Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate

We're out of the country for a family memorial service and didn't have time to record a Criminal Records episode for the week. But that doesn't mean we're out of crime content! This week, we've cleaned up and cut together some of Isaac's very, very old History of Japan audio to bring you the history of Japanese organized crime.

Under Britain's most notorious era of criminal law, you could be sentenced to death for everything from destroying a fishpond to being a particularly malicious 7-year-old. But how many criminals actually died thanks to this wave of harsh legislation? Getting the answer requires a deep dive into the very weird world of crime and punishment in the industrializing United Kingdom.

Content note: This episode is about capital punishment in British law and will include a lot of information about the state executing convicted criminals. The show notes contain images of hangings. I'm sticking with our general policy of choosing illustrations for our show notes instead of photographs of dead bodies.

Sources and show notes

Support the show on Patreon

The law was out to take Emma Goldman down on a range of charges from distributing obscene material to assassination to sedition. But did the woman the papers called the Queen of Anarchy deserve her lengthy rap sheet?

Sources and show notes (with some excellent political cartoons) at this link

Support the show on Patreon

Something seemed a little less than ideal about governments and economies around the world in the late 1880s. One woman's solution? Anarchy.

Sources and show notes at this link

Support the show on Patreon

Thanks to Demetria's brilliant decision to get as many vaccines as possible on the same day, there's no new episode this week. Instead, we're releasing a bonus episode from our Patreon archives about one of our all-time favorite works of historical fiction. We'll be back on our regular posting schedule in 2024!

Content warning: Babylon Berlin is set in the Weimar Republic and contains some admirably frank depictions of the rise of fascism, so there's a lot of discussion of antisemitism and Nazis in this episode and on the show.

On one side, a crooked saloon owner with a side business running brothels and opium dens. On the other side, a moralistic tycoon with rail car full of beautiful vegetables. Which one of them did more damage to a frontier town in Montana?

Sources and show notes at this link

Support the show on Patreon

Want to crown yourself the king of Germany? Want to conquer Europe because you have really strong opinions about public transit? Want to get rich quick selling fake government ID cards? With this one completely nonsense legal strategy, you too can claim the government of Germany isn't real and join the ranks of some very iffy far-right extremists.

Sources and show notes

Support the show on Patreon

Hi everyone,

Owing to a bout of illness, we're bumping back the release date for this week's episode by 24 hours. We expect to still be able to get it out there by Friday morning (Pacific Time). Sorry for the delay!

To crown the monarch of the United Kingdom, you need a 336-pound block of sandstone. But who really owns that big chunk of stone, and who was the thief who stole it from its rightful place?

Sources and show notes at this link

Support the show and find our bonus episode about Braveheart on Patreon