The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 181 - Martin Tabert and Convict Leasing

Episode Date: June 13, 2016

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the last days of Martin Tabert and the practice of convict leasing in the South. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to the dollop! This is an American History podcast. Each week I

read a story from American History to my friend... Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. You don't? Nope. Never do. How you doing? Good, are you? I'm okay. Gareth, you're some vikin' in. It's gonna be fun. Yeah. Let's do this shit. There you go. Yeah. God, do you want to look who to do? I'll do one buck. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Stay okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna become a tickly podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of the town. All hail queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to Mingle and do what? Pray. Hi, Gary. No. I see it done, my friend. No.

You guys, we're on the All Things Comedy Network, which is a network of podcasts. Go check out AllThingsComedy.com. Also, this podcast is brought to you by our sponsors on Patreon. We want to thank each and every one of you who subscribe to the podcast. It is very, very helpful. Check out Jose, just like a king. Yeah, he's the king of the castle. Some people are definitely into Jose being mic'd, and I gotta be honest, Jose does not talk that much. Yeah, him being mic'd. I mean, we could strap a GoPro on him. I mean, I gotta be honest, it's not what he would say probably that great, because he was just looking at wood. Well, his English isn't that good either. No. He's not, he

still isn't fully grasped. Oh, he's Jose, because he's from Mexico. Yeah, his Spanish is bueno. August 26th, 1899. Okay. Sure. Martin Tabert was born in Minnesota. He was the 9th of 14 kids. Jesus. Although two of his siblings died. It goes without question. That is a low number. It is a low number. You don't really expect to hear like eight. Yeah. No, that's, yeah, they did okay. Yeah. His parents were immigrants, his mother from Austria, and his father was from Russia. So he's your classic American white first generation. Yeah. Right. Known for their humor. Known for their humor. The Russians, the Russian-Austria combo especially. You get, sidle up next to them at a party. Oh my God. The timing. So fun. Yeah. So funny. Maybe we kill him.

Excuse me? The family moved to Munich, North Dakota at some point where they farmed. Starting when he was very young, Martin was given adult responsibilities on the 500 acre family farm. Many of his brothers and sisters had left home already. Sure. And Martin was needed to work the farm. Okay. All 500 acres. All 500 acres. Sure. And he did. One can assume that someone's spending that much time working on a farm can put in a good day of labor, right? Yeah. Yeah, I would think. Your farm guy, you're going to be fucking ready for a long day of working. Sure. You're leading me. No, I'm just putting that out there. I'm just trying to describe what this gentleman might be like. Okay. So he's probably a sturdy fella. He's probably strong. When World War

I ended, one of Martin's brothers returned to the farm, which gave Martin finally a little bit of freedom. He had a brief fight. Thank God you lived. And Martin decided to take a trip to see the rest of the country. Okay. America. Sure. A little Eat, Pray, Love. A little Eat, Pray, Love. I haven't seen that. Well, me either. But you can still do hacky references. Is that what they do in that movie? Well, Julia Roberts. Yeah. She doesn't go across America, but you know, she goes and finds her inner Julia. Is that what it is? Yeah, she goes and eats and prays and loves. She falls in love with a guy on the beach. She shouldn't, but she has to. I'm so glad I never saw it. Oh, yeah. She prays at one point. She eats. She loves the pasta. Sounds a lot like Star Wars. What part?

The part where they go places. Okay. Very, very easy to make that comparison. The part where there's humans. That's not, yeah. There are humans. Well, I don't know if they're humans or from like Tatooine and stuff. They're not necessarily humans. Well, what are they? They're humans. We got to take a little, we got to take a little bit of leeway. If you want to take this outside, I will fight you over this and I have a damaged look in a science fiction movie. You got to take a little bit of leeway. Sometimes people from other planets look exactly like humans. Oh, I can't. I can't do this. Well, you are doing it. Stop me. He had money that he had saved up over the years, but he's still planning to stop where he could

and work part-time. Sure. As he explored America and saw the sites. Right. So far, it's a good story. Nothing strange. This guy had now he's probably got a stick with a handkerchief tied to it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, he's got some thumb out. He's spindle stiffen. After a bit of time, away from the farm, he found himself in Florida. Unfortunately, not good. Why? Because Florida's a great place. It's been terrible since 1899. Nothing has ever gone wrong there. Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, his plan was not going according to plan. The jobs he was expecting to land were few and far between. And when he got to Florida, he was completely out of money. Well, he'll fit right in. Yeah. Just start making math. Yeah. Yeah. Probably having a little

bit too much pride, he decided not to write and ask his family for money. And he just kept going south. Then he made the terrible error of writing a train in Florida without a ticket. Okay. I thought that's what you did. No, he got on it. He didn't pay. Got out of the train. So on December 15, 1921, a Leon County deputy sheriff arrested Martin for quote, stealing a ride on a railroad train. Okay. He probably didn't think much of it at the time, but he was about to become involved in a system that was trying to survive after the end of slavery. The above ground railroad? I'm a little bit of foreshadowing. Okay. I just foreshadowed. Sure. It's sad I had to tell you that. Right. Thank you. Thanks for the context. I always like a good tip to foreshadowing. That's

what we call foreshadowing. Well, the look of confusion on your face. Well, I don't understand. Yeah. Isn't that what you want from a foreshadow? Not necessarily. You want a knowing mall. Well, you're not going to get that over here. Okay. In 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery for all people except basically those convicted of a crime, which opened the door for mass incarceration. Section one, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, where if the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. So there's a bit of a loophole. Yeah. No slavery except as a punishment for being convicted of a crime. Right. So now it's just a matter of make

sure you charge black people with crimes. Well, okay. That's exactly what it is. Right. A new type of slavery then arrived in the form of convict leasing. Well, it doesn't sound shady. Just human leasing. Hey, buddy, you want to lease a convict? Did you say car? Convict. Yes. How many would you like to? Okay, I want a two door. Yeah. Okay, we'll give you two. Great. This is buddy and Stan. We're excited to work with you. They're not actually that excited. Oh, prisons were built in the south as a reaction to reconstruction. This was a way to re enslave blacks. In the late 19th century south, a large prison system was built to maintain the racial and economic relationship of slavery. You could

have free labor to do the work. You just needed to convict him first. Right. Yeah, which is a system we've employed for a while. It's still going pretty well. Yeah, still happening pretty strongly. Is Jose looking at a plane? Dude, if look, a cop helicopter goes above the crib, Jose's, you know. He checks it out. Yeah, he checks it out. He's on watch. That's fair. Yeah. He has no idea what it is, though. Sure. He's like, good God, what is that? Oh, he doesn't even. Every single one that goes by, he goes, holy fuck. Well, because he doesn't remember the last one. Right. No, it's Groundhog Day, but every four minutes, if you're a cat. Every helicopter you're playing is terrifying to them. Yeah. He's leaking. Yeah. A new set of laws, which were called the black codes,

were created to criminalize legal activity of African Americans. Okay. Sounds fine. We were, they were made to restrict freed blacks activity and continue their availability as a labor force. Right. Pretty cool. Some examples included standing in one area of town. Was illegal. Which became loitering. Okay. Walking at night. By the way, loitering is still one I don't get. Loitering? Yeah. Soliciting, I guess. Loitering is very arbitrary. Loitering is like, hey, knock off all the standard punk. Yeah, but we're in line. You've been walking around here a little too much for me. Why, actually, we're playing basketball. Hey. Jose. Jose. Get on here. Oh. You're on probation. Jose's on probation. Jose was just put on probation for scratching the

