Episode 511: Nan Patterson and The Death of Frank "Caesar" Young｜Morbid

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Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash.

And I'm Alayna. And this is Morbid.

This is morbid It's almost Halloween, Halloween, Halloween This is Halloween Everybody make a scene Pumpkins and stuff Pumpkins and stuff Alright, hi How was...

How are you? How's everyone's almost Halloween?

Good? All good. I'm glad to hear it.

I want to know what everyone's dressing up as.

Oh my god, you are?

You guys got to see what we dressed up as.

Yes. Ahead of time.

She was, if anybody was confused, Elena was Addison from Zombies 3.

I was Alien Addison from Zombies 3.

Not to be mistaken with Cheerleader.

Or almost Werewolf Addison.

Although you should have been almost Werewolf Addison.

i would have i like that but the so i'm sure everybody can understand that um i didn't choose that costume my children chose it for me and when they say can you be this for halloween you say yep and then they asked john to be zed from halloween so we were to uh we were you know alien addison and zombie zed you guys looked great when you walked in i was dying and the kids are all from zombies as well i think we got a willa the werewolf we got eliza the zombie but then and then my littlest my littlest one we all know is is on a whole different planet on her own she's not honored she is half willa the werewolf

yep half remy split down the middle and the other half is remy ash's cat and she could not wait to show remy my cat very excited to show remy the cat that he approved um but yeah it turned out really well so we were a zombies family and also half a remi the cat yeah of course i was just miss piggy and drew was kermie you guys slayed it thank you i i'm so upset because i ordered a prosthetic nose i was telling alina and because i wanted to go like full -fledged and i wanted to like glue down my eyebrows oh man and like put the makeup like higher and i didn't have time to do my hair it was hard because i

hosted great great thank you i hosted so i made all the food yeah once you when you're hosting it's hard to go all out with the costume and my prosthetic number came i know that sucks i know i'm gonna it's gonna get delivered and i'm gonna be like okay i don't need this anymore it's gonna get delivered like two weeks after halloween and you're just gonna show up one day as miss piggy i mean to record we're just gonna be like hey girl i'm just like yeah see i wanted to be something scary but you know not this year there's always next year they're getting more into like spooky shit they They are.

So, you know, whatever they request. And like we were saying, there's only so many years that your kids are in this like goofy, excited, like into everything, go all out stage, especially for Halloween costumes.

And it's like, if they ask me to be something, I'm going to be it until they don't ask me to be something anymore.

You know, like, it's just like, I'm going to at least hold on to this for as long as I can.

Yeah, you gotta. But it'll be a sad day when they're They're like, Mom, we're going out with our friends for Halloween.

And I'm going to say no. But then you can come trick -or -treating with me and my kids.

That's true. Because they'll be younger.

That's very true. So it'll be fine.

We'll have every stage of life at some point.

I love that. Yeah. I love that.

That was deep. We'll have every stage of life at some point.

I just meant like in kids.

Yeah. But then you could double that as like we'll all hit every stage in life at some point.

Wow. Ash has crossed over.

listen I was up late last night my coffee hit and then it unhit she had like a time release coffee this morning that just hit like two hours later I did and then suddenly she was just bouncing off the walls singing that it girl song you guys that song I I feel like it was written like to me it was not because I'm the it girl just because like it's so fucking good I love that you're like I'm not the it girl well I'm not being like I feel like it was written about me that song she had me in mind when that song it girl I think it was about ashkell oh my god imagine no I just meant like imagine oh

I'm intolerable today I love you today I love you all days oh my god thank you today you're funny that was so nice today I'm funny you're never funny any other day what you little bitch it went from so sweet to like fuck you a checks Yucks.

The other day when I was like, you need me.

And you were like, okay.

I was like, shut up.

All right. I'm not talking about this anymore.

Elena loves me a lot.

I do. It's only infrequently that she bullies me.

Yeah. Only infrequently, but it happens.

Of course it does. I mean, I bully you too.

Infrequently during the day.

I told Elena today, no ghost at the wedding.

And you would have thought that I shot the woman.

I bullied her. Yeah.

I didn't actually. No, you didn't bully me.

no I didn't I was like I bullied you then I was like wait no I didn't all right well we should probably get on with things yeah we're just nonsensical today did you eat a lot of candy yesterday I didn't need a lot of candy actually maybe that's what's happening to me I ate so many fucking fun -sized crunch bars and there it is and butterfingers I'm like on another planet today space level spice level oh my god just really quickly I also last night watched um There was like a watch what happens live like recap of the best Vanderpump Rules moments of watch what happens live.

And James Kennedy was on there.

And it was when he got to perform for Steve Aoki.

And that really just sent me.

I love that. And when you said space level.

Space level. It made me.

It made me think of it.

It made you think of it.

All right. So anyway, back to the morbid.

I have a wild case today.

It's old timey. So if you're not here for that, then love you.

Bye. And if you're here for it, love you high.

So it's Nan Patterson and the death of Cesar Young.

And I say death because to this day, we don't know if he was murdered.

Oh, I love when we all get to decide.

You get to decide. This is also a very you case.

I looked at like a, I don't know what happens per se, but like I looked at a little summary of it and I was like, this is a case that Ash like belongs covering.

Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, it's like Nan seemed a little fabulous if she didn't commit murder.

Yeah. I'm not sure if she did or not, so that wouldn't be fabulous if she didn't.

Yeah, I'm not going to commit.

So, the woman at the center of this case, Nan Patterson, she was actually born Ann Elizabeth Patterson.

Name is not Nan, it's Ann.

What a way, what a, like, small, subtle way to change it into, like, a stage name.

I love it. Exactly.

Exactly. So she was born in 1882, and she was one of three children born to John Patterson, who was a well -known real estate developer in and around Washington, D .C.

I couldn't find anything about who Nan's mother was.

Hmm. That's interesting.

And I don't think Dave could either.

So when she was born, he was the supervising architect of the Treasury.

Oh, wow. But he resigned at the beginning of Grover Cleveland's first term as president, and he said as a lifelong Republican, he, quote, refused to hold office under a Democrat.

Okay. So that was that.

Live your life. What did you say?

Live your life. Live your life, I guess.

Yeah. So Nan's early life was pretty unremarkable, but things changed dramatically for her in 1898 when at just 16 years old, she started dating a man named Leon Gaines Martin.

He was about 14 years older than Nan, but that was like more acceptable back then.

I was going to say back then it was like pretty regular.

Yeah, it was so regular, but it's so wild to hear that.

Yeah. Now, they met in Baltimore, and after just one year together, they actually ended up getting married.

Oh, wow. Nan was 17, and Leon ended up taking a job with the San Francisco Railroad, which meant they now had to move from New York across the country to California.

So as a young, now married woman in her later teens, Nan, she was still interested in doing the things that most people her age were interested in.

She liked fashion. She liked theater.

She liked just like girly shit.

it. So being in California with the fashion and the theater was like being at the center of the cultural universe and she was fucking stoked over it.

But Leon, on the other hand, married life wasn't really what he had expected.

Okay. Yeah. The first few months in San Francisco, they were happy, but it didn't take long for their relationship to start crumbling.

And Leon, he had high expectations.

He wanted Nan, his new wife, to be dutiful, obedient, like Like, old, tiny, terrible things.

Yeah, you should definitely look for that in a partner.

Yeah, you know, obedience.

Yeah. Fantastic. Absolutely.

Can you imagine having that be, like, a list of desirable qualities in your partner?

No. Obedient? I cannot.

Yikes. But what he got instead, he later told reporters, was a girl who, quote, was of a lively and emotional nature.

