Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
This episode maintained content of a graphic nature, including descriptions
of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hi. I'm Shannon. Hi I'm Tanya, and we are Crimes
and Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast. Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya.
How you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I'm doing pretty good for this day after our long
holiday weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, and it's hard. I'm not going to complain. I'm
just going to state that it's hard to know what
day it is with a two week old. And I
say that with much glee, even though you don't hear
it in my voice because of how extremely tired I am.
But yes, it was a nice holiday. This weather was great.
(01:09):
What did you guys do? Did you barbecue? What'd you do? Cute?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, we spend some time outside barrens just I spent
a lot of time outside because the weather was so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yes, yeah, you have to when it's like that. Oh
we've been waiting. We've been waiting since gosh what September
for these nice sunny days to come back. So I
am here.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
For it, like mild times, beautiful sun. So yeah, it
was a little hard getting up this morning. And people
were crazy today at my job. No, not driving, but
like people sending in complaints and whatever, and like people
be wild and out there. I don't know, like you
think it was a full moon. That's how crazy it was.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
It's just the weather. It's something people. It takes so
little nowadays you think it was the moon. But now, jeez,
what time is it? Did the wind blow?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I was a little tired tape. By ten thirty, I
was done. I'm like, I am done with these people.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I like to take some personal time.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, bring my coffee creamer because I ran out. I
didn't bring my.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Resale and I was like, oh my god, I need caffeine.
I can't get your post to my assistant and like
she's working from home today and she's like, I have
some in the fridge in my under my desk, And
I was like, oh God, bless you.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I was able to have a cup of coffee this morning.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Oh that's nice. So what do you bring into the
table this week for us?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Oh? I have a crazy ass story. Do you know
who Frank Lloyd Wright is?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The name is familiar. Is he an architect?
Speaker 3 (02:38):
He's an architect and he used to design homes and
he had like a movement and everything. Yeah, this center's
around him. So before I get into it, just would
like to remind everyone to hit subscribe or follow on
whatever app you're listening to. And as I mentioned Frank
Lloyd Wright, he was a pioneer of what came to
be known as the Prairie School movement of architecture. This
(03:02):
model of home was to have one or two stories,
an open floor plan, low pitched roofs, strong horizontal lines,
ribbons of windows, and integration into the surrounding landscape with
the use of natural materials. The first iteration that he
did was a home that he called Talleison one and
(03:25):
that was his personal home and studio and it was
located in spring Green, Wisconsin. It was built to epitomize
the characteristics of the Prairie School home in his own vision,
and he built his home. He ended up sharing it
with his mistress, Ms. Mayma Bouton Bothwick, and it was
(03:47):
a one story, thirty seven thousand square feet wow. It
was an L shaped complex and it was made of
partially detached structures. The sprawling estate included a residential wing,
an agricultural wing, and an office wing. And it had
a courtyard, stables, servants quarters, and a garage on the
(04:08):
thirty one acres.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It was built on Tanya. That sounds a place where
I want to live.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Right, thirty seven thousand square feet with a fucking stable
and servants quarters and.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Duns, and I make a movie room, geology room.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
This I know.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So, as I mentioned Mayma, she is Frank Lloyd Wright's
mistress at the time of the story. And our story
takes place on Saturday, August fifteenth, nineteen fourteen. And on
that day, Mama sat down on the terrace just outside
the family dining room of the Talleison estate with her children,
(04:48):
twelve year old John and eight year old Martha. And
these are not Frank Lloyd Wright's children, Maima and that's
her nickname. I believe her name was Martha as well.
But Mayma was married prior to having this affair with
Frank Lloyd Wright, and Frank Lloyd Wright was also married.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
FYI.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So she's out on the terrace of the Teleisin estate
with her kids, and there were servants on the property.
There was Julian Carlton and his wife Gertrude, and Gertrude
was the cook she had prepared the soup that Julian
would be serving for lunch that day. Laborers and draftsmen
working for Frank Lloyd Wright were also on the property
(05:29):
waiting for Julian to bring their lunch into the workmen's
dining room, which was about eighty feet from the terrace
where Mayma was and was being served. So they're like
in a different wing.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Gertrude finished up the food preparation and handed the soup
she'd made off to Julian, who walked up to the
terrace to serve the family first. After ladling the soup
into the bowls, the family began to eat. Julian was
standing off to the side of Mama in his white jacket,
where he produced a hatchet. And this is where the terror.
