November 4, 2024 • 34 mins
The first recorded bank robbery in the U.S. resulted in the wrong man sitting in jail, a very strange confession, and a serious lawsuit for the administrators of the bank that was robbed.
Research:
- Avery, Ron. “America’s First Bank Robbery.” Carpenters’ Hall. https://www.carpentershall.org/americas-first-bank-robbery
- “Democratic Mystery Unraveled.” The North American. Nov. 20, 1798. https://www.newspapers.com/image/593171719/?match=1&terms=%22isaac%20davis%22
- Hunt, Kristin. “The first major bank heist in America happened 225 years ago in Philly — and the wrong guy went to prison.” Philly Voice. Aug. 31, 2023. https://www.phillyvoice.com/first-bank-robbery-us-philly-carpenters-hall-patrick-lyon/
- Lloyd, Thomas. “Robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania in 1798. The Trial in the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania. Reported from the Notes by T. Lloyd. Upon Which the President of That Bank, the Cashier, One of the Directors (Who Was an Alderman) and Another Person Who Was the High Constable of Philadelphia; Were Sentenced to Pay Patrick Lyon Twelve Thousand Dollars Damages, for a False and Malicious Prosecution against Him, without Either Reasonable or Probable Cause.” Philadelphia: Printed for the publishers. 1808. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=WfcdAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-WfcdAAAAMAAJ&rdot=1
- Lyon, Patrick. “The narrative of Patrick Lyon, who suffered three months severe imprisonment in Philadelphia gaol; on merely a vague suspicion, of being concerned in the robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania: : with his remarks thereon.” Philadelphia. Francis and Robert Bailey. 1799. Accessed online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N26860.0001.001/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
- “Pat Lyon at the Forge.” MFABoston. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/34216/pat-lyon-at-the-forge?ctx=797a5f9d-a27a-4ae4-996d-f277ad579544&idx=0
- Rakich, Whitney, PhD. “Patrick Lyon (1769-1829).” Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/patrick-lyon-1769-1829#note2
- “Well-known Tenants of Carpenters' Hall.” Carpenters Hall. https://www.carpentershall.org/tenants
- Xiang, Enya. “Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia: A Crossroads for Early American History.” Global Philadelphia. Aug. 11, 2023. https://globalphiladelphia.org/news/carpenters-hall-philadelphia-crossroads-early-american-history
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff You missed in History Class, a production
of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. The first recorded bank
robbery in the US resulted in the wrongman sitting in
(00:21):
jail for quite a while, a very strange confession from
the actual perpetrator, and a rather serious lawsuit for the
administrators of the bank that was robbed. Today, we are
going to talk about the Bank of Pennsylvania and the
robbery that took place there in seventeen ninety eight, as
well as quite a bit about the prime suspect, who
(00:43):
was a blacksmith named Patrick Lyon. In seventeen ninety nine,
a book was published titled The Narrative of Patrick Lyon,
and in its opening it shares the author's early life
story quote, I began my mechanical study at an early age,
being only turned of eleven years, and after spending nearly
(01:05):
fourteen years in London in different manufactories, and having previously
studied mathematics, et cetera, I resolved to come to America,
which displeased by relations and friends in a great measure, I, however,
undertook the enterprise and arrived in Philadelphia on the twenty
fifth November seventeen ninety three. And if ever there was
(01:27):
a mechanical volunteer came into America, I certainly have fair
claim to the title. That certainly sounds like it's going
to be the story of finding a new life in
a new country, and to some degree it is. But
the real focus of that narrative is how Patrick Lyon
was accused of what is often considered the first bank
robbery in the US and the time that he spent
(01:50):
behind bars. Things had gone wrong for Patrick in the
summer of seventeen ninety eight. But before we get to that,
we'll talk about a building. That's carp Hall, which has
an important place in US history. Carpenter's Hall was built
starting in early seventeen seventy. It was to be the
home of the guild known as the Carpenter's Company of
(02:11):
the City and County of Philadelphia that had been in
existence for nearly fifty years when it purchased a plot
of land and broke ground. But the hall was not
used only by the Carpenter's Guild. It was also used
by other societies for their meetings and events. Carpenter's Hall
was also home to the first free lending library, had
(02:32):
started there in seventeen seventy three as part of Ben
Franklin's Library Company. That library was the first Congressional library,
and it remained in the building until seventeen ninety. The
First Continental Congress convened there in the building in seventeen
seventy four. During the Revolutionary War, the hall was used
as an infirmary for both sides of the conflict. It
(02:56):
is also sometimes called the First Pentagon, as it served
as the main office for General Henry Knox, the first
US Secretary of War, in the early seventeen nineties. It
has served as the site of many important moments in
North American history. But the part of Carpenters Hall's history
that's germane to today's topic is that it started to
(03:17):
be used for banking in seventeen ninety one. That was
the Bank of North America, which stayed in that space
for two years. Starting in seventeen ninety four, the first
Bank of the United States was housed there. It was
there for five years as the institution's own purpose built
building was constructed, and in seventeen ninety eight it was
(03:38):
leased to the Bank of Pennsylvania, which had been incorporated
in seventeen ninety three. On the night of August thirty first,
seventeen ninety eight, the hall was home to another first,
and that was the first bank robbery in the United States.
The thief or thieves got away with one hundred and
sixty two thousand, eight hundred and twenty one. In modern terms,
(04:02):
that's comparable to a little more than four million dollars, although,
as we always say, it's hard to accurately convert the
value of money over time because there are so many
variables involved. However, long story short, a lot millions of dollars.
As for the break in, there really wasn't one. Nothing
(04:24):
was broken. There was no indication of forced entry. The
access points to the building and the bank vault were
entirely undamaged, so it seemed to be the work of
someone who knew the building and its locks. The bank
had only just moved into the space at Carpenter's Hall,
and as part of that transition there had been new
carpentry work done, and the vault doors had gotten new
(04:46):
fittings and locks. Naturally, the first person suspected was the
blacksmith who had worked on the vault. That prime suspect was,
of course, Patrick Lyon. He'd been born near Aberty in
Scotland in seventeen sixty nine. As a child, he went
to school in the local parish and was drawn to
astronomy and mathematics. Then, as we mentioned in the opening,
(05:09):
when he was eleven, he left school and moved to
London to work as a blacksmith until seventeen ninety three
when he moved to Pennsylvania. Lyon's first boss in Philadelphia
was a blacksmith named Samuel Wheeler, but according to Lyon's account,
he discovered Wheeler was taking advantage of a stranger with
regard to wages, et cetera, and as he had no
(05:31):
great idea of cultivating the profession, I left him and
went to another. Lyon went into business himself, and after
having built up a professional reputation over several years, he
was recommended to the Bank of Pennsylvania. Before that move
into Carpenter's Hall was planned, he had worked on various
projects for the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Bank of
(05:53):
North America starting in seventeen ninety seven, and then after
an attempted robbery at the Bank of Pennsylvania. That institution
was hurriedly moved from its Lodge Alley location to Carpenter's Hall,
and Lyon was asked to do a rush job so
they could secure the vault there. The attempted robbery that
caused the move had taken place on August fourth, seventeen
(06:15):
ninety eight, and that had involved someone trying unsuccessfully to
pick a lock and then also to pick open an
iron chest. Lyon and the bank directors apparently argued about
the nature of the locks on the vault. For the
new space, the bank wanted imported locks, which Lyon told
them were not the correct option for their vault doors.