screen. For his own good. Yeah. No, I hear you. I have to be a good father. Well, he's my, he's my baby. Also, walking at night was called breaking curfew. Okay. Many states required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts. And if they refused, they would be arrested as vagrants and forced into unpaid labor. Wait, but so, so if you sign a yearly labor contract, you're agreeing to like labor for the year. And if you don't sign it, you're arrested for not signing the contract and then you're in a labor situation again. Yeah, I'm gonna recommend you just sign the contract. Right. It's like, that's like, when they pull you out, let's like, when the cop pulls you over and he's like, do you have anything in

the car? And you're like, no, can I search the car? No. Well, now I have a reason to search the car because you're obviously hiding something from me. You're like, what the fuck? It's like that, except you're a person. Right. The car is a person. We come back to car people one more time. Full circle. Yeah. The very first Louisiana State convict lease contract was signed in 1870. This is a hell of a ring to it. It really does. Yeah. 15 convicts were sent to cut lumber for a railway trestle. The state was paid $25 a day per man. Wow. They're rolling it. Lots of it. Wow. Convict leasing was created so that white slave plantation owners could purchase, purchase prisoners to live on their property and work. It just sounds very different

than slavery. It sounds completely different. I mean, if you're, if you were like a slave two years ago and then you're back on the plantation, like the fuck, no. Wait, wasn't there a warrant? There was a whole thing we did. We, there was a giant thing that happened. Excuse me. Wait a minute, sir. I was just standing under a tree and now I'm back here on the same fucking. That's right. That'll teach you to stand, boy. No, we did a whole thing. No more standing. You lost the war. Now get to, get to Chorin. Answer. Get to Chorin. Chorin's not a word. Get to Chorin. Chorin and Horin. That's what I want from my boys on the plantation. I'm gonna just walk away. Step it up. But if you walk in the same direction in a circle, that's loitering. You'll be back here

for another five. Get to Horin. A bidder would pay an average of $25,000 a year to the state. And then in return, he would basically control the lives of prisoners on his property. Baby steps, Dave. It's baby steps. We're not going to be, we can't just jump out of slavery willy nilly. I like how they figured out immediately. Like, look, our economy will fall apart. Yeah. We still need guys to work for free. What about just arresting guys? And we work for free. And it is so true that we still, we still do that. We still, we still do. I mean, it is a lot of people working for nothing in prison. Yep. So the state would make money and the plantations would profit from free labor win-win and done and done lose for the guy who. Oh, sure. But then the guy, well, yeah,

if you think about the human cost, right, right, the lose, but that's the lose for business and business is booming. Business is booming. Lots of wins. These loiterers really know how to pick stuff. And much like slavery, the South wasn't changing their ways. It was a violent and abusive system. The death rate of prisoners, least two railroad companies between 1877 and 1879 in South Carolina was as high as 45%. Is that higher than it was for just planes, like for just regular slavery? I think it depends where you were. Because part of me would think that it would be easier for someone to justify killing someone who was a convict. I completely agree. I feel like you could make that gap a little easier to bridge. Without a doubt. But also if you kill the slave,

no one cared because of your property. Yeah, for sure. But I think that there might have someone to answer to if you kill the convict. Right. Or but also you could say, well, he was, you know, he's being a dick. Yeah, he fell chopping wood, chopped his own head off. Wait, really? Yeah, he was out here chopping logs all day. I was giving him lemonade. I left for five minutes to go walk the dog, come back, chopped his own damn head off. Well, fourth one this month. You know what? He was a vagrant. They keep chopping their own heads off. Have you heard of this Mike the chicken that's on tour? I've never not familiar. No. But is there money involved? There's lots of money. I'm in. Now it wasn't without controversy. Many tried to stop it. In Florida in 1911,

the house and state voted to end convict leasing. Okay, and go back to slavery. But the governor vetoed the bill. Of course, right. You always forget about that guy. The house was just one vote short of overriding the veto. In 1915, legislation was passed that forbid the leasing of white convicts. So let's clean this up a little bit, gentlemen. Let's not. Should we not do this to white people? You know what? I think I found a way for us to make this more fucked up. Let's go with it. I feel like it's not slavery enough. Yeah, I really feel like we've gotten away from our roots. So blacks are still a go that in 1919, a law was passed that allowed state convicts to be used to work on public roads while outlawing leasing

the private companies. Okay, so it was more just kind of like a government program at that point? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Well, you know, chain gang is kind of. Sure. Cool hand, Lucan. Oh, did I mention these bills were just for state convicts? If you had a county prison, you could still lease them. Good. Well, baby stuff. You know what? Keep it local. Yeah. Slavery. Keep it local. That's what I always said. Yeah. I ran on the platform of slavery, keep it local. And so this is the world. Know where your slaves come from. Well, right down the street. Exactly. Keep it at local. Meet exactly. Support local slavery. Slightly awkward because he lived across the street from me before. Well, you'll get over it. Now a slave. Beat him until it's not. Hi,

I'm in charge of the worst stuff. I'm president of hell. So this is the world that Martin Tabart found himself in. After being taken from the train, he was brought before Leon County Judge B. F. Willis, who quickly found him guilty of vagrancy. Martin was fined $25. Now, as we know, Martin doesn't have any money. Right. And he has a lot of pride. So he couldn't pay the fine. Okay. So Judge Willis ordered that he serve 90 days in the county jail. Okay. Now Leon County Sheriff J. R. Jones took Martin into custody. Of course, the Leon County Board of Commissioners already had a deal for all convicts. Every prisoner that was brought to the jail would be leased to the Putnam Lumber Company for $20 a month.

Do you even have jails at this point? Or is it just like one? Is it just like a porta-potty? No, you don't even have a jail. You just put them in your car and bring them over. Yeah, right. Okay. You're like, what's jail? Well, should we be in jail? How are we going to go out of those? Yeah. Cut the system out. Nah. All things, you'll be fine. So he's going to be leased. He has been leased. He's been leased. $20 a month. What's his APR rate? What's the financing? 3.4. Oh, really? It's not bad. Is that a five year? How much down? It's five year. Got to put about $1,000 down. Well, still, I like that. Yeah. Well, let me take him out for a spin. See how I feel. Same condition when you bring him back. I understand. And he needs to have a full

take of milk, right? Full take of milk, not that many miles on him. I get you. Like I said, I'm just going to run him locally, really. Point A to point B kind of stuff for me. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. You want to do this? Yeah, yeah. I'm into it. Let me just put my luggage in him. You cool brown hair? Love it. Okay. Yeah. I've wanted a brown one for a while, brown hair. I love it. Well, this one's going to be anything. You're really going to like this one. I like the look. A little bit of a Northern accent and North Dakota accent. All right. Don't oversell me now. Let me figure it out a little bit. Fargo. What? The movie Fargo. I just let out that I'm a time traveler. Wait a minute. God damn it. My bad. What is it like in the future?

Well, how much does it to at least a man in the future? I can't remember. Okay. When I turn sideways, you can't see me. Sorry. Sir. Sir. Sir. Leon County Sheriff Jared Jones took Martin into custody and then brings him over to Putnam County, the Putnam Lumber Company. Sheriff Jones handed Martin over to the company. But before he was taken away, Martin sent a telegram to his family. Singing, right? Quote. A singing one? Yeah. Yeah, he sent, he sent a singing. Like a panda with balloons? It was a bear. I'm not sure it was a panda, but it was a bear. Had to be panda. It's the cheapest one. Well, no, back then in America, it's probably like a grizzly. I don't think you do a panda back then with all the hatred of. Listen, if there's one thing you can't touch me on the

history of it's pandagrams. So fuck off with all due respect. Oh, we finally found an area that you know stuff about? Yeah, the Packers and Pandagrams. Okay. Rock your world on either subject. Don't ever say rock your world to me. I will rock your world, bro. Quote. In trouble and need $50 to pay fine for vagrancy, please wire money and care of the sheriff. Well, it seems like he's doing well. Good to hear from the boy again. When the family got the telegram, his parents immediately sent a letter to Martin in care of Sheriff Jones. Inside was a check for $75. Okay, a little tip. Dear Martin, I'm sending you $75 so you can pay the $50 fine and have $25 so you can't get no work. There's a lot of misspellings.