It's like, you married someone almost 14 years your junior.

Of course she's full of life.

She just started living it.

He just described a person who is alive.

Correct. Emotional and lively.

It's like that's just a...

That's a pulse. That's a carbon -based person, I think.

Like that's really just like...

Like what? Did you want her like...

Well, I know what he wanted.

He wanted her docile and robotic.

And it's like, well, then you should have just got a robot, my friend.

Exactly. Jump ahead in time a little bit.

it or i mean back then you probably could have found somebody that you wanted who got forced into that exactly but to deal with his woes he started drinking heavily and gambling more often and that just only led to the relationship crumbling even faster than it would have and actually just one year after they got married and moved to the opposite side of the country they got separated oh yeah now years later they did end up divorcing and nan cited deserted desertion and failure to provide as the reason for the divorce which like knife yeah that hurts now leon challenged her assertion telling the judge

his wife quote had the stage fever and became inordinately fond of dress that he could not afford to give her the luxury she wanted she had the stage fever she had the stage fever and she liked to dress I love that that's just a reason for divorce.

She got that stage fever.

Oh, back then it was actresses back then were looked so down upon.

It's crazy. Yeah, you get that stage fever.

It's like a completely alternate universe to what we're used to now.

I know. Because we hold actors and actresses on pedestals and not back then.

But what a douche. So what a douche.

Moving on. Now that she wasn't able to rely on her husband for financial support, in 1901 she auditioned for the Floridora Girls.

girls they were a traveling troupe of chorus girls born out of the late 19th century stage play floridora um i always feel like i'm saying it wrong but i did google it and it's floridora oh look at that it sounds cute it's it is and as well it's cute but it's also problematic because as a rule all floridora girls had to be exactly 5 '4 and they had to weigh 130 pounds wow that that slims down the uh the applicant pool sure does and they also had to be a quote or they had to quote personify the ultimate the ultimate and feminine beauty it's like that's a lot this sounds so healthy yeah totally yeah

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now as a member of the floridora girls sextet nan toured the country as nan rudolph that was her stage name and they got to travel they performed everywhere from california to georgia to new york and she did that from the summer of 1901 until the spring of 1902 and when she went back in california around april or may of 1902 she started living with her sister julia in san San Francisco, and it is around that time that she met a young man named Caesar Young, who, as we know, ultimately dies.

Now, Caesar had been born in Surrey, England in 1867, and he had come to the United States in 1890 as a poor amateur athlete.

And in the 10 or so years before he met Nan, he actually had amassed a fortune buying and selling racehorses, and also earned himself a reputation as a gambler, bookmaker, and and notable, quote, unquote, man about town.

Man about town. Imagine that's your occupation, man about town.

All right, just a man about town.

Just a man about this town.

Just about town, yeah.

I'm about this town.

I like that. Now, as a horse trader, Caesar traveled around the country buying and selling horses, and he was on his way to California in the fall of 1902 when he met Nan on the train.

Now, a New York prosecutor would tell a jury in 1904, dun -dun -dun, that, quote, Young was a man who exercised a singularly great influence on women and he was himself easily susceptible to women so given that easily susceptible to women I was really hoping you would you would repeat that quote like easily susceptible to women like we're like we're like an illness all right so given that Caesar was immediately taken with the beautiful and vivacious nan on the train.

Of course. So much so that they literally couldn't even wait for the train to reach California before, shall we say, getting to know each other more intimately.

Oh, consummating their friendship.

Consummating their acquaintanceship.

Their meeting. Their meeting.

Literally. Their introductions.

So these motherfuckers like locked eyes on the train.

He was like, you're hot.

She was like, you're hot.

So they got off in Chicago instead of going all all the way to California and they had a little afternoon tryst in a hotel damn folks got a hotel, fucked, got back on the train in Chicago and then went back to California just hot people doing hot things that is the definition of hot girl shit that is what Meg had in mind when she wrote the song getting off a train to fuck a man that you think is hot and then go back on the train to finish your journey Go do your business, you know.

Like, damn. Wow. Obsessed.

All right. So when Caesar and Nan got back on the train in Chicago, they registered as Mr. and Mrs. Francis Thomas Young.

But there was a little bit of a problem.

Caesar was already married to a woman in New York.

Oh, not hot girl shit.

Who was fully expecting to join him in California.

Hot girl shit erased.

Yeah. And also, this depends on how you look at things.

nan was not officially divorced yet she was separated but not divorced all right so i don't personally at least i don't see an issue on her end but it's like you know you're separated but he has a lady but i see an issue on caesar's end because at that point i don't know if he had been honest with nan yeah about the wife eventually he is and i didn't love that so in the two years that followed nan and caesar carried on their affair with a little regard guard for secrecy, and they just spent time together whenever they could.

After Caesar's death, many papers noted that, quote, it would have been useless for him to deny that he was infatuated with the woman.

Oh no, it's like, man, you're married.

Yeah. In fact, he was so infatuated with Nan that even the idea of her being married to another man, regardless of the specifics of that marriage, proved intolerable.

And less than a year into their relationship, Caesar ended up paying for nan's divorce from leon and uh on april 30th 1903 she became a single woman again wow but it's like he just expedited that shit you can't deal with the fact that she's married to someone but you're married to someone what if what if she doesn't like that yeah that's not good you get to have your cake and eat it too sir absolutely so with caesar's work allowing him to travel often and his investments in california needing him to spend quite a bit of time in and around San Francisco and Nan living there, they had plenty of opportunities to

see each other. And despite Caesar being more than a decade older than Nan, they carried on like lovers in their early 20s.

They would spend evenings at restaurants in Sacramento, cafes in Los Angeles.

They were just living the high life.

Living, laughing, and loving.

All the way. But it's not cute because he has a wife.

Yeah. So according to the district attorney, Caesar was a heavy drinker and quote, would frequently at the track drink 30 glasses of beer and every morning he would have three or four drinks of brandy with breakfast. Okay.

So you're starting your day off with three glasses of brandy and then you go to the track and have 30 glasses of beer?

The red flags are flagging.

30? That's a lot. 30?

That's a lot. That's insane.

Some might say too much. So meanwhile, Caesar's wife Margaret ended up finding out about the affair and she had been doing her best to ignore her husband's infidelity.

But by the spring of 1904, after almost two years of the affair, she'd grown pretty tired of his bullshit.

Yeah. And she decided, no, I'm not going to tolerate this.

No way. And in March of 1904, Caesar and Nan took a trip to Berkeley and then went on to Los Angeles to attend the races at Santa Anita Park.

but margaret caught wind of their plans and she sent caesar's business partner john millen to la to track down her husband and his mistress as she made her own way to la she was like you go before me i'm gonna figure out some affairs as we figure out this actual affair you go ahead and track them down and i'll be on my way soon nothing is better than catching someone in the act yep when you know You know that it's happening.

I've never had that happen, but I can only imagine that would just be like.

Because it's just confirmation.

Vengeance is mine. Yeah.

And it's one of those things because during that whole, when that stuff is happening, you're convincing yourself that you're like losing it and that it's you being overly paranoid and they convince you that you're being overly paranoid.

So red -handed is just like, haha, chef's kiss.

And basically that's pretty much what happened because, so John Millen makes his way and And eventually Millen finds Caesar and Nan staying at a Turkish bathhouse in L .A.

And he calls Margaret and tells her where they are.

And she goes to the baths to confront them.

Oh, girl. Incredible.

So she did not give a shit about the onlookers.