(06:38):
They were adamant in their choice, though in the time
between his move to Philadelphia and his work for the bank,
Lion had been through a lot. He had married a
woman named Anne Brindley on July fourth, seventeen ninety five.
Patrick and Anne welcomed a daughter named Clementina in seventeen
ninety six. The timing of the bank robbery was rather
(07:00):
unique in that it happened during a yellow fever outbreak
in Philadelphia, and this was a very serious situation. Hundreds
of people died, including Patrick's wife, and daughter. He lost
both of them in seventeen ninety seven. As the epidemic
continued to claim victims, people with the means to do
so left the city, and one of the people who
(07:23):
fled was blacksmith Patrick Lyon. After he wrapped up his
work on the bank vault, he had arranged to travel
with his apprentice, James McGinley, by boat to Delaware. They
made it to the port at Lewiston, Delaware, but Lion's
apprentice was ill. Although he seemed to get better briefly,
and though Lion hired two doctors to see him, James
(07:45):
died just a couple days later. Lyon stayed in Lewiston
to wait out the epidemic. When news of the robbery
reached Delaware, Lyon, of course, was invested in the story.
He had just worked on that vault, and Lyon found
out through a friend who had also made his way
to Lewiston to get away from the yellow fever epidemic.
(08:07):
He was the suspect. We'll talk about what he did
after we pause for a sponsor break. When Lyon realized
that he was being sought by the law in connection
with this robbery, he took a head on approach to
(08:28):
dealing with it. He went back to Philadelphia as quickly
as he could. Not only did he want to make
sure he was cleared, but he also wanted to tell
authorities about the men that he suspected. That was carpenter
Samuel Robinson and a friend of Robinson's who had visited
the hall as work was being done to prepare the
(08:49):
space for the Bank of Pennsylvania. Lyon got in touch
with the authorities and met with bank directors and alderman
Robert Wharton. He told them everything he knew, including his
suspicions about the two other men. He later wrote about
his encounter with them in detail, and this is how
he described it quote. On Friday, I began to operate
(09:10):
on the doors. In the afternoon, I was visited by Robinson,
the carpenter, who brought a person with him, a stranger
to me. They both took a particular observation of the locks, keys,
et cetera. I told Robinson at this time that those
locks were not fit for a bank. In the hearing
of this stranger, the reader will please to keep in
(09:32):
direct and point blank view this stranger, and there may
be a possible surmise of the character of some of
his connections during the whole work. Robinson informed me that
Smith the cashier would not employ me after this was done,
owing to the delay. I answered, it made a little
difference to me. I gave Robinson and his companion something
(09:53):
to drink, and they both went away towards Second Street.
They had not been gone above ten minutes when Robinson's companion,
the stranger, came back and went into my shop while
I was answering a young woman at the door. I
took no notice of him, as he appeared to be
Robinson's confidential friend and companion. He did not stop above
(10:14):
a minute and came to the door. I said, I
was in a hurry and must work all night, as
the bank was in such haste for their work being done.
Robinson's companion answered that he would see all banks damned
before he would kill himself in this hot weather. Then
he took his course towards Front Street. He did not
follow Robinson. Whether they met again immediately or not, I
(10:36):
cannot tell, but suppose they did so. Of course, he
was establishing that he was not the only person who
had access to the locks for the vault. Yes, and
that mystery stranger is going to come up again. Uh.
But the bank and the alderman thought that when Lyon
told them all of this, that he was lying. And
(10:57):
one of their reasons was that his account of what
happened with Robinson and this mystery man was just too detailed.
It seemed to them unnecessarily so, so they thought that
made Lion seem guilty. It was believed by everyone involved
that the blacksmith must have made himself a key while
working on the vault. Lyon was arrested, sort of, not charged,
(11:23):
just arrested and held at Walnut Street Prison. This was
a very grim situation, as was relayed later in court quote.
They decided that Lion should go to jail. There was
no circumstance alleged against him, but that he had had
the doors in his possession before the robbery. The bail
(11:43):
required was one hundred fifty thousand dollars. It was impossible
he could procure it. He was therefore committed to jail,
in which there was twenty or thirty cases of yellow fever,
and a number of deaths followed. He was neglected while there,
reduced to extreme want. The excess of the few friends
he had was denied for some additional clarification and detail.
(12:09):
There was no formal charge against him. He was just
detained for being suspected. Because of his lack of charge,
the jailer felt he should be kept separate from the
other incarcerated men, so he was put in a root
seller that wasn't being used. This was not in any
way set up for a person to be housed in
(12:30):
Patrick Lyon didn't even have a bed. He literally slept
on the ground, malnourished and without much human interaction at all.
He later said he never expected to make it out
of Walnut Street alive. It seemed like Lyon was doomed.
There was no way he could clear his name or
even make a case for himself when he didn't even
have a charge to fight. But then something happened. The
(12:56):
Bank of Pennsylvania had received several sizable deposits of money
from one new account holder, Isaac Davis. When Isaac Davis,
a carpenter who was not especially wealthy, suddenly had a
lot of money, started to raise eyebrows, specifically the eyebrows
of the bank. Here's how it was described in a
(13:18):
statement made by a bank committee, which was read in
court and entered into court documents. Quote one Isaac Davis,
a carpenter by trade, had an account opened in this bank,
and the first circumstance which excited the suspicions of the
president and cashier against him was a deposit of sixteen
hundred dollars. Inquiry was made as to his circumstances and character,
(13:41):
which were found to be such as to induce the
officers to watch his conduct. On Saturday, the thirteenth November,
just before the bank closed, he deposited three thousand, nine
hundred and ten dollars. The suspicions were then increased, and
it was thought proper to inquire the banks of the
United States and of North America whether he had accounts
(14:04):
open with those institutions, And on Monday mornings, such information
was obtained as left no doubt that he was the robber.
So Isaac Davis was brought before bank officials. He was
kind of invited for a chat, and when he was
confronted and asked how he was able to make those
large deposits, Davis completely folded. He confessed that in there
(14:29):
that he had been the one to rob the bank,
the same bank where he was now depositing the stolen money.
He also had an accomplice, and that was Thomas Cunningham.