Sure. Then you will have some money to live on. We could not get no money. M-O-N-Y. Oh, sad. Till now. Ma would like to have you come home. It's so bad that it happened to you. Ma would like to know why you went down there and how you're feeling as this is all I can think of just now. So I must close. This is real stream of consciousness. It's like a writing exercise. That's how they did letters back then. You have 30 seconds to write everything go. When you start writing a letter, you've got to think of everything you can and if you can or if the pen stops, you have to throw it out. I just thought of something else, but I already said good day. What else was I going to say? Shit, I had something. Forgot what it was. Oh, I remember.

Wait, no, that was that other thing. Shit, hold on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What were we talking about right before this? What was I writing about? Can't remember. Shit, hold on. Let me get another piece of telegram. My brother. Okay, now, now, wait, wait, wait, I remember, I remember, I remember. It was about seer, seer, seer, seer, and seerly. Okay, that's the end. Yeah, I quit. My brother writes the worst letters. It's a lot of stream of consciousness stuff. I thought for a minute that was real talk. I was talking about you. It is very convincing. You're very natural. I was playing. Do you bring that sort of acting fortitude to something like Marin? I do not. You do not. Okay, interesting. We are all

well and hope this will find you the same from AFE Tabert. Answer soon and seer. Sheriff Jones got the letter on December 26, 1921. That was 11 days after he was arrested on the train. Sure. The sheriff returned the letter unopened. The envelope was stamped returned to Ryder unclaimed from Tallahassee, Florida by request to sheriff party gone. So because he was already in Lumbertown, he was unavailable for life 20 bucks a month over there or let him go free. But who's with me? But writes. Whatever. Okay. I don't know if that's a thing. Sure. The sheriff returns the letter unopened. The envelope was stamped retarded that that was all the information the family got. So they figured Martin had found some way to get his

hands on money and had gotten out. Quite an assumption. So they just waited to hear from him. Quite an assumption. Well, they just figured since the party was gone, it makes sense, right? You would think. Unopened? It's shady. Okay. I think they wanted to believe that it worked out. The Taberts logically assumed that Martin had found some method of securing his release. He's probably just a millionaire by now. Good Lord. I mean, look, they didn't open it. I don't know. But that's what happened in a movie. What? He'd be like, I own a baseball team now. I need you guys to help me run it. He's probably just sending a new telegram about running the baseball team. So they wait. Now, Martin had been sent to the Putnam Lumber Company convict camp to serve

three months. According to ex-convict Glenn Thompson, things went south for Martin right away. Thompson said he had seen many tortures in the convict camp. The men worked in waist-deep swamp water. Their feet would become sore and their bodies were often, quote, a mass of sores. So I was picturing like a lumberyard. Well, I think this is the south. I guess we're going back a few. They're in swamps. So we're going back a few steps as far as collecting the lumbergobs. Right. So they're going out into swamps to cut down trees and shit. It's a fucking nightmare. That sounds fun. And there was nothing done to medically help them. Right. Martin was suffering from weeping sores from standing in the water and because of the condition

of his shoes. Weeping sores. Okay. Toinmen, toinmen. Those are the kind. Okay. Actually, I think those are winding sores. It's all right. So his legs were swollen and, quote, diseased. He could hardly drag himself around because he was sick in a week, too weak to do the work that he was supposed to do. He was often knocked down and whipped. That's always the best way to get someone's energy level. I agree. More so give the feet sores like some competition on the back. I agree. Open up a couple little areas there. Wait, are you being sarcastic? No. No, sir. No. Me? Me? Me. Okay. Come on. No. No, I mean it. I know. I mean this. That's the best way to handle it.

A man named Walter Higginbotham was the, quote, whipping boss at Putnam. He must have been such a pompous little shit. Oh, the worst. Have you ever met a cool whipping boss? What was his name again? Walter Higginbotham. Have you ever met a good Higginbotham? Never. I don't think there's such a thing. No. Higginbotham Andy has a whip? I say. He's a whipping boss. He's not just a whipper. I mean, he's the boss of whipping. Oh, he's the one that sort of goes around and is like, more arm. Use your core. That's him. Yeah. Whip better, son. No, you're out of here. Come on. So that's actually the job title. That was the job title at this point. Probably a nice bump,

though. Hey, I'd like to apply for a job. Uh-huh. Yeah, we're hiring whippers right now. Oh, I'm a whipping boss. I know. We're hiring whippers. We don't need no boss. We got a good whipping boss now. Really? What do you think you're better? Who's this man? I got all kinds of mad skills. Those are good sound effects. I have mad flow. What? I have mad flow. I'm the whipping boss. David. Dave. Hello. I'm safe. My flow is maddening. David. Dave. Martin asked Higginbotham for a bigger pair of shoes, but the whipping boss just ignored his pleas. A few days later, now in late January, Martin said that his groins ached. Dave. Dave. I hope he doesn't have

weeping scrotum source. A doctor was called. By the way, that's always the best call. Oh, doctor, come quick. We need you to look at the groins. Oh, most of them. A lot of the groins are really, really swamped out. What are you guys doing in there? Well, we're not. Listen, I'm not going to lie. This is not going to be pretty for you. The doctor lanced one and then. You know what it looks like when a scrotum gets pruney? Like it's like when a prune prunes. How do you just go right past lanced one? He lanced one. He lanced one what? A groin. Who did the doctor? Yeah. I was mid-bit. He lanced a groin? Yeah, that's what it said. You mean he removed a groin? No, he lanced it.

Well, a groin is not a testicle. A groin is like a, isn't it like a muscle near the? I mean, I've always sort of, I mean, it is technically a muscle, but I feel like the groin is also that whole area. Like if someone gets hit in the balls during a basketball game, they'll say the groin. Yeah, that's true, but that's just because they can't say balls on TV. If they could, what a world. Took one right in the balls. Oh, it would be the best. His balls must be hurting. Looks like he's got that tummy ache that comes after you get punched in the balls. I would start watching basketball again. Yeah, so he lanced one. So he removed, he removed the ligament. Or it was pussy because it probably had like a lot of sores in it or

whatever. And he slit that bad boy open and pussed it out or whatever you call it. There's no good answer. I think the medical term is pussed it out. Yeah, yeah. No, the medical term is pussed it out for sure. He left some medicine. PIO'd. We left some medicine for Martin, so that was nice. Oh, cool. A day or so later, Martin was then severely beaten for not working fast enough. Right. Well, you know, the recovery time they say on that is 45 minutes. It's hard to get going after you had your groin. Well, you're going to have to figure it out. You're full of complaints. Give me new boots. Let my groin heal on a two mile walk to the swamp for a day of work. Martin could not keep up. Why? When the comics, when the convicts return, the comics, the comedians,

