Employee of the Month

As if the job you perform for eight hours a day is all that defines you, it doesn't matter if you're also a spouse, a parent, a dungeon master, or a glassblower. All they care about is what you get paid to do for a living. The thing is, we are so much more than our occupations. We as human beings contain multitudes. We have passions and talents and people we love who fulfill us and enrich our lives. Well.

Elizabeth Sagrew didn't have any of those things. She was born in Ireland in the mid seventeen hundreds, and from what little is known about her, she had a heck of a temper. Her husband, a farmer, died suddenly, leaving her to raise her two small children alone. Without a single set to her name, Elizabeth was evicted from her home. It's not clear why she chose to move to the town of ross Common, one hundred and eighties six miles away, but she and her children walked all the way there

to start their lives over. Her youngest sadly did not make the trip. He succumbed to starvation and exposure, and was most likely buried along the road. Elizabeth and her older child Patrick, moved into a tiny house in ross Common. They resorted to panhandling and rubbaging through trash to get by. Occasionally, they'd also steal what they could from unsuspecting neighbors. The Sagrew's develop upd quite the reputation around town. For one,

Elizabeth's bad temper made her prone to violent outbursts. Patrick bore the brunt of these. In around sevent seventy five, he left home for good to serve in the British Army. He traveled to North America to serve the Crown. He wrote to his mother about his travels over the years, but his departure only sent Elizabeth spiraling inward. She got angrier and spent much of her time in her home. Occasionally she would take in a lodger, earning a few

pennies for a night's day. One night, a man appeared at her doorstep, asking for room and board. He was finally dressed and carried with him a small purse full of gold coins. Elizabeth let him in as she had done for others, allowing him to use her bed while she slept elsewhere. But this time she took note of the coin purse he had with him, and how all that gold could do wonders for her. She could finally afford proper food, maybe even a better house. The more

she thought about it, the darker her thoughts grew. That night, as the man sled, she approached the bed with a knife in her hand and stabbed him. She then relieved his body of the gold coins. As she went through his pockets, however, she came across some identification papers that he was also carrying. Elizabeth read them carefully. The man she had killed was none other than Patrick Segrew, her

eldest son. Filled with grief over the loss of her only son, she fled into the nights and confessed her crimes for all to hear. She was arrested, tried and sentenced to death for her crimes. Alongside a rogue's gallery of twenty other criminals. There were thieves and vandals, including children who had gone around knocking down fence posts for fun. Elizabeth Lady Betty, as she had come to be known, would be hanged. A large crowd gathered around the gallows

to watch her pay for her crime. There was just one problem. The hangman was homesick. With no one else willing to take on the job, and a restless crowd waiting to see some executions, Betty volunteered to do the deed one I one. She sent the other twenty four prisoners ahead of her to their deaths as she released the trap door below them. Her performance that day left

an impression on the authorities. In fact, she had inadvertently auditioned to be the regular hangman's replacement, as he eventually died from his illness. Lady Betty lived the rest of her life in jail. She had a garden she tended each day, and she covered her walls and charcoal sketches that she drew of the people she killed. Her life was difficult and tragic from beginning to end, and she died in prison in eighteen oh seven, and was buried

in an unmarked grave. The story surrounding her death is questionable as well. According to some she died of natural causes. However, the prevailing theory is that she was killed by another prisoner who hit her with a rock. Elizabeth Segrew never got her happy ending, but she did eventually find peace. It's just a shame so many people had to die for her to get there. When British Commander Robert Ross marched his army into Washington, d c. The night of

August eighteen fourteen, he wasn't expecting a ghost town. You see, President Madison and all of his government officials had already vacated the city in preparation for the invasion. With no one to stop him, Ross saw his opportunity for British vengeance and ordered the burning of the White House and the Capitol Building, which at that time housed the Congressional Library in the North Wing. It had no chance against British rockets and gunpowder, creating a blaze that claimed three

thousand books and maps. One of the few pieces to survive was and Accounts and Receipts book from eighteen ten, taken as a souvenir by Sir George Cockburn. When the war finally ended in February of eighteen fifteen, President Madison returned to d C, but found the city a bit lacking in amenities. The White House and the Capitol Building lay in ruins, and the books within nothing but ash. And that's when former President Thomas Jefferson returned to action.

A veteran of this kind of quandary, if you will. That's because in seventeen seventy, when Thomas Jefferson was just twenty seven years old, his family home burned down, taking with it the collection of books he had already amassed at his young age. Naturally it was the books Jefferson

lamented losing the most. So when more books were lost to flames in eighteen fourteen in d C, this time with Jefferson in a position to help, that's exactly what he did, offering his six thousand five volumes to the nation for any price they deemed fair. Problem solved, right, well, not necessarily, after all, this is politics, and nothing ever comes easy. Before Congress could accept Jefferson's offer and make a deal, they first had to pass a bill that

allowed them to do so. And in a tune eerily familiar to the modern ear. This bill did not pass unanimously, not even close. In fact, some Federalists didn't even want the books, one of whom claimed that they contained too much of Jefferson's and I quote infidel philosophy. So when the time came to vote, there was only one thing that counted a majority along party lines. But they got it. With Congress out of the way, the US was clear

to repair the damage. They paid Jefferson twenty three thousand, nine and fifty dollars for his collection, roughly half a million dollars today. Now, before you go accusing Jefferson of cashing in on the situation for a quick payday, remember that Jefferson offered to sell for and I quote whatever valuation they deemed fair. Besides, he had his own bills

to pay to. Over half of that sum was used to pay off debts to William Short, who funded Jefferson's nail manufactory, and to John Barnes, who covered Jefferson's kind donation to a friend in need. By May of eighteen five, team just two months after the conclusion of the war, Jefferson's books were packed up in their original cases that they were shelved in at Monticello, loaded into ten wagons, and carted off to their new home in the capital.

But the story still doesn't end there. In fact, you could say that there was still more fuel to throw on the fire. On Christmas Eve of eighteen fifty one, the library burned down yet again, this time at no fault of the British, but rather a faulty chimney flew. The fire destroyed nearly two thirds of the then fifty five thousand volumes, and yes, that included most of what

Jefferson provided in eighteen fifteen. Not all is lost, though, Remember the account book taken by Sir George Cockburn as a souvenir in nineteen forty, It was gifted back to the United States Government and restored to its rightful place in the new and improved Library of Congress, now in its own building. There it sits alongside over one hundred million other books, all hoping that that old adage of

third times a charm holds true. And in case you're wondering, despite the new building being built in it has indeed been recently updated with modern fire prevention measures, including a sprinkler system because you know, just in case. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how

Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Ye