Cunningham was the bank porter and he had spent the
night in the bank the night of the robbery, but
he had come down with yellow fever the day after
the robbery and then died a few days later. Davis
(14:52):
said that he and Cunningham had split the money, but
the porter's untimely death meant that his portion was still
in his house. Isaac returned the majority of what he
had not already deposited with the bank, but it also
turned out that Davis lied. When Cunningham's home was searched
for the remaining money, there was nothing there. Davis eventually
(15:15):
confessed that he actually had the rest, except for some
that he had spent, and the bank recovered almost all
of the money. Davis told them that Cunningham had procured
a set of keys, but that he Isaac Davis, did
not know where those keys had come from, and that
was a detail that the bank officials at Lawman would
(15:35):
really hang on to enter. Benjamin Brannon Esquire, the Associate
judge of Delaware County and Isaac Davis's uncle, He visited
the bank cashier and made some effort to make up
the gap and the recovered funds through some legal doings,
with the intention that Isaac Davis would be pardoned. At
(15:55):
one point, the committee we just quoted a moment ago
had intended to prepare charges again against Brannon because he, quote,
contrary to the duties of his office, endeavored to prevent
a certain Isaac Davis from being punished whom he knew
had robbed the Bank of Pennsylvania. Brannon continued to wheel
and deal, promising that his nephew would give up all
(16:16):
the information on where the keys had come from and
all of that in return for a pardon. And although
this seemed like something that should have gotten Brannon into
a whole lot of trouble, the office of Pennsylvania Governor
John Dickinson did make a deal with Isaac Davis, which
was return the money and tell us how you did it,
(16:37):
and we'll forgive everything. So Davis walked away from this
entire affair with pretty much no repercussions. On November twentieth,
seventeen ninety eight, the following story ran in the paper
The North American under the somewhat odd title of Democratic
Mystery Unraveled quote. It is with great satisfaction, ain't our reader,
(17:01):
that the notes robbed from the Bank of Pennsylvania at
the commencement of the fever have been recovered to within
four thousand dollars of the whole amount, which there is
also a further prospect of getting hold of. It appears
that one Isaac Davis, a carpenter and a noted democrat,
in conjunction with a porter belonging to the bank, who
(17:22):
died of the fever, were the sole agents in this
nefarious business. Davis had set up his carriage and pair
and pretended that an Indiaman had arrived at New York
in which he sent out an adventure. On the death
of his accomplice, he took the whole of the cash,
of which a dividend had been made, into his possession,
(17:42):
and was detected by means of the large deposits he
had made in each of the banks NB Citizen Davis
has made off. With the crime solved and the money recovered,
it would seem like Patrick Lyon's life should get back
to normal, but it did not. We will talk about
that after we hear from the sponsors that keep the
(18:03):
show going. Although a full confession from the actual thief
should have resulted in an immediate release for Lion, it
did not. The bank was still entirely convinced that he
(18:25):
had been involved and that he had made an unauthorized
spare key to the vault, and Philadelphia law enforcement backed
up the bank, so Lion sat in jail. Moreover, he
was finally formally charged with the charge of accessory before
the fact. He went before a grand jury in seventeen
(18:46):
ninety nine, but as there was no real evidence against him,
the grand jury returned to judgment that the case was
insufficiently proven. It is worth noting that the bank never
disclosed during that grand jury pri that Isaac Davis had
confessed to the crime and said that Lion was not involved,
(19:06):
so even though they had not shared that information, Lion
was at last released, But that was hardly the end
of it. After all he had been through. People still
believed he had somehow been involved in the robbery, and
that was due in no small part to the leadership
at the Bank of Pennsylvania. They continued to spread their
(19:29):
belief that he had somehow gotten away with theft, even
though the bank had its money back and a confession
from the actual thief, but even worse for a blacksmith
who had done most of his business with banks and
other sizeable companies in Philadelphia, being accused by one bank
tanked his reputation with the rest of the city's businesses,
(19:50):
so his income suffered considerably. After his release, Lion wrote
a book, the one that we quoted at the top
of the show, which the short name of it is
the Narrative of Patrick Lyon. He makes clear his intentions
in that document, writing quote that the conduct of the
Bank of Pennsylvania on the late robbery cannot, in my opinion,
(20:14):
be pardoned, either on the score of public justice or
national policy. But as the affair stands, the public still
entertain their suspicion, and the matter remains unraveled. Owing if
my suspicions are well founded, and my judgment right, though
not competent in law, to know to a certain peculiar incomprehensibility,
(20:35):
as several glaring reports are in circulation, which in the
body of this work I shall endeavor to explain, And
as persons are generally the last to hear what materially
concerns themselves, I shall take notice of them that such
suspected characters may have an opportunity of contracting the rumor
that they have made it in their power to clear
(20:57):
their conduct of the heavy suspicion which has leveled against them.
For my own part, I have a right to speak
because I suffered innocently, and as I am informed, no
legal steps can be taken to enforce a recompense for
false and severe imprisonment. I therefore take the liberty to
lay my case before my fellow citizens. Ads for this
(21:19):
book ran daily in Philadelphia newspapers, basically saying, Hey, you
want to know what happened to that guy they put
in jail. He'll tell you all about it. Lyon wanted
to make sure that his version of the story got out,
but this book was actually a precursor to legal action
on Lion's part. He filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against
(21:42):
bank president Samuel M. Fox Head, cashier Jonathan Smith Alderman,
and bank board member John Clement Stoker, and Constable John Haynes.
The case was heard before the Supreme Court of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in eighteen oh five. During the trial,
there were witnesses called to testify that members of the
(22:03):
bank's leadership had basically said they could do what they
wanted regarding patrick Lyon, and that he was powerless in
comparison to them. There were plenty of witnesses who relayed
conversations with bank's staff at all levels, establishing bias and
presumption of patrick Lyon's guilt. There was also testimony that
(22:23):
it had been Samuel Robinson who had pushed for the
locks that Lion said were not usable, and that Lions
had made clear that they would be easy to open.
Lyons also thought the manner in which the doors were
to be mounted was unsafe. Reading through all of that testimony,
it really starts to seem like the bank was more
interested in scapegoating and punishing Lion than really anything else.
(22:48):
Another interesting bit of testimony came from one of the
bank guards, a man named Philip Coldwater. He explained that
he worked with Thomas Cunningham and another porter named Potter,
and him was routinely trusted with the vault key. Coldwater
incidentally quit the bank when the money was returned, exasperated
(23:08):
that he and the other guards had been suspected. Another witness,
John Cornick, who ran a lodging house, also testified that
Thomas Cunningham had stayed at his house the night before
the robbery, and that he wore a large key on
what Cornick called a garter around his neck. Witnesses verified
Lyon's claims about the conditions of his incarceration, but more
(23:31):
than anything, his counsel sought to prove that the four
accused men had conspired to keep Lyon in jail well
after they knew he was innocent, to keep him from
retaliating against them for everything he had endured. His legal
team of Alexander J. Dallas and Joseph Hopkinson argued, quote,
(23:52):
after the grand jury had refused to consider Lyon as
the accomplice of Davis and Cunningham, what could induce his
persecutor to continue their endeavors to put and keep Lyon down?