and what's the deal with this bullshit, huh, guys? Who's getting their groins lanced? Oh, when the convicts return to camp that night, Higginbotham made Martin lie on his stomach in front of the other 85 convicts. Then he pulled up Martin's shirt and gave him about 30 licks with a four inch strap that weighed seven and a half pounds. What sort of what that's isn't that just a chain? What is that smaller leather? So it's a thick, Jesus leathery. Martin grown and screamed for mercy. He was twitching. So Higginbotham put the heel of his boot on Martin's neck to make him keep still. Then he gave him 40 or 50 more licks. When he was done, Higginbotham told Martin to get up, but Martin was slow getting up for some reason. Well, I can't imagine the reason. Yeah,

it's weird. His groin's been removed and he's just being drained through lacerations. Also, he'd been, you know, he had been hit 70 times with a whip. So I would imagine that you're slow. Literally takes it out of you. You're slower then. Yeah. Yeah. Higginbotham said, quote, you can't work yet, eh? And pushed Martin back down on the ground. Maybe we're having a miscommunication that more you beat me the harder this is for me to work. Okay. Well, I'm the whipping boss. I only know one thing to do to motivate people. No, I'm telling you, I ate the hug boss more bees with honey. Would you like me to be the hug boss? No, you wouldn't. Not right now. Here it comes. Close your eyes. Gonna be great. He hit him about 25 more times. Good God. And he told Martin

to get up again. And when he doesn't understand what he's doing and when he did Higginbotham tried to hit him with the handle of the strap and he missed. Martin then staggered around in a half circle while Higginbotham hit him over the head and shoulders. So. Yeah. So that was a bad night. Yeah, that's tough. After the beating, Martin was unable to move from his cot. Pussy. Apparently the smell coming from his quarters was said to be horrible. Well, I mean, people who have been whipped almost suggest smell bad. You know, I just always thought that was a stereotype. No, it's real. It's an actual thing. And we now we know it from history. You smell bad. You smell

you so stinky that I almost don't care about you insult the injury. Right. And then he just comes in there. He's like, quit smelling so bad. Whip him. Higginbotham looked in on Martin and said he thought the boy might die. And Martin, I don't know from what Martin did die the following night. Jesus. Then a doctor came and declared right on time and declared that Martin had died from pernicious malaria. Yeah, no, it'll get you. Yeah. It might have been from all the holes in his back. Don't think so. I really don't know the malaria my web md it web md it right now. I guarantee you they're going to say malaria. Well, he has no skin on his back. So the malaria get might have gotten in there. That's what I'm saying. That's he was he had a bunch of open

highways to malaria traffic. He's like an open malaria back. Yeah. So yeah, you know, take care of your back. You won't get malaria. Dude, fucking take care of your whips dummy. Thank you. Come on guys got it open groin. Yeah, by the way, cover up your smelly groin pal. I mean, he's like some of us are trying to eat chowder. He's like saying, Hey, malaria, come get me. Hey guys, enter through the groin. It's the VIP entrance. Martin's family then received a letter from the Putnam Lumber Company. More good news about your boy. Explaining that Martin had been sentenced to serve three months in the county prison system, and had been sent to the Putnam Lumber Company convict camp. It stated that Martin developed a fever, along with other

complications and died. The company had carried out all burial arrangements. Company officials extended their simply to the family. Obviously, the family was shocked. Yeah. I guess he didn't make a bunch of money. What about the baseball team? I think we might have gotten caught up a little bit that night when we were talking about it. No, but there's a baseball team. No, but I was going to become the oldest guy to pitch in the majors on Martin's baseball team. The timbers felt like something was wrong with the story. Okay. Why hadn't he been released when they sent the money? Hmm. Good question. Interesting question. That's a refrigerator question. That's when you ask yourself when you're at the refrigerator for

the movie. Hey. Wait a second. You're raping or yawning. I went to the racetrack today. I saw that. Did you win? No, I lost so much fucking money. You got very pompous on the Instagram. You said you were going to own that place by the end of the day. Well, that was the first race. That's what that's how they get you apparently. That's how gambling works. By the fourth, it was totally a different story. By the fourth, I was jerking off horses to get another ticket. Can I get my ticket now, sir? Who told you that that was a thing? Little tip at the racetrack. Don't look strange in the eyes. Really? I want to talk. Oh, right. It's all very lonely people. Sunglasses. So the family asked their lawyer, Norris Nelson, to look into what had

happened to Martin. Nelson wrote Sheriff Jones and the Putnam Lumber Company and requested details of Martin's death. The company wrote Nelson and said at least all of Leon County's male convicts and was responsible for their care and welfare. They said they were inspected once a month by a state and county supervisor. The camp physician had diagnosed Martin's illness as malaria fever, but said Martin refused to take his medication and then developed pneumonia. Yeah. Wow. They really, I mean, no connection to reality. There's also a lot of, hey, can you tell me how Martin died? We take care of our convicts here very well, sir. We have a veterinarian for the convicts. Just went straight to life. Yeah. They have nice beds and everybody's taken

care of them. Why does each one of these start with, are you calling me a liar? I was just asking how he died. Are you calling me a liar? We do very good things here. Whipped him to death? Who said anything about whipping him? Then at the end, the letter tried to throw the blame on Sheriff, on the Sheriff Jones. Okay. Quote, we did not understand why the Sheriff of Leon County should have told the people he had gone and did not accept the money for his release. Just throw that in there. Fair, fair point. Sheriff Jones wrote back and told Nelson. Fuck you. That if anything had gone wrong, it was the company's fault. Jones said when he sent Martin to the convict camp, Martin was physically healthy. He admitted, quote, there was some money

wired to him here after he was gone, but I could not get it as it was sent in his name. I therefore returned it. Yeah. Well, you know, your job's done at that point. The problem with the money is that it was made to the guy that was supposed to get the money. And that was a big problem. Anyway, your boy's dead. So can we stop writing letters? If only, if only there had been a way to get the money to Martin wherever he was. There is a way. If only there had been a way. There is a way. I'm just saying if there was a way. But what I'm saying is get it to him. I wish there have him take it. But there wasn't. That's it. Feels like the Tabert family now knew Martin had fallen into into the hands of the lumber company. And at first, they believed the story was death. But

then in July 1922, ex convict Glenn Thomas Thompson wrote a letter to the Munich North Dakota Postmaster asking whether Martin's parents knew or would care to know about Martin's death. These people must have been tired of getting letters. They're like, no more. There's never anything good. You just think about how how communication worked back then. You're like, I know he's from Munich, North Dakota. So I'm just going to send a letter to the dear postmaster. Yes. Would anybody be interested in this man's death? Why is the postmaster? I think maybe. I didn't expect that at all. That's not the guy. That's me. The man who wears two monocles. I'm in charge of the post. When the letters get out of line, I whip them. More taffy.

Is this guy throwing confetti? Oh, yeah. These are let these letters are cut up, but they're full of confetti. Confetti glitter. That's right. Glitter. Fancy a parcel. Well, of course, the family wrote asking for information. That's when the floodgates opened. Oh, you want information about the death? Oh, you've come to the wrong place. Thompson wrote and told them all about the whippings and the horrific treatment their son had received that led to his death. And then other convicts wrote once saying Martin had lied had died. Sorry. A quote. Your son's a liar. Fuck you. Here's a letter for you. Yes, son's a fucking liar. Send money today. They also the also that he was barbariously murdered.

Another ex convict inmate wrote that he would have quote scars on my back caused by all the beatings from the brute Higginbotham, the whipping boss. Now, the Talberts knew they had been lied to by both the sheriff and Putnam Lumber Company, but they couldn't believe such a system existed in America still. So there with us. Yeah. So they went, I guess they had, they were a prominent farming family. So they went and they talked to the North Dakota state attorney. And they asked them to go to Florida and investigate what had happened. So the attorney went down. What a state attorney went down to Florida. What a time. What a fucking time. You bet you I will. Also, there are just nine families here in North Dakota. So I've been excited to do something for a while.

