Legends of the Old West - NED BUNTLINE Ep. 1 | “Pirates and Heroes”

Episode Date: July 15, 2020

Edward Judson becomes famous — and infamous — under the pen name Ned Buntline. He raises hell in Nashville; marries multiple women; suffers humiliation at the hands of a brothel owner; and begins a slanderous rivalry with a New York publisher. And all the while, he writes dozens of adventure stories that earn him legions of fans. Join Black Barrel+ for bingeable seasons with no commercials: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. On Saturday, March 14, 1845, Edward Zane Carroll Judson left his boarding house near the center of Nashville, Tennessee. He was a writer, better known by his pen name, Ned Buntline. He walked about a mile to Sulphur Spring, a popular recreational space. As usual, he brought his pistol. Upon reaching the park, the 25-year-old Buntline was spotted by two brothers, John and Robert Porterfield. Robert drew his own pistol and

fired at Buntline. Robert missed, three times. Buntline kept backing away, bobbing and weaving to avoid the shots. He begged Robert not to shoot him. Finally, after the third shot, Buntline got command of his own pistol. He raised it and fired one shot. On that warm, dusty afternoon, Ned Buntline killed his first man. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch, and organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business,

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Bacardi. Do what moves you. Live passionately. Drink responsibly. Copyright 2024. Bacardi, its trade Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. And this is a four-part anthology about one of the greatest scoundrels in American history,

Ned Buntline, the man who discovered Buffalo Bill Cody and turned him into a celebrity. This is Episode 1, Pirates and Heroes. A few months before Ned Buntline killed Robert Porterfield, the people of Nashville were excited to have Buntline move to town. Decades before he ever thought about the story of Buffalo Bill, Buntline was an up-and-coming writer. He had already started several magazines in other states.

Although they had all eventually run out of money, his stories within them became wildly popular. Other papers loved to reprint them. Most of Buntline's stories were inspired by his time in the Navy a few years before going to Nashville. In fact, the writer gave himself the name Buntline because the word referred to the rope attached to the foot of a square sail. While in the Navy, Buntline served in a unit called the Florida Squadron. The squadron's mission was to fight indigenous people who threatened U.S. military outposts along the South Florida coast.

Ned was promoted to officer. He fought along both the east and west coasts of the territory and ventured deep into the mysterious Everglades. Bunline took these experiences in Florida and made them into dozens of swashbuckling adventure stories. They were highly exaggerated and mostly fictional. But the public couldn't get enough of them. At last, here was reading material to thrill the masses. of them. At last, here was reading material to thrill the masses. These were not the stuffy fables preferred by the upper middle class of the eastern seaboard. And so, when Buntline arrived

in Nashville before Christmas, some townspeople were thrilled that the storyteller planned to start a literary journal there. But some were wary, to be sure. The newspapers had already printed stories about his previous journals going bankrupt in Ohio and Kentucky. And they'd printed stories that said Buntline cavorted with women. This cavorting was a problem for society people, because Ned Buntline was married. He'd married a young woman in Florida while in the Navy. Her name was Severina, and by all accounts, she was beautiful and intelligent and pregnant. Buntline left Severina at a Kentucky hotel while he traveled the steamship routes of the Ohio River Valley. At a stop in one town, he learned that three fugitives were wanted in Tennessee

for the gruesome murder of a young woman and a sheriff. Three fugitives were wanted in Tennessee for the gruesome murder of a young woman and a sheriff. Buntline heard there was a $500 reward for the capture of these fugitives. He grabbed a gun and set off in search of the fugitives. Amazingly, he found them hiding in some woods. He captured two of them and tied them to a tree. The third one ran away after an exchange of gunfire. Buntline turned in the two he caught.

Like so many of Ned's stories, this seemed too dramatic to be true. But it was. Tennessee's Treasury report for that year shows a payment to Buntline in the amount of $333, two-thirds of the reward for the capture of two of the three fugitives. And so, flush with cash, Ned Buntline headed for Nashville. Once in Nashville, it didn't take long for the writer to join the social scene. The city was already a destination for theater-goers and music lovers. It was a major steamboat hub and attracted all kinds of out-of-towners ready for a good time.

Bundline was one of those people. He liked beautiful women. And not long after he arrived, he began socializing with the wife of Robert Porterfield. Young Mrs. Porterfield made the mistake of falling prey to the charms of the dashing Ned Buntline. They talked about books and politics, things a young society wife should not be discussing, even with her husband. Mrs. Porterfield was also vulnerable. Her infant child had recently died.

Buntline lent a sympathetic ear, or at least he pretended to. Robert Porterfield asked his wife if she was intimately involved with Buntline. She profusely denied it. So did Buntline. Robert told the writer to stay away from his wife. But people still claimed to see them alone together talking. Whether or not Buntline and Mrs. Porterfield had an intimate relationship was beside the point. The mere thought of it, and the embarrassment of it, pushed Robert over the edge.

