September 24, 2024 • 30 mins
Lester Warfel Brockelhurst, Jr. was the president of the Mormon church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association and he was a Sunday school teacher -- he was generally and genuinely known as a, “good boy.” But in his early 20s, he picked up a new nickname: "crime tourist,” after he and his girlfriend, Bernice Felton, pulled off multiple robberies and killed three men during a six-week crime spree that spanned across more than a dozen states in 1937.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Lester Brocklehurst Junior was the president of the local Mormon
church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, and he was a
Sunday school teacher. He was often described as quote wholesome,
the eldest son of Lester Senior and Edith Brocklehurst, who
were both upstanding members in their community. By all accounts,
(00:31):
he was what many would call a promising young adult.
He was generally and genuinely known as a quote good boy,
but in his early twenties he picked up a new nickname,
crime tourist, after he and his girlfriend, Bernice Felton pulled
off multiple robberies and killed three men during a six
(00:52):
week crimespree that spanned across more than a dozen states
in nineteen thirty seven. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria TREMARKI.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And I'm Holly Fry. They were caught on the afternoon
of May thirteenth, nineteen thirty seven, when New York State
Trooper Joseph Hunt spotted a Chevrolet with only one license
plate driving through dover planes New York. By law the
car should have had two. New York State followed and
still follows, the two plate law, which means that drivers
(01:22):
must ensure they have a license plate secured at both
the rear and front of their vehicle. It was a
minor violation, but Hunt, a motorcycle cop, gave chase, and
little did he know what he was about to find.
When he pulled the car over, a curly haired, freckle
faced young man behind the wheel handed over his driver's license.
(01:43):
As the man fumbled a bit with his wallet, the
officer took a look inside the car. There was a
young woman in the passenger seat. But Hunt also noticed
there was a loaded revolver and there were dark stains
on the upholstery. And that's not something you find at
your run of the mill traffic stop. So Hunt questioned them,
quote that's blood. Whose is it? Without hesitation, The driver replied, quote,
(02:09):
I killed a man down near Little Rock. We bummed
a ride with him and shot him. I put his
body in the backseat and dumped it out along the road.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What Hunt couldn't have known when he pulled that specific
Chevy over was that the pair inside was wanted for
a six week robbery and murder spree across fifteen states
or perhaps eighteen states, depending on what you read. Lester,
aged twenty three, and Bernice, who was eighteen, were arrested.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Lester was the son of a respectable businessman from Galesburg, Illinois,
and his family was active in the Mormon Church. In
nineteen thirty four, while attending a public speaking contest in
tri Cities, Lester, while reciting the Beatitudes, a series of
teachings in the Book of Mormon late eyes on Bernice
felt him a Rockford High School honor student. Seeing her
(03:02):
for the very first time, he always said, changed his life.
Bernice lived with her family about one hundred and fifty
miles from Gailsburg, but that didn't stop him from visiting
as often as he could, well as often as he
could without a car. One time, while hitchhiking to Chicago
to see her, he held up a candy store and
(03:23):
if that seems out of character, it was, and it
might have been his first armed robbery. Police arrested him
and he was given a two year prison sentence at
the Joliet State Penitentiary, although a few weeks into that sentence,
he was transferred to the Illinois State reformatory.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Lester told the press after his release. Quote, Bernice wrote
me regularly each week, and her letters were all that
made life bearable. I was as madly in love with
her then as I am today. It's widely reported he
didn't return to Gailsburg after he was paroled. Bernice's family
took him in. Bernice's father, Abraham, advocated on Lester's behalf,
(04:03):
and he ended up serving just a little more than
half of his sentence. He was paroled into Abraham's custody
and was given work opportunities in a nearby department store
and print shop. The couple wanted to marry, but Bernice's
father would not allow it, and Lester Lester was having
trouble holding down a job. They decided to try to
(04:25):
make a fresh start and get out of Illinois. He
wanted to take her to Salt Lake City to marry
her at the Mormon temple, but he didn't have the
money to support himself, let alone himself and Bernice, or
even to make the trip itself, nor did they have
the support of Bernice's parents or the Mormon elders of
the decision, he said, quote, she told me that she
(04:46):
loved me and that she would go.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So they went, but first they needed a car. On
March thirty first, nineteen thirty seven, Lester bought Nope, not
a car, he bought a gun. He then walked to
the shoulder of a road on the outskirts of Rockford
and stuck out his thumb. A forty seven year old
man named John Albin Theander, a local tailor, pulled over
(05:08):
to offer the young stranger a ride, but John had
made a deadly mistake. After just a few miles, Lester
pulled out his gun and shot his travel companion. In
a later interview, Lester stated quote, I felt sorry for
the guy, but what was I to do? I wanted
his car, and I got it. He left the body
on the side of the road and drove back to
(05:29):
Rockford to Bernice. John was found later with a single
bullet wound to the head. Now the pair had a car,
and with the forty dollars pinched from John's wallet and
forty two dollars from Bernice's savings, they finally set out
to Salt Lake City, and when they ran out of
cash along the way, Lester took to robbery to keep
(05:49):
them afloat.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The couple traveled to Salt Lake City, where they did
not marry. They did not have the support of church leaders,
and there was just no way a round that. They
moved on to Dallas before winding up in Fort Worth.
It was on April twenty eighth in Fort Worth where
Lester committed his second murder, when he shot cafe owner
Jack Griffith, not in an attempt to knock over his
(06:14):
place of business, rather when Jack, as a good samaritan,
had stopped to help the woman who Lester was robbing. Later,
Lester would describe Jack as quote awful funny, lying there
in the road, crumpled up like a balloon with the
gas out of it. For his good deed, Jack died
in the local hospital. A few days later, Lester and
(06:34):
Bernice fled the state.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Their next destination was Little Rock, Arkansas, and on May sixth,
they decided to ditch John's car and travel into Memphis, Tennessee,
on foot. Looking for a ride. They were picked up
by Victor Gates, a wealthy landowner who resided in Little
Rock and who agreed to take them to the city.
