Fanny and Stella arrested / Mutiny on the Bounty - April 28

On this day in 1870, performers Fanny and Stella were arrested for "public mischief" for cross-dressing. / On this day in 1789, acting lieutenant Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Captain William Bligh on the HMS Bounty.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two
events in history. On with the show. Greetings everyone, welcome
to this day in History class, where we bring you
a new tidbit from history every day. The day was

(00:22):
a seventy Stella Clinton and Fannie Winifred Park were arrested
as they left a performance at the Strand Theater in London.
The pair, along with Hugh Alexander Mundale, were taken to
the Bow Street police station. The next day, Fanny and
Stella were charged with quote conspiring and inciting persons to

(00:46):
commit an unnatural offense. Fannie and Stella, also known as
Frederick William Park and Ernest Bolton respectively, we're cross dressers.
Dressing as a woman was not a crime at the time,
but sodomy was against the law, and police had been
surveying Stella and Fanny for a year. Later. Hearings and

(01:07):
the trial that Bolton and Park went through in eighteen
seventy one were highly publicized and attracted a considerable amount
of attention. Bolton and Park were both born in the
late eighteen forties. Bolton was a bank clerk and Park
was a law student. Since he was a child, Bolton
showed a fondness for dressing and clothing typically considered feminine,

(01:28):
and using the name Stella. By the eighteen sixties, Bolton
and Park had become close. They began touring together, performing
in theaters as Stella and Fannie. As performers, they were popular,
but they also dressed in women's clothing outside of the
theater and war makeup when dressed as men. As they
hung out at the Strand, Lyceum and Surrey Theaters, they

(01:52):
picked up men one of their bows. Hugh Mundel said
he thought there were two gay women dressed as men.
They had already been kicked out of establishments like the
Alhambra Theater and Burlington Arcade on more than one occasion.
For nearly a year, the police had spies observed Bolton
in Park at thirteen Wakefield Street, where they rented a

(02:15):
room for changing and where their landlady Martha Stacy, ran
a so called house of accommodation. When their apartments were searched,
love letters from John Stafford Fisk were found. On April
eighteen seventy, Stella and Fanny were at the Strand Theater
with a party of men. They were wearing women's clothing,

(02:36):
and they were reportedly seen flirting with some of the men.
Around eleven o'clock that night, Stella, Fanny, and Hugh Mundale
were arrested. Initially, Stella and Fanny were arrested for public mischief,
a charge that was often given to people who cross dressed.
While at the police station, a police surgeon performed an

(02:56):
intrusive examination on the two of them to check for
signs of sodomy. The next day, when they went to
Magistrates Court, they were still wearing women's clothing. Crowds gathered
outside the court and newspapers covered the proceedings. Stella and
Fanny were charged with conspiracy to commit sodomy and to

(03:16):
quote disguise themselves as women, and to frequent places of
public resort so disguised, and to thereby openly and scandalously
outrage public decency and corrupt public morals. Outraging public decency
was a misdemeanor, but buggery carried a charge of penal
servitude for life. Bolton and part stayed in jail for

(03:40):
months before they were released on May nine. The trial
began at the Court of Queen's Bench with a special jury,
Lord Chief Justice Sir Alexander Cockburn presided over the case.
The court also indicted other people who were in the party,
including Louis Hurt and John Fisk, but many of the

(04:01):
men who were indicted had absconded. Lord Arthur Clinton, Bolton's
lover and a son of the Duke of Newcastle, died
before he could go to court, purportedly of scarlet fever,
though he was rumored to have committed suicide. In court,
Stella and Fanny's dresses, jewelry and makeup were presented. The

(04:23):
prosecution had at least six doctors examined Fanny and Stella.
More than thirty witnesses were called for the prosecution. A
whole day in court was dedicated to reading the letters
the defendants had written and received. Bolton's mother testified that
her son's lifestyle was no secret. In the end, no

(04:43):
conclusive evidence had been presented and there was no proof
of conspiracy to commit a felony. The jury found Fanny
and Stella not guilty after deliberating for only fifty three minutes.
All the other defendants were acquitted to Cockburn at the
following the act of the police surgeon in examining the