I really wanted to get the fuck out of here. I've been hanging out with the postmaster a little too much. I've watched Fargo. Wait, what? What do you mean watched? I'm turning sideways. Hello. Hello. Hello. It's me. Do you want to bowl the stamps? I'm eating them like cereal. He's from the Wizard of Oz, right? No. I'm my own invention. One of a kind I am. Oh, God. So he goes down there. And sure enough, it was as bad as the convicts were saying. The North Dakota attorney said the sheriff, quote, was little better than a slave catcher. He got $20 for every male convict sent to the camp for 90 days. That meant he wouldn't want a convict to serve less time than his time if the money came in to release him. So right. Yeah, you want it.

You want the more time, the more money. Yeah, you got to hit your quota. The attorney also revealed the lumber company was a Wisconsin owned corporation. Don't glare at me like I invented the shit. Worth 800,000 and that their profits were an increased quote by the labor of unfortunate men picked up and forced into their custody through trivial violations of the laws of the state of Florida. Look, look, how do you feel? She said good. You know what I mean? A good company's a good scheme is a good scheme. I can't take it. Get out of here. That's not what smart business. Trump's America. So so they go to the they go to the North Dakota Legislature who forms a Martin Tabert committee and the AG's findings were presented. Okay.

The North Dakota Legislature then asked the Florida Legislature to act. One North Dakota state senator laid it out saying Martin had died from torture inflicted by Higginbotham and that the sheriff and lumber company had lied to the parents about their son's death. North Dakota asked Florida to investigate and punish those responsible. Florida governor. Here we go. What? Well, I'm sure they were like you bet we will. Of course we will. Florida governor. Do me a favor. Throw this in the goddamn garbage. And no wait. I forgot to shit on it. But Florida governor Kerry Hardy replied that Florida's reputation had been harmed by the accusations. It's true. If anyway, I mean, Florida took the sort of metaphorical whipping in this

situation. That is right. And that is sometimes those scars run deeper than that is a very innocent. Sometimes the scars run deeper. Innocent state. Yep. He insisted that no state treated its convicts more humanely than Florida. And there'll be no more information or follow up question. That is that good day. And because I said it, it's true. In this letter, I'm slamming a door in your face. All right. He listed the benefits given to Florida's criminals. But still agreed that quote, if criminal responsibility attaches to anyone connected with the affair, he will be promptly and vigorously prosecuted. I feel in view of these facts that the accusation

of the North Dakota Senate served no useful purposes. Good. Good day, sir. Take care. But he promised to hold the grand jury. Oh, don't worry about that. The grandest of juries will be held. And the Florida legislature was on it. They ordered a joint house Senate committee to investigate Martin's death and widened it to all convict camps where cruelty had been charged. Okay. Okay. The Putnam Lumber Company was not alone. There were reports of brutality from other convict camps, including some owned by members of the legislature. Now, are you seeing any? So if they have a vested interest in allowing the beatings to happen through that leasing system, how can they investigate it? Okay. Let's take another one of these magic pills.

At the same time, Sheriff Jones denied he was even involved and said an investigation would just exonerate him. All you'll do is prove that I'm innocent. Clearly I had nothing to do with it. All I was doing was selling, guys. That is such a great stance. You'll exonerate me, you fools. On April 10th, 1923, the grand jury investigation began. Higginbotham was charged with the murder of Martin, which he denied. He admitted he admitted flogging Martin, but said the beating was not unreasonable. Right. That's right. It's not the tasing that gets you. It's your weak immune system. And then the malaria gets in. And then the malaria system. Yummy guys who've been tased and then they get malaria. And then they get malaria. He died of AIDS. He got it from the concrete.

Nearly half to half. Somewhere in there. Sure. Those numbers check out. I love math. Sure. And there were tons of people lining up to testify against Higginbotham. Wow. Yeah. They better hope he gets out. I mean, gets thrown in. Because it was said that he beat white and black convicts alike just for the sport of it. Can we take a moment to smile at some progressive behavior? Right. See, that's one thing no one has pointed out in this story. He's beating them equally. Yeah, he's not racist. I like this guy a little bit. This guy, this guy, he hates equally. Yeah, it's nice. I think this is a guy refreshing. We have our hero. We do have our hero. X convicts, fellow prisoners of Martin, former convict guards and employees

of the Putnam Lumber Company testified. Former convict John Gardner described, quote, how the lashes were applied by dragging the strap through sugar and sand between each lick. Oh, my God. Yep. Oh, that's like blood sport. It is like blood sport. Wait, the movie? No, the musical. At the same time. By the way, it's great music. At the same time. My best friend is paralyzed. He's paralyzed. I'm from Belgium. Do not want to fight the monkey guy. Monkey guy, crazy guy. And the monkey guy comes out. Nobody understands me. Nobody gets my moves. I fight like a monkey. But the real truth is I'm worth so much more than what I'm fighting for. Monkey man, monkey man. Four people have seen this movie.

Those four, though, are having a good little time. Monkey man, he is the best. He is the best. They should just do it. They should do it. A weekly show about the monkey martial arts guy. He's still losing in every second matches around the world. Do you think it's a real type of martial arts? A guy that there. It feels a little street fighter to me. It's pretty fucking feels a little invented. All right. Well, I hope it's real. Although cap aware looks a little crazy. Thank you. At the same time, the legislature, which also formed their Martin Talbert committee, airtight began their hearing. Sheriff Jones was the first to testify. He admitted that he received $20 for each convict he

delivered. They then questioned witnesses. John Gardner testified that he had been whipped three times within a week and around 50 licks each time. And then Walter Higginbotham did the whipping. Gardner had been beaten so severely that he was unable to lie on his back for 30 days. He testified that Higginbotham had brutally flogged Martin before he died. Yeah. To help the malaria get out. Thank you. It's a way to get malaria out of a person. Have you ever saved anyone from malaria? I'm not a doctor, but I know how to help people from malaria. Yeah, unbelievable. Go to Annie. You try to help some people. Thank you. Higginbotham testified, quote, the whipping was administered following reports submitted by one

of the guards in charge of Talbert squad in which the prisoner was accused of shirking. Shirking? Shirking his duties. Yeah. Shirking his duties. I was picturing like a shrug. What are you? What are you doing? Did he just shirk? Hey. You son of a bitch. Higginbotham said that when Martin... Be ambivalent around me, will ya? Did you just? Are you just neutral? Higginbotham said that when Martin reported that he was ill, a doctor was sent for and a medical attention was provided. Higginbotham said he still concluded that Martin was not doing his job according to orders and administered a light whipping of 10 licks. Light, an afternoon snack. You know what I would describe it as? A leather kiss.

Yeah, exactly. Leather kisses on his back. Oh, I'm sorry. I was putting sugar on the belt because I wanted him to have a little fun. Thank you. Okay. This is going to wake you up. He had a sweet tooth and eventually sweet back. He said he had not held Martin in position by placing his foot on his neck. Oh, that's foolish. This was completely countered by other convicts who were present for the beating as well as others. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lyles were fishing near the convict camp and could hear the whipping. Jesus. It's so hard to catch fish when you just hear someone being whipped. Well, plus the smell. I mean, fishing is like a tranquil, almost meditative sort of thing. And when the guy's being whipped.