But malice and malice too, the most execrable kind. But
they assign another motive. They justify themselves on the principle
(24:12):
of self defense. We must put down Patrick Lyon, or
he will put down us. We must cripple him in
his cause and in his means, or he will dare
to meet us in a court of justice. And they
have hitherto pursued the road they laid down for themselves.
But it is hoped you, gentlemen of the jury, will
stop their career. There was a clear display of prejudice
(24:36):
against Lyon On behalf of the bank, as shown by
the arguments of the bank's defense attorney, William Rawl. Even
though Davis had confessed and had stated that Patrick Lyon
was in no way involved, and even though there was
ample evidence to place Lion in Delaware when the heist happened,
Rawl continued to suggest that Lion had to have been involved.
(25:01):
It was claimed that he was the best key maker
in Philadelphia and was the only man who could have
possibly unlocked the vault outside of bank staff. The defense
also argued that everything it did it did quote for
the interest of civil society. Ral argued that quote it
was an important and imperious duty imposed upon the defendant,
(25:22):
who were entrusted in perilous times with great property and
founded on correct principles. There were others as well as
Lyon to be considered principle and duty, and not rancor
and malice were the only motives that influenced the defendants.
There was a great deal of discussion about the procedural
use of the bank's keys, who had them, and when,
(25:45):
and whether the porters and guards had carried out the
procedure as usual the night of the robbery. They claimed
that Cunningham couldn't have gotten into the vaults, only into
the bank itself. Then there was more suggestion that's somehow
Lyon was involved. Rawle also once again invoked the specificity
(26:06):
of Lion's account to the bank management as suspicious, noting quote,
mister Lyon gave a minute account of all of his proceedings.
This from the time he left Philadelphia till his return.
Minuteness and particularity appeared very remarkable and extraordinary to mister Wharton, Stalker,
and Fox. Upon his being told that they could prove
(26:28):
it against him, he immediately became confused and called for
a glass of water for that he was almost fainting.
Mister Wharton, then, supposing that he was about to disclose
the whole affair, said if you discharged him, you would
do wrong. You ought certainly to commit him. So the
defense also clearly stated that Lyon was held that's committed
(26:49):
based on nothing other than suspicion. Incidentally, when Wharton was
called to testify, he clarified that he said to the
other men involved in Lyon's questioning quote, the importance of
his examination and the embarrassed situation he appears in, would
if I were the magistrate, induce me to commit him.
I believe mister Stocker then committed him. Patrick Lyon was
(27:11):
extremely minute in his narrative, as I have mentioned before,
and this formed, in my opinion, the ground of my
advice where I was convinced that he had been concerned. Yeah,
Wharton is definitely trying to be like, no, No, I
didn't do it. I just said like I would do
it based on what he said. Uh. When it was
time for jury deliberation, the judge made clear to them
(27:34):
that they had to determine if the bank had probable
cause to detain Lion, and if the bank did, the
malice charge could not stand. After just four hours of deliberation,
the jury found in favor of Lion, and they awarded
him twelve thousand dollars. He didn't actually get that much, though.
The defendants appealed and the new trial was scheduled for
(27:57):
March eighteen oh seven. But as that second trial date approach,
the bank and Patrick Lyon reached an out of court settlement,
and he received a payout of nine thousand dollars. Once
Lion's suit was concluded, he went back to his life
and his business. He had remarried to Catherine Taggart even
before the eighteen oh five trial had started, and he
(28:18):
didn't go back to blacksmithing. He had worked on various
mechanical projects even before he was wrongfully detained, and he
focused more on that after he was released. This may
have also been a pivot that was necessitated by the
damage to his blacksmithing reputation, but even so, it also
turned out to be quite lucrative. He started making pump engines.
(28:40):
That's early fire engines. He's credited with building several dozen
fire engines that were put to use in Pennsylvania and
the surrounding states, and several still exist in museums. In
addition to focusing on engineering, Lyon invested his money in
real estate. Yeah, there is. It'ld be a whole other
(29:01):
story about his pump engines. There are people that really
really love, specifically Lion designed fire engines, and you can
find lists of where you can go visit them, which
is just kind of an interesting thing. In eighteen twenty five,
Lyon commissioned a portrait of himself by painter John Nagle.
That portrait titled pat Lyon at the Forge or it's
(29:22):
much longer name, full length portrait of mister Patrick Lyon,
representing him as engaged at his anvil, is an unusual
portrait for a number of reasons. For one, it's considered
one of the great examples of early US portraiture. For another,
the artist Nagel was young, just twenty nine at the time.
But the most unique attribute of this image is the
(29:45):
way in which Lion chose to be represented at this point. Lyon,
who was in his late fifties, was wealthy and successful
and had not had to work at the forge in
quite a while. But that is how he wanted to
be painted, not informal atti looking like a well to
do businessman, but as a blacksmith where he started. This
(30:05):
is believed to be in part because he associated the
portraits of men in their finest attire with the type
of men who had seen to it that he was
wrongfully imprisoned. This is kind of supported by something he
asked to have included in the artwork in the top
left of the image, through a window in the blacksmith workshop.
The cupola of the Walnut Street prison is visible. That's
(30:28):
a detailed Lion insisted on. That portrait is now part
of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
and it can be seen in the Kristen and Rogers
Servicing Gallery. There is actually a second version of this painting,
which Lion commissioned for himself after he let the Boston
Athenam display the first one. This second one is a
(30:49):
slightly more detailed rendering, but it's very similar, and that
second one is displayed at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.
Patrick Lyon died on April fifteenth, eighteen twenty nine, at
the age of sixty. I love that weird story. It
(31:10):
is very weird and it's sort of wonderful, and I
hate that he went through all that. It's also just
a great example of like us, as you and I
discussed right before we recorded, this was like fresh after
all of our you know, governing documents that theoretically were
(31:31):
to create some version of freedom inequality obviously not right
full freedom and equality for everyone, and yet it was
not as though those were truly the things that were
dominating people's judgment. At the time. Yes, throwing someone into
effectively a root seller without cause and keeping them there
(31:54):
one of the things purportedly prevented through things in the Constitution, right,
and yet there it goes. I really really just wildly
enjoy the story though, and we'll talk more about it
in the behind the scenes on Friday. But in the meantime,
(32:14):
I have a wonderful listener mail that includes animals we
have not featured in our pet text before nice or
an animal that we have not featured. This is from
our listener Tanya, who writes, Hi, ladies, I just finished
listening to your Richer Dad episode and thought I would
send a pet tax photo of a pet you may
not have heard of before. This is my daughter's blue
(32:36):
death feigning beetle Drogan, who is about the size of
a nickel. I end up bug sitting him frequently when
she goes on trips. I'm also attaching a photo of
my sweet moyam poodle Stella. Her mother was a standard
and her father was a mini. She is a perfect
twenty pounds size. I enjoy listening to your podcast on
my drives to and from work and while working around
(32:57):
our mini farm in Pennsylvania. Which also tied it back
to this episode, so voila. First of all, Stella is adorable.
