Books, Posts, Podcasts, & Mini-Docs – PAUL ANDREWS
Lepa Radić was just a 17-year-old Yugoslavian girl when she was hanged by the Nazis for being a Partisan in 1943. This extraordinarily brave girl had joined the Yugoslav Partisans in the fight against their Nazi oppressors in World War II, and taken on the most dangerous assignments. What turn of events lead to her transformation, capture and ultimate execution?
Today’s Artificial Intelligence [AI] owes its very existence to the “Difference Engine.” This 19th century hand-cranked computer is hard to describe. One is displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.. Though it rarely draws crowds, never doubt that the Difference Engine was the first step the toward the high-powered ChatGPT we have today. The man who invented it, 200 years ago, was English mathematician Charles Babbage, at a time without electricity when they were still reliant on coal-fired steam power.
Babbage’s Difference Engine is a its simplest a hand-cranked mechanical computer with thousands of moving, metal parts. It prepares numerical tables using a mathematical technique known as difference. Early mathematicians had to calculate complicated tables by hand. Charles Babbage conceived of the earliest general-purpose computer. Though it was sadly never fully completed in his lifetime, a fragment built by his intrepid son, Henry, clearly demonstrates Babbage’s genius.
Babbage’s Difference Engines were the first successful automatic calculators, a fine example of precision Victorian engineering. The inventor also envisioned a mechanical device that would go beyond just calculation and actually store the data it produced. This was a concept well before its time, when the automobile had yet to be invented. What he foresaw was the modern computer, which is why Charles Babbage is fondly known as “The Father of Computing.”
Charles Babbage was born in 1791, the son of a wealthy London banker. As a teen, Babbage taught himself algebra and mathematics. When he enrolled in Trinity College at Cambridge in 1811, he found himself far more advanced than even his instructors. There, he befriended John Herschel and George Peacock. Together they formed ‘The Analytical Society’ for promoting and reforming mathematics.
The “Analyticals” gathered in libraries and taverns to discuss how science could best support the Industrial Revolution with better tools and processes. Clearly a genius, Charles was also a charming young fellow, filled with a youthful enthusiasm and determination. Babbage’s life was typical of a Victorian gentleman-scientist. His inherited wealth luckily allowed him to explore his boundless interests in mathematics and engineering.
Babbage was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1816, just two years out of Cambridge, and became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1828. It was a position held by Isaac Newton and, much later, Stephen Hawking. He also attempted to reform the scientific organizations of the period, while calling on government and investors to give more money and prestige to scientific endeavor.
Babbage was driven by the urge to improve the quality of 19th-century life. He endlessly sought ways to take the sweat and drudgery out of factory work. His metering devices could automatically do the mindless counting of repeated actions in a mill. He invented a time clock for punching in and out factory workers. He even designed an early device to record the direction of earthquake shocks!
During the summer of 1821, Babbage and John Herschel were in England editing astronomical tables used for navigation. It was a tedious, eyestraining task, and they were frustrated by all the errors they found. An exasperated Babbage sat back and exclaimed to Herschel, “I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam!” Steam power was changing every facet of everyday life, particularly industry, so why not this?
Tables of astronomical data were key to aiding navigation at sea. But because such tables were calculated by humans, they suffered from errors in both calculation and transcription. This was when Babbage became interested in calculating machinery, a passion that would consume the rest of his life. He left Cambridge, obsessed with the idea of using machines to speed up time-consuming mathematical calculations.
Babbage set to work on his “Difference Engine,” a machine that would use a complex, clockwork-type mechanism of hundreds of gears to solve polynomial equations. He soon had a small working model in 1822, and presented a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society. He ended on stage with much optimism: “I feel great confidence in the complete success of the plans I have proposed for a full-scale Difference Engine.”
He convinced the British government to fund his plan. The government saw the value in a machine that could calculate numerical tables particularly those used for navigation, finance, and engineering; thereby reducing human error and labor. Charles Babbage soon discovered his invention would prove far more difficult to build.
Babbage based his machine on the mathematical method of finite differences. It was easier to implement by using dozens of gear wheels than one based on multiplication. Although Babbage had once dreamed of a machine powered by steam, his actual design called for a single human to turn a crank.
As building continued, parts ran smoothly enough to provided demonstrations to keep attention and funding flowing. Babbage often requested support from acquaintances in high society and was a splendid social host. The Duke of Wellington came to call, even author Charles Dickens. John Herschel often used a seafaring comparison to explain its value: “An undetected error in a navigational table is like a sunken rock at sea, upon which it is impossible to say what wrecks may have taken place.“
Then there was Augusta Ada Byron, daughter of the poet, Lord Byron. She was both brilliant and beautiful. The engine impressed a teenage Ada Byron, whose sharp mind understood the implications of the machine. As a woman in the 1800’s, Ada was not allowed to attend university, but her loving father supported her academic interests.
Ada was skilled at mathematics and one of the few who could understand and explain Babbage’s inventions to non-mathematicians. She devoted years to helping Babbage, writing explanations of his achievements and admiring his genius with platonic devotion. In 1835, Ada married William King, the first Earl of Lovelace and became Countess of Lovelace.
As the calculator cranked out the results, the printing mechanism both printed a table, while simultaneously making a wax mold to make printing plates. It was a true marvel of engineering. Engine No. 1 contained more than 25,000 different metal parts, so Babbage needed a skilled craftsman. Joseph Clement was an award-winning English machinist whose work was highly valued for its precision.
Babbage and Clement were both brilliant, but with equally large egos, so they too often locked horns. Clement demanded to be paid his worth. Babbage, concerned always about costs, often checked Clement’s work. This slowly eroded their relationship. In 1832, the two managed to produce a portion of the machine one-seventh the size of the complete engine. Babbage gave demonstrations of the working model across London scientific and social circles.
Despite the successful scientific chatter, trouble was brewing for Charles Babbage. Cost overruns, political opposition, and Babbage and Clement’s clashing personalities, were causing long delays. Eventually, the relationship between Babbage and Clement reached a boiling point. After yet another loud fight over costs, Clement threw up his hands in frustration and quit.
The government was more interested in reliable tables than the machine that produced it. Though a demo model was constructed, funding was put on hold in 1832. Prime Minister Robert Peel had never liked Babbage personally and had been a skeptic of the Engine itself. In 1843, Parliament voted to withdraw its support. By then, the government had spent £17,500 (about US $3 million today), ten times the estimate, and waited 20 years, and still didn’t have a full-scale working machine.
A decade later, two Swedish printers, Georg Scheutz and his son, Edvard, built a difference machine in 1853. The Scheutzes followed the design concepts of Babbage. Ironically, the British government purchased that one, which they demonstrated at the World’s Fair in 1855. This machine printed tables with unprecedented accuracy. Babbage endorsed the Scheutz’s work as he was now preoccupied with an even bigger idea.
After Difference Engine No. 1, he conceived of an even better machine that could perform not just one mathematical task, but any kind of calculation. This Difference Engine No. 2 was to be his magnum opus. This Analytical Engine, intended as a general manipulator, had all the characteristics of today’s modern computers.
His new Analytical Engine would be even more revolutionary, yet simpler in design. This new machine would be a general-purpose computer. Inspired by the punched cards used to set up England’s industrial looms, Babbage’s Analytical Engine would store numbers and results, while a separate ‘mill’ would process them arithmetically. It was basically the forerunner to the electronic computer!
Ada Lovelace championed Charles Babbage’s new work by actually writing the first computer algorithm for his unbuilt Engine. As Ada described it: “We may say that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns just as the loom weaves flowers and leaves into cloth.” His punch card system was revolutionary as punch cards were the key to the earliest electronic computers of the 1960s and 1970’s.