And once she found Caesar, she directly and loudly confronted him, demanding he end the affair with Nan right then and there.

Wow. wow but also i'm like just go gotcha all done good luck together guys i'm moving on like it's i know it's not as easy as that trust me but it's like you just want to see them be like fuck you guys i know i agree so uh caesar he agreed reluctantly and he instructed john millen to take nan to the station give her eight hundred dollars in cash and put her on a train to new york Wow.

So long, sister. Just discarded like trash.

Here's some cash. Bye.

Like, how shitty is that?

That's really like.

And that would just make you feel so yucky.

Yeah. It's like dehumanizing.

Yeah. So Millen did as he was instructed.

But Margaret's attempt to end her husband's affair was ultimately unsuccessful.

You don't say. Just weeks after agreeing to end his relationship, Caesar and Anne started seeing each other again.

With the same disregard for secrecy they'd shown the first time around.

Now completely outraged at this point, Margaret Young again demanded her husband end this relationship, and again he agreed.

Okay, we gotta stop, guys.

It's a rollercoaster.

We gotta stop. And this time he insisted that, quote, he would spend as much time and travel as would be required to kill his infatuation.

Oh, okay. Another red flag here.

Yeah, I'm just having to end it.

But I'm gonna travel a lot to end it.

I'm going to travel a lot to stop my infatuation with this other woman.

And like, you're going to travel a lot, meaning you're going to be away from home.

So it's unclear whether Caesar had genuinely intended to end what was clearly an obsessive relationship with Nan Patterson.

Yeah, and honestly, it's an asshole move.

It is. People can die and still be assholes when they live.

So like, that is just the real.

Yeah, like maybe he wasn't an asshole all the time, but this is an asshole move.

But this particular thing, we can all agree, is not cool.

Thank you. do. But at the very least, at this point, he was committed enough to the idea of ending the relationship that he agreed to spend the summer traveling around Europe with Margaret.

And the two were scheduled to depart from New York on a White Star ocean liner on the morning of June 4, 1904.

White Star, isn't that the Titanic line?

Oh, my God, is it? Is it?

I think it might be.

Can you Google that quickly?

I think it's like White Star line.

I think you might be right.

right? Yeah, operated by White Star Line.

Wow. The Titanic. That's on another level.

That's really wild.

And what year was this?

1904. 1904. Wow. So 1912, I think it was.

Wow. That's crazy. That's just interesting.

So they were probably like building the Titanic at that point.

That's wild. Well, they don't end up on the, going on it.

They don't flash forward in the future.

And they don't end up going on this ocean liner.

Oh, okay. So yes, they were were scheduled to depart on a White Star ocean liner the morning of June 4th, 1904.

But of course, Caesar felt that he had to see Nan one last time before he left for the summer.

You know, continue to have his cake and eat it too.

Oh boy. So on the evening before, the evening of June 3rd, Nan did agree to meet Caesar at this place called Flannery.

It's a restaurant in Lower Manhattan.

And they had dinner and champagne.

And they had certainly hoped to be alone, but they ended up being joined that evening by Caesar's brother -in -law so Margaret's brother William Luce or Luce who insisted on accompanying Caesar to the meeting but agreed to sit at an adjacent table.

So is he there as like a chaperone?

I believe so. I don't it's this is a strange scenario.

It is a strange scenario.

It's unclear to me if Margaret sent her brother to watch them or if maybe Caesar and the brother were just close, the brother -in -law were just close, and he was like, I want to make sure you don't fuck my sister over and, like, I'll do you this solid so you can say bye to your girl.

This is all very messy.

Yeah, it's very messy.

It's giving real housewives.

No matter what way it's going, it's messy.

Yeah, it's bad. So, see, he sat at the adjacent table and accompanied them on their date.

And according to the owner of Flannery, Caesar and Nan seemed to be discussing their relationship, at first calmly but after a few drinks the conversation ended up getting heated and Caesar insisted he was leaving and the relationship the relationship must come to an end he told Nan I have loved you and I do love you now but I will travel until I forget you I will stay abroad a year if necessary I'm this is so intense it's so intense it's so intense I will travel it's an interesting method of going about this I will travel until I forget you Yeah.

Being other places.

It's just a strange method.

I guess maybe being places where they hadn't been together kind of thing.

Because I'm like distance makes the heart grow fonder, I thought.

It does. This doesn't seem like it's going to work.

Maybe it's just the idea of like I won't run into you kind of thing.

I don't know. I think it's like in Gilmore Girls when Max Medina says that he can't be near Lorelai and he says keep a big basketball player -sized person in between us.

Justice for Max Medina.

They should have got Mary.

justice for max medina i do love luke but i do justice for max but i loved max same but before parting ways that evening caesar did agree to meet with man one last time the next morning before leaving for the pier so he is literally getting on a fucking like i don't know it's probably a yacht with his with his wife and is like this is the last time i'm gonna see you nan i'm just gonna meet my mistress one more time actually just kidding i'm gonna see you the the morning before i leave like this is a lot cold turkey this is like not a great look no so the next morning caesar left the apartment

that he shared with margaret a little before 7 a .m and told margaret he was quote going to attend to some urgent business and that he'd meet her at the pier a little after 9 a .m and also like and also i have to say because we're saying like caesar this is an asshole move man asshole move absolutely really as like you guys got to get it together that's the thing like you're both doing this to this woman this is really fucked up yeah because before like when i was saying like like hot girl shit i don't think nan knew that that's the thing hot girl shit when everyone's single and everyone's happy

right and fine but now you know it's messy as fuck now you know he's literally going out with his with his wife on an ocean liner to go travel together to repair their relationship and you are agreeing to meet him like you're both Both messy.

That's fucked up. That's super fucked up.

It's really yucky. So he's telling her I have to attend to some business.

Yeah, and that's fucked up.

He's still lying to you?

Yeah. Now, as we know, obviously, the business was meeting Nan.

So they met a little before 8 a .m. and they were headed in the direction of the pier.

So they're literally heading toward the pier where he's supposed to meet his wife to leave. And they're in a handsome cab, which is a it's like a type of horse and carriage where where the passengers sit in the carriage right behind the horse and the driver is seated on a spring seat behind the cab.

Oh, okay. And that will be important later.

That's why I went into detail.

Okay. We'll try to post a picture if we can.

Yeah. I've definitely seen those types.

Yeah. As soon as I looked it up, I was like, oh, okay.

Yeah. So now just as the cab approached the corner of Franklin Street and West Broadway, the driver heard a loud bang come from inside the cab.

And once he managed to get his horse under control, he pulled the cab to the side of the the street and flagged down a nearby patrol officer who rushed over to see what the hell was going on and when the officer reached the cab he looked inside and saw that caesar young had collapsed into nan's lap and appeared to be unconscious now as soon as he lifted caesar into an upright position the officer saw that there was a large hole in his chest oh just slightly lower than his left shoulder now upon a quick search of the body the officer did locate the a pistol, which had fallen into Caesar's jacket

pocket with one chamber empty.

Now, as all of this was going on, Nan just appeared to be stunned and was clasping her hands, repeating, Caesar, Caesar, why did you do this?

Now, without hesitating, the officer told the cab driver, Frederick Michaels, to drive as fast as possible to the nearby Hudson Street Hospital, where Caesar, unfortunately, was pronounced dead before they were ever able to get him to the operating table.

And when Nan Van heard that Caesar hadn't made it she became hysterical and quote the services of a physician who was to have attended to Young were enlisted in her aid instead damn and that's from the New York Times in 1904 it's always cool in cases like this when like a New York Times article was written I know in 1904 yeah because it's always interesting to see how they word things too because it's just always so different yeah and it's just interesting to like the fact that the New York Times has been been operating for as long as it has.