Bernice sat up front when they reached Arkansas, though Lester,
(06:59):
in the backseat held the gun against Victor's neck and
ordered him to stop the car. Victor put up a fight,
but it ended with a single bullet to his head.
The pair robbed him of his money and valuables, and
together they moved the body to the back seat. They'd
soon dumped the body into a ditch. Lester got behind
the wheel.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
From this point onward, the couple kind of just wandered
around the country, committing dozens of robberies along the way,
though no other murders are recorded at their hands. They
drove around Little Rock and Nashville before heading north. Their
goal was to reach Canada. On the way, they discarded
the Arkansas license plates from Gates's car, swapping them with
(07:42):
a single Pennsylvania plate they pinched from a parked car.
It was here in their story of murder and mayhem,
when they passed through Dover Plains, New York, and when
state trooper Joseph Hunt stopped them for a traffic violation
that single plate.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Lester was quick to offer authorities a roughly two thousand
word confession of his crimes, describing how he had shot
three men and committed, in his estimation, somewhere between two
dozen to maybe forty or so robberies. On May eighteenth,
Arkansas won a three state battle for the trial of
both Lester Brocklehurst and Bernice Felton. A decision by New
(08:23):
York's then governor Herbert Lehman concluded that Lester and Bernice
should be extradited to Arkansas. He reasoned that the strongest
case against the murderous duo was there. Lester had no
objections and stated he quote wanted to get it over with.
Among those murdered were John Albin Theander of Illinois, Jack
(08:43):
Griffith of Texas, and Victor A. Gates of Arkansas. The
press nicknamed Lester the crime Tourist. He said that he
did it all for love. Let's see about that.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We're going to take a break for word from our sponsors.
When we're back, we will talk about Lester's plea of
innocent by reason of insanity and why it just didn't stick.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's go to trial.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Lester and Bernice were arraigned for murder on May twenty
fourth in lon Note County, Arkansas. Lester's trial was set
for June fourteenth, nineteen thirty seven, and her trial would
directly follow.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
The couple requested they marry in jail. Bernice was allegedly
pregnant to reporters. Her father said of the matter, quote,
she knows that she is not an expectant mother, and
I am confident she will not consent to marry the
man who is responsible for her desperate plight. She does
not feel she owes him any loyalty. Their request to
(09:58):
Mary was deny. The doctor at Lonoke County Jail, where
the duo was being held, finally did perform a pregnancy
test on Bernice, and he confirmed what she had known
all along, even though her father denied it. She was pregnant.
When a reporter confirmed to Lester that Bernice was quote
an expectant mother, he responded with well, first with a
(10:22):
little misguided humor regarding whether he was the father, and
then he stated, quote, I expect.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Getting ahead of what he felt was an inevitable motion
to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
At the instigation of Circuit Judge James W. J. Wagner,
Lester was committed to the superintendent of the State Hospital
for Nervous Diseases to assess his mental state. A written
report would be submitted to the court before trial. Acting
(10:51):
Superintendent doctor Davis and doctor Hollis made a joint report
regarding the mental state of the defendant, both certified to
his sanity.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Lester's trial lasted just one day, well a long day
at ten hours. The courtroom held an estimated seven hundred
and fifty observers, and it was standing room only as
his trial opened. In fact, the crowd outside was so
great that a loudspeaker system was set up for the
quote hundreds massed in the courtyard. Loudspeakers were not normal
(11:24):
courthouse procedure, but the judge had permitted microphones to be
set up on both the tables to the prosecution and
the defense, as well as the witness stand and before
the judge on his own bench in nineteen thirty seven.
There was nothing inconspicuous about all this equipment. A local
radio station had also secured the court's permission to broadcast
(11:46):
the proceedings over the air, but in the end, protests
and threats from attorneys changed their mind.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
The prosecution had previously publicly stated that they would demand
death sentences for both Lester and b and when Lester's
trial began, the prosecution did open with a statement that
the state of Arkansas sought the death penalty for Lester,
who had already served time in prison and was, as
they called him, a cold blooded murderer. Lester Brocklehurst, the
(12:17):
prosecution stated, quote, is not insane, but an intelligent man.
He is just mean.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
The prosecution called the following witnesses. Richard Gates, the victim's son,
who testified that he had seen his father invite the
couple to ride with him. D W. Christian, a gas
station attendant who testified that he had seen Lester in
Gates's car at Little Rock gassing up for the drive.
Claude Purvis, a tollbridge collector on the Arkansas side of
(12:47):
the Mississippi River, who identified Lester as a man who
had given him a watch instead of cash to pay
the toll. Joseph Hunt, the New York state trooper who
had arrested Lester, who testified to Lester's voluntary confession on
the side of the road during a traffic stop. And
they called Lonoke County Sheriff Troy Carroll, who repeated the
(13:09):
confession Lester had given him during interrogation. Quote, he put
the pistol against mister Gates's head and told him to
drive off to the side of the road. Then he
told Bernice to get out of the car and he
pulled the trigger, shooting mister Gates in the back of
the head. He told me the girl helped him search
mister Gates, and that he then dumped him over in
(13:31):
the rear seat. They drove down a side road and
the two of them dragged him from the car and
down into a ditch. Note that the prosecution did not
call Bernice Felton, nor did Lester testify on his own behalf.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
The defense did, in fact, as the court had expected,
counter with the claim that quote Brocklehurst is insane, with
the impulse to take property or kill only when he
is worried or is to p The prosecution immediately called
the psychiatrists from the State hospital, who had observed Lester
for several days prior to the beginning of the trial.
(14:10):
The court had accepted the hospital's report for the court record,
but the doctors did not testify to its specific contents.