For her written descriptions of how the Engine could calculate, Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, has been dubbed the first computer programmer. Unfortunately, as was the Victorian rage at the time, Ada had also become an opium addict. She died of cancer after a long battle, leaving Babbage mourning his beloved ‘Interpretress.’ In the interim, Babbage had also lost his father, wife Georgiana, and four of their eight children.
Although Lovelace’s notes were hailed by leading scientists, they did not win Babbage any additional funding. Babbage learned much from designing Engine 1. No. 2 would not only calculate polynomials, but require only one third of parts. Engine No. 2 required only 8,000 parts and had a much more elegant and efficient design. It would weigh about 5 tons and measure 11 feet long and 7 feet high. He worked for another two years on the grand machine.
Though he devoted most of his time and fortune towards his new Analytical Engine, he never succeeded in completing any of his designs. Despite his many achievements, the failure to construct his machines, and the failure of his own government to support his work, required him to use his own fortune. This left a middle-aged Babbage a very disappointed and embittered man. He completely stopped work on the Analytical Engine in 1856.
After his death, Babbage’s son, Henry, continued to work on his father’s inventions, inheriting all the original components. Though Babbage’s work was continued by his son, the Analytical Engine was never successfully completed. Henry did manage to produce working partial fragments, demonstrating the feasibility of his father’s design, but never the full machine.
After his death, Babbage’s ideas passed into obscurity for decades. Over the course of the 20th century, though, his genius became clear. One of Henry’s ‘fragments’ went to Cambridge where it inspired Alan Turing, who developed the Colossus computer, used to decipher the Nazi ENIGMA coding device. Another fragment ended up at Harvard, inspiring Howard Aiken, who developed the IBM Mark 1 computer used by the U.S. in The Manhattan Project.
In 1985, a team at the London Science Museum set out to build a streamlined Difference Engine No. 2. The team created new designs adapted to modern manufacturing. Despite leaving behind detailed drawings, Babbage left few notes or explanations of how the pieces worked together. It took the modern team 17 years. The 8,000-piece finished product went on display in 2002.
Babbage’s long-term legacy is clear, leading to early computers like the ENIAC, Atlas, IBM 360, and Cray-1. These then lead to the 1980’s PC revolution, with the likes of HP, Texas Instruments, Apple, and Commodore. This then lead to the 2000’s handheld revolution with the Palm Pilot, Blackberry, and iPhone. Then came the supercomputers, first developed by universities and the military, then by the likes of Microsoft, Google, Meta (Facebook) and X (Twitter).
Now (for better or worse), in a rush to compete, these corporations each have Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, like ChatGPT and Bard available to the general public. All this, because of Englishman Charles Babbage’s unrelenting genius and his Victorian era Difference Engines.
Belle Starr was an infamous fugitive in the American “Wild West” of the late 1800’s. She was connected with such famous outlaws as Jesse and Frank James, and was arrested several times herself. She’s been credited with a long list of crimes, but was she truly the Bandit Queen as the newspapers made her out to be? Or were the many criminal men in her life the true perpetrators and was she guilty by association? Starr was killed in 1889 at only 41 and her murderer was never brought to justice. The suspects included her associates, her husband, even own her son and daughter. What kind of life brought Belle Starr to such an early death?
Myra Maybelle “Belle” Shirley, was born in 1848 on a large farm outside Carthage, Missouri. She was the daughter of John Shirley and his third wife, Elizabeth Hatfield. The Shirleys had become well-off raising grain, horses and hogs, and owned an inn, tavern and blacksmith shop in Carthage. Young Belle received an excellent education at the Carthage Female Academy. There, she excelled in classical languages and even became an accomplished pianist. She lived the life of a spoiled, pampered, rich girl who very much liked having an audience with all the attention centered on her.
Belle also fell in love with the outdoors, where she spent her days outside school riding the countryside with her older half-brother John ‘Bud’ Shirley. He taught her how to ride a horse and shoot both a pistol and rifle. With his help, she became a crack shot and an expert horsewoman.
Belle grew up prior to the U.S. Civil War, in the contested Missouri territory, with her family being Confederate sympathizers. Jasper County saw both Union and Confederate armies pass through during the war. Southern sympathizers like the Shirley’s often provided the Confederate army with support. Her brother Bud led a small band of Confederate guerrillas, and later became a scout with William Quantrill, the leader of the ruthless marauders known as ‘Quantrill’s Raiders.’
One of her childhood friends, Cole Younger, served under Quantrill, along with a young Frank and Jesse James. But in 1863, while Bud was at the home of a Confederate sympathizer, Union troops surrounded the house. When Bud attempted to escape, he was shot and killed. The next year, Confederates burned to the ground most of Carthage, including John Shirley’s businesses. A devastated Shirley family left and moved to a farm in Scyene, Texas, just southwest of Dallas.
After the war, the James-Younger Gang became notorious outlaws – robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches. In their run from the law, they fled to Texas, where they met up again with the Shirleys, often taking refuge on the family farm. Belle became smitten by a member of the gang, the first man she ever loved. His name was Jim Reed. The romance blossomed and Belle and Jim married in 1866. She was 18.
As Jim Reed was not yet a wanted man, they moved into the Shirley household. He left the James-Younger Gang and became a saddle and bridle maker. By 1867, Belle became pregnant and the couple went to live with Reed’s mother back in Missouri. Belle gave birth to the first of two children, a daughter named Rosie Lee, whom Belle nicknamed ‘Pearl.’ Everything seemed idyllic for young Belle.
The couple then moved to Oklahoma, where Jim Reed fell back on his outlaw ways. Her husband became involved with notorious horse thief and whiskey smuggler Tom Starr. Reed began spending less time at home and more time riding with Starr’s gang. Starr, who was Cherokee, sold whiskey to the Indians while rustling cattle in their territory.
When Belle became pregnant again, Reed took his wife and daughter back to his mother’s home in Missouri. A second child came along in 1781, who they named Edward. Her husband then left his family again and rejoined Starr’s gang of cattle rustlers. He killed a member of a rival gang and warrants were issued for his arrest.
She had little money to show from her husband’s exploits and was flat broke. In 1873, she left her husband and took her two children to live with her parents in Texas. After they separated, it wasn’t long before Reed’s outlaw life finally caught up with him. A former gang member, now a deputy, shot and killed Reed in a gunfight in Paris, Texas in 1874. Belle now found herself a single mother.
In 1880, a lonely Belle sought comfort and companionship again. She married Sam Starr, a tall, handsome Cherokee, son of Tom Starr, her former husband’s old partner. Sam was 23 and Belle was now 32. The couple settled on Sam’s ranch, Younger’s Bend, in Cherokee territory on the Canadian River, near Briartown, Oklahoma. The place was in the middle of ‘Indian/Outlaw Country,’ and many fugitives, often sought refuge there.
The couple formed their own gang and started a life of cattle rustling, horse stealing, and bootlegging whiskey. This time, the intelligent Belle became the brains behind the operation. She fell back on the shooting and horsemanship skills her brother had taught her back in Missouri. This was when she began to be known as The Outlaw Queen.
She reputedly carried two pistols, wore a man’s hat with feathers in the brim and solid gold earrings. She vowed never again to be hard up for money. Sam and Belle found the outlaw life very lucrative and never wanted for cash. She could now afford to take her two children back, now 12 and 9, from her mother in Texas.
The nearest settlement to Youngers Bend was Fort Smith, Arkansas. The local judge there was the famous Hanging Judge, Isaac Parker. Parker was determined to put Belle Starr and her husband behind bars. In 1882, Parker got lucky when Belle and Sam were caught red-handed as they attempted to steal horses from a neighboring ranch.
