School of Humans. Huge announcement for American Filth.
The Brits have bravely asked American Filth to travel across the Pond and do a live recording at the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival in London. The show will be on Tuesday, October fifteenth at apm at the Bedford Pub And if you want to come to the show, I got the tickets linked in the show description or on the American Filth Instagram, or you can visit the Cheerful Earful website at Cheerfulearful dot co dot uk. It's going to be really fun and also it's very cheap. Wow but blah
blah blah live events. You guys are probably wondering what's today's episode about. Well, it's about a very bizarre incident in Boston where a woman got hanged for stealing a bonnet. Cue the theme song. This is American Filth and I'm Gabby Watts. Every week I tell you a filthy story
from American history. Today's episode executed for stealing a bonnet so in Boston on October ninth, seventeen eighty nine, several newspapers reported on a woman named Rachel Wall, who had been executed the day before for quote, snatching a bonnet off from another woman's head. This is pretty unbelievable that a woman would be hanged for merely stealing a bonnet.
Like.
Yes, at the time seventeen eighty nine people were hanged for theft, but that wasn't happening every day, and also women were generally given more lenient sentences. But this hat stealing woman, Rachel Wall, was hanged alongside three other men, all convicted of highway robbery, but again still a bonnet that was worth a mere seven shillings. The punishment seems a bit outsized for the crime, does it not. If this is what happens when you steal a bonnet, just
imagine what they would have done to Winona Wrider. The young woman who had her bonnet snatched was named Margaret Bender. She was about seventeen years old, and even she didn't want the thief, Rachel.
Wall, to be hanged.
Her granddaughter wrote about it and said, it was said that my grandmother never ceased to deplore the fact that a life was forfeited.
On her account.
And so yes, stealing a bonnet being executed for it seems crazy. So I did some further investigation wow, and found that these newspaper pas that reported on Rachel Wall were being a bit hyperbolic, as it was not just a bonnet that this lady stole. So what actually happened. Here's what one Boston newspaper wrote on April second, seventeen eighty nine, a couple weeks after the original theft quote. A singular kind of robbery for this part of the world took place on Friday evening last as a woman
was walking alone. She was met by another woman who seized hold of her and stopped her mouth with her handkerchief and tore from her head her bonnet and cushion, after which she flung her down, took her shoes and buckles, and then fled. She was soon after overtaken and then committed to jail. So Wow, Clearly Rachel Wall did more than steal a bonnet. She also stole some shoes and buckles. And not only that, she also violently assaulted Margaret Bender.
You might be wondering what does it mean A seized hold of Margaret Bender and stopped her mouth. Well, according to Margaret Bender's granddaughter, Rachel Wall pulled out Margaret's tongue and seemed.
Like she was going to rip it out, which she did not.
But still, even with that added to Rachel's crimes, Margaret did not want Rachel hanged, and so shoes, buckle's bonnet, violent assault. Those are the crimes, but that's not the end of them. If we look at the actual arrest record of Rachel Wall, it alludes to her having an extensive criminal past. In the arrest record, it says that Rachel committed a quote sundry of other thefts, a sundry
heaven forbid. Some of Rachel Wall's previous hijinks were described on April twenty fifth, seventeen eighty nine in the record of the Supreme Judicial Court. At this point, Rachel Wall has just been sitting in jail for months. First, in the record, it identifies Rachel Wall as of Boston and a spinster rude.
I don't know why they need to say that.
And then the record outlines some of Wall's previous encounters with the law, like, for example, she quote was duly convicted of feloniously stealing, taking and carrying away the goods and chattels of Perez Morton, Okay, and now we're getting
about spicyer. You guys remember Perez Morton, right, He was that lawyer and politician in Boston who had an affair with his wife's younger sister, and then that younger sister killed herself, and then their neighbor wrote a book about the whole thing, hoping to make a lot of money, but then it was a flop.
You guys remember him well.
The same year that that scandal broke, Rachel Wall apparently stole his stuff. At the time, Perez was spending a lot of money and time trying to get that book about his family off the shelves, so he was in a litigious mood. Rachel really had no chance of getting away with her crimes against him, But Perez wasn't the
only person she stole from. The court record continues on the last Tuesday of August in the year of our Lord seventeen eighty eight, that said Rachel Wall was duly convicted of breaking and entering the dwelling house of one Lumiel Ludden, and feloniously stealing, taking and carrying away the goods and chattels of said Loumiel.
Who is that guy? Unclear?
But he was probably a merchant in Boston, but what is clear is that Rachel had a thirst for theft hashtag theft thirsty. At Wall's trial for the stolen bonnet, the jury found her guilty and then the Attorney general moved that she be executed for highway robbery. The governor of Massachusetts at the time was John Hancock. He's the dude who signed the Declaration of Independence and really big handwriting,
and he's the one who signed her execution notice. So on October eighth, seventeen eighty nine, Rachel Wall, along with those three men who were also accused of highway robbery, were brought to the Boston Common where thousands of people had gathered to watch, and they were hanged until dead. Rachel Wall was twenty nine, but still to be hanged
for stealing a bonnet is extreme. To be hanged for stealing the bonnet and then also two previous thefts, that also seems extreme, But perhaps the Bostonians of.