As far as we can tell from the court report,
no part of it was read aloud in the courtroom,
only that they had concluded the defendant was sane. When
one of the jurors asked for more information about what
(14:30):
was written in that report for reasons unknown, the judge responded, quote,
I don't think it is permissible to read it. Lester's
defense did continue to argue an unverified claim that he
was not fit to stand trial, but with not much
additional detail to prove his client's innocence.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It took just twenty two minutes for the jury to
decide that Lester was guilty. He was convicted of murder
in the first degree for the killing of Victor Gates
on May sixth, nineteen thirty seven. Stated the court, quote,
the said defendants, Lester W. Brocklehurst and Bernice Felton, on
the sixth day of May a d. Nineteen thirty seven,
(15:09):
in low Note County, Arkansas, did unlawfully, wilfully, feloniously, with
malice aforethought, and after premeditation and deliberation, while in the
attempt to commit the crime of robbery, did kill and
murder won Victor A. Gates. By then in their shooting him,
the said Victor A. Gates with a certain pistol loaded
(15:29):
with gunpowder and leaden balls, which said pistol was then
and there had and held in the hands of the
said Lester. The court continued that it was a particularly
brutal murder committed for the purpose of robbing the deceased
of his car and other personal property. Lester was sentenced
to death by Judge Wagoner. He'd be executed by electric chair,
(15:52):
which had been unfortunately nicknamed Old Sparky at the Tucker
Prison Farm in Arkansas. On hearing his sent and saying
Lester fainted. In fact, records suggest that Lester fainted in
court five times that day. The Daily News splashed killer
feints as jury dooms him to chair on their front page.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Bernice was indicted in connection with the slaying of Victor
Gates on May sixth, to which she pleaded not guilty.
She would be tried the following day. But before we
get to that, we're going to take a break for
a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll
talk about what happened when she took the stand.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Welcome back to Criminalia. When the prosecution called its first
witness in Bernice's trial, it was Lester Brocklehurst. Let's talk
about how that went.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Lester had volunteered and I'm say begged to testify against
Bernice and tell the court his version of her participation
in the crimes, stating quote, I am guilty, and I
am paying for my crime, but Bernice is as guilty
as I am. Taking the stand that morning, Lester began
(17:17):
by telling the story of how he had met Bernice
at the Mormon conference in nineteen thirty four. He told
the court that Bernice's father, Abraham Felton, acted as his
parole guardian when he was released from prison after his
Chicago robbery in nineteen thirty five. He stated, quote, I
loved Bernice, but her parents wouldn't let us get married.
So March thirty first, we decided to run away. I
(17:41):
shot a fellow in Rockford and stole his car. We
went out to Utah and Salt Lake City for a
while to get money. I robbed some small stores, filling
stations and the like.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
He continued, quote Bernice knew all about them and kept
account of the money. We went down to Dallas and
she begged for a new dress for her her birthday.
I went over to Fort Worth and killed another man,
but didn't get any money and had to try another
stick up. I finally got seventeen fifty from a grocery
and went back to Dallas. We left the car there
(18:12):
and decided to hitchhike to Little Rock.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Lester then continued with the story of Victor Gates's murder,
admitting that Bernice was not in the car when he
shot Gates, but he insisted that she had helped him
dispose of the body. He also insisted that she'd helped
search Gates three times to be certain they had found
all his money and anything else of value. Lester claimed
(18:38):
that Bernice encouraged him to murder and steal because she
wanted money for the baby and because she loved the
thrill of being on the run. He paused and then stated, quote,
I don't think she loves me now.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Bernice felt in was not the picture of a complicit girlfriend.
When she took the stand on her own, behalf calmly,
she corroborated Lester's story, but she contended that she had
taken no part in any of Lester's crimes. She stated
that she was afraid of him and that he had
(19:13):
forced her to help him drag Gates's body from the
car into a ditch. She testified she had never assisted
him in any of the robberies or had any part
at all in Lester's first two murders. She denied the
claims against her and said she only participated because once
they left for Utah, she feared for her own life
(19:34):
and felt helpless to do anything about the crimes that
Lester was committing. She said she no longer loved Lester
and had no intention of marrying him.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Insummation, the prosecution implored the jury to quote put her
down in the same ditch that she put Victor A.
Gates in. Don't be chicken hearted.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
The jury, though, acquitted her of a charm arge of
accessory after the fact to murder in less than ninety minutes, despite,
as the Daily News reported, quote the attempt of Lester Brocklehurst,
who slew three men for love of her, to drag
her to the electric chair with him. Upon her acquittal,
Bernice wept when it was announced. An audible gasp was
(20:20):
heard in the courtroom. It was rumored among many that
she had only avoided the electric chair, both because she
was a woman and because of her pregnancy. On June
twenty sixth, nineteen thirty seven, the Hope Star out of Hope, Arkansas,
published a front page story with the headline girl pal
of crime tourists freed by sentimental men.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Deputy Prosecutor Joseph P. Melton stated of the verdict quote,
I did my best, and if the jury didn't want
to carry out the law, I can't help it.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Though she was spared a murder conviction and the death penalty,
Bernice did still face additional fifthederal charges. That was for
transporting a stolen car belonging to one of Lester's victims
across state lines from Arkansas into Tennessee. W. M. Rankin
the US Commissioner Station in Little Rock ordered Bernice to
appear before the federal grand jury and admitted her to
(21:17):
one thousand, five hundred dollars bail, meaning that she would
be discharged from actual custody upon bail. Unlike the murder trial,
she was found guilty in this instance, and she was
sentenced to the maximum term allowed for the charge, five
years in prison. Bernice gave birth to a girl on
December sixteenth, nineteen thirty seven. Her trial and federal prison
(21:40):
time were delayed for her daughter's birth.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Lester, in the meantime, was having a really hard time
in lock up. At the Tucker Prison Farm. Awaiting his execution,
he screamed and fainted repeatedly. He always appeared nervous. Lester's
attorney appealed his case, citing factual problems and making some
not so factual claims too. For instance, he continued to
(22:06):
claim Lester was quote insane, and that he had additional
proof affidavits from well unnamed parties. But he also claimed
he didn't have adequate time to prepare the case. This
was in fact a very fast trial and that could
be true. And he made a list of errors he
claimed had been committed by the court in Lonok and
(22:27):
sought a new trial. Some of those errors, mostly dealing
with the mental health evaluation of Lester, were actually valid,
but his efforts failed.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
In late February of nineteen thirty eight, Lester's last remaining
hope was a clemency hearing before Arkansas Governor Carl Bailey.