Their trial took place in 1883 and both were found guilty by a jury. Hanging Judge Parker, however, went easy on them, citing that it was the first conviction for both. He sentenced Belle to two consecutive six-month terms and Sam to one year in the Federal Prison in Detroit. Her two children went back to live with her parents in Texas.
After serving their time, Belle and Sam returned to Oklahoma Indian Territory. By this time, Belle’s Starr’s notoriety had only grown and Belle had become quite a celebrity. Newspapers had turned her into a western folk hero, “The Bandit Queen,” they called her. She still loved being the center of attention. Belle gladly spoke with newspaper reporters after she returned home from prison.
They immediately returned to their life of rustling and bootlegging. In 1886, Sam Starr got arrested again for horse theft. Belle hired the best lawyers in Fort Smith and paid his bail. In December, at a Christmas party, Sam was killed in a shootout with an old nemesis. Both men hit their marks and died of their wounds. Belle’s life as an outlaw queen, and the happiest marriage of her life, abruptly ended.
More bad luck followed when the Cherokee tribal council told her that her claim to Younger’s Bend ended with Sam’s death. She was now in danger of losing her home. She solved that problem by quickly marrying Jim July, a half Creek, half Cherokee, who was more than a decade younger than Belle. The Cherokee leaders told her she could keep the land as long as she remained married and stopped her outlaw ways.
Belle allegedly reformed at this point, no longer rustling and refusing to shelter criminals at Youngers Bend. Life with her new young husband, however, was particularly stormy. The marriage was also unpopular with Belle’s son Ed and daughter Pearl. Both disliked and resented the caustic Jim July.
This was the start of Belle’s problems with her two children. Pearl became pregnant by a married man she had been seeing. Belle tried to convince her daughter to visit Fort Smith for an abortion, but Pearl refused. Belle then shipped her off to her grandmother to have the baby. On her return to Youngers Bend, Pearl took up prostitution, infuriating her mother further.
While Pearl was away, young Ed was also arrested for horse theft like his father. Belle hired lawyers, but Ed was sentenced to prison. A few months later, Belle was able to win him a pardon and he returned to his mother’s ranch. But Belle had taken to whiplashing the boy as punishment, and an angry Ed soon moved out.
Then on February 3, 1889, while riding home from a neighbor, a shotgun blast hit her in the back, knocking her off her horse. As she tried to get up, another shot hit her in the neck. Belle’s horse Venus ran off towards home. When the horse and its bloodied saddle reached the cabin, Pearl knew what must have happened. She ran down the trail to where a man who heard the shots had found her.
An investigation began and several suspects came to light, including a renter she’d quarreled with named Edgar Watson. Belle had rented some of her land to Watson, a neighbor. Starr later learned he was wanted for murder in Florida. Afraid of losing her land, she cancelled the agreement, but Watson refused to leave and they argued. Watson shouted how often the law seemed to be at Belle’s ranch. She shouted back, saying the same law would be interested in knowing Watson’s whereabouts.
Then there was Belle’s estranged son Ed. The law felt he had a motive as well. Young Ed’s anger at his frequent bullwhip beatings by his mother had been smoldering since the incidents. He had expressed his rage to several people and some thought he was capable of killing Belle.
Even Pearl was a suspect. Belle had interfered with Pearl’s abortion attempt, and later with a marriage to the father of her child. This was a long-standing grudge between the two women. She had the opportunity since she was still living at Youngers Bend when Belle was killed.
Finally, her husband Jim July had also been indicted for horse theft. July intended to turn himself in at the jail in Fort Smith. Belle however had caught July fooling around with a young Cherokee girl. She told him she had no intention of paying his bail OR his lawyers, thus infuriating July as well.
When Watson’s house was searched, his shotgun was found with both barrels recently discharged, but he denied having anything to do with the murder. Watson told a deputy that Jim July had come by his house the afternoon of Belle’s death to borrow his shotgun, supposedly to kill a coyote. He said July returned the shotgun later that day with both barrels empty.
A hearing was held at Ft. Smith and Watson’s neighbors testified he was hard working, well liked, and caused no troubles. It was discovered that the rumors about Watson being wanted for murder in Florida were false. The Commissioner ordered Watson released and a deputy Marshall to continue investigating.
Deputy Hutchins interviewed Milo Hoyt, the man who found Belle shot, and learned that Jim July had offered him $100 to kill Belle. When Hoyt refused, July supposedly yelled, “Hell, I’ll kill the old hag myself and spend the money on whiskey!” Hutchins caught up with Jim July and when July reached for his gun, Hutchins fired first. Jim July later died in the Ft. Smith jail from his wounds.
After her death, Belle Starr’s legend only grew, and she would have surely enjoyed the attention. Newspapers proclaimed her The Bandit Queen or The Female Jesse James. Dime-novel westerns were written about her exploits both true and not-so-true. Decades later, a 1941 Hollywood film was made about her early life – Belle Star, starring Gene Tierney; and a 1980 TV movie of the same name, starring Elizabeth Montgomery.
Belle was buried in the family plot at Younger’s Bend. Pearl paid for a monument over her mother’s grave. On top was carved an image of her favorite horse, Venus. On the stone, Pearl left the following inscription:
The famous macabre writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe, died under mysterious circumstances in 1849, at the age of only 40 in Baltimore, Maryland. This short Mini-Doc explains why his death remains a perplexing mystery to this day, and 6 Theories on how it might have actually happened.
LOST IN HISTORY – Blog, Podcast and Historical Novels – PAUL ANDREWS
The ultimate fate of millions of immigrants arriving in New York City’s infamous Ellis Island, around the turn of the 20th century, depended on a quick 2 minute physical AND their answers to 29 pivotal questions. Watch this short Mini-Doc to find out more.
Heroes are often born unexpectedly from dire circumstances. Confronted with an intolerable situation, they choose to act with humanity, rather than meekly back down, or join the angry mob. Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara, and his wife Yukiko, when confronted with the Nazi Holocaust rapidly encroaching upon Lithuania, followed their hearts in direct defiance of their government. In 1940, in the early years of World War II, they risked their livelihood to urgently issue Travel Visas to Polish and Lithuanian Jewish refugees. Though it would cost him his diplomatic career, this Holocaust Hero managed to save the lives of more than 6,000 souls, the second largest number of Jews rescued from the Nazis.
Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara was born in 1900 to a middle-class family on the Japanese Island of Honshu. His mother came from a long line of samurai and he grew up as the Japanese Empire was flexing its global military power. Sugihara was raised in the strict Japanese code of ethics – love of the family and children, duty and responsibility, strength and resourcefulness, and NOT bringing shame on one’s family. He graduated school at the top of his class and his father insisted he become a doctor. But Chiune’s dream was to study literature, live abroad and experience other cultures. He attended Tokyo’s Waseda University and paid for his own college with odd jobs.
Sugihara was interested in foreign religions, philosophy, cultures and languages. He a won a scholarship from the Japanese Foreign Service to study Russian in Manchuria, China. Chiune graduated with honors from Harbin Gakuin as an expert on the Soviet Union. He returned to Tokyo to train for his first assignment as a diplomat. It was there he met and married his wife, Yukiko Kikuchi.
He first served in Japanese-controlled Manchuria and was soon promoted to Deputy Minister of China Foreign Affairs. But Sugihara was disturbed by his government’s cruel treatment of the Chinese people and resigned his post. Because he was now fluent in Russian, Tokyo sent him to the Lithuanian capital of Kaunas in 1939 to open a one-man consulate. Though officially a diplomat, his superior ordered him to provide intelligence on both Soviet and German troop movements.