That man being slowly murdered for four hours is really taking me out. You're scaring the trout. I counted, quote, I counted 57 licks and then got tired of counting. At first I heard screams which grew weaker and weaker. And finally, there was only the sound of the lash. It's weird when you miss the screams. It is weird when you miss the screams. Boy, I wish he was still screaming. I feel bad that he can't scream anymore. It's weird. It's weird. Oh, there's trout. Dr. T. Keper Jones was brought before the committee. He was the camp physician who had pronounced that death resulted from pneumonia with malaria complications. Okay. Pneumonia with a side of malaria is what we're calling it. Thank you, sir.

The committee grilled him and finally Dr. Jones burst out saying the real cause of death was syphilis. All right. And then are you happy? And then he didn't want to report it because it would embarrass Martin's family. Thank you. I've covered up every man's syphilis in this camp and there have been many whose backs have burst open from syphilis. Fine. I guess I'll violate bro-code. He was syphilitic, you monsters. Ah, sir. Sorry. I guess I'm about to party fell all over the court. Sir, there is no bro-code. Your honor, may we... Bro-code. No, stop saying bro-code. I'll allow it based on the truth of bro-code. Keep going, sir. I believe I also adhere to a bro-code myself. Your honor, I think we all adhere to a bro-code. It's the oath you take

when you're born with a penis. But in this case, your honor, I would say that there is no actual bro-code. Because you're not a bro. Legally in the state records the laws of our state. Officially, a bro-code, your honor, is not... Sustained. An actual... Which one's sustained again? Code. You know, I fucked your sister's... Excuse me? Do not believe in the bro-code. Broder! Broder in the court! Broder! Oh my god, when we eventually pitch bro-code... Bro-code. That's gonna be the best show. Yeah, yeah. Welcome to another episode. Welcome, Judge Sweet. What about a bro? What about like one of those... one of those shows like Judge Judy, except just a bro. Oh, and it's all like bro stuff. Bro-court,

and he's got, you know, he's got the hat backwards, he's got on a Lakers jersey. Today's bro-fendant is coming into the court suggesting that the playing bro ruined his boombox by spilling a case of course light on it. Oh, your bro-honor, uh, steve ate all the pizza? Your bro-honor, your bro-honor, if I may. This has nothing to do with what we were eating before any of this, okay? At the end of the day... Bro, you know that's not true! Bro, bro, let me finish, bro. Bro, if you have questions for you, we'll ask you. I brought a sweet, sweet stereo system to the beach for the bonfire. Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro. Broader in the broort. Now listen to me, okay? Listen to me and listen good. And he came over and he spilled a pitcher of course light on the only way.

Bro, bro. You know I didn't spill that. You know it was Alisa. Come on, bro. Bro. Come on, bro. Bro. Why do you always gotta throw that big one at me? Bro, you brought Alisa, bro. You brought Alisa. She's attached to you as a bro. You brought her to the circle of bro. Uh, not even. Dude, I don't... I fucking... You know I tried to fucking get rid of her. Dude, I sleep my case. I sleep my case. I sleep my case. Your Bronner, I let the hands of brostice decide this. Your Honor, can I just say right now that we are no longer bros? Whoa. All right, bro. Whatever. Whatever. You both present sick arguments. Really sick, sick arguments. I'm able to follow everything totally clearly, bros. So good fucking job. Right off the bat.

That was our longest riff ever. Probably some people are really mad or like get back to the story. More monkey man stuff. Come on. We've really gone. This, this is a story we've really got off a couple times. I think we've created two shows. I think we have. Let's not even release this one. Monkey Martial Arts and Solves Crimes. Oh. And then Brocourt. Monkey Artist. And it's a musical. All right. Where was I? Who knows. All right. So the, uh, so the, the doctor says that he had syphilis and that he wanted to embarrass the family. The committee recommended. Oh, that's right. The committee recommended the doctor, uh, that his testimony be sent to the state board of medical examiners and that quote, the medical profession be purged

of a seemingly unworthy member. Oh, wow. So it went well. Yeah, they did. They bought it. They didn't buy the syphilis. Okay. When the committee went, uh, with a former convict, Arthur Johnson, to exhume the body. Oh, well, that is going, I mean, Jesus. Oh, you thought the smell was bad when he was alive. Now he's a hot pocket. So they drive over to, uh, the Putnam, uh, you know, uh, farm or whatever it's called. They're met by a large group of armed men. Okay. Putnam Supervisor Captain Bill Fisher walked up to Johnson right when they arrived and said, you tell them what, you bear it, Talbot, if you know what's good for you. So it's all very professional. Then eight men with pistols stepped up behind Fisher. Johnson was

visibly terrified. Good. They drove on with Johnson directing them to the grave. As they did, 10 cars followed them. When they arrived at the spot, the committee and Johnson got out of the car and 30 armed men got out of the other 10 cars. Oh my God. A member of the committee then yelled at the men that he would inform the governor and newspapers of their intimidation. Okay. They spoke amongst themselves and then they hid their guns. Who thought that would work? The body was not found. Oh, okay. They let him go. Representative Mayo was the chairman of the House Committee and a huge fan of condiments. Right. One day he pulled out a whipping strap, which was four feet long, two and a half inches wide and weighed a pound. He looked at it and said he didn't think it could

do much damage. This old thing? This little tiny fella here could hurt that. This is a feather. I used this on, Mub. I tickled my wife. I didn't want to. But then he said he heard it would be covered in syrup and dragged through sand, so that might give it more effectiveness. He also added that the instrument that killed Martin Tabart had weighed seven pounds. A little bit. A little heavier. Martin, sorry. Mayo also held up Tabart's clothes. The pants were tattered and shredded off at the knees. He remarked that it was a good bathing suit. Psst. Levity. So he is being a little bit levity. Okay. Come on. If we can't laugh now, what can we laugh? Guys, how about some jokes? Come on, guys. Come on. Come on. Lighten up.

It's the Mayo roast. Oh, my God. There's a toe in here. Oh. On April 24th, the committee concluded that Sheriff Jones and Judge Willis should be removed from office. Governor Hardy agreed, but Sheriff Jones didn't. Shocking. When he was asked if he would step down, he said, quote, resign from office. Well, not until they kicked me out. I have been grossly misrepresented by a bunch of ex-convict and fellows that I have discharged from office. There is not a bit of truth in the stuff they have told the committee. I can prove it. As for resigning, no, I'm going to stay in the office to the last minute. Is this one of the first times when someone's like, nope, because that's what they do now. They're like, no. It might be

one of the first. Yeah. Yeah. Like when someone, as soon as someone figured out that we wouldn't push it to the point where they'd actually have to go, they just waited out all the time. It's time for you to go, sir. No, just tied for two weeks, and then you guys will forget. He's probably right. Yep, he is right. But the evidence against the sheriff was piling up. An ex-Leon County jailer testified that the Putnam Lumber Company had made a deal with Jones to railroad men into the lease system for cash. Others testified that Jones ordered his deputies to start a crusade against people who were stealing rides on freight trains and charged him with vagrancy because it put money in his pocket. He and the judge convinced people to plead guilty on

the pretext they would be given only three-month sentences in jail. In the seven months before the sheriff and lumber company made their deal, 20 men were arrested as vagrants riding trains. Jesus. In the next seven months, 154 men were arrested and Jones pocketed $2,500. This said it, could you imagine how fucking vile of a human being you have to be? You have to be a monster. A fucking monster. Yeah. No, it's like you were talking, it's like when we were talking about torture. I mean, it's like you have to be put in this world where like it does make sense, and then you live in that world long enough and you're like, nothing wrong with this. It's fine. The Senate then removed Sheriff Jones from office. I was the entirety of his punishment.