No one expected the governor would spare Lester's life, but
no one would deny Lester the right to try. Lester
at this time also began speaking to the press, to
whom he claimed he was relying more often on Mormon teachings.
(23:01):
Quote to give me faith if I go. He shared
that quote. When I visited the Mormon Temple in Utah
last year, I was told great trouble will come to me,
and I will go through much suffering before overcoming all obstacles.
In the end. I do not know what the outcome
will be, but I do know that should I go
(23:21):
down next Friday, I will die a saved man, for
I have been forgiven of my sins.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Lester was executed three months later on March eighteenth, nineteen
thirty eight, claiming to his death that quote, the only
thing that brought me down to this was a slight
love affair with a girl. I don't want her to
get the chair, but she is as guilty as I.
In his final statement, he said, quote crime does not pay.
(23:50):
Remember that. Honor your father and mother and don't forsake them.
Minded all they could, but of no avail. I thank
them for what they have done. And there's our story
of Lester and Bernie.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
You want to make it a double, Yes, in this instance,
we're truly making it a double because I have what
a bonus drink? Oh No, the bonus drink is easy, peasy,
and it's it's it's not even I'm not even gonna
give it a whole lot of talk, because it's like
the first thing that came to my mind in all
of this, which was that quote about Bernice being let
(24:26):
go by sentimental men, and I thought, oh, we should
make a drink called sentimental Men, and I did. Basically,
it's just an old fashioned, but instead of using a
sugar cube or simple syrup, you're just going to use
a half ounce of rose syrup. You're going to have
like that little tiny bit of a classically feminine, stereotypically
feminine scent and flavor to make it be about men
(24:51):
thinking that women are delicate and that she couldn't possibly
have been party to all of these horrible things. It's
just a yummy So, just in case you've never I
made an old fashioned, I won't walk you through the
whole thing. But it's an ounce and a half of bourbon,
two dashes of bitters, and then that half ounce of
rose syrup, and you're going to just mix those all
together and make a lovely sip. If you want to
(25:12):
do a mocktail version, just someb out black tea for
your bourbon on that one. But the drink that we
actually made for this.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yes, I love an old fashion so I'm glad that
it was the extra drink.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That's why I was second of you. I'm trying to
take care of you.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I love it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Listen, hospitality is my love language. As probably many people
listening react to this. I just kept thinking about what
it's like in the headspace of someone for whom all
of this behavior is justified, and how they both chalked
it up to, at least initially being deeply and madly
(25:50):
in love. And I kept thinking about that. You know,
that heady feeling when you're first in love with someone
and the world does get a little on house Mirrory,
like everything looks weird to you because everything that is
not that intense connection, which I mean we know psychologically
that very young people in their first very serious relationship
(26:11):
like that is incredibly intense. And as much as people
want to write it off as like puppy love, there
are a lot of like psychological cases to be made
that it's more intense than like any later relationship you'll
have because you are dealing with all of that stuff
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
First time. Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I wanted to make a drink that kind of captures
that weird and wild feeling of being in love and
also the kind of drink you would drink when you
were younger. So I knew I wanted something quite sweet,
but also because these two were terrifying predators, it has
to be something that will bite you, and it does.
(26:51):
So this is a drink that I'm calling all for love.
It's got a few more ingredients than we sometimes do,
but nothing crazy. So this is gonna start with an
ounce of pomegranate liqueur, an ounce and a half of
Reposodo tequila, three quarters of an ounce of lime juice,
(27:11):
two ounces of white grape juice, two ounces of pineapple juice.
And I will say on these, I always say, keep
them low sugar if you can. I mean, I just
for one thing, it's not as cloyingly sweet. But I
don't know if we've ever really talked about it, You're
less likely to get a hangover if you lower the
sugar content, because it's the one two punch of like
(27:32):
sugar and dehydration that gets you.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
If we have ever talked about that, actually.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Uh, And so you are gonna put all of those
into your shaker, shake them with ice, and you are
going to strain them into a glass that you have
glazed with campari. You've never glazed a glass before. You
just pour in like a quarter ounce, and you roll
your glass so that it coats the outside edges, and
then you put your ice in and you will strain
(27:57):
it into that, and then you're gonna a top it
with just like a kiss of ginger ale, and then
you're gonna sprinkle a little bit of peprika on top.
This is a really dangerous drink. It's actually kind of
weird because it has this flavor, you know, normally like
when you're making a drink. When I'm making a drink
(28:19):
and I'm trying to look for balance, I would not
leave this drink as is because I took a sip
and I was like, it kind of needs something, like
it needs a deeper flavor and to be a little
more rounded out. It doesn't taste bad at all, but
as I thought about it, I was like, no, because
I want it to feel not like a full bodied thing.
I want it to feel weird and just a little
(28:41):
bit off.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I see where you're going, and a little.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Like flighty and heady, the way you feel when you
are crazy in love. So that is that is the
all for love. The mocktail on this one is a
pretty easy sub out situation. You are going to use
an ounce of pomegranate syrup in lieu of the the
pomegranate liqueur, and in lieu of your tequila, you use
an ounce and a half of alo juice, and I
(29:05):
would add a dash of salt to it just to
give it a little bit of bite in it. That
gives it a really interesting flavor. And then instead of
glazing with campari, which you're obviously not gonna do, just
use a little tonic to glaze it. You'll still get
that like weird, sweet but bitter situation there, and then
the rest of it is the same, and you will
(29:26):
feel heady and like you are Christ. And I'm telling
you that one will hit you like a truck because
it doesn't taste terribly alcoholic. That tequila vanishes in the mix.
You can't taste it at all. Like between the pineapple,
the grape juice, and the pomegranate, all of those fruit
flavors completely obscure any tequila flavor at all. Yeah, so
(29:48):
this is a drink responsibly moment. Be very careful, don't
don't do anything foolish, obviously. We always want you to
be smart and enjoy your drinks, but not you know,
create problems in your life. That's the all for love,
you know, Lestermany sure knew how to create their own
problems in their life, so don't do that. We are
(30:09):
very grateful though, that you spent this time with us
hearing about their story, and we hope to have you
back next week when we talk about another criminal duo
and a drink or maybe two to go with them.
Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
(30:32):
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Lester Brocklehurst Junior was the president of the local Mormon
church's Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, and he was a
Sunday school teacher. He was often described as quote wholesome,
the eldest son of Lester Senior and Edith Brocklehurst, who
were both upstanding members in their community. By all accounts,
(00:31):
he was what many would call a promising young adult.
He was generally and genuinely known as a quote good boy,
but in his early twenties he picked up a new nickname,
crime tourist, after he and his girlfriend, Bernice Felton pulled
off multiple robberies and killed three men during a six
(00:52):
week crimespree that spanned across more than a dozen states
in nineteen thirty seven. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria TREMARKI.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And I'm Holly Fry. They were caught on the afternoon
of May thirteenth, nineteen thirty seven, when New York State
Trooper Joseph Hunt spotted a Chevrolet with only one license
plate driving through dover planes New York. By law the
car should have had two. New York State followed and
still follows, the two plate law, which means that drivers
(01:22):
must ensure they have a license plate secured at both
the rear and front of their vehicle. It was a
minor violation, but Hunt, a motorcycle cop, gave chase, and
little did he know what he was about to find.
When he pulled the car over, a curly haired, freckle
faced young man behind the wheel handed over his driver's license.
(01:43):
As the man fumbled a bit with his wallet, the
officer took a look inside the car. There was a
young woman in the passenger seat. But Hunt also noticed
there was a loaded revolver and there were dark stains
on the upholstery. And that's not something you find at
your run of the mill traffic stop. So Hunt questioned them,
quote that's blood. Whose is it? Without hesitation, The driver replied, quote,
(02:09):
I killed a man down near Little Rock. We bummed
a ride with him and shot him. I put his
body in the backseat and dumped it out along the road.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What Hunt couldn't have known when he pulled that specific
Chevy over was that the pair inside was wanted for
a six week robbery and murder spree across fifteen states
or perhaps eighteen states, depending on what you read. Lester,
aged twenty three, and Bernice, who was eighteen, were arrested.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Lester was the son of a respectable businessman from Galesburg, Illinois,
and his family was active in the Mormon Church. In
nineteen thirty four, while attending a public speaking contest in
tri Cities, Lester, while reciting the Beatitudes, a series of
teachings in the Book of Mormon late eyes on Bernice
felt him a Rockford High School honor student. Seeing her
(03:02):
for the very first time, he always said, changed his life.
Bernice lived with her family about one hundred and fifty
miles from Gailsburg, but that didn't stop him from visiting
as often as he could, well as often as he
could without a car. One time, while hitchhiking to Chicago
to see her, he held up a candy store and
(03:23):
if that seems out of character, it was, and it
might have been his first armed robbery. Police arrested him
and he was given a two year prison sentence at
the Joliet State Penitentiary, although a few weeks into that sentence,
he was transferred to the Illinois State reformatory.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Lester told the press after his release. Quote, Bernice wrote
me regularly each week, and her letters were all that
made life bearable. I was as madly in love with
her then as I am today. It's widely reported he
didn't return to Gailsburg after he was paroled. Bernice's family
took him in. Bernice's father, Abraham, advocated on Lester's behalf,
(04:03):
and he ended up serving just a little more than
half of his sentence. He was paroled into Abraham's custody
and was given work opportunities in a nearby department store
and print shop. The couple wanted to marry, but Bernice's
father would not allow it, and Lester Lester was having
trouble holding down a job. They decided to try to
(04:25):
make a fresh start and get out of Illinois. He
wanted to take her to Salt Lake City to marry
her at the Mormon temple, but he didn't have the
money to support himself, let alone himself and Bernice, or
even to make the trip itself, nor did they have
the support of Bernice's parents or the Mormon elders of
the decision, he said, quote, she told me that she
(04:46):
loved me and that she would go.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
So they went, but first they needed a car. On
March thirty first, nineteen thirty seven, Lester bought Nope, not
a car, he bought a gun. He then walked to
the shoulder of a road on the outskirts of Rockford
and stuck out his thumb. A forty seven year old
man named John Albin Theander, a local tailor, pulled over
(05:08):
to offer the young stranger a ride, but John had
made a deadly mistake. After just a few miles, Lester
pulled out his gun and shot his travel companion. In
a later interview, Lester stated quote, I felt sorry for
the guy, but what was I to do? I wanted
his car, and I got it. He left the body
on the side of the road and drove back to
(05:29):
Rockford to Bernice. John was found later with a single
bullet wound to the head. Now the pair had a car,
and with the forty dollars pinched from John's wallet and
forty two dollars from Bernice's savings, they finally set out
to Salt Lake City, and when they ran out of
cash along the way, Lester took to robbery to keep
(05:49):
them afloat.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The couple traveled to Salt Lake City, where they did
not marry. They did not have the support of church leaders,
and there was just no way a round that. They
moved on to Dallas before winding up in Fort Worth.
It was on April twenty eighth in Fort Worth where
Lester committed his second murder, when he shot cafe owner
Jack Griffith, not in an attempt to knock over his
(06:14):
place of business, rather when Jack, as a good samaritan,
had stopped to help the woman who Lester was robbing. Later,
Lester would describe Jack as quote awful funny, lying there
in the road, crumpled up like a balloon with the
gas out of it. For his good deed, Jack died
in the local hospital. A few days later, Lester and
(06:34):
Bernice fled the state.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Their next destination was Little Rock, Arkansas, and on May sixth,
they decided to ditch John's car and travel into Memphis, Tennessee,
on foot. Looking for a ride. They were picked up
by Victor Gates, a wealthy landowner who resided in Little
Rock and who agreed to take them to the city.
Bernice sat up front when they reached Arkansas, though Lester,
(06:59):
in the backseat held the gun against Victor's neck and
ordered him to stop the car. Victor put up a fight,
but it ended with a single bullet to his head.