The law were eager to hang her.
Because she was in fact guilty of other crimes, crimes that they didn't have enough evidence to prosecute. Because Rachel Wall might have been responsible for killing twenty four people because Wall was a pirate. We'll be right back after these soothing advertisements. In colonial America, there was a fair amount of pirate stuff going on. You know, you guys have seen the pirates of the Caribbee and you get it.
Because just as the founders of this United States wanted freedom from mommy England, other people wanted freedom from everyone to pillage and plunder as much as they wanted in the relatively lawless oceans of the Americas. Along with pirates, there are also privateers, people who privately owned ships and worked on commission Sometimes they'd run slave ships, or they'd get commissioned by governments to fight, kind of like seafaring mercenaries.
A lot of privateers were hired by the Continental Congress during the American Revolution to duke it out with Britain's powerful navy. Britain also hired privateers, and so while privateers aren't pirates, sometimes pirates would become privateers. You know, sometimes it makes business sense to work with the law, sometimes it doesn't. But Rachel Wall, for about a year of her life, was pretty much a straight up pirate. So let's hear directly from Rachel Wall. The evening before her execution,
Boston Newspapers published her last words. It's basically the only source about her life. And while I want to believe women, Rachel does seem to exaggerate and law just a little bit. So here's how the last words began, read by one of our producers, Julia christgau.
I. Rachel Wall was born in the town of Carlisle in the state of Pennsylvania in the year seventeen sixty, of honest and reputable parents who were alive and in good health. Not long since. I had three brothers and two sisters alive and will My father was a farmer, and my parents gave me a good education and instructed me in the fundamental principles of the Christian religion and taught me the fear of God. And if I had followed the good advice, I should never have come to this untimely fate.
Oh wow, isn't she a godly gal. I'm sure she's presenting herself as a God fearing woman because that's what she is, not because she's trying to garner sympathy before her execution aka incite a wild Christian mob that prevents her death. But anyway, most scholars agree with this account. At the beginning, Rachel was born in seventeen sixty in Carlisle.
Her last name was Schmidt.
And though she's saying these nice things about her parents, she didn't seem that happy as a farmer's daughter. She would spend a lot of time by the waterfront and even ran away a few times.
I left my parents without their consent when I was very young, and returning again was received by them, but could not be contented. Therefore I tarried with them. But two years before I left them again, and I've never seen him since.
And what was the reason that Rachel left her parents this last.
Time, Well, she met a man. One day.
She was down by the waterfront and she was getting harassed by some other young women. They were beating her up, but the fight got broken up by a man named George Wall.
Not much is known about George.
But Rachel Smith fell in love with this dastardly man immediately. Well he might have not been dastardly at the time, but he seemed like a roguish type, a rambling man, much.
Unlike her family, who were all farmers.
But eventually George and Rachel got married and they left Carlyle forever.
If I had never seen him, I should not have left my parents. I went with him to Philadelphia. We tarried there sometime, but left that place and went to New York, where we stayed about three months. From thence we came to Boston, where he tarried with me sometime and then went off, leaving me an entire stranger.
See, George becomes pretty dastardly soon after their marriage, but Rachel's making it seem that he up and.
Left her for no good reason.
But it's likely what happened is that he got a job as a fisherman and went out to sea to work. But still Rachel was all alone in Boston and she needed to make some money, so she entered the workforce as a servant. She was, according to her last words, perfectly happy with that honest profession. I'm sure what seems to have happened is during his fishermen job, George met five sailors, and he and those sailors concocted a plan.
Why continue sailing the ocean blue working for the man when they could commandeer their own vessel and make more money by stealing. Obviously, so the sailors and George came home and convinced their lovers to come along and join them in a life of piracy. That's why, ladies, if you ever match with a guy on tender, you need to make sure whether or not he's going to try to convince you to be a pirate with him.
Okay, just check that, see if they have anything written about it in their bio.
But also, if you and your couple friends are looking to spice up your life, why not try to find a boat and become pirates. So in seventeen eighty one, this band of fishermen's sailors and their lovers commandeered a boat called the Essex and sailed to the Isle of Shoals, a group of islands near the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. This is where they devised a piracy scheme. What they would do is after a storm, they would pretend their boat was broken and they needed help. While
the rest of the crew hid. Rachel posed as a lady in distress and yelled out to passing boats being like, oh, please.
Help me, I'm a sad shipwrecked lady.
And then and the well meaning crews of the other boats came and range to help Rachel and the.
Others would attack.
That's why it's important never to help anyone. After the tussle, the Essex crew would steal the goods and money on board the other ship, and then they would murder everyone over their brief stent as pirates. From seventeen eighty one to seventeen eighty two, the Essex robbed about a dozen ships, pilfering about six thousand dollars worth of goods and killing probably around twenty four people. But Rachel, remember she's a good, god fearing woman. She denied ever murdering anyone.