During his time in Lithuania, the Sugiharas became acquainted with many local residents. This included some Jews, who shared with him their fears of the growing Nazi menace in Germany. Sugihara observed the closeness of Jewish families and it reminded him of his own family, customs and festivals.
Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. As Nazi forces rapidly overtook Poland, a wave of desperate Jewish refugees flooded into Lithuania. They brought with them chilling tales of German atrocities against Polish Jews. Some 15,000 arrived. Caught between the Nazis and the Soviets, they were desperately seeking ways to emigrate away from Europe. Sugihara recognized the urgency of their situation and exchanged information with friends in the Polish underground. He realized that, with western Europe engulfed in war, the best Jewish avenue for escape was an eastern route through the Soviet Union.
The population of Kaunas was also one-quarter Jewish. Lithuanian Jews did not realize the extent the Nazi Holocaust was being perpetrated against Polish Jews – murders by the tens of thousands. Then in June 1940, the Soviets invaded, occupied and annexed Lithuania, making it difficult for Jews to emigrate out through the Soviet Union. Sadly, the rest of the free world, including the United States, also limited the immigration of Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe.
Against this terrible backdrop, Consul Sugihara suddenly became a key player in Jewish survival. The fate of thousands of families would depend on a glimmer of hope … and his humanity. The two Dutch colonial islands of Curacao and Guiana in the Caribbean, did not require formal entrance visas. The Dutch consul had gotten permission to stamp their passports with entrance permits. There was one problem though. The refugees would have to pass through the Soviet Union. The Soviet consul agreed – on one condition. They’d also have to obtain a transit visa from Japan, as they’d have to pass through Japan on their way to the Caribbean.
In July 1940, the Soviet Union ordered all foreign embassies to evacuate Kaunas immediately. Sugihara and the Dutch consul, Jan Zwartendijk, urgently requested and received a 20-day extension from Moscow. In a matter of days, Sugihara and Zwartendijk were the only foreign diplomats left in Lithuania.
On a hot summer morning in July 1940, Consul Sugihara awakened to find a crowd of desperate Jewish refugees standing outside his consulate. As his wife was packing their belongings, Sugihara agreed to briefly meet with a delegation. They had come pleading with an urgent request for help.
If Consul Sugihara would grant them Japanese transit visas, they could obtain Russian exit visas and escape to freedom through the Soviet Union. Chiune Sugihara was sympathetic and moved by their plight, but he did not have the authority to issue thousands of such visas without permission. And he doubted the Japanese Foreign Ministry would agree to this very unusual request. However, he was troubled by the refugees’ plight and agreed to telegram Tokyo.
Chiune Sugihara wired his Foreign Ministry in Tokyo three separate times asking for permission. Three times he was denied. Japan did not want to accept Jewish refugees under such circumstances:
Concerning transit visas STOP advise absolutely not to be issued any traveler not holding firm end visa with guaranteed departure ex japan STOP no exceptions STOP no further inquiries expected STOP
K. Tanaka, Foreign Ministry, Tokyo
After the third rejection, and with the Jewish crowd still outside his door, he discussed the situation with his wife. Sugihara had a difficult decision to make. As a career diplomat, he was bound by the strict Japanese obedience he had been taught all his life. He was also a descendant of samurais, who helped those in need over the centuries. He knew that if he defied orders, he risked family disgrace and would probably never work as a diplomat again. This would result in serious hardship for his family.
Fifty years later, his wife Yukiko, described those days: “At first, there were maybe 300 people. They stood there from morning till night, day after day, their small children with them. They had risked their lives, their bodies exhausted, their clothes torn and their faces tired. I would see them from my window. It was so hard for me to watch … they were so miserable. We did not know what to do. We could not sleep at night. We had three young children ourselves. If my husband issues the visas contrary to the Foreign Office, he would lose his career … We were thinking and thinking what to do, and the refugees begged and begged ”Please give us visas“.
In the end, they could only follow their consciences. They would write the visas. In his response to the Tokyo cable, Sugihara admitted issuing visas to people who had not completed all required arrangements. He explained the extenuating circumstances: Japan was the only transit country available for those going to the Caribbean, and his visas were needed for departure from the Soviet Union. Once the Nazis arrived, all the Jews would be sent to concentration camps.
For 29 days in August, 1940, the Sugiharas sat for hours each day, writing and signing visas by hand. They wrote over 300 a day, normally a month’s worth. Each night, she would massage his tired and aching hands. He rarely stopped to eat but for sandwiches his wife made. Jews were standing in line day and night. He came out frequently to assure them that he was doing the best he could. Hundreds soon became thousands before finally, he was forced by Russia to close the consulate and leave Lithuania.
Within that brief span of time, he provided nearly 3,500 transit visas to Jewish refugees. Sugihara ultimately gave visas to those who lacked all the needed travel papers. He even continued issuing documents to Jews from his train window at the Kaunas station, until the moment it departed for Berlin in September, 1940.
They quickly got on trains to Moscow, then the trans-Siberian railroad to Vladivostok. From there, they continued by boat to Kobe, Japan, before eventually being sent to Shanghai. As many as six thousand refugees made their way to Japan in the following months. Thousands of Polish Jews with his visas survived the war in safety in China. They had escaped the Holocaust and become Sugihara Survivors. Back in Lithuania, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis invaded in June 1941, and the killing of Polish and Lithuanian Jews began.
From Kaunas, Sugihara was sent by Tokyo to a consulate in Kaliningrad and then to Bucharest for the rest of the war. In 1946, after Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II, Chiune Sugihara and his family returned to Japan. There the government dismissed him from foreign service for disobeying direct orders – though the official reason was downsizing of the Japanese diplomatic corps post-war.
His career as a diplomat was over. Once a rising star, Sugihara could only find work as a translator and interpreter. For the last two decades of his life, he worked as a manager for a trading company with business in Russia. This was his fate, though he had saved thousands from certain death. It took courage to defy his father and not become a doctor. It took courage to take his family, leave his Japan home and work overseas. It took even more courage to openly defy his Japanese authorities.
Today, there may be more than 40,000 Jews who owe their lives to Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara. After the war, he never spoke about his extraordinary deeds, never actually knowing if it had done any good. He spent the latter half of his life in relative obscurity. Then in 1969, Sugihara was found by a Jewish man he had helped save in Lithuania. Soon, hundreds came forward and testified about his courage that summer.
In 1985, he received Israel’s highest honor – Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. By then an old man, he was too ill to travel to Israel. His wife and son went and received the honor on his behalf. Further, a park in Jerusalem was renamed in his honor.
Holocaust hero Chiune Sugihara died in 1986 at age 86. Yukiko Sugihara passed away at 94 in 2008. Since his death, Sugihara was further memorialized in his hometown of Yaotsu, Japan, as well as Kaunas (now Kovnos), Lithuania. In 2000, the nation of Japan officially celebrated the centenary of Chiune Sugihara’s birth. A biographical film about Sugihara, Persona Non Grata, premiered in the United States in 2015, directed by Japanese-American Cellin Gluck.
Upon receiving his award, this Holocaust Hero was asked by the press: Why did you do it? Why did he disobey orders and risk his family’s livelihood? His answer was simple.
“They were human beings and needed my help. I’m glad I found the strength to make the decision to give it to them. I may have to disobey my government, but if I don’t, I would be disobeying my God.”