Stella is also the name of one of my Jorro
spiders this year, so clearly it's the best name. And
this little blue death fainting beetle is so cute and
(33:18):
one we have not had before. And I was trying
to look up while we were doing this what their
lifespan is, and I couldn't easily find one. But it's
really really sweet, and I've never seen one, and I
want to know more about it because I like keeping
all the bugs just as much as anything else. I
was very excited that I caught our spider Stella doing
(33:40):
some very active things last night. She's been kind of chill,
so apparently a raccoon on the deck startled her and
she got very busy with her web. She's like intruder
alert and trudeer alert. She's great, she's fine. It just
startled her. It's she's completely out of reach, but she's very,
very keenly aware of when animals are on the deck.
(34:01):
That's when she gets really busy. So thank you, thank
you Antania for sending us those pictures again. Still it
so cute, I want to boop, that's newt. If you
would like to write to us with a pet text
or without, you don't have to have one, don't feel pressured.
You can do that at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.
You can also subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio
(34:21):
app or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff
you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Stuff You missed in History Class, a production
of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly
Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. The first recorded bank
robbery in the US resulted in the wrongman sitting in
(00:21):
jail for quite a while, a very strange confession from
the actual perpetrator, and a rather serious lawsuit for the
administrators of the bank that was robbed. Today, we are
going to talk about the Bank of Pennsylvania and the
robbery that took place there in seventeen ninety eight, as
well as quite a bit about the prime suspect, who
(00:43):
was a blacksmith named Patrick Lyon. In seventeen ninety nine,
a book was published titled The Narrative of Patrick Lyon,
and in its opening it shares the author's early life
story quote, I began my mechanical study at an early age,
being only turned of eleven years, and after spending nearly
(01:05):
fourteen years in London in different manufactories, and having previously
studied mathematics, et cetera, I resolved to come to America,
which displeased by relations and friends in a great measure, I, however,
undertook the enterprise and arrived in Philadelphia on the twenty
fifth November seventeen ninety three. And if ever there was
(01:27):
a mechanical volunteer came into America, I certainly have fair
claim to the title. That certainly sounds like it's going
to be the story of finding a new life in
a new country, and to some degree it is. But
the real focus of that narrative is how Patrick Lyon
was accused of what is often considered the first bank
robbery in the US and the time that he spent
(01:50):
behind bars. Things had gone wrong for Patrick in the
summer of seventeen ninety eight. But before we get to that,
we'll talk about a building. That's carp Hall, which has
an important place in US history. Carpenter's Hall was built
starting in early seventeen seventy. It was to be the
home of the guild known as the Carpenter's Company of
(02:11):
the City and County of Philadelphia that had been in
existence for nearly fifty years when it purchased a plot
of land and broke ground. But the hall was not
used only by the Carpenter's Guild. It was also used
by other societies for their meetings and events. Carpenter's Hall
was also home to the first free lending library, had
(02:32):
started there in seventeen seventy three as part of Ben
Franklin's Library Company. That library was the first Congressional library,
and it remained in the building until seventeen ninety. The
First Continental Congress convened there in the building in seventeen
seventy four. During the Revolutionary War, the hall was used
as an infirmary for both sides of the conflict. It
(02:56):
is also sometimes called the First Pentagon, as it served
as the main office for General Henry Knox, the first
US Secretary of War, in the early seventeen nineties. It
has served as the site of many important moments in
North American history. But the part of Carpenters Hall's history
that's germane to today's topic is that it started to
(03:17):
be used for banking in seventeen ninety one. That was
the Bank of North America, which stayed in that space
for two years. Starting in seventeen ninety four, the first
Bank of the United States was housed there. It was
there for five years as the institution's own purpose built
building was constructed, and in seventeen ninety eight it was
(03:38):
leased to the Bank of Pennsylvania, which had been incorporated
in seventeen ninety three. On the night of August thirty first,
seventeen ninety eight, the hall was home to another first,
and that was the first bank robbery in the United States.
The thief or thieves got away with one hundred and
sixty two thousand, eight hundred and twenty one. In modern terms,
(04:02):
that's comparable to a little more than four million dollars, although,
as we always say, it's hard to accurately convert the
value of money over time because there are so many
variables involved. However, long story short, a lot millions of dollars.
As for the break in, there really wasn't one. Nothing
(04:24):
was broken. There was no indication of forced entry. The
access points to the building and the bank vault were
entirely undamaged, so it seemed to be the work of
someone who knew the building and its locks. The bank
had only just moved into the space at Carpenter's Hall,
and as part of that transition there had been new
carpentry work done, and the vault doors had gotten new
(04:46):
fittings and locks. Naturally, the first person suspected was the
blacksmith who had worked on the vault. That prime suspect was,
of course, Patrick Lyon. He'd been born near Aberty in
Scotland in seventeen sixty nine. As a child, he went
to school in the local parish and was drawn to
astronomy and mathematics. Then, as we mentioned in the opening,
(05:09):
when he was eleven, he left school and moved to
London to work as a blacksmith until seventeen ninety three
when he moved to Pennsylvania. Lyon's first boss in Philadelphia
was a blacksmith named Samuel Wheeler, but according to Lyon's account,
he discovered Wheeler was taking advantage of a stranger with
regard to wages, et cetera, and as he had no
(05:31):
great idea of cultivating the profession, I left him and
went to another. Lyon went into business himself, and after
having built up a professional reputation over several years, he
was recommended to the Bank of Pennsylvania. Before that move
into Carpenter's Hall was planned, he had worked on various
projects for the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Bank of
(05:53):
North America starting in seventeen ninety seven, and then after
an attempted robbery at the Bank of Pennsylvania. That institution
was hurriedly moved from its Lodge Alley location to Carpenter's Hall,
and Lyon was asked to do a rush job so
they could secure the vault there. The attempted robbery that
caused the move had taken place on August fourth, seventeen
(06:15):
ninety eight, and that had involved someone trying unsuccessfully to
pick a lock and then also to pick open an
iron chest. Lyon and the bank directors apparently argued about
the nature of the locks on the vault. For the
new space, the bank wanted imported locks, which Lyon told
them were not the correct option for their vault doors.
(06:38):
They were adamant in their choice, though in the time
between his move to Philadelphia and his work for the bank,
Lion had been through a lot. He had married a
woman named Anne Brindley on July fourth, seventeen ninety five.
Patrick and Anne welcomed a daughter named Clementina in seventeen
ninety six. The timing of the bank robbery was rather
(07:00):
unique in that it happened during a yellow fever outbreak
in Philadelphia, and this was a very serious situation. Hundreds
of people died, including Patrick's wife, and daughter. He lost
both of them in seventeen ninety seven. As the epidemic
continued to claim victims, people with the means to do
so left the city, and one of the people who
(07:23):
fled was blacksmith Patrick Lyon. After he wrapped up his
work on the bank vault, he had arranged to travel
with his apprentice, James McGinley, by boat to Delaware. They
made it to the port at Lewiston, Delaware, but Lion's
apprentice was ill. Although he seemed to get better briefly,
and though Lion hired two doctors to see him, James
(07:45):
died just a couple days later. Lyon stayed in Lewiston
to wait out the epidemic. When news of the robbery
reached Delaware, Lyon, of course, was invested in the story.