Yeah, exactly. Now, once she was able to compose herself, Nan ended up being taken to the Leonard Street Police Station, where she sat for an interview with Captain Sweeney.

According to Nan, she and Caesar had met early that morning so that she could see him one last time before he left for England.

And on the way to the dock, she said, Caesar had the cab driver stop at two different saloons where he had at least one drink of whiskey before getting back in the cab so he had two or yeah two drinks of whiskey okay and this i mean this guy drinks heavily so this wouldn't be so yeah he does drink heavily and the thing is she said at least one drink okay so it's a little unclear how much he did drink okay i don't know if she just like was trying to protect him or if she got confused in the chaos of everything but at least one drink at both saloons so at least two drinks total okay now as they

got to the docks close to the the doc excuse me they started arguing about their relationship and his leaving when according to nan caesar in a moment of impulsivity pulled a gun from his jacket pocket he told her he wanted one last embrace quote unquote pulled her into his chest wrapped his right arm around her neck and then suddenly discharged the gun under her shoulder into the left side of his chest so like Like, wrapped his right arm around her, and it would make sense that if that was the case, he would have shot into his left shoulder.

Yeah? Yep. Or in front of his left shoulder.

I mean, it also makes sense he could, like, if he's a righty, that would be where it would go anyways.

Exactly. Because you're not going to, like, bend it inward. Yeah.

Like, picture hugging somebody, putting your arm around them, and where does your hand kind of end up?

So when the gun went off, she said Caesar dropped the pistol, and it fell into his jacket pocket as he slumped forward into her lap.

And she told the investigator quote now that he's dead I love him so dearly that I feel I have nothing to live for and no desire to live.

Which is really sad.

That is sad. Now as she was being interviewed by Captain Sweeney a very distraught John Millen if you remember from the beginning Caesar's business partner.

Yeah. Entered the Leonard Street Station and he was quote unquote flustered with excitement and rage and demanded to see Nan.

And when the desk sergeant wouldn't allow him to he shouted I could kill that woman.

and she cannot deceive me.

She did for Young what she has done for two other men before.

She cannot deceive me.

I knew Young since we were boys together.

So he's claiming that she killed two other men.

I was just going to say.

I'm sorry. Does he have information we don't have?

Out of nowhere. Like, damn.

Now, a bit later, Nan was being let out of Captain Sweeney's office and taken to the coroner's office as that was happening.

Millen, who had been sitting there waiting for her, jumped out of his chair and rushed toward her, making a move to strike her.

Whoa. But before he could, two officers grabbed him and dragged him away.

And they were like, you're going to get arrested if you try to pull that shit.

Yeah, you can't go around hitting people.

So instead, he followed Nan and the accompanying officers down the hall, shouting after her that, quote, if he had a gun, he would shoot her then and there.

Damn. This whole thing is just so messy.

It's so dramatic and so messy and he seems very, very convinced.

That she did this. Like there's no question in his mind.

Not a doubt in his mind.

So the scene repeated itself outside of the station, with Millen again trying to assault Nan, who cowered behind the accompanying officer, begging her to quote -unquote save her from Millen's fury.

Oh my god. She's fucking terrifying.

Yeah. It looks like he's gonna like try to kill her.

Quite literally. If he had a gun, he probably would have. Now at the coroner's office, even more information came to light that didn't do much to help Nan's case.

if caesar's death was a suicide like nan intended or like nan had indicated excuse me then that would have been easily proven by only one set of fingerprints on the weapon but according to nan her fingerprints would be on the gun as well she said quote because i took the pistol out of his pocket and put it back again why why would you do that like i that is very strange to me yeah so did she have a reason or she was just like yeah i just i picked it up and put it back in i took the pistol out of his pocket and put it back again so she watched somebody kill themselves with a weapon and then she

said i should probably touch that weapon and then put it back where i found it yeah okay well i mean i've never been in that position so so I'm not going to say it's a total impossibility.

I don't know. But it's strange.

It's strange, but there was a detail that helped her here.

There didn't appear to be any gunpowder residue on her hands.

I was going to ask that.

Indicating that while she may have held the gun, it wasn't likely that she fired it if there's no gunshot residue on her hands.

All right, that's pretty interesting.

That is, isn't it? That's a pretty big one.

Strange. And there's absolutely no way she would have been able to wash her hands.

the police officer came right to the cab after it happened and immediately escorted her.

And was there gunshot residue on his hands?

We will find out that, yes, there was gunshot residue on his hands.

Interesting. So things got worse when John Millan arrived with additional details about Nan's history with men.

The coroner told the New York Times, quote, Mr. Millan has made many grave charges against this woman.

Millan told me that a member of the Ben -Hur Company killed himself on her account while she was with the Floridora Company.

and that afterward, another man who got into trouble with her killed himself.

Ah. Now, Millen's claims of Nan suspiciously driving other men to suicide were entirely unsubstantiated.

Okay, because I was going to say, do we have, like, proof of this?

They were never, ever determined to be anything more than rumor.

Oh, okay. So there wasn't even, like, proof that this had even happened.

Literally no proof whatsoever.

But still, his comments started a classist, misogynistic rumor mill that would not only persist through the investigation and trials, but also influence their outcome in a big way.

Now, the biggest problem investigators faced was that while multiple people had theories about what happened between Nan and Caesar, no one actually saw anything yet.

Like, they haven't talked to anybody yet who actually saw what happened in the cab.

Yeah. The cab driver told police he never heard any argument and was only aware of the problem when he heard the gun go off.

Up until that point, he was like, I was just driving the fucking cab.

Yeah, he was just paying attention to what was in front of him.

Yeah, I didn't hear anything.

but police had other information that made them doubt nan's claim of suicide captain sweeney told the press quote it looks to me like murder our information includes several letters of a threatening nature which were sent to young supposedly at the insistence of this woman so he's saying that caesar was getting all these like threatening letters before maybe not from nan but she urged somebody to write him these letters oh we're getting a a little messier here.

We're getting a little loosey -goosey with these.

We're getting real messy.

Like she didn't write them.

But she convinced someone to and it's like it's also like how are you gonna prove that?

And fun fact they don't.

But please know that this will remain messy all the way through.

Okay. Up until the very end.

And then we will get no resolution.

No quite literally none.

I also can't stop saying quite literally because of Austin from Southern Charm and I'm sorry about it.

Quite literally Madison.

Quite literally, Madison.

It's so bad. So anyways, Captain Sweeney wouldn't say what information was in the letters at that point, but reporters quickly learned that they had been sent from the address of Mrs. J.

Morgan Smith, Nan's sister, who she had lived with.

And they indicated Nan was, quote, greatly wrought up on Young's account and that she, Mrs. Smith, would not be responsible for what would happen if he ever tried to desert her sister.

I mean, I mean, whoa.

whoa. That just feels like just sisterly.

And also I don't think anyone ever even saw the letters.

So they're just being like, I heard that this letter was written by this lady and that it said this.

And it's like, can you show me it?

And they're like, no. But I did hear it.

Because that's the thing.

This is reporters being like, I found out that it was sent from this address.

And back then, a source close to me says this and it's like, what source?

And they're like, I'm not going to tell you.

Exactly. And we know, even like with the Jack the Ripper case, they put random There's random shit in there all the time that hasn't happened.

Yeah. So. But according to Captain Sweeney, there were about three letters written to Caesar, all vaguely threatening in nature.