Judge Willis was also removed. I said that already. The committee was also concerned with the convict treatment elsewhere in the state and the investigation expanded. There was quite a bit of evidence. Never good. Never good to hear Florida and investigation expanded in the same sense. There was quite a bit of evidence uncovered of convict brutality in the turpentine camps of Baker and Bradford counties, which were owned by State Senator TJ Nab, who just happened to be there in the committee room as a member of the committee. Awkward. Yeah. Nab had been one of the very first two bids submitted when convict leasing began. And he's on the, and he's like, of course he is because he's a rich guy. Of course he's going to be on the fucking Senate.

Yeah. It all runs together. Yeah. He continued running a convict camp at his turpentine pine farm for years through a quote, even though a quote startling number of perimeter prisoners were missing or dead. Oh, God. Nab had run into trouble in 1923 when a prison inspector dropped by the camp and found a 19 year old convict nearly dead. The inspector said Nab was running a quote human slaughter pen. Wow. That's very, very graphic language. Pretty graphic. Yeah. A human slaughter pen is very different. We are human slaughter pen. Two, three, four. The 19 year old's hands and feet had no skin. That's actually super hard to work. Well, I've tried. I've tried to work without. You can use the back of your hands. You can use the back,

but it's still really hard. Just bitch slap everything you need to pick. That's true, but it's, trust me, trust me, you pick up a peach without skin on your hands. Oh, I could easily eat a peach with just the back of my hands. Yeah. With the back of your hands. I know peaches like the back of my hands. Okay. This conversation is over. I wanted it to be over a while ago. He also had ulcers on his legs and fractured ribs. Well, take his groin out and his heart. The teenager had been beaten and whipped almost every day by the camp's whipping boss, John Roddenberry. He had been arrested for vagrancy while walking down the street. Yeah, you can't do that. No, you're not allowed to walk down the street.

And he was just going home from work. Exactly. Or were you just. So you admit it. You don't have a family or a home. You admit it. Sheriff Jones, who was still, this is before he got relieved. Oh, cool. Arrested Roddenberry for cruel and inhuman treatment of convicts. Wait, he arrested a guy who was beating convicts? The whipping boss from the Turbentine convict camp. Is that the weirdest arrest that happened? I would say so. Hey, John. You treat him like shit. This is awkward. I'm here to, you know, I keep giving you guys and you keep beating those guys up. Yeah, I love what we got going on. We've got a good partnership. I'm gonna arrest you. Yeah. Huh? I'm gonna arrest you. Sorry, I laugh when I'm uncomfortable.

But what are you going to arrest me for? It's murder. You do. You taught me this. Almost, almost murder. You taught me how to murder. I know. It's weird. Trust me. It's super awkward for everybody. Mostly me. Probably more you. You're getting arrested, but it's weird. Don't you think it's weird? I think it's really weird. Okay. I'll say I like your moxie, but I think it's really weird. Okay, so I'm gonna need your whip. That's, that's, can I lick the sugar off it first? I'll tell you, one of the, one of the fun little twists to our operation. Yeah. Syrup and sugar together is delicious. Bro, half the reason arresting you is so I can lick your whip. I wish that last part wasn't said. You don't want to talk

about it. All right, we'll see you. At a committee hearing, a social worker named Thelma Franklin testified. As Senator Nab looked at her from the panel, she said 21 prisoners had died the year before in Nab's camps. She told the story of five boys who had stolen the senator's car who were arrested and would have gone to the state prison, but the charges were suddenly reduced and they ended up in county prisons. Oh man. One of the boys died. Oh man, they reduced our, they reduced it. This is so great. We're going to die. One of the boys died in Nab's camp within a week. She also told the story of a man named Jimmy Beach who came to the camp begging for food. Nab arrested him, took him to court where he was sentenced to six months for vagrancy

and then given back to Nab. He died within days. All the deaths the social worker reported were declared natural deaths by the camp's doctors. Sure. Yeah, sure. This how it happens. Yeah, it is natural cause when you get whipped to death. The Baker County Commission revoked Nab's prisoner camp lease and brought all the prisoners back to the county jail. Okay. That was on March 5th. Then on March 19th, for some reason that no one could understand, the Baker County Commission voted to send all the prisoners back to Nab's camp. These prisoners are like, God, I just can't get comfortable. I just got the skin back on my hands. I should finally use my hands again. No, because clearly he was like, I'll give you double money. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. Then a group

of businessmen from McClennie paid all the fines of the prisoners to get them all released from the camp. That's so great. Everyone was released on May 1st, 1923. They must have been 100% they were going to get beaten. Oh, fuck. I'm sure they were. This is a trap for sure. We're all dead. Yeah. Then three days later, a fire destroyed a large portion of the McClennie business district. Coincidence. So. So they should have done that. Probably lightning. Yeah. Despite all this, no one would be punished or do a day in prison for all the deaths and brutality at Nab's, at Nab's camps. The irony. Higginbotham went on trial for first degree murder on June 5th, 1923. The trial was held in a Baptist church. The defense asked for a change of venue

and 100 local sign letters saying they couldn't be impartial because much of the county was owned by Putnam Lumber Company and almost everyone in the county was employed by the company. Oh, good. But it wasn't happening. Former convict guards testified and the whipping boss testified against the whipping boss, sorry, breaking down how Martin died. So everyone's just against Higginbotham. Right. Everyone's like, fuck this guy. The defense attorneys did not deny that Martin had been beaten. Interesting. I'm excited for where they're going with this. But argued that it was within the law. Okay, right. Because they called their own witnesses who said only eight to 10 lashes were struck, which was the legal amount.

But okay. Well, first of all, that's crazy. Let's just put that away for a minute. That's crazy. But also there were so many more beat. I mean, he got lashed way more times, but their argument is that he was lashed within the legal limit. Yeah. So it's almost like a breathalyzer. Yeah. Oh, he could have had another two lashings and been fined to drive. Five. The defense said Martin had died of pneumonia and brought Dr. TC Jones again as a witness. But Jones had said in his report that there were no signs of trauma on Martin's body. What was he? Was he just looking at his scalp? What was he? He didn't give a shit. He was just like, yeah, you got another one. All right, just bring a, bring a paper over here. I'll sign it.

Yeah. So that didn't go great for the doctor. Although six expert witnesses backed up Dr. Jones statement. Oh, there was also almost a fistfight during the trial when the defense claimed one of the state's witnesses had been offered a bribe to testify. The prosecuting attorney had to be held back from beating him up. Hagenbotham testified he had no choice but to whip Martin. He had not worked at least three times and he received only eight to 10 lashings. Hagenbotham also said he had not placed his foot on Martin's neck, just like you said before the committee, right? Hagenbotham was found guilty of secondary murder and sentenced to 20 years. How much time did pneumonia do? Uh, thank you. Then Hagenbotham was released after posting a

$10,000 bond. If anyone needs to go to a lumber camp. The case was reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court in 1924 because of illegal technicality. The Supreme Court reversed the decision and granted Hagenbotham a new trial. But this one was to be held in a different county, Dixie County, who dragged their feet. So Hagenbotham went back to work for the Putnam Lumber Company. What? Why are you looking at me weird? He went back to work as a whipping boss. Yeah. What else is he gonna do? He's looking at his resume. He can't. What's he gonna do? Data entry? Guys got one skill. What? This is what it's like when you're like. Weren't you just on trial for murder? Yeah, I'm taking a breather there, redoing it. I'm just gonna murder a little bit until that

picks up again. You know what? I'm so tense. I just need to beat some guys, get back to what I was doing. I figure, well, I'm here. Just make a little scratch. At least they put him in a different location, though. Yeah, no, for sure. Uh, that same year in October, Lewis... You hear we're getting a new whipping boss? Boy, I wonder what he's gonna be like. Hope he's a good one. Hope he's cool. The last whipping boss was terrible. Oh, yeah. I had a hole all the way through to my kidney. I remember that. That was fucked up. We put food in it. Oh, man. Those were the days. People, a lot of people haven't heard that episode. Oh, screw that. All right. So in the same year in October, Lewis Peanut Parker, Peanuts' nickname. Always good. A black convict worker was beaten

and shot to death near the camp. Now, when you're shot to death, that's hard to explain. You mean malaria to death? Higginbotham, who was still under bond, and John H. Winburn, a Dixie County deputy sheriff, and four others were indicted for first degree murder. After that, Higginbotham was then retried in Dixie County for Martin's murder. This must have his schedule, his wall calendar must have been full. So hard. He was found not guilty. Oh, good. He was about to go on trial for the second murder when he was seriously injured in a car accident. A doctor said he was physically unable to appear in court. There were no further attempts to punish him or the others for the second murder. Wow. Well, someone had a fender bender, so that's the end of that. He has whiplash.