(06:03):
My gosh, yeah, Mama took the first hit. The hatchet
hit her with such rage and intensity that her head
nearly split in two as she fell forward onto the
table and slunk to the floor. Julian had already taken
the weapons to young John, who was killed with a
quick blow to his forehead. Little Martha, eight years old,
(06:23):
having witnessed the end of her mother and her brother,
ran through the dining room and entryway and out into
the driveway, where Juliane caught up with her. He would
beat her as if with a hammer, repeatedly in the head,
like with this axe this hatchet. When she collapsed, her
attacker would assume that she was dead, but unfortunately for her,
she was not. Around this time, Gertrude, Julian's wife, who
(06:47):
had heard the commotion of what was happening, began to
work on an escape. After she gathered her things, she
began to look for an exit, initially trying a basement door,
but she couldn't get it to budge. Eventually, she dove
through a window and began to run. The men waiting
to be served in the workmen's dining room had no
idea what was taking place. So they're sitting around a table,
(07:09):
and like I said, this is a separate wing, so
they don't know what's going on. So they're sitting around
a table discussing the work of the day, and Julian
walks into the dining room to dish out the soup.
Once he was done ladling the soup into their bulls,
he walked out of the door and he bolted the
outside locks to prevent the man from escaping, so he
leaves the room and he bolts the doors. Then he
(07:31):
pulled a pipe out of his pocket and he lit it,
taking a few puffs, after which he bent down and
picked up the cans of gasoline that he had gathered
that morning, and he began pouring the liquid out onto
the floor, where it silently flowed into the workmen's dining room.
Herbert Fritz, a young twenty something draftsman from Chicago, saw
(07:52):
the steam flow toward the table, thinking the servants must
have spilled, you know, maybe his mop bucket. And it
wasn't until he recognized the smell of gasoline that he
opened his mouth to begin to warn the others. But
in that same moment, Julian dropped the match used to
lightest pipe, and the room the men were in just
burst into flames at once. The men rose to their feet,
(08:15):
howling and flailing their arms trying to exit. They threw
themselves against the door that Julian had bolted shut. As
their struggle continued. The one who caused all the happenings
that afternoon was waiting just outside with.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
The hatchet in hand.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
For the sixth he had trapped to break down the
door and come running to escape somehow Herbert's he gathered
the presence of mind to remember that there was a
creek just down the hill from where Julian had locked
him in. He threw his body against one low window
and fell a story and a half, breaking his arm
(08:50):
before he rolled down a steep, rocky incline attempting to
reach the water. Julian spotted Herbert rolling down the hill
on the other side of the house, tipping his gaze
to the lower south window Herbert had broken through. There,
Julian spotted a mill Brodell, attempting to make the same exit.
Of all the people in the home at the time,
(09:12):
a mill wasn't going to be able to dodge the
fate that Julian had created for all of them. Driven
to seal a mill's doom, Julian bolted from his watch
over the door and ran to the ground below to
the broken window. He reached it just as Brodell squeezed through,
and he swung the hatchet, catching his victim at the
hairline just above his left ear, slicing through his brain.
(09:34):
Herbert Fritz had paused making his way down to the
creek just in time to witness this entire grizzly scene.
Then he watched Julian run back to his place monitoring
the door of the workmen's dining room. Fritz's clothes were
no longer on fire, but he was thoroughly burned and
had his broken arm. He decided to begin hiking back
up to tally Icon. The killer reached the door that
(09:56):
he'd been guarding just as the other men he trapped
began to break through. He was there in time, but
he'd been put off by the temporary lapse and his plan.
By the time carpenter Billy Weston broke through the doors,
the rattled Julian hit him in the head twice with
the blunt end of the hatchet instead of its blade.
Then came Tom Brunker, who received a glancing blow but
(10:19):
was able to avoid serious injury from the weapon as well,
and he began running. Billy Weston's young son, Ernest, followed,
and Julian by then had regained his bearings. He hit
the boy right on the head, leading him to stagger away,
collapsing in the fountain, where his charred remains stayed. Last
came David Lindblom, who was savagely burned and fell upon
(10:42):
being struck on the back of the head. Only after
all the workers were out of the room did Julian
begin chasing down Tom Brunker, who he was able to
hit with such a thump that his skull opened and
his brains protruded through the gap. By this time, Herbert
Fritz had reached Tellyson after his clon and he hobbled
his burned body around the corner in time to witness
(11:04):
Tom Bunker's demise at Julian's hands. After all the exertion
and shot, he fainted among the bodies, poor Herbert.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No kidding.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Seeing no one left standing, Julian grabbed the gasoline and
began dousing Mama and her son John with the liquid
before they burst into flames. Young Martha, still alive, caught
fire due to the burning bodies inflaming gasoline around her.