There are few images more American in United States history than of the famous Pony Express. In just 9-10 days, young riders carried the mail by horseback over 1,966 miles from Missouri to California. This relay system crossed eight states and territories, the fastest east-west communication possible across the Wild West frontier of 1860. Just the name brings to mind images of courageous young men galloping at break-neck speed across long stretches of open country. They faced the threat of death from heat, thieves or Native Americans. Riders even rode at night when only the illumination of the moon lit the way.
But few may know the famous Pony Express was in operation for only 18 months, between April 1860 and October 1861. And though a delivery success for the mail, it was a financial failure for its owners. How could this be true, for such a famous piece of Americana? There were several reasons.
The growing West needed fast mail communication with the established East. After gold was discovered, prospectors and homesteaders flocked to the West. At the time, the U.S. Post Office delivered mail via steamship from New York to Panama. From there it was taken across the Isthmus by horseback, then put aboard ships bound for San Francisco. Under the most optimistic conditions, letters arrived in four weeks. Some mail was hauled by stagecoach cross-country on a 2,795-mile southern route between Missouri and San Francisco. Although the advertised time there was 24-25 days, stagecoach mail service was often delayed for months.
As pre-Civil War tensions grew, the division between the northern and southern states widened. This exacerbated the mail service to the West. By 1860, almost 1/2 million people were living in the new western states. Those people demanded to have the delivery time of their mail improved. The Pony Express grew out of this desperate need for faster mail service between East and West just prior to the Civil War.
The completion of a coast-to-coast steam railroad was still years away. At that time, the railroads extended only as far west as the Mississippi River. The completion of a telegraph wire linking both coasts was under construction, but not yet a reality. Three entrepreneurs saw a way out. William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell created the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company to carry mail across the county, otherwise known as The Pony Express.
Senator William Gwin of California had persuaded Russell, a stagecoach company owner, to establish a speedy and reliable express service across a shorter 1,966 mile, central route stretching from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. Russell’s partner, Alexander Majors, arranged for the purchase of over 400 ponies; the building of 200 way stations in desolate areas; the hiring of station masters; the stocking of provisions; and, of course, the hiring of the young riders. All in just two short months.
The young pony riders made $100 a month, pretty darn good money at the time. It was hard work though, riding in rough terrain, harsh weather and dangerous conditions. To keep the weight down for the horses, the riders had to weigh 125 pounds or less. So, a lot were young, skinny teenagers or twenty-somethings willing to face danger for the excitement and money.
Alexander Majors gave each of them a Bible and required them to sign a loyalty oath: “I do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God.”
Those who broke the rules risked being dismissed without pay. But it appears that in the Wild West, few Pony Express riders followed their oath to the letter of the law.
They set up their string of relay stations across what is now Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. Lone horsemen would ride between stations at breakneck pace. They’d switch mounts every 10-15 miles, then handing their mail bag off to a new rider after 75-100 miles. A special leather saddlebag called a mochila held four, padlocked mail compartments. It fit snugly over the saddle and the riders could quickly switch it from one horse to another. The ponies also were small, averaging about 14 1/2 hands high and weighed less than 900 pounds. The postage cost was $1 for a ½ ounce letter. That was a lot of money back in 1860, so it was rarely used for common mail.
The St. Joseph to Sacramento route followed the famous Oregon Trail for part of the way, then the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City, before crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains into California. The route stretched through the plains of Kansas, up into Nebraska, along the valley of the Platte River, across Wyoming, through the Rockies, into the Great Salt Lake valley, through the Nevada desert basin, then over the snow-covered Sierra Nevada and finally into Sacramento.
At its peak, the Pony Express had over 180 riders and 400 horses stretched across its long route. The most famous of the riders was a 14-year-old Buffalo Bill Cody, who later earned his fame as a buffalo hunter, then by putting on Wild West shows across America and Europe.
The outposts themselves were usually crude, dirt-floor bunkhouses and a corral for the horses, manned by stock keepers. The first riders left from St. Joseph and Sacramento on April 3, 1860. They each arrived at the opposite end around 10 days later. The people greeted the arrival of the first rider into Sacramento with great excitement. The streets filled with people cheering the event and the rider. The young riders became small town heroes to those anxiously waiting mail.
The company’s best time came in March 1861, when riders carried the Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln to California in just seven days, 17 hours. Amazingly, only one rider and one mail shipment were ever lost during the running of The Pony Express. But the future of the Pony Express always had a dead-end staked out, or on this case, a tall pole in the ground.
On June 16, 1860, only ten weeks after the Pony Express began operations, Congress authorized a bill to subsidize a transcontinental telegraph line to connect the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. This resulted in the incorporation of the Overland Telegraph Company of California and the Pacific Telegraph Company of Nebraska.
Just over a year later, and 18 months since the Pony Express started, it was rendered obsolete when Western Union completed the transcontinental telegraph line at Salt Lake City. On October 26, 1861, New York City was now in direct contact with San Francisco via telegraph, with messages taking hours, not days, to deliver. The transcontinental telegraph dealt the Pony Express its deathblow. In November 1861, the last Pony Express letters completed their journey. The Express Company officially terminated The Pony Express, sold the horses, and disbanded the riders.
Despite its enduring place in the Wild West, the Pony Express never turned a profit for its three owners. It hemorrhaged cash due to high operating costs and its failure to secure a lucrative government mail contract that the stagecoach companies managed to hold on to. Though hailed in the press for its adventurous spirit, and capturing Americans’ imagination, the Pony Express eventually folded, having lost over $200,000, quite a sum in those days.
Nevertheless, despite operating for only 18 months, its riders had successfully delivered some 35,000 pieces of mail and traveled more than half a million miles across the American frontier. A 1989, ABC TV series The Young Riders dramatized the Pony Express with a young Josh Brolin starring as William Cody. It ran for three seasons and can be streamed today on FreeVee.
In March of 1862 the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company was sold at Leavenworth, Kansas to Wells Fargo. Many of the riders either joined the Northern or Southern Armies during the Civil War, which had started a year earlier, or became stagecoach drivers for Wells Fargo.
Sadly, most of the original trail has been lost to time and development. In the western states, the majority of the trail has been converted over the years to either dirt roads or paved highways. Short original segments, can be seen only in Utah and California where some of the ruins of the way stations still exist. A few refurbished relay stations exist in Kansas and Missouri as historical sites. Still, when driving on any lonely east-west road in the American West, it’s hard to not imagine the spirit of a lone Pony Express rider galloping fiercely along side you, with his packet of precious mail.
Anyone who’s had to give a talk or make a speech in public knows how intimidating and challenging it can be. The most famous speeches are a combination of impeccable writing and a polished delivery. Some of great speeches have been given either by charismatic speakers of the day, or under adverse circumstances that made them famous. Here then are 10 of the Greatest Lines from famous speeches you may have never heard. Not included below are the ubiquitous Churchill, Lincoln, or Kennedy speeches, whom you’ve likely already heard many times over.
His troops were exhausted after 10 long years of fighting a war with neighboring Persia. Many wanted to simply to return home to their families. He somehow had to motivate his men and convince them to fight again.
You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labour and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all. The conquered territory belongs to you; already the greater part of its treasure passes into your hands, and when all Asia is overrun, the utmost hopes of riches or power which each one of you cherishes will be far surpassed, and whoever wishes to return home will be allowed to go. I will make those who stay, the envy of those who return.
Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia and Persia, 335 BC
Spain and England were at war and a Spanish invasion of the English coast by sea was imminent. She spoke to the doubting army of soldiers defending London to motivate her military and build their resolve.
“I am come amongst you, at this time, being resolved, in the midst the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king. And think foul scorn that Spain should dare to invade the borders of my realm: So I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general in the field.”