He had just worked on that vault, and Lyon found
out through a friend who had also made his way
to Lewiston to get away from the yellow fever epidemic.
(08:07):
He was the suspect. We'll talk about what he did
after we pause for a sponsor break. When Lyon realized
that he was being sought by the law in connection
with this robbery, he took a head on approach to
(08:28):
dealing with it. He went back to Philadelphia as quickly
as he could. Not only did he want to make
sure he was cleared, but he also wanted to tell
authorities about the men that he suspected. That was carpenter
Samuel Robinson and a friend of Robinson's who had visited
the hall as work was being done to prepare the
(08:49):
space for the Bank of Pennsylvania. Lyon got in touch
with the authorities and met with bank directors and alderman
Robert Wharton. He told them everything he knew, including his
suspicions about the two other men. He later wrote about
his encounter with them in detail, and this is how
he described it quote. On Friday, I began to operate
(09:10):
on the doors. In the afternoon, I was visited by Robinson,
the carpenter, who brought a person with him, a stranger
to me. They both took a particular observation of the locks, keys,
et cetera. I told Robinson at this time that those
locks were not fit for a bank. In the hearing
of this stranger, the reader will please to keep in
(09:32):
direct and point blank view this stranger, and there may
be a possible surmise of the character of some of
his connections during the whole work. Robinson informed me that
Smith the cashier would not employ me after this was done,
owing to the delay. I answered, it made a little
difference to me. I gave Robinson and his companion something
(09:53):
to drink, and they both went away towards Second Street.
They had not been gone above ten minutes when Robinson's companion,
the stranger, came back and went into my shop while
I was answering a young woman at the door. I
took no notice of him, as he appeared to be
Robinson's confidential friend and companion. He did not stop above
(10:14):
a minute and came to the door. I said, I
was in a hurry and must work all night, as
the bank was in such haste for their work being done.
Robinson's companion answered that he would see all banks damned
before he would kill himself in this hot weather. Then
he took his course towards Front Street. He did not
follow Robinson. Whether they met again immediately or not, I
(10:36):
cannot tell, but suppose they did so. Of course, he
was establishing that he was not the only person who
had access to the locks for the vault. Yes, and
that mystery stranger is going to come up again. Uh.
But the bank and the alderman thought that when Lyon
told them all of this, that he was lying. And
(10:57):
one of their reasons was that his account of what
happened with Robinson and this mystery man was just too detailed.
It seemed to them unnecessarily so, so they thought that
made Lion seem guilty. It was believed by everyone involved
that the blacksmith must have made himself a key while
working on the vault. Lyon was arrested, sort of, not charged,
(11:23):
just arrested and held at Walnut Street Prison. This was
a very grim situation, as was relayed later in court quote.
They decided that Lion should go to jail. There was
no circumstance alleged against him, but that he had had
the doors in his possession before the robbery. The bail
(11:43):
required was one hundred fifty thousand dollars. It was impossible
he could procure it. He was therefore committed to jail,
in which there was twenty or thirty cases of yellow fever,
and a number of deaths followed. He was neglected while there,
reduced to extreme want. The excess of the few friends
he had was denied for some additional clarification and detail.
(12:09):
There was no formal charge against him. He was just
detained for being suspected. Because of his lack of charge,
the jailer felt he should be kept separate from the
other incarcerated men, so he was put in a root
seller that wasn't being used. This was not in any
way set up for a person to be housed in
(12:30):
Patrick Lyon didn't even have a bed. He literally slept
on the ground, malnourished and without much human interaction at all.
He later said he never expected to make it out
of Walnut Street alive. It seemed like Lyon was doomed.
There was no way he could clear his name or
even make a case for himself when he didn't even
have a charge to fight. But then something happened. The
(12:56):
Bank of Pennsylvania had received several sizable deposits of money
from one new account holder, Isaac Davis. When Isaac Davis,
a carpenter who was not especially wealthy, suddenly had a
lot of money, started to raise eyebrows, specifically the eyebrows
of the bank. Here's how it was described in a
(13:18):
statement made by a bank committee, which was read in
court and entered into court documents. Quote one Isaac Davis,
a carpenter by trade, had an account opened in this bank,
and the first circumstance which excited the suspicions of the
president and cashier against him was a deposit of sixteen
hundred dollars. Inquiry was made as to his circumstances and character,
(13:41):
which were found to be such as to induce the
officers to watch his conduct. On Saturday, the thirteenth November,
just before the bank closed, he deposited three thousand, nine
hundred and ten dollars. The suspicions were then increased, and
it was thought proper to inquire the banks of the
United States and of North America whether he had accounts
(14:04):
open with those institutions, And on Monday mornings, such information
was obtained as left no doubt that he was the robber.
So Isaac Davis was brought before bank officials. He was
kind of invited for a chat, and when he was
confronted and asked how he was able to make those
large deposits, Davis completely folded. He confessed that in there
(14:29):
that he had been the one to rob the bank,
the same bank where he was now depositing the stolen money.
He also had an accomplice, and that was Thomas Cunningham.