She would not survive to the next day, found with
three hatchet wounds to the back of her head, one
(11:34):
of which had gone completely through her skull. A fourth
hatchet wound got her in the face, just under her
right eye. In the end, seven of the nine victims
who had been at the estate that day would die
the survivors would be Herbert Fritz and Billy Weston. The
estate that Lloyd Wright had imagined for his beloved mistress
sat on a hill in the Helena Valley that day
(11:56):
in nineteen fourteen. Anyone looking in the direction of that
hell would have seen smoke billowing from where Talley Ison sat.
The smoke is what brought farm hand Jack Ferris onto
the scene. Julian, taking stock of his surroundings and seeing
that residents were curious and would come to check it out,
decided it wasn't a good idea for a black man
to be found living among all the dead white people.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
He dug in his pocket for a vial of a
said and he went to see got a place to hide,
hatchet in hand. Twenty five years before the death of
Mama Borthwick, Frank Lloyd Wright had met and married a tall,
suitably virginal redhead named Catherine Kitty Lee Tobin, with both
(12:39):
families unsure of the union. Kitty was shipped off to
northern Michigan for several months, and Frank's mother actively was
attempting to sabotage the nuptials. Frank had always been banned
with money taking that trait from his father, and Kitty
was moneyed and sat a bit higher on the social
spectrum than the struggling architect that was wooing her. The
(13:00):
two were married on June first, eighteen eighty nine, and
Frank was twenty two and Catherine was barely eighteen. Catherine's
father cried through the entire ceremony and Frank's mother, Anne fainted.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
A lot of reactions.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Nuptials, right, it's supposed to be a happy day, so happy.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Over the course of their marriage, Anna, Frank's mother, would
continue to be adversarial toward her son's wife, and he
did little to nothing to stop this treatment of poor Kitty. Ever,
the dutiful daughter in law, she took the abuse with
remarkable competence. It's been said between the years of eighteen
ninety to nineteen oh five the couple was relatively happy
(13:44):
outside of Anna's torment, and Kitty gave birth to Frank's
six children, and there were some rumored infidelities. Frank seemed
to be an active and happy parent, his son John
saying quote, there were parties somewhere all of the time
and everywhere some of the time. It was just fun
(14:04):
to have him about end, but there seems to have
been a shift in his attitude toward domesticity and family life.
Around nineteen oh five, Frank began feeling his home life
was frustratingly restrictive and Kitty, having become a mature woman
and mother, was no longer the girl he married. She
had been taken over by raising children, attending social clubs,
(14:27):
and other aspects of family life. He felt she had
deteriorated intellectually simply being content with her successful husband, healthy children,
and beautiful home.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
What a dick. And I was gonna say, don't blame her,
trying to make her sound like she's dumb down? Are
you kidding me? You just want some new tale. Yeah,
so don't put it on her.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Don't put it on her. But you know so, I'm
guessing he's restless, right, sure. So It's believed that Frank
met mister and missus Edwin Cheney, who was Maema Borthwick's
married name, Cheni Okay, through Kitty's membership in the Oak
Park's nineteenth century women's club, having been mentioned together within
(15:13):
the social pages of the town newspaper. Mayma who was
born in Iowa in eighteen sixty nine, moved to Oak
Park when her father, who was a machinist for the railroads,
was promoted to superintendent of the repair department. She would
attend the University of Michigan, where she would meet her
future husband, Edwin Cheney. He was majoring in electrical engineering
(15:35):
while she took classes and languages in literature. Edwin would
pursue her tirelessly for nearly a decade while she continued
her education, receiving a master's degree in teaching. She would
become a librarian in Port Huron, Michigan for five years.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, Port Huron's gorgeous. Sorry off, Lake Huron. Yeah, Lake
Huron is gorgeous. It wasn't until she was approaching her
thirtieth birthday around the time of her mother's death, that
she conceded to marrying mister Cheney. After the birth of
their son John in nineteen oh two, the couple decided
it was time to build a house. They commissioned Frank
Lloyd Wright to build the family home for the family
(16:13):
unit he was about to destroy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yes, he was what.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
The assumed timeline for the development of their relationship begins
around the time that he was commissioned for the Cheney
family Home Park were attempting to dissuade the man from
continuing to persist in his disastrous relationship with Missus Cheney.
Mima did give birth to her daughter by Edwin, named Martha,
in nineteen oh six. However, by nineteen oh nine, both
(16:40):
Frank and Mema were asking their respective spouses for divorce.
For Edwin, although his pursuit of Mama was long and
hard one, he didn't seem the least bit ruffled. Described
as charming and gracious by his neighbors, he was not
ever known to have an enemy or even who have
raised his voice. On the other hand, Kitty was shocked.