Queen Elizabeth I of England, 1588
Published in U.S. newspapers, President Washington attempts to reunite the country. It had begun to devolve into the two warring political parties of his friends and successors, John Adam and Thomas Jefferson.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of passions. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against foreign intrigue, and to guard against pretended patriotism.
President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
Years before the U.S. Civil War, she gave a speech at one of the first Women’s Rights Convention. It was in response to white gentlemen at the time stating that all women were “frail and should be treated as the fairer sex.” Her fiery response was:
Ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man, if I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne children, and seen most all sold off to slavery; and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain’t I a woman?
Sojourner Truth, Former Slave, 1855
The Nez Perce Indians were one of the last indigenous tribes still fighting “The Indian Wars.” They were forced off their native land in Oregon and fled for Canada. The U.S. army relentlessly pursued and ultimately caught them.
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. The old men are all dead. He who led on the young men are dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food, perhaps freezing to death. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph, Thunder Travelling to the Mountain Heights, 1877
King Edward VIII shockingly abdicates the throne to his younger brother George, when the British Cabinet would not allow him to marry twice-divorced American, Mrs. Wallis Simpson, as his consort.
I want you to know that the decision I have made has been mine and mine alone. This was something thing I had to judge entirely for myself. But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love.
British King Edward VIII, 1936 abdication
NY Yankees First Baseman Lou Gehring was suffering from ALS, a degenerative disease, that prevented him continuing to play the sport he loved. He gave his famous speech to the fans from the infield at Yankee Stadium in New York.
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans … I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”
New York Yankees Lou Gehrig, 1939
Junior Senator Joe McCarthy and his reckless Red Scare Conspiracy had run rampant across America, from Washington to Hollywood, labeling innocent people as Communists. That is, until he was finally challenged by Joe Welch.
Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? … Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you.
Joseph Welsh, Army-McCarty Hearings, 1954
By the 1950’s, the famous Robert Oppenheimer had come out opposing the deadlier hydrogen bomb. As a results he had been stripped of his security clearance, and was dying of lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking cigarettes.
We knew the world would not be the same. A few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1965 TV broadcast on the Atomic Bomb
Margaret Thatcher was a staunchly conservative and outspoken member of Britain’s Parliament since 1959. She was also blunt when it came her opinion of the role of women and men in British politics and society.
Practical work gets done by women. They don’t waste time. If there’s a job to do, a project to organise, they get on with it. … In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything accomplished, ask a woman. … There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is simply too prejudiced.
MP Margaret Thatcher, 1965
So there you have it – 10 great lines from 10 famous speeches from history. They have perhaps been overshadowed over the years by the albeit many great speeches from the likes of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King or John F. Kennedy. Today’s public speakers have a high standard to meet in order to top any of famous speeches above. Always remember that great speeches must be well written, impeccably delivered and well timed.
How could the massive Inca Empire have been conquered by Francisco Pizarro and just 168 Spanish conquistadors? Pizarro and his men were the first Europeans to make contact with the vast Inca Empire, high in the Andes Mountains. In less than a decade, the Spaniards defeated the entire Incan army, hundreds of thousands of warriors strong.
The Inca Empire was the consolidation of former warring tribes of over 12 million, covering 700,000 square miles. The Empire had built over 15,000 miles of stone roads to connect its cities. Even before Columbus, the Incas possessed the largest empire in the Americas, surpassing even the Aztecs. Their land was also rich in gold and silver. Their empire included territory between the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon River, and stretched from today’s Ecuador down to northern Chile.
Who was the man who accomplished this? Francisco Pizarro was born in 1474 in Trujillo, Spain. His father and mother were poor farmers of low birth. Lured by tales of gold and adventure in the New World, a 28-year-old Pizarro joined 300 other settlers, to establish a colony in present day Colombia. Three months into their settlement, with food running low, only 100 managed to survive the natives and tropical diseases.
There, Pizarro next joined forces with Vasco de Balboa as a captain on the 1513 expedition to found a new colony on the opposite side of Panama. There they ‘discovered’ the Pacific Ocean and it became the first Spanish settlement on the South American west coast. From 1519 to 1523, Pizarro served as mayor of the town of Panamá and slowly grew wealthy and powerful. But this was not enough for the ambitious Pizarro. He’d read Hernando Cortes’ account of the conquest of the Aztecs and it greedily inspired him. Pizarro partnered with another fellow soldier, Diego de Almagro. From 1524 to 1528, they sailed numerous voyages of discovery and conquest down the west coast.
In 1526, Pizarro arrived on the coast of Peru and heard stories of the Inca Empire, a great ruler, and his vast riches, high in the Andes mountains. They encountered an Incan trading ship full of silver and gold. He captured the ship and trained some of its crew to be interpreters. He then sailed back to Spain to get royal permission to claim the land for the Spanish Empire. King Charles agreed and promised him governorship of any lands he conquered.
In 1532, Pizarro was 54 years old, with now three decades of fighting experience in the Americas. He was accompanied by three half-brothers and two other conquistadors, Diego de Almagro and Hernando de Soto. They landed on the Peruvian coast and began to march inland. But even with a handful of experienced soldiers, how did this small company defeat the mighty Incan army? Pizarro’s company consisted of only 168 men who were generally lower class, illiterate, and title-less. Joining military campaigns in the New World offered one of the few ways to better one’s status by stripping the wealth from the natives.
Through his interpreters, Pizarro learned that the Inca Empire had recently been embroiled in a long civil war, following the death of the former Incan ruler Huayna Capac. Atahualpa, his younger illegitimate son, had just defeated his older half-brother Huascar in a battle at the Incan capital of Cuzco. This war had divided the people’s loyalties. Atahualpa was still in the middle of reuniting his weakened kingdom when Pizarro and his men arrived. The conquistador realized the new Incan ruler was vulnerable. On his way inland to the capital, Pizarro began secretly recruiting warriors still loyal to Huascar.
Similar to Cortes’ earlier conquest of the Aztecs, Pizarro benefited from confusion on the part of the native people. When the Spaniards first entered their empire, the Incans were not sure whether the armored Spanish conquistadors atop horses they had never before seen were gods or men.
Word reached the Emperor that they were in fact evil men who enslaved people and cherished gold. Rather than attacking, Atahualpa agreed to meet with Pizarro’s half-brother and Hernando de Soto. The two men vigorously denied the rumors and said that they were there simply to bring the word of their benevolent God to the Incan people. They invited him to meet with Pizarro in person at the city of Cajamarca, at a great feast in honor of the new emperor. Atahualpa agreed.
On November 16, 1532, Francisco Pizarro daringly sprung his trap on the Inca emperor with only 168 men. Though the emperor had nearly 80,000 warriors in the surrounding mountains, Atahualpa attends the feast with only 6,000 unarmed men. The Spanish conquistadors arrived fully armed with their armor, artillery, horses and weapons hidden.
On reaching the square, Atahualpa remained high on his litter. The emperor first met Vicente de Valverde, a Catholic friar holding a crucifix and a bible. “I am a priest of God, and I teach Christians. And in like manner, I come to teach you what God says to us in this holy book. “
While Pizarro’s men lay in wait, Valverde urged Atahualpa to convert to Christianity and accept King Charles V as his sovereign. Atahualpa asked for the book, then carelessly tossed it to the ground. “I know well how you have behaved, how you have treated my people, and robbed from my storehouses.”
Upon seeing and hearing this, Pizarro, came out with only four men and approached the litter where Atahualpa sat. He jumped up, seized the emperor’s arm, crying out a signal his hidden men, “Santiago!”