Cunningham was the bank porter and he had spent the
night in the bank the night of the robbery, but
he had come down with yellow fever the day after
the robbery and then died a few days later. Davis
(14:52):
said that he and Cunningham had split the money, but
the porter's untimely death meant that his portion was still
in his house. Isaac returned the majority of what he
had not already deposited with the bank, but it also
turned out that Davis lied. When Cunningham's home was searched
for the remaining money, there was nothing there. Davis eventually
(15:15):
confessed that he actually had the rest, except for some
that he had spent, and the bank recovered almost all
of the money. Davis told them that Cunningham had procured
a set of keys, but that he Isaac Davis, did
not know where those keys had come from, and that
was a detail that the bank officials at Lawman would
(15:35):
really hang on to enter. Benjamin Brannon Esquire, the Associate
judge of Delaware County and Isaac Davis's uncle, He visited
the bank cashier and made some effort to make up
the gap and the recovered funds through some legal doings,
with the intention that Isaac Davis would be pardoned. At
(15:55):
one point, the committee we just quoted a moment ago
had intended to prepare charges again against Brannon because he, quote,
contrary to the duties of his office, endeavored to prevent
a certain Isaac Davis from being punished whom he knew
had robbed the Bank of Pennsylvania. Brannon continued to wheel
and deal, promising that his nephew would give up all
(16:16):
the information on where the keys had come from and
all of that in return for a pardon. And although
this seemed like something that should have gotten Brannon into
a whole lot of trouble, the office of Pennsylvania Governor
John Dickinson did make a deal with Isaac Davis, which
was return the money and tell us how you did it,
(16:37):
and we'll forgive everything. So Davis walked away from this
entire affair with pretty much no repercussions. On November twentieth,
seventeen ninety eight, the following story ran in the paper
The North American under the somewhat odd title of Democratic
Mystery Unraveled quote. It is with great satisfaction, ain't our reader,
(17:01):
that the notes robbed from the Bank of Pennsylvania at
the commencement of the fever have been recovered to within
four thousand dollars of the whole amount, which there is
also a further prospect of getting hold of. It appears
that one Isaac Davis, a carpenter and a noted democrat,
in conjunction with a porter belonging to the bank, who
(17:22):
died of the fever, were the sole agents in this
nefarious business. Davis had set up his carriage and pair
and pretended that an Indiaman had arrived at New York
in which he sent out an adventure. On the death
of his accomplice, he took the whole of the cash,
of which a dividend had been made, into his possession,
(17:42):
and was detected by means of the large deposits he
had made in each of the banks NB Citizen Davis
has made off. With the crime solved and the money recovered,
it would seem like Patrick Lyon's life should get back
to normal, but it did not. We will talk about
that after we hear from the sponsors that keep the
(18:03):
show going. Although a full confession from the actual thief
should have resulted in an immediate release for Lion, it
did not. The bank was still entirely convinced that he
(18:25):
had been involved and that he had made an unauthorized
spare key to the vault, and Philadelphia law enforcement backed
up the bank, so Lion sat in jail. Moreover, he
was finally formally charged with the charge of accessory before
the fact. He went before a grand jury in seventeen
(18:46):
ninety nine, but as there was no real evidence against him,
the grand jury returned to judgment that the case was
insufficiently proven. It is worth noting that the bank never
disclosed during that grand jury pri that Isaac Davis had
confessed to the crime and said that Lion was not involved,
(19:06):
so even though they had not shared that information, Lion
was at last released, But that was hardly the end
of it. After all he had been through. People still
believed he had somehow been involved in the robbery, and
that was due in no small part to the leadership
at the Bank of Pennsylvania. They continued to spread their
(19:29):
belief that he had somehow gotten away with theft, even
though the bank had its money back and a confession
from the actual thief, but even worse for a blacksmith
who had done most of his business with banks and
other sizeable companies in Philadelphia, being accused by one bank
tanked his reputation with the rest of the city's businesses,
(19:50):
so his income suffered considerably. After his release, Lion wrote
a book, the one that we quoted at the top
of the show, which the short name of it is
the Narrative of Patrick Lyon. He makes clear his intentions
in that document, writing quote that the conduct of the
Bank of Pennsylvania on the late robbery cannot, in my opinion,
(20:14):
be pardoned, either on the score of public justice or
national policy. But as the affair stands, the public still
entertain their suspicion, and the matter remains unraveled. Owing if
my suspicions are well founded, and my judgment right, though
not competent in law, to know to a certain peculiar incomprehensibility,
(20:35):
as several glaring reports are in circulation, which in the
body of this work I shall endeavor to explain, And
as persons are generally the last to hear what materially
concerns themselves, I shall take notice of them that such
suspected characters may have an opportunity of contracting the rumor
that they have made it in their power to clear
(20:57):
their conduct of the heavy suspicion which has leveled against them.
For my own part, I have a right to speak
because I suffered innocently, and as I am informed, no
legal steps can be taken to enforce a recompense for
false and severe imprisonment. I therefore take the liberty to
lay my case before my fellow citizens. Ads for this
(21:19):
book ran daily in Philadelphia newspapers, basically saying, Hey, you
want to know what happened to that guy they put
in jail. He'll tell you all about it. Lyon wanted
to make sure that his version of the story got out,
but this book was actually a precursor to legal action
on Lion's part. He filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against
(21:42):
bank president Samuel M. Fox Head, cashier Jonathan Smith Alderman,
and bank board member John Clement Stoker, and Constable John Haynes.
The case was heard before the Supreme Court of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in eighteen oh five. During the trial,
there were witnesses called to testify that members of the
(22:03):
bank's leadership had basically said they could do what they
wanted regarding patrick Lyon, and that he was powerless in
comparison to them. There were plenty of witnesses who relayed
conversations with bank's staff at all levels, establishing bias and
presumption of patrick Lyon's guilt. There was also testimony that
(22:23):
it had been Samuel Robinson who had pushed for the
locks that Lion said were not usable, and that Lions
had made clear that they would be easy to open.
Lyons also thought the manner in which the doors were
to be mounted was unsafe. Reading through all of that testimony,
it really starts to seem like the bank was more
interested in scapegoating and punishing Lion than really anything else.
(22:48):
Another interesting bit of testimony came from one of the
bank guards, a man named Philip Coldwater. He explained that
he worked with Thomas Cunningham and another porter named Potter,
and him was routinely trusted with the vault key. Coldwater
incidentally quit the bank when the money was returned, exasperated
(23:08):
that he and the other guards had been suspected. Another witness,
John Cornick, who ran a lodging house, also testified that
Thomas Cunningham had stayed at his house the night before
the robbery, and that he wore a large key on
what Cornick called a garter around his neck. Witnesses verified
Lyon's claims about the conditions of his incarceration, but more
(23:31):
than anything, his counsel sought to prove that the four
accused men had conspired to keep Lyon in jail well
after they knew he was innocent, to keep him from
retaliating against them for everything he had endured. His legal
team of Alexander J. Dallas and Joseph Hopkinson argued, quote,
(23:52):
after the grand jury had refused to consider Lyon as
the accomplice of Davis and Cunningham, what could induce his
persecutor to continue their endeavors to put and keep Lyon down?
But malice and malice too, the most execrable kind. But
they assign another motive. They justify themselves on the principle
(24:12):
of self defense. We must put down Patrick Lyon, or
he will put down us. We must cripple him in
his cause and in his means, or he will dare
to meet us in a court of justice. And they
have hitherto pursued the road they laid down for themselves.
But it is hoped you, gentlemen of the jury, will
stop their career. There was a clear display of prejudice
(24:36):
against Lyon On behalf of the bank, as shown by
the arguments of the bank's defense attorney, William Rawl. Even
though Davis had confessed and had stated that Patrick Lyon
was in no way involved, and even though there was
ample evidence to place Lion in Delaware when the heist happened,
Rawl continued to suggest that Lion had to have been involved.
(25:01):
It was claimed that he was the best key maker
in Philadelphia and was the only man who could have
possibly unlocked the vault outside of bank staff. The defense
also argued that everything it did it did quote for
the interest of civil society. Ral argued that quote it
was an important and imperious duty imposed upon the defendant,
(25:22):
who were entrusted in perilous times with great property and
founded on correct principles. There were others as well as
Lyon to be considered principle and duty, and not rancor
and malice were the only motives that influenced the defendants.