(05:04):
person of the prisoner, as he did without any legal authority,
was wholly unjustifiable. He had no more right to do
it than he would have to inflict such an indignity
on any person in custody or any person he met
in the street. The seizure of the letters of the
other defendants also appears to have been without any legal

(05:24):
warrant or authority. Bolton soon left England, began using the
last name Vine, and found moderate success performing in New York.
Park also went to New York, but he died around
the age of thirty three. Bolton died decades later in
nineteen o four. I'm Eves, jeffco and hopefully you know

(05:47):
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at
t D I HC Podcast. Thanks for listening, and we'll
see you again tomorrow. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome

(06:14):
to This Day and History Class, a podcast that brings
you a negget of history every day. The day was
a Sight nine. Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian led a mutiny

(06:36):
against Captain William Bly on the HMS Bounty. The British
government was sponsoring an expedition to the South Pacific to
get bread fruit plants to take to the West Indies.
Once planted in the West Indies, the bread fruit would
serve as cheap food for enslaved people. In December of
seventeen eighty seven, the h MS Bounty left England headed

(06:58):
for Tahiti to colle the bread fruit. The bounty was
commanded by Captain William Bly and Fletcher Christian was the
master's mate. The journey was long and difficult, but in
October of seventeen eighty eight, after dealing with bad weather,
a detour, and a little conflict between the crew and captain,
the bounty made it to Tahiti. The crew stayed on

(07:21):
the island for the next five months so they could
collect the bread fruit saplings. While on the island, hostilities
between Bly and the crew intensified. In January of seventeen
eighty nine, three of the crew members deserted. Bl threatened
t Hitians would suffer if they did not help bring
back the deserters and the arms and ammunition that went

(07:43):
missing along with them. The crew members were tracked down
and punished in February. On April five, the bounty left
Tahiti with the hall of bread fruit saplings. On the
trip back, tension between Bly and Fletcher Christian escalated. The
next morning, when the bounty was near An island and Tonga,
Christian and a gang of crew members staged a mutiny.

(08:07):
Bly described what happened early in the morning on ap
He said, quote just before sunrising, Mr Christian, with a
master at arms, gunner's mate and Thomas Burkett seaman, came
into my cabin while I was asleep and seizing me.
Tied my hands with a cord behind my back and
threatened me with instant death if I spoke or made

(08:29):
the least noise. The mutineers forced Bly onto the deck.
They ordered Bly more than a dozen people who supported
him into the ship's launch. Bly and his loyalists were
then set adrift, but he and the rest of the
crew set adrift managed to travel west across the Pacific
and make it to the island of Tiamour in June.

(08:50):
Back on the bounty, some of the mutineers decided to
stay in Tahiti, while Christian, other mutineers, and some Tahitians
made their way to pick Karen Island. In January of
seven teen, they burned the bounty, but in March Bli
made it back to England. He was tried for the
loss of the bounty, but acquitted. News of the mutiny

(09:11):
spread through the country and people began viewing Bly as
a hero. The ship Pandora was commissioned to go to
the South Pacific and bring back the mutineers. Some of
them were captured in Tahiti and brought back to England
to stand trial. Some of those mutineers were acquitted, some
were pardoned, and three others were hanged. But the Pandora

(09:32):
failed to find Christian and the other mutineers on Pitcairn Island.
Bli ended up going back to Tahiti to retrieve breadfruit
to transport to the West Indies. He was later promoted
to Vice Admiral. Christian was reportedly murdered on Pitcairn in
the seventeen nineties. Many books and films on the mutiny
have been produced in the years since it took place. Person,

(09:57):
but it's like this all gotten remember to like to
give my family on my brand chap. Think of my
wife now, sir, why beings reasonable? Now? I'm Eve Steph
Coote and hopefully you know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday, And if you have any

(10:18):
questions or comments, you can send them to us on
social media. We're at t d i h C podcast.
You can also send us some email at this day
at iHeart media dot com. Thanks again for listening to
this show and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts

(10:40):
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