Up in Smoke

Even podcast creators like myself have to admit the human urge to illustrate our imaginations is one of our oldest impulses. Flora shallcross Stone knew this better than most nineteenth century women. She was an avid patron of the arts, a woman who loved the theater, and in eighteen seventy one she married a photographer. It was an odd match from the start. Her new husband, Edward, was twenty years older and quite

a workaholic. Although they would go on to have one son together, he rarely stayed in one place for very long, often abandoning his family for assignments photographing landscapes along the west coast of North America. So it's perhaps understandable that Flora, left alone with relatives in Calistoga, California, felt abandoned. I mean, who wouldn't right in her loneliness. She turned to a mutual friend of theirs, Harry Larkins, a reporter for the

Evening Post. The two began an illicit affair, which they did their best to conceal from the ever absent Edward. He would find out about it, however, and could front Larkins repeatedly. The reporter did not seem intimidated, even when Edward visited him at the Evening Post offices and struck him across the face. The matter seemed settled when Edward left again for an assignment in Portland, but thanks to a mutual friend, he would learn that Flora Barah and

Harry were still writing each other love letters. Enraged, he tracked Larkins down. On October seventeenth of eighteen seventy four, Larkins, staying at a hotel on a job for the Post, received a knock on his door. He answered it to see the outraged face of Edward. The photographer shot Larkins through the heart at point blank range, and Larkins died almost instantly. Edward turned himself into the local police and was promptly arrested for murder. Reporters across the country ate

up this story. It was a lurid tale that had everything sex, violence, betrayal. By the time Edward went to trial in early eighteen seventy five, there was a wave of public sympathy on his side. He was seen as the injured party in this situation, and his willingness to surrender himself over to the police helped reinforce that story. Now, it's impossible to know how Flora was feeling at this time.

Some sources say that she filed for divorce as early as December seventeenth, although her petition hung in limbo during her husband's trial. It's hard to imagine that she shared the sentiments of the press. One way or another. She

had had enough of Edward. As for the trial, the judge's instructions to the jury were that there were four possible outcomes, guilty of murder in the first degree, guilty of a lesser sentence, not guilty by reason of insanity, or not guilty, and the not guilty verdict was seen as the least likely, given that Edward turned himself in

a clear admission of guilt. The judge instructed the all male jury that even if the allegations of infidelity against Harry Larkin's were true, Edward did not have the right to take the law into his own hands. They should weigh the evidence without bias. However, when the verdict came down, the judge was in for a shock. The jury unanimously determined that Edward was not guilty. Even at that time, it was seen as a blatant defiance of the judge's instructions.

The evidence was clear, and yet the justifiable homicide verdict stood and Edward was released from custody. Flora and Edward's marriage would not last. They divorced after the trial, and Flora passed away before the age of thirty. Edward would give up their son to an orphanage so that he could go back to photography as a career, free from both his family and the law. Edward would go on to fame and fortune. While he was briefly famous for shooting a man, he would later make his mark on

history by shooting a horse many times. In fact, you see, he was the photographer behind a Horse in Motion, the series of twelve images showing a horse and jockey at full gallop would become known as the first piece of cinema. Images laid in sequence to create the impression of motion. He would conduct many similar experiments throughout his career to capture human and animal motion, decades before the first motion

pictures became popular in France. So the next time you pull out your phone to take a video of your pet, pause for a moment to remember the murderer who made this technology possible. Planning the heist was easy, it was what came after that was the hard part. Radu Dogaru had performed the same routine for days. He would take a stroll through the museum park at the heart of Rotterdam. He'd pause at the Kunstall Gallery, peering through the broad

windows at the Dutch Master's displayed inside. To the security guard stationed in the museum, he seemed like a curious art lover. After all, dozens of people looked through the windows at the arts every day. But Radhu wasn't studying brushstrokes. He was studying exit routes. Twenty eight year old Radu had been making a living in the Netherlands as a petty criminal, robbing houses with a crew of friends from the same Romanian village, but he'd gotten sick of the

small scores and he wanted something bigger. He had heard that there was much in art and that the Konstal was putting together a new exhibit. Radu had taken his friends to see that exhibit, bringing along their girlfriends so as not to look suspicious. He had noticed three very important things. The first was that in one hall there were seven medium sized paintings, just the right size to carry. The second was that the fire exit seemed very easy to force open, and the third there were no guards

on sites after dark. It was perfect. So at just after three in the morning on October sixteenth of twenty twelve, Radu and his three friends burst through the fire door and into the gallery. Two minutes and forty eight seconds later, they were gone, with millions of euros of artwork in hand. When authorities and museum officials arrived at the scene just a few minutes later, it was carnage. Then one fell swoop.

The museum had lost priceless works by Matisse, Picasso, and Monet, and there was no telling whether they'd ever be seen again. It's not uncommon for art thieves to rem anonymous, For years, the thieves who ransacked the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in nineteen ninety, one of the biggest museum heist in American history, still haven't been identified. But that wasn't the case with

this story. Just three months after Radu and his accomplices broke into the constall they were in police custody, still missing though the art now. At first, authorities worried the paintings could be miles away. By now, they might be hidden in a safe house, or maybe even already sold to a buyer and lost forever. However, this was assuming Radu and his accomplices were experienced art thieves. The truth was this was their first foray into the world of

fine art. While famous paintings have eye dropping price tags, actually seeing that money as a thief is incredibly difficult. The second a famous painting goes missing from a museum, there's a target on it. You can't just hawk a Matisse at a pawn shop the way that you might a stolen watch, and any reputable art broker would immediately flag the authorities if they found a missas Picasso. Because of this, most art thieves have to go to private

buyers who are already lined up. If they don't, the stolen art may be left to molder in storage for years. It's like having millions in a bank account, but you can't withdraw a penny of it. And as you might have guessed, Radu and his friends did not have a buyer ready to go, so they ended up giving the paintings to Radu's mother in Romania for safe keeping. When authorities finally caught up with her, Radu's mother Olga confessed that she had buried the paintings and this was good news.

All the authorities needed her to do was lead them to the artworks and the museum would have its priceless collection returned. Olga balked. It wasn't that simple, she explained. As the authorities were closing in, she panicked, so she dug up the paintings, stacked them in her oven, and turned on the broiler. Nails and pigments found in her oven correspondent to several of the missing works, confirming Olga was telling the truth. Great art is supposed to inspire passion.

Careful to not let that passion run too hot, or you might find yourself like Olga and Radu, with millions of dollars of priceless art, all gone up in smoke. 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 Mankey 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 Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.