He's free to go. Cannot help this. Sorry to your family, but we can't do anything about the man. Guess it was malaria. He hit a car. Martin's family brought a suit, a civil suit for $50,000 against the Lumber Company. They settled out of court for $20,000, and in return, publicly stated that the company was absolved of all willful blame. That must have been easy. The public had known little of the way the convict leasing system worked. The record of brutalities and killings uncovered by the committee focused the public's attention on the cruel treatment of prisoners. People became increasingly vocal against a lease system, not just in Florida, but throughout the US. Many other states had already outlawed the practice.

For the first time, individuals and organizations were openly opposed to this kind of penal system. Floridians, like the mayor of St. Petersburg, said it was not only inhumane, but un-American. Oh, and the tourist business was suffering from the bad publicity. Oh, there's the problem. That's the reason why someone got moral. Even the governor of North Dakota said, quote, unless the existing evils in connection with the leasing of convicts are corrected in the state of Florida, a great many things, a great many of those who go to Florida for the vacations will be constrained to visit other states. So this is the modern, this is the old version of today's modern day when they pass laws against gays using bathrooms. Right. Yeah. This is the

Yelp review. Yeah. This is the exact same thing we're boycotting now because they won't let transsexuals use the bathroom of their choosing. Yes. So now you don't go to North Carolina. Right. But in those days, it was for killing humans. Right. So we've come a little ways. I'm saying we've made progress. A little bit. So because tourism was threatened. I'm for unisex bathrooms. I hear you. I hear you. Let's just mix it up. I say just have one bathroom who gives a shit one bath put a fucking stall in there and everyone can pee wherever the fuck they want. Who gives a shit? I mean, granted, we'll have the seat up seat down argument a tremendous amount. That's gonna be a problem. That'll probably go to the

Supreme Court. That would be the greatest Supreme Court case. We determined that the seat should always be left down. Finally, that'll teach you. I kept falling in. I basically drowned my bottom last night in the middle of the night. I drown my bottom. I sunk right into it. Florida State Center. Stuck on me like a barrel. Florida State Center. Wiggle around like a tail. McWilliams introduced a bill to abolish the lease system and it passed the Senate April 20th by a vote of 31 to one. I bet that one was that one guy. Right. What is the downside people? Show me one thing. Look at all this tippetad I got. The debate continued in the Senate and a few senators. Oh no, this is where the NAB is. A few senators said they would be

in favor of a modified lease system. So they're like, let's just change it a little bit. Sure. Blacks only. One of those men was TJ NAB. Of course, the idea of a modified lease system didn't go over well with the KKK who said NAB and the others were human devils and bribe takers and traitors. They were warned that if they continued their stand, they might receive 100 lashes or a coat of tarred feathers. I love that. So they're mad at the guys who run the convict camps and are killing people because they're going to modify because they're going to give a little bit. They're going to give a few inches and try to change it a little bit. The KKK stepped in so that you could be like, we agree with them. Thank you KKK. Jesus Christ.

On May 12, 1923, the Senate passed a bill prohibiting the use of corporal punishment on county convicts. The House adores this action by a vote of 61 to 8 and Governor Hardy signed both bills. Despite that, Senator NAB expanded his turpentine empire. His brother William bought into the company and they became the biggest turpentine suppliers in the United States. Fortunately for them, in 1923, when the legislation ended convict leasing, they also passed a debt to hold law. It said that anyone who accepted anything of value on a promise to perform labor and then fail to do so was guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a $500 fine. Anything of value could be something like a ride to the camp or a payday advance for tools.

Wait, I'm confused. So they got rid of... So they got rid of... You couldn't just grab a guy off a train to arrest him and then put him in a camp. Right. But what they did do was set up a system whereas if you were in debt... If debtors would do this? Yeah, so now it's like a debtor's prison. Jesus God. What? That's almost worse. It's almost getting weirder. It's a face for J walkers. In 1937, William Nab and his son were investigated by the FBI and indicted for holding workers by keeping them perpetually in debt to the company. They were literally stopping workers from leaving at gunpoint. Well, that's not okay. William Nab was acquitted. It took the jury just 30 minutes. Oh God. That's lunch, right? Let's get out of here. 1938 Nab turpentine was 125 acres of pines

or 1,250,000 trees. William Nab died in 1971. His son Jimmy Nab now runs Nab lands sitting at the same desk in the same room where his grandfather did years ago when he was holding men like slaves. Are they still turpentine? I don't know if they still make turpentine, but they have something called Nab lands. Probably, I would imagine. To quote Jimmy Nab today. Oh God. My granddaddy never kept anyone as a slave or against their will. Because I said so. Because why should that be a thing? Because reality is tough to swallow. Today, private companies lease factories in prisons as well as lease prisoners out to their factories. Private corporations also run prisons for profit. Government run prison factories operate as a multi-billion dollar industries in every state

and throughout the federal prison system. In the San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point, a longtime black community with a 50% unemployment rate, the locals are facing criminalization, incarceration, and mass displacement due to gentrification. San Francisco has implemented gang injunctions, curfews, anti-loitering, and anti-association laws that are very sacred to black codes for black Latino and Asian youth. Gang prevention that pushes young men into the prison system to become prison labor while the community is gentrified and redeveloped. Today, debt helps to keep American prisons full from today's New York Times. Oh my God. Quote, in the last 25 years, as mass incarceration became increasingly costly, states and localities shifted

the burden to criminal offenders with an explosion in special fees and surcharges. In Oklahoma, criminal defendants can be assessed 66 different kinds of fees from a courthouse security fee to a sheriff's fee for pursuing fugitive from justice and even a fee for an indigent person applying for a public defender. So people with no money are charged for a public defender, which they're guaranteed by law, which puts them in debt. Plus, you get court fees, which add up, which mean you have to take plea deals that give you shittier. And then they're put in prison. Shittier deals that make you go to jail. And then you're part of the prison system, where you are used for free labor. Yeah. Well, happy, joy, joy. Yay. That's a good fun story.

You know, sometimes I like to do one that's not a Debbie Downer. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, you like to do uplifting ones. Yeah. Ones that don't make you feel bad about today and ones that make you happy. It's this is just a it's just a great it's a great thing. Well, it is crazy. I mean, there are so many statistics like, you know, we are the only industrialized nation that has this many prisoners. I mean, it just nuts. It is the credit is I mean, to say that our prison system is broken is to say that a man who had 109 lashes on his chest died of malaria. Yeah, we get some stuff to work out in America. Well, a little couple things. Well, the purge will be fun. The purge will be good. We're so close to

the purge. Excited. We sign cars. Yeah.