And Nan claimed to know nothing about them.

Okay. She was like, I didn't tell anybody to write shit.

She could be lying.

She could be telling the truth.

I don't know. So after the autopsy was completed, the coroner released his finding that the death, excuse me, the cause of death was a hemorrhage of the lung from a bullet that entered the body, quote, just below the left shoulder between the first and second ribs, piercing the apex of the left lung.

Wow. Like what a way to go.

Now given all the unanswered questions Nan was taken into custody and held in a cell at the Tomb City Prison.

Imagine having to go to the tombs.

Well and it's also like if she really was just in this cab with this man and he gave her a hug and shot himself in the lung That's horrible.

while hugging her and she just witnessed this and now is being put in the tomb jail cell yeah can you imagine how fucked up this is no and then she like if she did not do this she was put through the ringer i always think of that when it's like an unknown yeah i don't know if they did it or if it was some other way it's like imagine if they didn't and it's really shitty because like obviously back then women weren't trusted no you couldn't you couldn't say like on my word as a woman yeah like nobody gave a shit about you unfortunately no and honestly that's That's where my stance on the death

penalty started to shift. Really?

During the creation of this entire podcast, this whole show.

It was like people started talking to me more about it and the more I thought about it, the more I was like, wow.

Imagine. Imagine if you get it wrong.

Like humans are fallible.

And it's happened. People have sat in prison for like 30, 40, 50 years.

And it's like you look at that.

And then new evidence comes out.

And it's like, oof.

It's like something you can't undo.

do and in this case especially it's basically all he said she said there's not a lot of forensic evidence in this case of course not and a lot of the like well I heard this from so and so is completely unsubstantiated yeah and that's why that's why these kind of crimes like in this era always fascinate me too it's because with the with you know the the advancements in technology and forensic science and all that good stuff is very fascinating and I love that absolutely absolutely but seeing them like obviously this is a different one because this is kind of a a wonky one where it's like he said

she said right would they do solve a crime from back in these days it's crazy it's fascinating because like they did that with like nothing like no advancements in anything all just like pure detective work like just boots to the ground kind of like nose in their kind of thing and it's like fascinating to see them do it oh it It absolutely is.

But then it's really interesting to see this side of it, too, where it's like this is where it can go really wrong.

Them having no technology whatsoever.

Honestly. Well, and it's interesting, too, because I used to be like fine.

Like I didn't like mind you doing the old cases, but like they honestly, to be frank, they weren't my favorite.

Yeah. But now I prefer them.

Yeah. It's so funny.

Because I think they're so much more interesting.

And that's why I've started doing them.

Yeah. They just like every once in a while to throw a really old timey one in there.

It's just it's really interesting to see the dichotomy of how they solve these things.

It is. It really is.

Yeah. So that's why we've been doing them.

But don't worry, we're all over the map.

Yeah, we do everything.

We'll stay all over the map.

Didn't I just do a case from, like, the 70s?

Yeah. That's my shit.

There it is. So, yes, taken to the tombs, Nan was, and she was held on $5 ,000 bail.

I don't know why I said it like that, but I did.

So her attorney, Abraham Levy, came up with the money for her release, actually.

But very aware and nervous about public interest in the case, the district attorney, William Jerome, immediately challenged the bail and ordered that she be held without bail.

Oh. Which if you think about what they had versus what they didn't have the fact that she was held without bail is bullshit.

Especially because it's like you don't have anything.

Even if you really like like this seems like a very one -off crime of passion case if that which is not okay obviously but it's like when we're talking about like holding bail and all that that does factor into to it like whether this is like you're a threat to society right like you're just gonna run around or like a flight risk or something yeah and it's like so even with that like not being the case they're still doing that like and when they have nothing and when she was arrested the only evidence like the only evidence that they're holding her without bail on is uh a sworn affidavit from a junior police

officer who was the first on scene and in this affidavit the the officer stated his belief that Nan was, quote, Wow.

So she's being held without bail because, like, he thought so?

Because, like, I feel it.

I feel that. I feel it in my bones.

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Now, despite that being the only quote -unquote evidence, investigators and the district attorney's office pressed forward as though Nan were guilty.

Wow. Less than a week after the shooting, the district attorney there, William Jerome, brought the case to a grand jury with two surprise witnesses he said he hoped would secure him an indictment.

Ooh. A man who claimed to have witnessed the shooting and the owner of the pawn shop where the pistol was purchased.

Oh, damn. This is getting interesting.

It is. So on June 8th, a wonderful fucking day Before the grand jury had been convened A man named Algeron Mayer I'm going to call him Mayer Because I don't want to butcher that name Butcher his name, exactly But a supposed witness to the shooting Went to the press to publicly identify himself And tell his story Before making a formal statement to the police Or the district attorney Just went balls to the wall and was like, sup public He told the papers He'd seen the struggle inside the cab and quote the shooting appeared to be accidental he said oh now his account actually seemed to corroborate

what nan had told police in her statement but more importantly he was one of very few people with no agenda that could speak on her defense on behalf of her defense so when the story broke about mayor witnessing the crime the da's office came forward to announce the identity of their own witness a man named carl norlander according to them norlander had been been brought to the tombs where he positively id'd nan as the woman he saw shoot caesar young in the cab but the problem was that there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting and the heavy news coverage of caesar's death had prompted a flood

of letters to nan's defense team and the district attorney's office from all these supposed witnesses and it basically just caused this this whole messy again situation where both sides were trying to outdo each other with false claims just to strengthen their cases and instead of taking place in a courtroom where a judge could have controlled all this chaos it was taking place publicly in the newspapers pretty much by design because both sides knew that they were swaying the public's view with each story coming out now like millen's vague claims of nan's history with other men the coroner and the district

attorney also became willing participants in this media frenzy and both with little regard for truth or their professional obligations.

They basically saw Nan's case as an opportunity to make a bigger name for themselves, and they were trying to capitalize on that.

So day after day, public officials from the coroner to the police captain to the district attorney were giving statements to the press where they made vague or unsubstantiated claims of Nan's guilt, and they would hint at having these few irrefutable pieces of evidence but never produce any.

For example, just one day before the grand jury was convened, the coroner made a statement to the press declaring, I have obtained sworn information which makes it certain that when the inquest is held, the jury will find this defendant responsible for the death of Caesar Young.

Wow, that's confident.

He didn't. Shocked.

Because when he was asked what this information was, he said, I can't share it with you right now.

You know what? It goes to another school.

You wouldn't know it.

Yeah, exactly. She doesn't even go here.

so like very classic yeah exactly so all the unfounded claims aside and media frenzy aside the prosecutor did have a solid lead in a man named hyman stern he was the pawn breaker a pawn broker the pawn breaker the pawn broker who claimed to have sold the pistol used in caesar's death now shortly after nan's arrest this man stern positively id'd the revolver that they'd found in caesar's pocket as the one he sold the friday before caesar's death But when he was asked to identify Nan as the female of the couple who purchased this pistol together, he said, no, that's not her.

So then the police theorized that it could have been Nan's sister who went to buy the gun with her husband, J.

Morgan Smith. Because remember, they said Nan's sister was the one to maybe send Caesar those threatening letters that nobody ever saw.

Of course. Those George Glass threatening letters.

Exactly. They were like, maybe she was doing her sister solid.

Maybe. Writing letters and buying guns.

Yeah. Fucking sister.

That's why I was going to say sibling shit.

For real. Whose cow are we taking?

So despite a lack of evidence tying Nan to the shooting, the DA presented the case to a grand jury that included a considerable amount of questionable testimony from people they said witnessed the shooting.