I acknowledge myself to have been guilty of a great many crimes, including sabbath breaking, stealing, lying, disobedience to parents, and almost every other sin a person could commit except murder. And I have not lived in the fear of God, nor regarded the kind admonitions and counsels of men. In short, the many small crimes I've committed are too numerous to mention, and is sheep.
But Rachel's pirate life would quickly come to an end. In seventeen eighty two, the Essex got caught in a storm and shipwrecked off the coast. Several of the crew members died, but it's not clear what happened to George. Rachel survived, and after the shipwreck she headed back to Boston to get back to her happy life as a servant, you know, the life she would have been happy to
lead without that dastardly husband of hers. In her job interviews, I imagine she was quite careful about the question, what's this blank year in your resume?
What were you do?
When people hate when they have a servant who is also a pirate. But even though Rachel had given up piracy technically, she continued to steal stuff as a side hustle. But it's not her fault that crime is so much more profitable than honest labor. Honestly, in the middle of the night, Rachel started sneaking on board ships docked in the harbor and stealing stuff, calling these evenings of thieving.
Her nocturnal excursions.
Like one time in seventeen eighty seven she crept on board a ship captained by a Frenchman, Yuck the French. She found that the door to the captain's cabin wasn't locked, so she snuck in and saw the captain and his mate asleep in their beds. I mean, come on, it was unlocked. It's as if they were asking for it. In the cabin, Rachel found a black silk bag that contained more than thirty pounds like the money, not like just thirty pounds of random pounds. And guess where it
was under the captain's head. Literally, he was snoozing on top of his money. But Rachel is so good at stealing, she was just able to get that thing right out of there and scud daddle off the ship. When she saw that bounty, she quote immediately sees the booty and decamped therewith as soon as possible. She then obviously spent her money very responsibly by partying. She quote spent it
freely in company as wicked as myself. Another time, Rachel went on board another ship and found the captain and the entire crew asleep. A silver watch was dangling from the ceiling above the captain's head. She took that, obviously, and then also took the silver buckles of his shoes. She then went through everybody else's stuff and pocketed all their money. Again, she needed to hang out with some wicked company. She took all this stuff to quote make
myself merry among my evil companions. Along with detailing these thefts and her final words, Rachel Wall relayed another tale that concerned the fate of her husband George Wall after the shipwreck in seventeen eighty two. As I said, it wasn't clear what happened to George, but Rachel knew his whereabouts. In seventeen eighty five, he was in the same jail where she gave her last words. At that time, Rachel
was going to help him escape. How well, she had some tools, including a saw and a file, which he could use to escape the jail from the inside. But obviously she had to sneak those tools in. You can't just give a prisoner a saw and a file. You can't be like, well, these are my husband's emotional support tools. He needs them. So what she did is she baked the tools into a loaf of bread, and then she had someone give that bread to the prison guard to
give to George. And luckily the prison guard did not chomp on the loaf himself, otherwise he would have found it nutritiously dense with iron. But the prison guard gave it to George, and George quickly said about trying to escape from his cell. But Unfortunately, Rachel said that as he employed the tools on the door, he was discovered and his fate may be the same as his wife's. She does not give the resolution to the story. Come on, Rachel,
we're curious. I don't want to go dig through court records.
So yes.
In this last testament, Rachel Wall admitted she was guilty of many crimes, but when it came to the bonnet, this is what Rachel said.
With regard to the above robbery, I would beg permission to relate a few particulars. I had been at work all the preceding day and was on my way home in the evening without design to injure any person. I never saw miss Bender, the person i'm charged with robbing, that evening, and was quite surprised when the crime is laid to my charge.
Yep, she's saying she is innocent. She didn't steal that bonnet.
The witnesses who swore against me are certainly mistaken, but as a dying person, I freely forgive them.
Wow, isn't Rachel a wonderful person.
She's like, Hey, these people are accusing me of something I'm innocent of, but I forgive you.
She ended, her last words, with.
This and now into the hands of Almighty God, I commit my soul, relying on His mercy through the merits and meditation of my Redeemer, and die an unworthy member of the Presbyterian Church in the twenty ninth year of my age.
Unfortunately, even with these last words, Rachel did not endear herself to the Bostonian public or the judicial system.
As we all know, she was hanged, and this.
Execution is historically significant because it was the last time the state of Massachusetts executed a woman. But clearly she wasn't executed just for stealing a bonnet. The bonnet stealing was just what they used to pin her down for her numerous crimes. But if this had happened a few years later, they wouldn't have been able to get her for that either, because the laws were updated and you could no longer get executed for an unarmed robbery or
even an unarmed robbery. Sorry, every week we learn a lesson from American Filth, and I think the lesson from this week's episode is if.
You want to bond it, just buy one. It's not that expensive. Talk to you guys next time.
American Filth is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcast. This episode was written and hosted by me Gabby Watts. Julia Chris Gal played Rachel wall Our. Executive producers are Brandon Barr, Virginia Prescott, and Elsie Crowley. And you can follow along with the show on Instagram at American Filth Pod. Please also subscribe, like, leave a review, share the pod with your friend's enemies, families, etc. Also, if you're in London, please come to the show October fifteenth,
eight pm. It's gonna be so fun. Tickets are in the show notes. Bye School of Humans.