(17:04):
Not one to give up her marriage without attempting to
save it, she told Frank she would like one year
of grace, and if he still desired the divorce, she
would grant it to him. She was confident that he
would return and that they would reconcile. Ellen Key Kay,
she was known by Kate, was a Swedish writer and
(17:25):
feminist of the era during the time of Wright's struggle
with deserting his family. Her writings were the ones Mamma
was tesked with translating in her ideas. Frank found comfort
in his choices if not expressed permission to abandon his
wife and children. He believed his desertion of his family
showed the pursuit of loftier goals, including devotion to his
(17:48):
ethical principles, which I find to.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Be a sorry early ethical principles and desertion of family.
Never thought I'd hear those two things as yeah, because
that's some bullshit.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Frank, thank you. So Kay supported this belief, stating quote,
marriage not mutual is worse than slavery end quote, and
described it as barbaric. With these thoughts in mind, in
nineteen oh nine, Frank was offered an opportunity to go
to Berlin. This trip would allow a German born Harvard
professor to oversee the publishing of a portfolio of Frank
(18:25):
Lloyd Wright's collected work. With the excitement of this opportunity,
he sent his draftsman to prepare for the trip and
visited Mama to tell her all about it. Later that year,
Mama took her children to Boulder, Colorado, to quote unquote
visit a pregnant friend. While there, she eventually messaged Edwin
to come pick the children up, and by the time
(18:47):
he arrived Mama was gone. Shortly thereafter, Frank Lloyd Wright
hurriedly sold his architectural firm, practically giving it away to
an architect with a vastly different style who worked mostly
on conventional church buildings rather than Frank's prairie style residential homes.
Soon after, he said goodbye to Kitty and his kids,
(19:09):
telling his thirteen year old son David, who was the
third of his six kids, that he was now man
of the house and leaving him with a nine hundred
dollars grocery bill. About yeah. About seventy years later, David
was interviewed and questioned about it, still appearing to be
vexed about the whole situation in which his father had
left him. After Frank had thoroughly cut his ties, he
(19:31):
boarded a train to New York to meet up with
Mama and set sail for Europe. They're going to go
gallivanting off to Berlin. When they first reached Europe, Mamma
took a job as a teacher and rented an apartment
in Berlin while Frank went to Florence to work on
his portfolio. When he needed to stay in Berlin, he
would stay at mama's apartment with her. When the exhibition
(19:52):
was completed, he brought her to Florence, where he seemed
utterly content. It was here that he saw Villa Medici,
the inspiration upon which he would design Talley Iison. However,
within the year nineteen ten, mister Wright was back in
Oak Park with Kitty with his wife. He had written
(20:14):
his wife and given her the conditions upon which he
would return, the most substantial of which being that they
would no longer share normal marital relations, but they would
put up a front for the kids. In return, he
would give up Mama, though he couldn't stop loving her,
But he told Kitty that he was afraid if he
stayed in Italy with her, he would start to hate her.
(20:36):
So I'm not sure that what went down.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I would like to point out real quick because I
did look up his birthday. Frank was a Gemini. Okay,
that speaks fucking volumes on this flip flop, flip flop.
I bet this, I want this, I want this. No,
I don't want this, So.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I put it out God, bless our, why.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Please absolutely, I am married to Yeah, my best friend
in high school was a Gemini, which was her husband.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
That's how I met she, so I took his friend
away from him.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Oh that makes a lot of sense, totally, And I
love you geminis. Some of the life have been geminized absolutely,
ever the dutiful son. After sending out his letter to
his wife, he also sent a letter to his mother
with a copy of what he sent to Kitty. So
Frank not only wrote his wife, he tells his mom
what he told her. In his correspondence with Anna, he
(21:35):
defended his actions, telling her that his behavior should be
excused because his family hadn't given him quote emotional support
in his time of need.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
And oh no, that sounds Oh I can't be mean,
I'm not Can I even say anything? It sounds like
sounds like some Gemini male bullshit.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
After sending the letters, he took Mama to Paris and
left her there before he boarded the next ship sailing
back to the US. Upon his return, Kitty, feeling reasonably
sorry for herself, wrote a friend saying, womankind seems to
be so moveable, a feast easily sold and easily bought,
and passed around and tossed away, and no mercy except
(22:20):
from outsiders end quote preach, yes, yeah, girl oak Park
was alarmed when Frank arrived on October eighth, nineteen ten.