And after hearing the evidence, the jury made the unconventional request to hear Nan's account of events.

events but her counsel decided that it probably was not in her best interest to go on the stand it was a tough one because it's tough on one side of things she can sit there and you know tell the jury her side of events and hopefully they believe her but but then on the other side what if they don't like her for some reason or like they don't believe her for some reason she doesn't give them the proper emotional response that they are looking for exactly she gets backed into something thing that sounds a little fishy, you know, like it's really risky.

It is. But that request alone definitely hinted that the jury wasn't entirely convinced by the prosecution's case because they're like, okay, like, can we hear from her?

Yeah. But still Abe Levy and Nan's other lawyers viewed the request for her to testify as more of a risk, like we were just saying, than anything else.

And as far as they were concerned, the evidence against Nan spoke for itself and it was telling an unconvincing story.

So they felt there was nothing to be gained by having her her appear okay unfortunately her refusal to appear in court did not help her case i was gonna say i feel like it just would have been why not yeah you know at this point it's like what do you have to lose tough call though i can see why they were like fuck what do we do here but i feel like it would have been a better call to have her on there yeah in this case and probably yeah because despite their previously indicated doubt on june 13th the grand jury returned an indictment of murder in the first degree against Nan Patterson and on June

21st she appeared before a judge in general sessions court and her lawyers entered her into a plea of not guilty now from the moment Nan was found in the cab with Caesar tons of news outlets from New York to California had made it clear that while they didn't know if she was responsible for Caesar's death or not there was no doubt she was an unsavory character because she's an actress no doubt no doubt no doubt she She had that stage fever.

And basically that was their main focus.

On June 5th, just one day after Caesar's death, the front page of the San Francisco Call referred to Nan as a, quote, wrecker of the bookmaker's home.

Oh, my. And when they talked about Caesar's wife, Margaret, they called her a beautiful and talented woman who has been credited by her husband with having lifted him from a position of poverty to one of affluence.

Wow. Which, like, they should be nice about his wife.

She got really fucking screwed over here.

Oh, yeah. But you don't know if Nan's guilty or not.

It's like we're really just going with that guilty thing, huh?

Exactly. And in reality, Caesar's wealth actually had not come from his wife.

Yeah. And it's like, here's the thing.

Nan did some bad shit.

100%. That should be like, yeah, that's fucked up.

She did wreck the bookmaker's home, but she was not alone in that.

He too ruined his home.

Takes two to tango.

Exactly. Exactly. But the article in The Call is the perfect example of the classism and misogyny that surrounded all three of Nan's trials.

Whoa. All three. Three.

Yeah. Strap in, everybody.

Get comfortable. Damn.

So, quote -unquote, homewrecking aside, Nan's onstage career was also looked down upon by many Americans who, as author Carrie Segrave pointed out, quote, looked upon females within the field as loose and generally immoral.

so because she was part of this like traveling group of the floridora girls and wanted to be an actress they were like they're like gross nasty what a hoe yeah the other thing is nan barely spent any time acting but throughout her trials she would constantly be referred to as the actress in like a mocking tone the actress and they i think they honestly did that that said said like an insult oh the actress imagine gwyneth gwyneth on her trial being like the actress like what like what but they clearly were hoping that that little piece of information about her life yeah would sway the jury if they

didn't like absolutely it's a tactic couldn't put loose and generally immoral girls wow wild so the trial the first one did get underway finally on november 15th, 1904, and the assistant district attorney, William Rand, was acting as the prosecutor and Abe Levy there was leading Nan's defense.

So despite the media circus that surrounded the trial, the first one was pretty simple and straightforward. The prosecution alleged that Nan was afraid of losing Caesar, so she shot him in a jealous fit of rage.

The assistant DA told the jury, we will show you that the wound which brought about his death could not have been self -inflicted and that the weapon which was used could not have been purchased by him or have belonged to him now at the time of the trial nan's sister and brother -in -law the smiths who the prosecution believed had purchased the gun that killed caesar they hadn't been located located so they couldn't they weren't able to be subpoenaed damn but nevertheless the district attorney made a show of calling the pawn breaker why do i keep saying pawn breaker i don't know i don't know at At all.

It's funny though. It is funny.

You're welcome. The pawnbroker, Hyman Stern, the district attorney made a show of calling him to the stand so that they could show him photos of the Smiths and they were hoping he'd be able to confirm that they were the people who bought the gun the night before the shooting.

Okay. But what the jury didn't know was that Stern had already seen pictures of the couple and told the district attorney he did not recognize either of those people as the buyer of the pistol.

All right. But, coincidentally, when the time came for Stern to testify, the prosecutor's office got word that he'd actually been stricken by appendicitis, and his testimony would have to wait.

So, when asked whether the appendicitis had been brought on by the trial, Assistant DA William Rand, who had absolutely no way of knowing, replied, It may have been.

In fact, I think that nervous strain which he's been under is the cause.

Oh, sir. You're a district attorney.

You're not a doctor.

Let's not. Now, the defense, on the other hand, their argument, they maintained their assertion that Caesar had been drinking the morning of his death, his judgment was impaired by whiskey and no food, and he shot himself in a fit of what they called, quote unquote, alcoholically sentimental despair.

Wow. That's intense.

What a name for it.

I know. So, in support of their argument, the defense attorney, Levy, there, called a man named Milton Hazleton to the witness stand.

78 year old hazleton had been in new york for a short a short trip in june and he claimed he'd been walking down the street with an acquaintance when they came upon a handsome cab as it pulled to a stop he claimed in the cab quote they saw a young man and woman facing each other with their hands clasped together there was a commotion of some kind going on the young woman just then dropped her hands to her lap and immediately the two witnesses noticed a revolver in the man's hand just excuse me in the man's hand and heard it go off this is so complex it is and it's interesting because at certain times

they're like nobody saw this happen that's the thing and then they're like this guy saw this and they're like look on eyewitness who has every single view of every angle of this crime and it's like wow okay that's the thing and the problem here is that the handsome cab didn't come to a stop before yeah it was because of the sound it pulled over after the shot yeah so i don't know about this witness that the d that the defense called that's interesting in my opinion i don't know if this man saw what he saw yeah or what he said he's all i don't know but his testimony was corroborated by a second

witness john latour i believe is how you say it he was coming out of a nearby drug drug store excuse me when the shot was fired and he said quote as the cab passed me i heard a shot fired okay so in his statement and the cab is moving.

Which makes more sense.

I looked into the cab and saw a pistol in the right hand of the man who sat there on the right side of the cab.

When the cab had gone half a block further, it stopped.

I climbed up on the step and looked in.

The man still held the pistol.

Okay. But that's confusing because had he already shot himself, the gun at that point had fallen into his pocket.

So you wouldn't have, if he had just shot himself and the gun fell, he wouldn't still be holding it.

And it's like, did it fall?

Because I was more confused when they were talking about how, I think Nan said he shot himself then put the gun in his pocket.

She said the gun fell in his pocket.

Oh, okay. I thought she made it like, because I was going to say maybe he didn't die right away and he was able to place that in his pocket before.

That's possible. I don't know why he would, but like, who knows?

She said he had shot himself and then the gun fell into his pocket.

Oh, see that's less believable to me.

That's what I thought too.

It's more believable to me that he would just take, he would quickly put in his pocket before succumbing.

Yeah. Hmm. It's interesting.

Yeah. See, so it all just kind of like when you look at this eyewitness.

Yeah. These two eyewitnesses.