There was a great deal of discussion about the procedural
use of the bank's keys, who had them, and when,
(25:45):
and whether the porters and guards had carried out the
procedure as usual the night of the robbery. They claimed
that Cunningham couldn't have gotten into the vaults, only into
the bank itself. Then there was more suggestion that's somehow
Lyon was involved. Rawle also once again invoked the specificity
(26:06):
of Lion's account to the bank management as suspicious, noting quote,
mister Lyon gave a minute account of all of his proceedings.
This from the time he left Philadelphia till his return.
Minuteness and particularity appeared very remarkable and extraordinary to mister Wharton, Stalker,
and Fox. Upon his being told that they could prove
(26:28):
it against him, he immediately became confused and called for
a glass of water for that he was almost fainting.
Mister Wharton, then, supposing that he was about to disclose
the whole affair, said if you discharged him, you would
do wrong. You ought certainly to commit him. So the
defense also clearly stated that Lyon was held that's committed
(26:49):
based on nothing other than suspicion. Incidentally, when Wharton was
called to testify, he clarified that he said to the
other men involved in Lyon's questioning quote, the importance of
his examination and the embarrassed situation he appears in, would
if I were the magistrate, induce me to commit him.
I believe mister Stocker then committed him. Patrick Lyon was
(27:11):
extremely minute in his narrative, as I have mentioned before,
and this formed, in my opinion, the ground of my
advice where I was convinced that he had been concerned. Yeah,
Wharton is definitely trying to be like, no, No, I
didn't do it. I just said like I would do
it based on what he said. Uh. When it was
time for jury deliberation, the judge made clear to them
(27:34):
that they had to determine if the bank had probable
cause to detain Lion, and if the bank did, the
malice charge could not stand. After just four hours of deliberation,
the jury found in favor of Lion, and they awarded
him twelve thousand dollars. He didn't actually get that much, though.
The defendants appealed and the new trial was scheduled for
(27:57):
March eighteen oh seven. But as that second trial date approach,
the bank and Patrick Lyon reached an out of court settlement,
and he received a payout of nine thousand dollars. Once
Lion's suit was concluded, he went back to his life
and his business. He had remarried to Catherine Taggart even
before the eighteen oh five trial had started, and he
(28:18):
didn't go back to blacksmithing. He had worked on various
mechanical projects even before he was wrongfully detained, and he
focused more on that after he was released. This may
have also been a pivot that was necessitated by the
damage to his blacksmithing reputation, but even so, it also
turned out to be quite lucrative. He started making pump engines.
(28:40):
That's early fire engines. He's credited with building several dozen
fire engines that were put to use in Pennsylvania and
the surrounding states, and several still exist in museums. In
addition to focusing on engineering, Lyon invested his money in
real estate. Yeah, there is. It'ld be a whole other
(29:01):
story about his pump engines. There are people that really
really love, specifically Lion designed fire engines, and you can
find lists of where you can go visit them, which
is just kind of an interesting thing. In eighteen twenty five,
Lyon commissioned a portrait of himself by painter John Nagle.
That portrait titled pat Lyon at the Forge or it's
(29:22):
much longer name, full length portrait of mister Patrick Lyon,
representing him as engaged at his anvil, is an unusual
portrait for a number of reasons. For one, it's considered
one of the great examples of early US portraiture. For another,
the artist Nagel was young, just twenty nine at the time.
But the most unique attribute of this image is the
(29:45):
way in which Lion chose to be represented at this point. Lyon,
who was in his late fifties, was wealthy and successful
and had not had to work at the forge in
quite a while. But that is how he wanted to
be painted, not informal atti looking like a well to
do businessman, but as a blacksmith where he started. This
(30:05):
is believed to be in part because he associated the
portraits of men in their finest attire with the type
of men who had seen to it that he was
wrongfully imprisoned. This is kind of supported by something he
asked to have included in the artwork in the top
left of the image, through a window in the blacksmith workshop.
The cupola of the Walnut Street prison is visible. That's
(30:28):
a detailed Lion insisted on. That portrait is now part
of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
and it can be seen in the Kristen and Rogers
Servicing Gallery. There is actually a second version of this painting,
which Lion commissioned for himself after he let the Boston
Athenam display the first one. This second one is a
(30:49):
slightly more detailed rendering, but it's very similar, and that
second one is displayed at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.
Patrick Lyon died on April fifteenth, eighteen twenty nine, at
the age of sixty. I love that weird story. It
(31:10):
is very weird and it's sort of wonderful, and I
hate that he went through all that. It's also just
a great example of like us, as you and I
discussed right before we recorded, this was like fresh after
all of our you know, governing documents that theoretically were
(31:31):
to create some version of freedom inequality obviously not right
full freedom and equality for everyone, and yet it was
not as though those were truly the things that were
dominating people's judgment. At the time. Yes, throwing someone into
effectively a root seller without cause and keeping them there
(31:54):
one of the things purportedly prevented through things in the Constitution, right,
and yet there it goes. I really really just wildly
enjoy the story though, and we'll talk more about it
in the behind the scenes on Friday. But in the meantime,
(32:14):
I have a wonderful listener mail that includes animals we
have not featured in our pet text before nice or
an animal that we have not featured. This is from
our listener Tanya, who writes, Hi, ladies, I just finished
listening to your Richer Dad episode and thought I would
send a pet tax photo of a pet you may
not have heard of before. This is my daughter's blue
(32:36):
death feigning beetle Drogan, who is about the size of
a nickel. I end up bug sitting him frequently when
she goes on trips. I'm also attaching a photo of
my sweet moyam poodle Stella. Her mother was a standard
and her father was a mini. She is a perfect
twenty pounds size. I enjoy listening to your podcast on
my drives to and from work and while working around
(32:57):
our mini farm in Pennsylvania. Which also tied it back
to this episode, so voila. First of all, Stella is adorable.
Stella is also the name of one of my Jorro
spiders this year, so clearly it's the best name. And
this little blue death fainting beetle is so cute and
(33:18):
one we have not had before. And I was trying
to look up while we were doing this what their
lifespan is, and I couldn't easily find one. But it's
really really sweet, and I've never seen one, and I
want to know more about it because I like keeping
all the bugs just as much as anything else. I
was very excited that I caught our spider Stella doing
(33:40):
some very active things last night. She's been kind of chill,
so apparently a raccoon on the deck startled her and
she got very busy with her web. She's like intruder
alert and trudeer alert. She's great, she's fine. It just
startled her. It's she's completely out of reach, but she's very,
very keenly aware of when animals are on the deck.
(34:01):
That's when she gets really busy. So thank you, thank
you Antania for sending us those pictures again. Still it
so cute, I want to boop, that's newt. If you
would like to write to us with a pet text
or without, you don't have to have one, don't feel pressured.
You can do that at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.
You can also subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio
(34:21):
app or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff
you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Stuff You Missed in History Class News
Hosts And Creators
Tracy V. Wilson
Holly Frey
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