Frank was equally alarmed by the town's cold reception. Women
would turn away from him in the street. Former friends
would cross the road to avoid walking past him. Ministers
(22:41):
across town were preparing sermons educating on the sins of adultery,
and he became a social outcast. In nineteen eleven, Frank
approached his mother about a thirty one acre parcel of
land in Helena Valley, Wisconsin. Knowing the plot of land
had a hill similar to that which Villa Medici sat
(23:02):
up han. He immediately got to work right after, mentioning
to friends that he was thinking about building a small
house for his mother there. So he did this all
under the guy's like, oh, this is a house for
my mom.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
It sounds like his mother was a bit intrusive. Sounds
like she was okay with really anything Frank did. Yeah, right, like,
which is not yeah, even though it's shitty decisions, very selfish. Yeah,
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
In the meantime, Mama came back to oak Park, having
been gone the requisite two years, to sue for divorce.
After establishing desertion Mamma gave the custody of the children
to Edwin. One of her finer qualities, according to Frank,
was her quote relative indifference toward her son and daughter
end quote.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
That's real nice. It is great parenting.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah, great parenting, mamma. So Mamma, in contrast to Kitty,
had exchanged her children for pursuing the world of ideas, thoughts,
and dreams. A choice, mister Wright, he greatly respected that.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Well, I'm sure I just looked her up. Another Gemini
Olympics blind leading the blind. Here, MEM's a Gemini. He's
June ninth, I believe June eighth or ninth, and she's
June nineteenth. So pretty volatile. It makes sense. Yeah, everything's okay.
You know they can and I know it seems aggressive,
(24:24):
but you love geminis. Yes, yes, you can call me
a cry baby because I'm a cancer. Yes, and I cry.
So there you go. You're so fucking emotional girl, always
on the verge tears. But yes, okay, now back to Mayma. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
When the work on Telly Iison began, the ruse was up.
Frank had come home in nineteen ten under conditions to
his wife. He had bought a parcel of land to
build his mother a home on. Shortly after Mayma arrives
in town, though asking for a divorce from when that
was granted. When the construction on the estate had gotten
far enough along, Frank took her on a tour of
(25:08):
their home. She moved in as soon as she could,
and Frank would join her there permanently in December nineteen eleven.
Telly Son was a beautiful home, meant to house elegant residents,
and yet the people of the town saw merely a
house where Frank and Mema were shacking up. The locals
were openly hostile, and the room or mill moved at
(25:28):
a furious pace. Kitty would be shaking with tears in
her eyes as she denied the stories to the press,
which poor Kitty.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Oh humiliating at the time, I'm sure, oh my, But.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
For Frank's part, her husband would invite the Chicago Tribune
to tally Icon shortly after moving in, feeling it was
time to explain his side of the story. The reporter
came and sat while Frank provided his report of the
events leading to that day. After finishing his prepared statement,
he was fully ready for the rest of the people
in the town to see things his way. He blamed
(26:02):
the marital struggles on his and Kitty's parents, saying the
two were much too young to marry. When they did,
he conveniently forgot that neither of the families supported them,
you know, supported the marriage in way. He also explained
that his abandon or to develop into their individual selves
outside of the influence of his quote dominant personality unquote
(26:24):
uh yeah, Gemini. Among all the words he shared that day,
the biggest mistake he made was in this statement. He said,
quote as for the general aspect of things, I want
to say this, laws and rules are made for the average.
The ordinary man cannot live without rules to guide his conduct.
(26:46):
It is infinitely more difficult to live without rules. But
that is what the really honest, sincere thinking man is
compelled to do. And I think when a man has
displayed some spiritual power has given concrete evident of his
ability to see and to feel the higher and better
things in life, we ought to go slow in deciding
(27:06):
he has acted badly end quote wow, yeah, wow, fucking narcissist. Honestly,
I have to tell you, the Midwest did not look
kindly on his elitism.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, this house aude.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
He's in the heartland of the United States, and he's
going to be like, oh, I'm the exception.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yes it's again.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
It's you know, rules are for the pooh poo pooh, for.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
The ordinary and the average. Right you see, I'm not ordinary.
Look at my work.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I'm fucking fabulous and therefore the rules.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Wow, that sounds like a Leo rising.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
The bewildered and angry residents reached out to the sheriffs
to evict the couple. When the sheriffs let the people
know that he didn't have any charges that had been brought,
nor any warrant filed, so he really had no legal
authority to act. People of the town began to speak
about vigilante justice.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
They're pissed about this. Whoa I know.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Over time, with some humility in silence from Frank, the
couple was able to settle into Teleisin with limited scandal,
allowing locals to adapt over the course of time. Although Kitty,
who had promised Franka divorce during their discussions in nineteen
oh nine after a year of grace, had never followed through,
the couple was still married all these years later.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
In the fall of nineteen thirteen, Frank was approached by
real estate developer Edward C. Waller Junior to build a
grand scale, open air urban resort like Beer Garden, open
year round, with a sophisticated entertainment like orchestra and fine dining.