Yeah. And then, and then it's like, and then she, and then her fingerprints were on the gun and she said she touched it by bringing it out of his pocket and putting it back in.

So it's like, did she fuck up and did the gun not fall in his pocket, but she put it in his pocket?

Yeah. And he didn't want to say that.

Maybe this eyewitness did see the gun in his hand.

Possibly. She just put it, maybe she picked it up out of his hand and then, like, put it in his pocket.

Like, holy shit. Yeah, that could have happened.

Absolutely. You know, like, you're just, just to, like, pick it up, like, holy shit, what happened here?

And then, like, oop.

Well, there you have it.

Reasonable doubt. That's the thing.

Like, right there. Look at me lawyering.

But it's like, that could have been it.

And maybe Nan was mistaken or didn't want to say.

But maybe she was just mistaken.

she could have been so well because remember they interviewed her literally like like a few minutes so maybe she was just in shock anxious and was like yeah i picked it up out of his pocket and put it back in maybe what she did was take it out of his hand hold it for him be like holy shit and just drop it in his pocket possibly and maybe that lines up more with what this white eyewitness is saying yeah and then i should say the first one i was like well i don't know about that because the cab hadn't stopped at that point he said as it pulled to a stop oh okay so it was moving All right.

So that's the defense there.

All right. But the prosecution, in the absence of Hyman Stern, the pawn breaker, LOL, in the absence of his testimony, they had to rely on the little forensic evidence that they had.

So on November 22nd, a representative for the coroner's office arrived in court with a teaching skeleton that he wanted to use to show the trajectory of the bullet from the point of entry, evidence they felt would show Caesar couldn't have fired the shot himself.

OK. So they wanted to bring in this whole skeleton and do this whole like fucking...

Which I'm for, let's go.

Yeah, what would you call it?

Reenactment, I don't know.

But Nan's attorney, Levy, immediately objected to the skeleton, quote, on the ground that the skeleton was that of a man smaller than the bookmaker of whose murder his client is accused.

So he was saying that skeleton is smaller than Caesar, so it won't be accurate, which, okay.

I mean, yeah. If you want to do it, get a skeleton that's the same size as him.

Yeah, if you're going to do it, I'm sure you can.

Do it right. Now, the judge actually overruled the objection and allowed the presentation, that's the word I was looking for, the presentation to continue.

There you go. But later, even the press would admit that the coroner's demonstration, quote, did not settle the question whether the wound, which was fatal to Young, could have been self -inflicted.

So they went to the trouble of doing this entire presentation and it honestly just seemed to confuse people more than anything.

thing yeah because like when you really that's the thing that I'm hung up on it's like he's saying he was hugging her and reached around her to shoot him so I'm like that's yeah that does seem like a lot it absolutely does but remember he was most likely drunk yeah just but it just seems like a very awkward it does thing it absolutely does and I'm like and I'm also kind of shocked that well I I guess back then they wore a lot of layers, women.

Because I was going to say, I'm a little shocked that she doesn't have any kind of mark from the gun.

Because it was probably, like, against her a little bit.

Yeah. When he did it, you know?

Well, I don't know, because...

Because I'm trying to, like, reach my arms. I mean, I have short arms. Maybe that's what this is about.

He must have long arms. Because they said...

I couldn't get that ankle.

That's the thing. I couldn't get that ankle either.

Because they said that it went below his shoulder.

because at first actually when I'm I'm actually having a realization right now because when I was reading it I thought it went through the front of his body but now that I'm presenting this again it sounds like it went through the back of his body or it went the front in his shoulder oh yeah for some reason I always think of shoulder as like I think it was the front of his body but like up in his shoulder area yeah or towards his shoulder and then went like like angled down toward the lung which would makes but it's which makes sense if you're hugging I guess But it's just, that's a, that would be,

I'm curious to, like, think of, like, did they do any, like, real -life demonstration of, like, two humans hugging?

Yeah. To try to make sure that that's even...

I didn't find anything to say that they did do that.

Because that's just, like, I'm even, like, looking at, like, a pillow and being like, I couldn't reach around.

But again, I'm a five -foot -one woman.

That's the thing. And it's like, so maybe he had a whole different...

Stature. her. Like, who knows?

Some people have really long arms. And it sounds like he was pretty tall because the skeleton they were going to bring in was not as tall as him.

And Nan had to be 5 '4".

And 130 pounds to be a Floridora dancer.

So she's pretty petite.

I don't know. So yeah, think about hugging somebody.

It introduces... Like, when I hug you, honestly, we should try to reenact it because we might be similar.

I know, we should just to see.

Because if I hugged you, I feel like I could get my arm all the way around you and then Yeah.

And, like, be able to point a gun at my chest. Yeah, it's very interesting.

Yeah. The whole thing is very...

Yeah. It makes you just go, huh.

That's the thing, and I think, I mean, we'll see that the jury themselves each time was like, huh.

This is interesting.

I know, because it's just, like, I have so many questions.

It is. But, like, none of which I can answer or even, like, I have questions, but I'm like, I know I can't get the answer to this.

Yeah. No, it is. It is an interesting case.

Very weird. So a little less than two weeks into the trial, the case looked like it was headed in Nan's favor, actually, because everybody, again, is having all these reasonable doubts.

In addition to the testimony from those two eyewitnesses, Hazelton and Latour, there was testimony from the man who drove Nan's cab the evening before the shooting.

And he told the jury that Cesar Young, quote, was very much under the influence of liquor, abused the girl who was accused of his murder.

her and after cursing her struck her and forced her crying into the car oh my god so they were like he was shitty wow and that was because remember they had gone to dinner the night before yeah his brother -in -law chaperoned yeah and then they got into a cab to leave and evidently according to this man at least it was horrible to her it was a bad situation but just when things seemed to be going well for the defense everything fell apart on november 27th when one of the jurors had a stroke and was listed by his doctors as being in serious condition.

So because there was no alternate juror in the case, a mistrial was declared and a new trial was scheduled for early December.

Wow. So she may have been on her way to winning this trial.

Oh, the momentum was totally broken.

And because they didn't have an alternate juror, they had no choice but to just redo everything.

Yeah. Nan spoke spoke to the press immediately after telling them it is very hard i had helped choose that jury and felt confident of its fairness wow that sucks so hard for her and then her statement about helping choose that jury came back to haunt her because her second trial got underway on december 5th 1904 with the selection of a new jury that's how it all started obviously and the process was immediately sensationalized by the press because most media outlets were claiming that nan was was handpicking jurors, since she had said, like, I helped pick the jury.

This time they were like, she's picking people based entirely on who would be most sympathetic.

In reality, she had some input, but the jury selection was conducted as it always had been.

It was a collaborative process all the way through.

Yeah, because that's wild to think of somebody having, like...

Like, you... Like, you can...

You, you please. But that didn't stop reporters from claiming that Nan had deliberately selected a jury of exclusively, quote -unquote, gray -haired men the implication being they'd be swayed by her beauty and charm come on like really come on so again sensationalized is it totally out of the realm of possibility no no but it's like but it didn't happen doesn't make sense no and it's also like back then weren't they all juries of gray -haired old men pretty much wasn't that pretty much like the standard at that point it was not a jury of your peers no that's the thing so i'm like i think she probably

knew that there was a certain upper hand there of course no slim pickings yeah so jury selection was completed on december 8th and this time they had the forethought to choose alternate jurors ah there you go luckily i know i'm like wait why would you not think that don't prepare i know since very little time had passed between the first and second trial william rand's opening statement remained more or less the same as it had when he gave it a month earlier he said nan Nan was a, quote, vampire, murderess, and wrecker of homes.