When Robert and his brother and his friends cornered Buntline at Sulphur Spring that fateful day, they planned to kill him. Instead, Buntline shot Porterfield above the right eye, and the man dropped to the ground. Porterfield never regained consciousness and died at 11 o'clock that night. The next morning, the sheriff arrested Buntline and brought him to the courthouse. People crowded inside to see if the judge would call for a grand jury to indict him. But before the judge could speak, the crowd exploded with excitement. Porterfield's brother pushed his way through the courtroom and headed for Buntline. It was clear that he meant to avenge his brother's death. The sheriff was quick.

He and another lawman grabbed the brother before he could reach Buntline. But it was no use. Friends of the Porterfield family pulled the sheriff off of John Porterfield. Porterfield pulled his revolver and fired at Buntline. Like his brother the day before, the younger Porterfield missed his mark. But Ned knew he wouldn't be lucky a third time, and he ran out of the courtroom as fast as he could. A mob chased after him, led by John Porterfield. They fired a few shots at Buntline, but they missed.

Buntline ran to the city hotel. He pushed aside frightened patrons and ran up three floors of stairs. Finally, out of breath, he hid in an empty room. The mob arrived, and Porterfield's brother and his friends went room to room looking for Buntline. When they got close, Buntline jumped over the room's balcony and tried to shimmy down one of its structural columns. And it didn't work. The red-haired rider dangled for a moment and then fell about 15 feet to the hard dirt ground. Miraculously, Buntline didn't break any bones, but he was stunned and badly bruised. He couldn't move. Luckily for the rider, the sheriff

happened to be there. The lawman and two others picked him up and took him directly to jail. But Buntline still wasn't safe from the wrath of John Porterfield. That evening, at around 10 o'clock, an angry mob battered down the doors of the jail and grabbed Ned Buntline. Buntline's adrenaline kicked in. Though he was badly hurt from his fall, the rider thrashed and resisted. But he was no match for the handful of angry Avengers. He saw they had a rope, and they meant to lynch him. Buntline begged his attackers to shoot him instead of hang him. He also begged for a minister. John Porterfield denied both requests, and dragged his nemesis to an awning in the public square.

He tied one end of the rope into a noose around Buntline's neck and threw the other over the awning. The crowd cheered. Porterfield and his friends hoisted Buntline up. Buntline struggled and gripped the rope around his neck, and then he experienced the greatest stroke of luck. and gripped the rope around his neck, and then he experienced the greatest stroke of luck. The rope broke, and Buntline fell to the ground, largely unharmed.

Then the sheriff and other deputies arrived. They dispersed the crowd and told Buntline he needed to leave Nashville immediately. A few hours later, the flamboyant rider was on a steamboat bound for Pittsburgh to the safety of his father's home. In the days and weeks after his attempted lynching, Bundline bragged to newspapers that he had loyal friends who cut the rope ahead of time. Maybe. The idea was pretty far-fetched. It was still more likely this was just another one of the dozens of lucky breaks Ned Buntline would get during his lifetime. Wherever he went, Buntline created conflict and controversy and seemed to

get away with it. And he seemed to live a life of adventure that rivaled the ones he wrote about. and he seemed to live a life of adventure that rivaled the ones he wrote about. Buntline arrived at his father's home in Pittsburgh at the end of April 1846. His plan to build a literary empire in Nashville had obviously failed. And darker news arrived. His wife Severina died alone in Kentucky, and so did a baby he'd never met. They were buried in an unmarked grave. After Buntline stopped in Pittsburgh, he decided to go to the publishing capital of the world, New York City.

But he was just the son of a schoolmaster. The East Coast publishing world was controlled by blue-blooded elites. Still, Buntline knew he could make it in New York if he could just be taken seriously. He was crafty, and he soon realized he would have to look successful to be successful in New York. He needed money. A publisher in Boston offered to pay him a decent amount of cash to write stories of ships and pirates and romance. It might not be beautiful prose, but the publisher was more interested in sales than fine literature. Ned Buntline took up residence at a fancy hotel in Boston. He wrote nautical-themed stories for newspapers and novelettes that were cheap to produce and wildly popular. Soldiers leaving for the Mexican-American War liked to buy Ned's stories

and put them in their knapsacks. And Buntline liked to drink with these soldiers, because he gathered stories to write new ones. Buntline's stories were so vivid and entertaining that over time, the public just assumed he'd fought in the war himself. And of course, Buntline never corrected anyone on that point. He had cash and confidence after the sale of his seafaring stories, and then he dared to write a scathing criticism of the head of the US Navy for a controversial action the man took during the war. This publicity maneuver worked. The government responded with a criticism of Buntline, and the writer wasted no time publishing it.