The site was chosen, they merely needed an architect to
make it unique. After reaching an agreement on cost and timeline,
(28:59):
the project began. But even though the Midway Garden project
was agreed to be completed on May first, nineteen fourteen,
things still ran behind. Even after the gardens were open,
Frank and his son John, who had gone into business
with his father, were still working on it in August,
when Frank received the worst news of his life. Julian
and Gertrude Carleton had come to work for Frank and
(29:21):
Mama in mid June that year. It's unknown if the
two originally came to the US from Barbados, Cuba, the
West Indies, or anywhere of that sort, but they arrived
in the area from Chicago, having been recommended by a
restaurant tour known to Frank. The gentleman said that they
had worked as house servants for his father and it
(29:42):
had done a good job, but he didn't know much
else about them. Time has not changed that fact. We
still don't know much about them. It was known that
Julian was about five eight, one hundred and forty five pounds,
dark skin, thin lipped, and handsome in the average sense
of the word. The couple said they had been married
about two years and they were both around thirty years
(30:02):
old when the offer to work at telly Ison came through,
for Gertrude to cook and for Julian to work as
a butler and handyman. The couple boarded the first train
to spring Green. Within two weeks, Julian was ready to
go back to Chicago. By late July, Billy Weston and
David Lindblom were overheard at the tavern talking about Julian
(30:23):
in an ominous and threatening way. Around that same time,
Julian told Gertrude he needed to go to Madison to
see Adnis, but when she received a telegram on August first,
he had gone to Chicago instead. When Julian returned, Martha
and John Cheeney had arrived to visit their mother. Edwin
had to go on a business trip, and Mehma accepted
(30:46):
her children for periods over the summer. On Friday, August seventh,
Julian went into Spring Green to purchase a bottle of
acid quote unquote for the farm stores at Tellison. On
August eleventh, Frank left for Chicago to work at Midway Gardens.
The following day, the confrontation between a mill Broadell and
(31:06):
Julian took place. For a reason unknown to us, Julian
had refused to saddle Brodel's horse. In anger, Brodell called
him a black son of a bitch. If Brodell had
any chance of surviving the day of the attack, what
he said to Julian that day solidifying his face, sure
for sure. On the morning of the attack, Julian approached
(31:26):
Billy Weston to ask where Frank kept the gasoline. He
said that there was a soiled rug and he needed
gas to clean it, even though I've never heard of
gas being used to clean anything, not ever.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Not ever.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
But apparently Billy Weston told him where the gas was,
and around noon the attack began. Maema's children didn't enjoy
being at tally Icon. The home was not constructed for
the entertainment of children, so there was very little for
them to do. Being that they spent most time with
their father. They didn't have many playmates in the area either. However,
(31:59):
when she arrived at the estate, Martha reached out to
a local girl, and that fateful day Edna Kritz had
mounted her horse named Beauty to ride the three miles
and invite John and Martha to watch the threshing at
her farm, which is about as exciting as it sounds
from a real farm girl. From the road she was
(32:20):
approaching telly Son from the little girl likely would have
been the first to hear the screams and see the
horror unfold. She would reach telly Son around twelve forty five.
In the aftermath of the attack, Billy Weston rose to
his feet, surrounded with bodies, not the least of which
that of his young son Ernest. He roused David Lindblom
(32:41):
and the two ran to the best of their ability.
After having been hatcheted and burned alive, they ran to
the Reader home, which was the closest place that they knew,
with a phone to call for help. Resolutely, Billy Weston
ran back to telly Son, with Lindblaum limping behind. Upon
reaching the estate, he grabbed the hose in the garden
wall and he began to spray the flames. Within thirty minutes,
(33:04):
the residential wing of the home had burned to the ground.
All that was left was the workmen's wing, and Billy
Weston saved that part. Soon locals began to arrive, farmers
with their farm hands, wives and children, and the hundreds
filled the road. A bucket mcgrade was established to continue
working on the fire, but Posse's also formed to scour
(33:26):
the fields for Julian and Carleton, and someone was going
to have to call Frank. After about an hour after
the fire started, a stenographer at Midway Gardens answered the
phone and called Frank into the office to take the call.