The pair robbed him of his money and valuables, and
together they moved the body to the back seat. They'd
soon dumped the body into a ditch. Lester got behind
the wheel.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
From this point onward, the couple kind of just wandered
around the country, committing dozens of robberies along the way,
though no other murders are recorded at their hands. They
drove around Little Rock and Nashville before heading north. Their
goal was to reach Canada. On the way, they discarded
the Arkansas license plates from Gates's car, swapping them with
(07:42):
a single Pennsylvania plate they pinched from a parked car.
It was here in their story of murder and mayhem,
when they passed through Dover Plains, New York, and when
state trooper Joseph Hunt stopped them for a traffic violation
that single plate.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Lester was quick to offer authorities a roughly two thousand
word confession of his crimes, describing how he had shot
three men and committed, in his estimation, somewhere between two
dozen to maybe forty or so robberies. On May eighteenth,
Arkansas won a three state battle for the trial of
both Lester Brocklehurst and Bernice Felton. A decision by New
(08:23):
York's then governor Herbert Lehman concluded that Lester and Bernice
should be extradited to Arkansas. He reasoned that the strongest
case against the murderous duo was there. Lester had no
objections and stated he quote wanted to get it over with.
Among those murdered were John Albin Theander of Illinois, Jack
(08:43):
Griffith of Texas, and Victor A. Gates of Arkansas. The
press nicknamed Lester the crime Tourist. He said that he
did it all for love. Let's see about that.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We're going to take a break for word from our sponsors.
When we're back, we will talk about Lester's plea of
innocent by reason of insanity and why it just didn't stick.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's go to trial.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Lester and Bernice were arraigned for murder on May twenty
fourth in lon Note County, Arkansas. Lester's trial was set
for June fourteenth, nineteen thirty seven, and her trial would
directly follow.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
The couple requested they marry in jail. Bernice was allegedly
pregnant to reporters. Her father said of the matter, quote,
she knows that she is not an expectant mother, and
I am confident she will not consent to marry the
man who is responsible for her desperate plight. She does
not feel she owes him any loyalty. Their request to
(09:58):
Mary was deny. The doctor at Lonoke County Jail, where
the duo was being held, finally did perform a pregnancy
test on Bernice, and he confirmed what she had known
all along, even though her father denied it. She was pregnant.
When a reporter confirmed to Lester that Bernice was quote
an expectant mother, he responded with well, first with a
(10:22):
little misguided humor regarding whether he was the father, and
then he stated, quote, I expect.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Getting ahead of what he felt was an inevitable motion
to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
At the instigation of Circuit Judge James W. J. Wagner,
Lester was committed to the superintendent of the State Hospital
for Nervous Diseases to assess his mental state. A written
report would be submitted to the court before trial. Acting
(10:51):
Superintendent doctor Davis and doctor Hollis made a joint report
regarding the mental state of the defendant, both certified to
his sanity.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Lester's trial lasted just one day, well a long day
at ten hours. The courtroom held an estimated seven hundred
and fifty observers, and it was standing room only as
his trial opened. In fact, the crowd outside was so
great that a loudspeaker system was set up for the
quote hundreds massed in the courtyard. Loudspeakers were not normal
(11:24):
courthouse procedure, but the judge had permitted microphones to be
set up on both the tables to the prosecution and
the defense, as well as the witness stand and before
the judge on his own bench in nineteen thirty seven.
There was nothing inconspicuous about all this equipment. A local
radio station had also secured the court's permission to broadcast
(11:46):
the proceedings over the air, but in the end, protests
and threats from attorneys changed their mind.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
The prosecution had previously publicly stated that they would demand
death sentences for both Lester and b and when Lester's
trial began, the prosecution did open with a statement that
the state of Arkansas sought the death penalty for Lester,
who had already served time in prison and was, as
they called him, a cold blooded murderer. Lester Brocklehurst, the
(12:17):
prosecution stated, quote, is not insane, but an intelligent man.
He is just mean.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
The prosecution called the following witnesses. Richard Gates, the victim's son,
who testified that he had seen his father invite the
couple to ride with him. D W. Christian, a gas
station attendant who testified that he had seen Lester in
Gates's car at Little Rock gassing up for the drive.
Claude Purvis, a tollbridge collector on the Arkansas side of
(12:47):
the Mississippi River, who identified Lester as a man who
had given him a watch instead of cash to pay
the toll. Joseph Hunt, the New York state trooper who
had arrested Lester, who testified to Lester's voluntary confession on
the side of the road during a traffic stop. And
they called Lonoke County Sheriff Troy Carroll, who repeated the
(13:09):
confession Lester had given him during interrogation. Quote, he put
the pistol against mister Gates's head and told him to
drive off to the side of the road. Then he
told Bernice to get out of the car and he
pulled the trigger, shooting mister Gates in the back of
the head. He told me the girl helped him search
mister Gates, and that he then dumped him over in
(13:31):
the rear seat. They drove down a side road and
the two of them dragged him from the car and
down into a ditch. Note that the prosecution did not
call Bernice Felton, nor did Lester testify on his own behalf.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
The defense did, in fact, as the court had expected,
counter with the claim that quote Brocklehurst is insane, with
the impulse to take property or kill only when he
is worried or is to p The prosecution immediately called
the psychiatrists from the State hospital, who had observed Lester
for several days prior to the beginning of the trial.
(14:10):
The court had accepted the hospital's report for the court record,
but the doctors did not testify to its specific contents.
