ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
The Birth of Ladybird Books - DAY BEFORE:
The Man Who Lived in the Airport - DAY BEFORE THAT:
The Godfather of Graffiti - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
One Direction: The Movie
ON THIS DAY
America's First Bank Robbery
The Bank of Pennsylvania opened to discover that an astonishing $162,821 (around $3 million today) had vanished without a trace on 31st August, 1798.
With no smashed windows, and no blown-apart safes, suspicion naturally fell on someone with inside knowledge.
But Suspect #1 in America’s first bank robbery – Patrick Lyon, a highly respected blacksmith who had recently worked on the vault’s locks – was, in fact, completely innocent. He knew who he thought the culprits were, but his decision to head to the authorities and inform them turned out to be a tragic error…
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the yellow fever epidemic haunted Lyon throughout; consider the naivety of the true criminal, Isaac Davis, who attempted to deposit the stolen money into his own account; and reveal how Lyon used his eventual compensation to settle some scores…
Further Reading:
• ‘A Foolish Decision Made By America’s First Bank Robber Led To His Confession’ (Grunge, 2022): https://www.grunge.com/892487/a-foolish-decision-made-by-americas-first-bank-robber-led-to-his-confession/
• ’The first major bank robbery in America happened in colonial Philadelphia and the wrong man was blamed’ (PhillyVoice, 2023): https://www.phillyvoice.com/first-bank-robbery-us-philly-carpenters-hall-patrick-lyon/
• ’The First Bank Robbery in the US Was Also the Stupidest’ (Andy J Lang, 2024): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v-kXTgFpa7s
ON THIS DAY
America's First Bank Robbery
The Bank of Pennsylvania opened to discover that an astonishing $162,821 (around $3 million today) had vanished without a trace on 31st August, 1798.
With no smashed windows, and no blown-apart safes, suspicion naturally fell on someone with inside knowledge.
But Suspect #1 in America’s first bank robbery – Patrick Lyon, a highly respected blacksmith who had recently worked on the vault’s locks – was, in fact, completely innocent. He knew who he thought the culprits were, but his decision to head to the authorities and inform them turned out to be a tragic error…
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain why the yellow fever epidemic haunted Lyon throughout; consider the naivety of the true criminal, Isaac Davis, who attempted to deposit the stolen money into his own account; and reveal how Lyon used his eventual compensation to settle some scores…
Further Reading:
• ‘A Foolish Decision Made By America’s First Bank Robber Led To His Confession’ (Grunge, 2022): https://www.grunge.com/892487/a-foolish-decision-made-by-americas-first-bank-robber-led-to-his-confession/
• ’The first major bank robbery in America happened in colonial Philadelphia and the wrong man was blamed’ (PhillyVoice, 2023): https://www.phillyvoice.com/first-bank-robbery-us-philly-carpenters-hall-patrick-lyon/
• ’The First Bank Robbery in the US Was Also the Stupidest’ (Andy J Lang, 2024): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v-kXTgFpa7s
ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
The Birth of Ladybird Books - DAY BEFORE:
The Man Who Lived in the Airport - DAY BEFORE THAT:
The Godfather of Graffiti - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
One Direction: The Movie
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OLLY MANN
Olly Mann made his name with another trivia-wielding podcast, Answer Me This! with Helen Zaltzman – and now presents The Modern Mann, The Week Unwrapped, and Four Thought for BBC Radio Four. He also has an A-Level in History, so Dan Snow beware.
REBECCA MESSINA
Rebecca got a passion for podcasting working at The Week magazine and a passion for trivia appearing on University Challenge in 2011, making The Retrospectors her natural home.
ARION MCNICOLL
Arion started out in satirical news in Australia, then moved to the UK to work for ostensibly serious publications including The Times, CNN, and The Week… before realising that since around 2016 the news has all been satire really.
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