When he returned to his workstation next to his son John,
the young man could tell something was wrong, hearing labor
(33:46):
breathing and groaning. John asked what had happened, and Frank
told him the only information that he had. Talley Son
was on fire. Mayma, the children, the students, what if
they're hurt?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Why did I leave them? What? He was lamenting.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
John summoned a taxi to take them to the train
station immediately. Once there, they learned that the next train
headed to Spring Green would be a slow train whose
route was meant to make several stops. That train wouldn't
leave until early evening, and it would take hours to
get to where it was going. And then, as fate
would have it, who would show up to the very
(34:21):
same train station at the very same time, but Edwin
Geneye's ex husband, My Frank approached him and shook his hand.
During this exchange, there was a silent understanding reached. The
train pulled in, Reporters began to approach, and John took
it upon himself to shove both men into the same train.
(34:42):
Card Edwin was silent the entire way to spring Green,
while Frank was making his way home. Doctors had made
it to talley Son to treat the injured. Sheets covered
the victims that didn't make it. There would be no
sheet for young John, who was burned so thoroughly there
was really nothing but ash and bone. The boy wouldn't
even be issued a death certificate. At five point thirty
(35:06):
that evening, one of the searchers hurriedly ran to find
the sheriff. The man had the thought to open the
door to the furnace, and inside he found Julian Carlton
by the time the sheriff returned, Julian had drank the
vial of acid when it became clear that he was
going to be captured. In pain and half conscious, the
(35:26):
man moaned as he was pulled from his hiding spot,
still holding onto the hatchet. Seeing the hundreds of residents
noticed that the murderer had been found, and noting that
they were likely looking to form a lynch, Moob Carlton stated, quote,
they'd better let me live if they expect to find
out something end quote. The train bearing Frank, John and
(35:48):
Edwin pulled in about ten ten pm. It had been
an unbearable trip. During the long train ride, at every stop,
the men had heard unwanted news. Newsboys were shouting at
every station, tally Icon burning to the ground, seven slain. Finally,
when they arrived, Frank made a short statement to the press.
(36:08):
He said Julian and Gertrude were the best servants he
had ever seen, and that the couple was only temporarily
planning on working at telly Son. The day of the
fire was to have been their last day. They were
to pick up their wages that afternoon. That night, Staring
blankly from the car, Frank approached the ruins of his
beloved Tally Icon. Quote thirty six hours earlier, I had
(36:30):
left Tally Icon, leaving all living, friendly and happy. Now
the blow had fallen like a lightning stroke, violently swept
down and away in a madman's nightmare of flame and
murder end quote. Edwin and Frank had a whispered conversation
about what to do regarding the disposition of the bodies.
Edwin remarked that Mamma had said that if anything happened
(36:52):
to the children, she would like to have them cremated
with unintended redundancy. Edwin stated he would take the remains
and fulfill her wishes. The box he carried with the
remains was painfully small, easily carried in one hand. He
would not hold a funeral for them. He made no
remarks regarding intentions from Mema. That would be Frank's responsibility alone,
(37:16):
to which he said he would bury her at Talley Icon.
The two men shook hands, said their goodbyes respectfully, and
Edwin drove away without a second glance. Julian Carleton only
lived for seven and a half weeks after his arrest.
He made three short court appearances before succumbing to starvation
on October seventh, at one in the afternoon. It is
(37:38):
not thought that the drink of the acid affected his
ability to eat, and this would be starvation by willpower alone.
He weighed a scant ninety pounds at the end of
his life. He never admitted to any particular motive for
the crime. However, the most likely possibility is simply that
he was emotionally violatile. Maybe he had some sort.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Of mentals break who you can't come with the this
is why I did it? Yeah, right right, Chalk it
up to mental mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Gertrude Carlton, Julian's wife had been found hiding in the
brush off the road to spring Green shortly after the attack.
She was taken to the jail in town overnight and
transferred to the Iowa County Jail in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. She
was detained under suspicion for two weeks, where she had
much to say about her husband. Before even leaving Chicago,
(38:32):
his mental issues were evident, reported by African American neighbors
as erratic and bizarre.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
He was a very nervous person.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
He would fly off the handle at the slightest provocation,
and was constantly worried about money. Gertrude sought refuge with
a neighbor of their former employer. In any event where
her husband began to terrify her, her neighbor relayed what
Gertrude had said, saying, quote, he would get these spells
where he was wild eyed and dous, strange things.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
That she feared for her life. End quote.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
When the couple moved to tele Ison, he became even
more unstable. Billy Weston and David Lindblaum were overheard at
the tavern saying quote, he's polite and smart, but he's
the most desperate, hot headed fellow I ever saw. Don't
ever contradict him. He'll fly off the handle any minute.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
End quote.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
When she was detained by the deputy, she told him
this quote. My husband had the notion that he.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Was being pursued.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
He recently got to waking me up in the night
at our quarters in the bungalow to listen for noises.