A bugle was sounded, artillery guns fired off, and the 168 conquistadors, on horse and foot, rushed in. The Spanish gunfire, artillery and cavalry stunned the Incans, allowing the outnumbered Spaniards to dominate the attack. Trapped in tight quarters, the unarmed Incan soldiers made easy prey for the conquistadors. Some panicked and ran. The horsemen rode them down, killing them in pursuit.
In a short-time, most Incans were shot or put to the sword. All those surrounding the litter of Atahualpa were his chiefs. They were all killed as well. Pizarro’s men slaughtered over 6,000 Incans in just over an hour … with no Spaniard lost. The end result was the capture of Atahualpa himself. Pizarro took Atahualpa to his headquarters, ordered his royal robes removed and replaced with native clothes.
“Do not take it as an insult that you have been defeated and taken prisoner, by Christians so few in number. I have conquered greater kingdoms than yours for the dominion of the King of Spain.”
Francisco Pizarro to Emperor Atahualpa
Pizarro knew Atahualpa was more valuable alive than dead. He kept the emperor captive while he made plans to take over his empire. Pizarro forced Atahualpa to order his military leaders to back down and not attack them. This was key for Pizarro, as he was heavily outnumbered. They marched to the capital of Cuzco and used Atahualpa to control the Incan army and people.
In response, Atahualpa appealed to his captors’ greed. He told Pizarro that in exchange for his freedom, he would give the Spaniards a great quantity of gold and silver, ‘enough to fill a room twenty-two feet long and seventeen wide, up to the height of a man.’ Pizarro agreed of course, without ever intending to release the emperor. He told him to send off messengers with this order.
The Spanish conquistadors oversaw the Incans gathering gold and silver from across the Empire. They brought vases, jars, statues, and furniture made of gold and silver. Hundreds of thousands of pesos worth arrived, and undertaking that took two months to complete. The Spaniards began to melt it down to prepare it for shipment back to Spain.
Now that the emperor had played his part, Pizarro considered him disposable. A rebel chief informed Pizarro that Atahualpa had secretly sent orders to collect troops to march against and kill the Spaniards. Pizzaro then spoke to Atahualpa, “What treason is this that you have prepared for me? For me who have treated you with honor, and have trusted in your words!” Atahualpa reportedly answered with a laugh, saying: “What am I and all my people that we should trouble such valiant men as you are? Do not talk such nonsense to me.”
Pizarro brought Atahualpa up on charges of insurrection and treason. The emperor was to be publicly burned at the stake—a fitting death for a “heathen.” Friar Valverde offered the emperor clemency from the fire, if he would convert to Christianity. Atahualpa submitted. He was baptized by the Friar, then executed by strangulation at the stake the same day, August 29, 1533. It is said he died without showing fear. Pizarro left the body there until the next day, when the Spaniards conveyed it into a new church, where they buried it with honors.
Pizarro replaced him with a puppet emperor from amongst the resistance, Manco Inca Yupanqui. However, after three years, the young emperor escaped and gathered a guerrilla army against Spanish rule. A final Spanish-Inca War started with the siege of Cuzco in 1536.
The Inca empire had been able to conquer neighboring lands. However, their weaponry proved to be less effective against the conquistadors. Incan warriors were armed with spears, arrows, and axes; and were skilled at hand-to-hand combat. This was not well-suited for fighting Spanish armor, swords and guns. Another disadvantage was the efficient Spaniard cavalry. Like the Aztecs, horses were completely foreign to the Incas, though Pizarro’s force included only 37.
The Incan army had lost Atahualpa’s top 3 generals, in fighting following the emperor’s execution. The siege of Cuzco lasted a year, from 1536 to 1537. Manco Inca’s 200,000 troops began their assault, occupying most of the city, while 196 conquistadors and 500 native allies held out in the city center. The conquistadors then counterattacked. They battled brutally in the streets for days, the Spaniards using their guns and cavalry to push the rebels out.
Manco Inca’s forces failed to oust the handful of Spanish conquistadors from their own capital city. The Incan army was forced to retreat into the mountains. From there, the conquistadors hunted Manco Inca through the Andes until his ultimate death at the hands of the Spaniards in 1544. Thus ended the Inca Empire.
Pizarro’s old partner Diego de Almagro became his rival for control of Cuzco in 1537. Almagro took control of Cuzco after one of Pizarro’s half-brothers was killed during the revolt. Pizarro was in Lima, now too old to fight, so he sent his other half-brother to Cuzco. They succeeded in defeating and capturing Almagro. Pizarro had him beheaded for treason.
In retaliation however, armed supporters of Almagro’s son, snuck into Lima and broke into Pizarro’s palace at night. They assassinated the conquistador in his bed chamber on June 26, 1541, brutally stabbing him in the throat. For the Spanish conquistador, who claimed only to be spreading Christianity to the heathens, it mirrored the old biblical adage:
He who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword.
Anne Bonny is one of the most famous female pirates of all time. She was known for her Irish red hair, fierce fighting skills and ruthlessness. Her exploits occurred during the notorious period known as the “Golden Age of Piracy.” During her time as a pirate, Anne proved herself an equal to any man onboard. She sailed, drank, swore and fought alongside her fellow male pirates. The mysterious circumstances of Anne Bonny’s ultimate fate, has only fueled modern stories of her adventurous life.
Anne Bonny was a fiercely independent woman, centuries ahead of her time. The 18th century was still an age when men ruled the world and women had few rights, if any. Nevertheless, Anne Bonny became a respected crewmember and pirate. She challenged the old sailors’ adage that a woman aboard ship was bad luck.
Much of what we know about her comes from the book “A General History of the Most Notorious Pyrates“ by Captain Charles Johnson, who some historians believe is a pen name of Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe. He released the book in 1724, only a few years after the end of Anne’s pirate career.
She was the illegitimate daughter of lawyer William McCormac and a female servant, Mary Brennan. To avoid scandal, he had the maid dress Anne as a boy, called her ‘Andy’ and explained the child was a relative entrusted to his care. When the baby’s gender was discovered, McCormac’s wife made his adultery public. After losing his reputation and marriage, McCormac, Mary and baby Anne left Ireland and sailed to America to start again. They settled in Charles Town, South Carolina where William shortened his name to Cormac. He began his legal career again and later bought a plantation.
Mary died in 1711, when Anne was only 13. Young Anne was then forced to take care of her father’s household. She despised Georgian standards, in which women were expected to live at home and tend to their husbands and children. She began exhibiting a “fierce and courageous temper.” In her teens, she proved to be “difficult,” often getting into fights. She’s said to have stabbed a disrespectful servant girl with a table knife.
Her father, now a successful planter and merchant, disapproved of his daughter’s rebellious ways, claiming the endless rumors were damaging his business. Young Anne was attractive, with her Irish red hair, and considered a “good catch.” She reportedly beat half-to-death a young suitor who tried to rape her, sending him to his bed for several weeks. Nevertheless, Anne was still a highly eligible wife and her father betrothed her to a local businessman. Anne, of course, resisted.
Bonny also happened to be a small-time pirate, which appealed to Anne’s rebellious spirit. Legend has it, he hoped to come into possession of her father’s estate after his death. But that never happened, as Cormac disowned Anne and kicked her out for not marrying the husband HE chose. There is no proof, but some stories mention that her father’s plantation house mysteriously caught on fire shortly thereafter ….
Anne and James Bonny set off for New Providence (Nassau) in the Bahamas, a sanctuary for pirates, called the “Republic of Pirates.” They had a hard time making a living, so James became a pirate informant for Governor Woodes Rogers, collecting bounties. Governor Rogers, a former pirate himself, composed a “Most Wanted” list, including pirates like Blackbeard. Anne disagreed with her husband’s line of work. She’d made pirate friends on the island and began to idolize their lifestyle. She spent much of her time drinking at local saloons, carousing with pirate men.