As far as we can tell from the court report,
no part of it was read aloud in the courtroom,
only that they had concluded the defendant was sane. When
one of the jurors asked for more information about what
(14:30):
was written in that report for reasons unknown, the judge responded, quote,
I don't think it is permissible to read it. Lester's
defense did continue to argue an unverified claim that he
was not fit to stand trial, but with not much
additional detail to prove his client's innocence.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It took just twenty two minutes for the jury to
decide that Lester was guilty. He was convicted of murder
in the first degree for the killing of Victor Gates
on May sixth, nineteen thirty seven. Stated the court, quote,
the said defendants, Lester W. Brocklehurst and Bernice Felton, on
the sixth day of May a d. Nineteen thirty seven,
(15:09):
in low Note County, Arkansas, did unlawfully, wilfully, feloniously, with
malice aforethought, and after premeditation and deliberation, while in the
attempt to commit the crime of robbery, did kill and
murder won Victor A. Gates. By then in their shooting him,
the said Victor A. Gates with a certain pistol loaded
(15:29):
with gunpowder and leaden balls, which said pistol was then
and there had and held in the hands of the
said Lester. The court continued that it was a particularly
brutal murder committed for the purpose of robbing the deceased
of his car and other personal property. Lester was sentenced
to death by Judge Wagoner. He'd be executed by electric chair,
(15:52):
which had been unfortunately nicknamed Old Sparky at the Tucker
Prison Farm in Arkansas. On hearing his sent and saying
Lester fainted. In fact, records suggest that Lester fainted in
court five times that day. The Daily News splashed killer
feints as jury dooms him to chair on their front page.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Bernice was indicted in connection with the slaying of Victor
Gates on May sixth, to which she pleaded not guilty.
She would be tried the following day. But before we
get to that, we're going to take a break for
a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll
talk about what happened when she took the stand.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Welcome back to Criminalia. When the prosecution called its first
witness in Bernice's trial, it was Lester Brocklehurst. Let's talk
about how that went.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Lester had volunteered and I'm say begged to testify against
Bernice and tell the court his version of her participation
in the crimes, stating quote, I am guilty, and I
am paying for my crime, but Bernice is as guilty
as I am. Taking the stand that morning, Lester began
(17:17):
by telling the story of how he had met Bernice
at the Mormon conference in nineteen thirty four. He told
the court that Bernice's father, Abraham Felton, acted as his
parole guardian when he was released from prison after his
Chicago robbery in nineteen thirty five. He stated, quote, I
loved Bernice, but her parents wouldn't let us get married.
So March thirty first, we decided to run away. I
(17:41):
shot a fellow in Rockford and stole his car. We
went out to Utah and Salt Lake City for a
while to get money. I robbed some small stores, filling
stations and the like.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
He continued, quote Bernice knew all about them and kept
account of the money. We went down to Dallas and
she begged for a new dress for her her birthday.
I went over to Fort Worth and killed another man,
but didn't get any money and had to try another
stick up. I finally got seventeen fifty from a grocery
and went back to Dallas. We left the car there
(18:12):
and decided to hitchhike to Little Rock.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Lester then continued with the story of Victor Gates's murder,
admitting that Bernice was not in the car when he
shot Gates, but he insisted that she had helped him
dispose of the body. He also insisted that she'd helped
search Gates three times to be certain they had found
all his money and anything else of value. Lester claimed
(18:38):
that Bernice encouraged him to murder and steal because she
wanted money for the baby and because she loved the
thrill of being on the run. He paused and then stated, quote,
I don't think she loves me now.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Bernice felt in was not the picture of a complicit girlfriend.
When she took the stand on her own, behalf calmly,
she corroborated Lester's story, but she contended that she had
taken no part in any of Lester's crimes. She stated
that she was afraid of him and that he had
(19:13):
forced her to help him drag Gates's body from the
car into a ditch. She testified she had never assisted
him in any of the robberies or had any part
at all in Lester's first two murders. She denied the
claims against her and said she only participated because once
they left for Utah, she feared for her own life
(19:34):
and felt helpless to do anything about the crimes that
Lester was committing. She said she no longer loved Lester
and had no intention of marrying him.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Insummation, the prosecution implored the jury to quote put her
down in the same ditch that she put Victor A.
Gates in. Don't be chicken hearted.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
The jury, though, acquitted her of a charm arge of
accessory after the fact to murder in less than ninety minutes, despite,
as the Daily News reported, quote the attempt of Lester Brocklehurst,
who slew three men for love of her, to drag
her to the electric chair with him. Upon her acquittal,
Bernice wept when it was announced. An audible gasp was
(20:20):
heard in the courtroom. It was rumored among many that
she had only avoided the electric chair, both because she
was a woman and because of her pregnancy. On June
twenty sixth, nineteen thirty seven, the Hope Star out of Hope, Arkansas,
published a front page story with the headline girl pal
of crime tourists freed by sentimental men.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Deputy Prosecutor Joseph P. Melton stated of the verdict quote,
I did my best, and if the jury didn't want
to carry out the law, I can't help it.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Though she was spared a murder conviction and the death penalty,
Bernice did still face additional fifthederal charges. That was for
transporting a stolen car belonging to one of Lester's victims
across state lines from Arkansas into Tennessee. W. M. Rankin
the US Commissioner Station in Little Rock ordered Bernice to
appear before the federal grand jury and admitted her to
(21:17):
one thousand, five hundred dollars bail, meaning that she would
be discharged from actual custody upon bail. Unlike the murder trial,
she was found guilty in this instance, and she was
sentenced to the maximum term allowed for the charge, five
years in prison. Bernice gave birth to a girl on
December sixteenth, nineteen thirty seven. Her trial and federal prison
(21:40):
time were delayed for her daughter's birth.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Lester, in the meantime, was having a really hard time
in lock up. At the Tucker Prison Farm. Awaiting his execution,
he screamed and fainted repeatedly. He always appeared nervous. Lester's
attorney appealed his case, citing factual problems and making some
not so factual claims too. For instance, he continued to
(22:06):
claim Lester was quote insane, and that he had additional
proof affidavits from well unnamed parties. But he also claimed
he didn't have adequate time to prepare the case. This
was in fact a very fast trial and that could
be true. And he made a list of errors he
claimed had been committed by the court in Lonok and
(22:27):
sought a new trial. Some of those errors, mostly dealing
with the mental health evaluation of Lester, were actually valid,
but his efforts failed.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
In late February of nineteen thirty eight, Lester's last remaining
hope was a clemency hearing before Arkansas Governor Carl Bailey.
No one expected the governor would spare Lester's life, but
no one would deny Lester the right to try. Lester
at this time also began speaking to the press, to
whom he claimed he was relying more often on Mormon teachings.