They're trying to get me, he kept saying. Then sometimes
he would choke me and threaten to knock my brains out.
He took that hatchet to bed with him.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
End quote.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Wow, on the morning of Saturday, August twenty ninth, Gertrude
was released outright. The deputies put her on a train
headed for Chicago with seven dollars in her pocket, and
she vanished from the historical record. Frank Lloyd Wright would
go on to rebuild telly Ison. The next structure, dubbed
tell Ison Too, would also burn down, this time due
to faulty wiring. Much as before. The residential wing was destroyed,
(40:05):
but the working wing remained. Frank took it as a
sign that he should try again. Tally Son three is
the version still standing today, open to the public as
a tourist attraction and googling it tally Son East. It's
thirty seven dollars and ten cents for the tour.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Oh yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
If you're ever in that part of Wisconsin, check it out.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
I would, I will. I do love architecture. I know.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Kitty granted Frank his divorce in nineteen twenty two. He
would go on to marry two more times. Upon his
death in nineteen fifty nine, he was buried at tally
Son next to Mama. Edwin Cheney wasted no time and
was remarried within a year of his nineteen eleven divorce
from Meyma. He would have three more children with his
new wife, Elizabeth. Kitty remarried in nineteen thirty to a
(40:57):
retired Chicago businessman, Benjamin And that's the end of today's story.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Tanya, that is so crazy. I had no idea such
horror befell him.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
I know, like it's never brought to me. I feel
like it's never brought up.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Never.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
There is some Frank Lloyd Wright homes here locally. I
want to say they're probably I don't know for sure,
so don't quote me, but I want to say, like
Birmingham West Bloomfield, like somewhere in that area. I'm pretty
sure there's a house or two that he designed, and
so that I think our residential homes, like people actually
still live there. I had no idea that this is
(41:41):
a crazy story, right.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
It's so separate from him and his legacy as an architect. Yes,
because when I was living in Buffalo, there's a street
I lived nearby, Delaware Delaware Avenue, and it used to
be called I believe Millionaire's Row something because Millionaire lived
on this street and Frank Lloyd Webber has I think
(42:04):
ten structures, and I'm sorry, thank you Frank Loyd Webber
the composer, is that, yeah, thank you. Frank Lloyd Right
does have I think ten buildings in Buffalo, so he
has a connection there, and I do love his architecture,
like what I've seen and the gorgeous so yeah, he's
(42:27):
It's just amazing that it doesn't go hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
You know, you think this tragedy would be something that
would never like it would be Frank Lloyd Wright and
his mistress who was murdered at Telly Yson.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
You know what I mean? How that is never brought
You're right, it's never brought up. I'm so impressed with
this story. I'm not impressed with what happened. I'm impressed
that it's been not told. Yeah, this is my first
time hearing it. Thank you so much for bringing it.
I'm gonna do I you know, I'm always looking up
(43:00):
people's birthdays to understand or they come in at and
his mother Anna, so she's she's also one to her
sign Aquarius. You know, it's an Aquarius supporting a gemini'sed
delusion of danger. No, that's so cool, Tanya, thank you
(43:21):
so much for bringing this. I do feel smarter now.
No Ie about.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Crazy American I know. So thank you Shannon for listening
to this week's story, and thank you everyone for listening
to this week's story as well. Before you go, please
hit the subscriber follow button on whatever app you're listening to.
If you haven't done so well ready and if you
enjoy the stories that Shannon and I tell, you can
(43:48):
join our Patreon. You can find it at patreon dot
com slash t nt crimes, or you can also join
through the Apple podcast app. And what you'll get what
the benefits are. You'll get the regular episodes like this one,
you'll get at early release and AD free, and then
you would also get an extra episode a week. So
right now, we probably have about two hundred and fifty
(44:12):
Patreon episodes I think from when. Some of them are
from with Shannon and some of them probably about fifty
of them i've been with Shannon. I think you maybe
you came around what episode two hundred, two hundred and
ten something like that, early two hundreds, yes, yeah, early
two hundred. So the other previous two hundreds are Teleia
and I. So if you are interested, please check out
(44:34):
our Patreon or go to Apple podcast app. We have
a website crimesoconsequences dot com that you can also check out.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
And I think that's all the business. Sounds like it,
my friends, sounds like good business.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
Yeah. Well, thank you again and I will see you soon.
So until our next episode, bye bye.