The author looked like a government watchdog, in addition to being the popular author of maritime stories and war stories. He sold thousands more novelettes, and he was primed for the big time. Buntline married his second wife in April 1847. To date, no evidence has surfaced about her except her name in state vital records. He almost certainly abandoned her soon after the ceremony. In mid-1847, a Boston publisher hired Buntline to write The Black Avenger of the Spanish Main. This story of pirates and vigilantes was a new level of achievement for Buntline.

It sold so many copies that the publisher hired him to write a sequel called The Red Avenger. The tales were printed on cheap, lightweight paper. The novelettes could easily fit in a person's pocket. The little books became known as dime novels. Because of the popularity of his stories, people largely associated them with Ned Buntline. The young Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twain, was among the millions of Americans who were enthralled by the Black Avenger.

He later referenced him several times in his iconic book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In late 1847, Buntline was back in New York City. He had some money, some fine clothes, and an attitude. He rented an office on Broadway and started writing. He also tried to wine and dine the publishing scions whom he felt looked down on him. He knew they laughed behind his back for writing stories for the masses instead of the educated elite. But Ned noticed that while they might not bring him home to dinner with their wives, they liked to drink with him.

They always asked him about his adventures in the South, during and after the Navy. It was as if they could live vicariously through this red-headed adventurer, and then go back to their upper-crust lives. And so, Buntline decided to stick with what he knew best. He kept writing his thrilling tales. In early 1848, Buntline put out his own magazine that featured a series about the mysteries and miseries of New York City Each installment was filled with cautionary tales about drinking, gambling, and prostitution It told of the moral failings of millionaires It blamed immigrants for crime Readers cheered for the working-class protagonists in his stories,

and they lined up to buy the next installment. Finally, a New York publishing house offered Bundline a deal. While it paid him to keep churning out his popular stories, it also let him print his own newspaper, which had a political bent that was largely anti-immigrant. In spite of his success, Bundline wanted more fame and more money. He devised a plan to increase sales, and the plan involved seduction, blackmail, and eventually, murder. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it.

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Buntline's anti-immigrant sentiments did not prevent him from marrying an immigrant. In January of 1848, he married a wealthy British woman named Anna Bennett. With a large cash infusion from Bennett's father, Buntline printed even more copies of his own newspaper, aptly named Ned Buntline's Own. At first, his in-laws were charmed by Ned. They even asked him to move into their fashionable home in the West Village of New York City. He and Anna announced they were expecting a baby. But soon, strange rumors about Ned's behavior started to reach Anna's father.

It turned out that the writer was blackmailing wealthy or connected people to keep their names out of his newspaper. Ned seemed to have incredible timing. He always managed to walk by a house of prostitution or a gambling den just as someone with lots of money was going in or out. And then Anna's father soon realized that his son-in-law was spending a lot of time in these places himself. One wealthy merchant fought back and said he would shoot Buntline if he printed that he was an inveterate gambler. Buntline threatened him right back. Against his better judgment, Anna's father filed a complaint against the merchant and managed to get the merchant and his son-in-law in front of a judge to work out their differences.

Buntline and the other man called a truce, but the judge fined them both $3,000 for their roles in disrupting the peace. Ned was earning lots of money, but he was also putting it back into his printing business, so he didn't have the cash to pay the fine. His father-in-law took care of it, and for a while, it seemed that Ned had learned his lesson. His papers were selling out in New York and Pennsylvania,

even though he constantly battled libel charges and received threats of violence. The threats obviously didn't make his in-laws happy, nor did his rise in alcohol consumption. They often had to pull him out of his favorite saloon on Broadway. consumption. They often had to pull him out of his favorite saloon on Broadway. But Bundline was earning upwards of $1,000 a month, an enormous sum at the time. And people clamored for more stories about fair maidens of the sea and pirates and fights with Mexican soldiers and Indians. So Bundline kept writing them. His wife Anna was pregnant, and Anna's family figured that once the baby was born, Bundline would settle down. But they were wrong. On April 9th, 1849, Ned Bundline's wife suffered the ultimate humiliation at the hands of her husband.