(23:01):
Quote to give me faith if I go. He shared
that quote. When I visited the Mormon Temple in Utah
last year, I was told great trouble will come to me,
and I will go through much suffering before overcoming all obstacles.
In the end. I do not know what the outcome
will be, but I do know that should I go
(23:21):
down next Friday, I will die a saved man, for
I have been forgiven of my sins.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Lester was executed three months later on March eighteenth, nineteen
thirty eight, claiming to his death that quote, the only
thing that brought me down to this was a slight
love affair with a girl. I don't want her to
get the chair, but she is as guilty as I.
In his final statement, he said, quote crime does not pay.
(23:50):
Remember that. Honor your father and mother and don't forsake them.
Minded all they could, but of no avail. I thank
them for what they have done. And there's our story
of Lester and Bernie.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
You want to make it a double, Yes, in this instance,
we're truly making it a double because I have what
a bonus drink? Oh No, the bonus drink is easy, peasy,
and it's it's it's not even I'm not even gonna
give it a whole lot of talk, because it's like
the first thing that came to my mind in all
of this, which was that quote about Bernice being let
(24:26):
go by sentimental men, and I thought, oh, we should
make a drink called sentimental Men, and I did. Basically,
it's just an old fashioned, but instead of using a
sugar cube or simple syrup, you're just going to use
a half ounce of rose syrup. You're going to have
like that little tiny bit of a classically feminine, stereotypically
feminine scent and flavor to make it be about men
(24:51):
thinking that women are delicate and that she couldn't possibly
have been party to all of these horrible things. It's
just a yummy So, just in case you've never I
made an old fashioned, I won't walk you through the
whole thing. But it's an ounce and a half of bourbon,
two dashes of bitters, and then that half ounce of
rose syrup, and you're going to just mix those all
together and make a lovely sip. If you want to
(25:12):
do a mocktail version, just someb out black tea for
your bourbon on that one. But the drink that we
actually made for this.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yes, I love an old fashion so I'm glad that
it was the extra drink.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
That's why I was second of you. I'm trying to
take care of you.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I love it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Listen, hospitality is my love language. As probably many people
listening react to this. I just kept thinking about what
it's like in the headspace of someone for whom all
of this behavior is justified, and how they both chalked
it up to, at least initially being deeply and madly
(25:50):
in love. And I kept thinking about that. You know,
that heady feeling when you're first in love with someone
and the world does get a little on house Mirrory,
like everything looks weird to you because everything that is
not that intense connection, which I mean we know psychologically
that very young people in their first very serious relationship
(26:11):
like that is incredibly intense. And as much as people
want to write it off as like puppy love, there
are a lot of like psychological cases to be made
that it's more intense than like any later relationship you'll
have because you are dealing with all of that stuff
for the first time.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
First time. Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I wanted to make a drink that kind of captures
that weird and wild feeling of being in love and
also the kind of drink you would drink when you
were younger. So I knew I wanted something quite sweet,
but also because these two were terrifying predators, it has
to be something that will bite you, and it does.
(26:51):
So this is a drink that I'm calling all for love.
It's got a few more ingredients than we sometimes do,
but nothing crazy. So this is gonna start with an
ounce of pomegranate liqueur, an ounce and a half of
Reposodo tequila, three quarters of an ounce of lime juice,
(27:11):
two ounces of white grape juice, two ounces of pineapple juice.
And I will say on these, I always say, keep
them low sugar if you can. I mean, I just
for one thing, it's not as cloyingly sweet. But I
don't know if we've ever really talked about it, You're
less likely to get a hangover if you lower the
sugar content, because it's the one two punch of like
(27:32):
sugar and dehydration that gets you.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
If we have ever talked about that, actually.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Uh, And so you are gonna put all of those
into your shaker, shake them with ice, and you are
going to strain them into a glass that you have
glazed with campari. You've never glazed a glass before. You
just pour in like a quarter ounce, and you roll
your glass so that it coats the outside edges, and
then you put your ice in and you will strain
(27:57):
it into that, and then you're gonna a top it
with just like a kiss of ginger ale, and then
you're gonna sprinkle a little bit of peprika on top.
This is a really dangerous drink. It's actually kind of
weird because it has this flavor, you know, normally like
when you're making a drink. When I'm making a drink
(28:19):
and I'm trying to look for balance, I would not
leave this drink as is because I took a sip
and I was like, it kind of needs something, like
it needs a deeper flavor and to be a little
more rounded out. It doesn't taste bad at all, but
as I thought about it, I was like, no, because
I want it to feel not like a full bodied thing.
I want it to feel weird and just a little
(28:41):
bit off.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I see where you're going, and a little.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Like flighty and heady, the way you feel when you
are crazy in love. So that is that is the
all for love. The mocktail on this one is a
pretty easy sub out situation. You are going to use
an ounce of pomegranate syrup in lieu of the the
pomegranate liqueur, and in lieu of your tequila, you use
an ounce and a half of alo juice, and I
(29:05):
would add a dash of salt to it just to
give it a little bit of bite in it. That
gives it a really interesting flavor. And then instead of
glazing with campari, which you're obviously not gonna do, just
use a little tonic to glaze it. You'll still get
that like weird, sweet but bitter situation there, and then
the rest of it is the same, and you will
(29:26):
feel heady and like you are Christ. And I'm telling
you that one will hit you like a truck because
it doesn't taste terribly alcoholic. That tequila vanishes in the mix.
You can't taste it at all. Like between the pineapple,
the grape juice, and the pomegranate, all of those fruit
flavors completely obscure any tequila flavor at all. Yeah, so
(29:48):
this is a drink responsibly moment. Be very careful, don't
don't do anything foolish, obviously. We always want you to
be smart and enjoy your drinks, but not you know,
create problems in your life. That's the all for love,
you know, Lestermany sure knew how to create their own
problems in their life, so don't do that. We are
(30:09):
very grateful though, that you spent this time with us
hearing about their story, and we hope to have you
back next week when we talk about another criminal duo
and a drink or maybe two to go with them.
Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
(30:32):
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
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