06):
sure what happened, but some theorists have latched onto the
fact that shortly before his death he managed to borrow
a sword cane from his friend, doctor John Carter, perhaps
by accident or perhaps intentionally, and left his own cane
in its place. If his borrowing of the sword cane
was intentional, then this could help prop up arguments that

(03:27):
he anticipated foul play or violence of some sort. However,
if his death was due to rabies, lead poisoning, or
any of the other dozen or so maladies that have
been suggested, then the sword cane doesn't really get us anywhere.
The hidden blade remains an enigmatic artifact, though for in it,
we see that old and symbolic human weapon, the sword

(03:50):
hidden within a walking aid or fashion accessory, hiding murderous
intent or awareness of some violence in the world when
we read about it, when we find it among one's possessions,
we can't help but speculate. Tune in for additional editions
of the Artifact each week. As always, You can email

(04:13):
us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
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