This fueled arguments amongst the married couple. Anne only increased her visits to the taverns, taking in the stories of pirate life. Unhappy in her marriage, Anne grew enamored with handsome John “Calico Jack” Rackham, a nickname he earned due to his brash clothing. Rackham felt the same way about Anne and offered to pay her husband for a divorce (a common practice), but James Bonny refused. So in 1718, Anne left her husband and ran away to join Rackham’s pirate crew.
Calico Jack was a small-time pirate who raided merchant vessels around Jamaica and the Bahamas in his sloop, the Revenge. He wasn’t particularly successful, but he knew how to spend money with style. Aboard ship, everybody knew that Anne was “the captain’s woman.” Rackham’s decision to have Bonny as a crew member was unusual, as women were considered bad luck aboard ships. Female pirates were an anomaly and perceived liability. Anne refused to be deterred. Upon joining Rackham’s crew, she’s said to have silenced a rival shipmate by stabbing him in the chest!
Then she disguised herself as a man and participated equally in armed conflict. She would wear a man’s loose tunic and wide, short trousers, a sword hitched by her side, a brace of pistols tucked in a sash about her waist; a small cap perched atop a kerchief hiding her dark red hair – quite the romantic figure. Between those sporadic bouts of marauding, pirate life was all about sailing and maintaining a ship at sea. Our modern romantic picture of pirating comes more from Pirates of the Caribbean movies than from historical reality.
Anne eventually became pregnant and when Rackham found out, he dropped her off in Cuba to deliver the baby. There are several theories about what happened to Anne’s first child. Some think she abandoned the boy as it did not suit her pirate lifestyle. Others believe that Calico Jack had family in Cuba, who agreed to raise their child. Others think her baby died at child birth.
Craving the pirate life at sea, she divorced Bonny and married Rackham to continue their life as a married couple. After a few months, she returned to Rackham’s ship, but now one Mary Read was also on board. According to Johnson’s book, the Revenge had taken an English ship, and Mary Read was among those brought on board, disguised as a boy.
Our Anne, tried to seduce the handsome new recruit. Mary, perhaps trusting another woman aboard ship, confided in that Anne that she too was a woman. Impressed by her courage, Anne promised to keep Mary’s secret and the women became close friends, confidantes and, depending on your source, even lovers!
They had much in common; Mary was also an illegitimate child who excelled at living in a man’s world. At age 13, dressed as a boy, she served as a “powder monkey” on a British man-of-war, carrying bags of gunpowder. She fell in love with her bunkmate and divulged her secret to him. They informed their captain she was a woman and she quit sailing. She married the young sailor, who unfortunately died shortly thereafter.
Her shipmates never suspected Mary’s true gender. Like Anne, she was aggressive and ruthless, always ready for a raid, and swore like a classic drunken sailor. Loose clothing hid her breasts, and no one thought twice about her lack of facial hair. Her shipmates, most of them in their teens and early twenties, were also smooth-faced.
Initially, Calico Jack was jealous of Anne’s relationship with “Mark,” and one day burst into Anne’s cabin, intending to slit his/her throat. To save her life, Mary stood up and ripped opened her shirt, exposing her breasts. With one woman already aboard, a shocked Rackham agreed to keep Mary’s secret from the crew and, like Anne, treat her as an equal. During battles, Anne and Mary now fought side by side, wearing men’s attire, wielding a sharpened machete and loaded pistol in either hand.
1720 proved especially lucrative for the Revenge. They took seven fishing sloops near Harbor Island. Anne and Mary had led a raid against a schooner, shooting at the crew and cursing loudly as they gathered their plunder of tobacco and tea. Calico Jack started to build a reputation and the English government took notice. The accounts of Anne’s exploits as a Caribbean pirate also became known. Bonny’s name got so notorious that Governor Rogers added her to his “Wanted Pirates” circular, widely published in newspapers.
In October, they were anchored in Dry Harbor Bay, Jamaica after a successful raid. Anne and Mary noticed a mysterious sloop gliding up alongside them early one morning. They realized it was one of the governor’s vessels, and called their crewmates to arms. Captain Barnet, an ex-pirate, now a pirate hunter and commander in the British Navy, was under a commission from the Governor of Jamaica to attack Rackham’s ship and arrest the crew.
A few men rushed to the deck, but many were passed out drunk from the previous night’s debauchery. They’d been celebrating all night after capturing a Spanish merchant ship. Captain Barnett ordered the pirates to surrender, but Calico Jack instead fired a deck gun at them. Barnett ordered an attack, and the barrage disabled Rackham’s ship. The few crew on the Revenge’s deck ran into the hold for cover.
They remained on deck, firing their pistols and swinging their cutlasses at the boarders. Mary was so disgusted by her drunken crew she stopped fighting long enough to peer down into the hold and shout at them. “If there’s a man among ye, ye’ll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!” When not a man came up, she fired into the hold, killing one of them. Anne, Mary and Calico Jack were quickly overpowered and outnumbered. Rackham surrendered the Revenge and were all taken prisoner.
Every member of Rackham’s crew, including the two women were chained and transported to Port Royale in Jamaica to stand trial. The island was shocked when the real identities of Anne Bonny and Mary Read were revealed. The crew’s trial was a huge sensation when the background of the two famous female prisoners was revealed.
Calico Jack and the male crew members were all found guilty of the crime of piracy. The sentence by Governor Lawes was death by hanging. Calico Jack was to be executed in early November. His final request was to see his beloved Anne. But rather than consoling him, she stared at him through the bars with disgust, “Had your crew fought like men, you need not be hanged like a dog.” The body of the hanged Rackham was placed near the entrance of the Port Royale’s harbor as a warning to all.
Ten days later, Anne and Mary stood trial at the Admiralty Court. Both of them pleaded not guilty to all charges, nevertheless both were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged as well. Here is where their tale takes an interesting turn. Read and Bonny then both revealed they were “quick with child” and “pleaded their bellies,” asking for mercy because they were pregnant! In accordance with English law, both women received a temporary stay of execution until they gave birth.
Mary Read died in prison from fever following childbirth in 1721. But the fate of Anne Bonny is unknown. The exact fate surrounding her imprisonment and execution have never been verified by any remaining accounts. There is no historical evidence of Bonny’s release or execution, so her last days remain a tantalizing mystery.
Stories vary on the rest of her life. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Anne Bonny’s father paid the governor for his daughter’s release and brought her back to Charles Town. There in 1721, she gave birth to Rackham’s second child. She supposedly remarried and lived a conventional life in South Carolina as a simple wife and mother, and had SIX more children. In this version, she lived a long life and died at the age of 80.
This seems far too boring a choice for the adventurous Anne we know. Another story says her father married her off to a Jamaican official, where she changed her name to Annabele and lived out her days quietly, dying at a ripe old age. Still another says she lived out her life on the English coast, where she purchased a tavern and regaled the locals with tales of her exploits in the Caribbean. Some believe she took on a new identity and continued her pirating ways on the open sea.
Whatever Anne’s Bonny end, stories of her wild life made her one of the most popular female pirates of all time. Her fame only rose as she appeared in many works of fiction. Artists portrayed her as a fierce pirate, standing on deck with pistols drawn, dressed in battle-torn man’s clothes.
She was the inspiration of many stories of woman pirates in novels, plays, songs, movies, and even video games. Her rare, adventurous life was highly unusual in a time when very few women managed to escape the shackles of male-dominated society and simply lived their lives as they wished.