Kate Hastings was a madam at a local house of prostitution. She was tired of Ned calling her names and revealing her clients in his paper. On that day in April, as Buntline walked down Broadway, Hastings took her revenge. She jumped out in front of him and yelled, you dirty, mean, sneaking, paltry son of a bitch. How dare you publish me in your paper? mean, sneaking, paltry son of a bitch. How dare you publish me in your paper? And then, Hastings pulled out a horse whip and lashed Buntline so hard he had to seek medical attention. Buntline demanded the police arrest Hastings, but she had already turned herself in. Several days later, the two pled their cases in front of a judge. Hastings waited until the courtroom was completely full of reporters and then waltzed in. She might have been the head of a house of

ill repute, but she was a proud woman. She showed the judge all of the lewd stories Buntline had written about her. And she happily embarrassed Buntline by recounting how she had whipped him until he begged for mercy. In the end, the judge declared her guilty of the complaint, but only fined her six cents. And Ned's problems weren't done. A few months earlier, he'd moved his office to the swankier address of 2 Astor Place. There, he set his sights on provoking James Gordon Bennett, who was no relation to his wife. This Bennett was the founder, editor, and publisher of the New York Herald. Bennett was successful and respected, and a Catholic immigrant, so he was a natural mark

for Buntline. Since Buntline was always looking for a fight, it seemed likely he hoped Bennett would storm into his office and start one. Then he could write about it and take the moral high ground. But the veteran publisher of the Herald would not lower himself to Buntline's level. However, he did take advantage of a situation that fell right into his lap, He did take advantage of a situation that fell right into his lap, which was Buntline's entanglement with the Madam Kate Hastings. The Herald's coverage of the trial highlighted the horse whipping and the laughter of bystanders both at the time and in the courtroom. According to Buntline's assistant at the time, Buntline read the account and then charged into his office in a rage. He demanded pen and paper and started writing about Bennett's sister-in-law.

Just days after Buntline went to court because he was whipped by a madam, he printed a salacious article about Bennett's young and innocent relative. In it, he intimated that she was often seen at houses of ill repute, leaving no doubt he was calling her a prostitute. And that was the last straw for James Gordon Bennett. Bennett immediately charged Buntline with libel. Authorities arrested Buntline on May 4, 1849, and held him for $2,000 bail. Buntline's friends paid the money, and Buntline was released, though the city of New York would have been better if he'd stayed in jail. A judge set a trial date for a few weeks later,

but the trial would get postponed. Ned Buntline was about to set in motion a series of events that would dwarf his feud with Bennett. Buntline was in a rage because of the situation with Bennett. He was furious that a British-born Catholic had gotten the better of him. His in-laws, who were British, could barely tolerate him. This erratic, angry man had taken over their lives and their home. Bundline also drank so heavily that Anna's mother insisted he confine himself to a room of the house that had a separate entrance. And Anna was just days away from giving birth. During these days of conflict, Bundline found a new distraction.

He found a flame that he could fan into an inferno. A theatrical performance of Macbeth was scheduled for May 10th at the Astor Place Opera House. The opera house was about a year and a half old. It was conceived as an upscale retreat for Manhattanites who wanted to avoid the rabble that often attended theater performances in the 19th century. Things didn't really work out that way. The founders couldn't keep away the non-elites. As a result, New York, and the United States in general, struggled to attract opera performers from Europe. Not long after it opened, the Astor Place Opera House conceded that it had to cater mostly to working-class and middle-class ticket buyers. Even though the opera house was shunned by European opera performers, it attracted Shakespearean actors. Everyone loved Shakespeare,

regardless of their station in life. A British actor named William McCready was set to play Macbeth. He'd toured America many times, and he was always well-received. But over the last few years, McCready had sparred in the press with an American actor named Edwin Forrest. Forrest was also a good actor, but his mannerisms and enunciations were decidedly different from McCready's. Both men found success depending on which city or town happened to prefer their style. mannerisms, and enunciations were decidedly different from Macready's. Both men found success depending on which city or town happened to prefer their style. For the most part, Macready appealed to the wealthy and upper-middle classes, while Forrest appealed to the working and middle classes.

On May 7, 1849, Macready appeared in Macbeth at the Astor Place Opera House, but the performance came to a grinding halt after the first act. Audience members threw rotten fruit, dead animals, and jars filled with urine. MacReady initially refused to go through with any more performances in America, never mind the opera house. more performances in America, never mind the opera house. But great writers like Herman Melville, Washington Irving, and other members of the country's budding literati class begged him to try again. They argued that real theater goers would outnumber the rabble-rousers and drown them out. And just to be safe, the city of New York would supply some militiamen to keep everyone in line. McCready was convinced. He would perform at the opera house on May 10th. But while McCready and his troupe rehearsed,

Ned Buntline plotted. He was determined to make it a night no one would forget. He would unleash his own literary talents against a British-born actor to get back at the British-born newspaper mogul who'd taken him to court, and maybe his British-born in-laws as well. Next time on the show, Ned Buntline starts the Astor Place Riot the bloodiest event in New York City since the Revolutionary War that's next week on Legends of the Old West

and members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week they already receive early access and the entire season to binge all at once sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website blackbarrelmedia.com memberships begin at just five dollars per month this season was written by julia brickland author of the notorious life of ned buntline

a tale of murder betrayal and the creation of buffalo bill audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks for listening.