Damn. Murderess. Those are some giant labels.

Vampire. A vampire.

Like, wow. That came out of left field.

Yep. And he said Caesar had bluntly, in no uncertain terms, explained he was leaving, the relationship was over.

Nan was enraged by this rejection and the jealousy of Caesar's wife, so she shot him with a revolver that was purchased at the pawn shop by her sister and her brother -in -law the previous evening.

Damn. Wow. So one of the first witnesses called was a man named Frederick Michaels, who was the cab driver, who drove Nan and Cesar's cab that morning.

In his previous testimony, he told the jury, due to his position behind the cab, he didn't see anything that happened.

And this time, he reiterated his story in surprisingly less detail than the previous month, which caused a lot of people in the courtroom to speculate that he had suffered some kind of memory loss since his last court appearance.

Actually, after he'd been questioned by the defense and prosecution, one of the jurors chimed in and was like, do you think you can remember where you were born?

Because he seemed that confused.

Wow. And he paused for a moment and then said, in New York.

But he's like, you know what?

He did have to think about it.

No, so that was interesting.

People were a little bit confused about that.

And a few days into the trial, Assistant DA Rand caused a whole laugh stir in the courtroom room when during his questioning of captain sweeney he attempted without any evidence to establish nan's sister and her husband as co -conspirators in the shooting wow he implied that the smiths were fugitives and that they had failed to appear in court for questioning with the implication being that if the smiths were innocent and played no role in the death why would they have fled because they couldn't be located at that point and it's like they didn't flee it's like you can't just introduce that to the like

yeah you can't just say they they fled without any proof that they fled or were just gone.

No, there was none.

And before Sweeney, Captain Sweeney, who was on the stand at that point, could respond, Abe Levy, the defense attorney, objected, and the jury was excused while both sides made their arguments and tried to figure this whole thing out.

Levy correctly pointed out that there was no evidence of the Smiths having been served a warrant or a subpoena, so they were free to move about the country in any way they pleased.

Wow, this is so messy.

It's insane. And other than their relationship to Nan, there was still no evidence that they were in any way connected to the shooting.

Like the pawn breaker himself said like, no, I don't recognize those people.

Yeah, so what are we doing here?

But the DA or the assistant DA Rand responded saying, evidence has been introduced to show Smith and his wife were with the defendant engaged in earnest conversation before she met Cesar Young on the night preceding the murder.

And it's like, that's cool.

All you're saying is she saw her sister and brother -in -law the night before the murder and they had a conversation and it's like it's these aren't that would even not really work with even if it was like a friend of hers you know like yeah you can see your friends the night before something happens and that doesn't mean that that person's involved but it's her sister yeah who it sounds like she's pretty close with she lived with her at this point she was living with her so it's like she saw the person that is closest to her that she lives with the night before so they must be involved it's like i

don't know about that Exactly.

So it was clear that Rand was doing his best to obscure facts here and try to strengthen his case.

But fortunately, the judge agreed with the defense and refused to allow Rand to go any further with his line of questioning after doing that.

So he kind of fucked himself there.

Oh, damn. Yeah, he did.

I mean, you shouldn't be able to lie like that.

So I'm glad. But things got worse for him later that afternoon when the pawnbroker, Hyman Stern, ended up taking the stand.

He had recovered. now as we know the prosecution had really been amping up his testimony and being like this is going to be like the the the ticket to prosecuting her or to to getting a guilty here they were making it seem like the whole this whole thing could be done with his testimony now when he was finally on the stand their assertions of a conspiracy were quickly falling apart not only was the jury informed that he had failed to identify smith or his wife in the photos but now he was even more vague the new york times reported that stern quote recalled the sale of the pistol but could give

no adequate description of the parties who made the purchase so he couldn't even I don't even remember that anymore.

I was just going to say so.

Yeah. And previously he had looked at a photo of the Smiths and was like, no, it wasn't them.

It was like, no, I don't recognize them.

And now he's like, I don't even remember at this point.

Oh, shit. This is bad.

This is not helpful at all.

So Rand's attempts to enter into the evidence, the supposedly threatening letters sent to Caesar by Nan's sister, were equally unsuccessful.

So he's just doing a fucking nose dive at this point.

Like the questions directed to Sweeney, Rand hoped the letters would imply guilt on the part of the Smiths and establish them as co -conspirators, but defense attorney Levy successfully objected, arguing that the letters were not written by the defendant and had no bearing on the case.

Oh, damn. Damn. Yeah.

So on December 19th, as the case neared its end, Nan actually took the stand for the first time to testify in her own defense.

In addition to proving several details about her own life, which basically included her limited time as a florida girl, her teenage marriage, They were asking her very pointed questions.

Of course. Yeah. And then she got into her relationship with Caesar.

And she said Caesar had instructed her to pretend to agree to the breakup when in front of family and friends, saying, he told me to say I was willing to go away, but that was all a bluff.

That he didn't want me to go away at all.

It was necessary for me to say I was going away, he explained, for Mrs. Young's peace of mind.

Oh, my. So she's saying, you may have seen, like, this whole argument and shit like that the night before, but I was never going anywhere.

Wow. Which, like...

This is all very icky.

Man, that's not good.

Like, this is very icky.

Now, during her testimony, she contradicted most of the assertions made by Rand and the district attorney's office.

She said this actually was not going to be the end of her relationship at all, and that Caesar was going to send for her once he'd settled in Europe.

up and then she said she had no idea that her sister had written any letters to caesar and she definitely didn't tell her to and most importantly she said i was not in the pawn shop the night before the shooting and i did not ask my sister or my brother -in -law to purchase any gun for me i didn't need one oh man then she explained to the jury that on the morning of the shooting caesar had picked her up at her hotel she agreed to go with him but she actually had no idea where they were going and she said caesar was disappointed at having to leave her but insisted that she would join him quote after things

had quieted down and miss young had forgotten me and then nan told caesar she still loved him but she didn't think she could uproot her life and leave to europe and at that point caesar got irrationally upset and she said he asked do you really mean that nan i've lost a lot of money and now i'm gonna lose my girl oh boy and she said after caesar pushed Pushed back, she relented and agreed to join him in Europe a short time later.

But then, she said, he grabbed me and pressed me to him with such force that it hurt me badly.

As I did so, I heard a muffled report, and he fell forward in my lap.

I saw no pistol. He half rose again, and I began to scold him, not realizing what had happened.

Then he fell forward again, and I couldn't attract his attention.

What the fuck? That's what I wanted to hear was exactly how this went down, and I'm even more confused now.

That's the thing. So basically she's saying the whole plan was that I was going to join him in Europe.

He picked me up the next morning.

I didn't know where we were going.

I kind of thought we were just meeting one last time.

And then I told him, I don't know if I can uproot my whole entire life and go to Europe.

We fought a little bit about it.

I relented. And then he shot himself.

Okay. Which is a little confusing because if she, like, relented and was like, okay, I'll go.

and then he shot himself that that doesn't make a lot of sense yeah but he's drunk so maybe he misheard her and still thought she wasn't into this whole idea yeah or maybe didn't believe her when she was like no never mind i'll go with you yeah maybe and he's about to leave and go to europe yeah i'm very confused i am so confusing there's not one part of me that knows what happened here I can tell you that.

Nobody knows. Nobody knows.

Certainly not me. No. So Nan's accounts of the events before and after Caesar's shooting, they had remained consistent from the moment she was arrested.

But this was the first time most people heard this version of the story because the press had always presented the death as either a murder or a suicide.

And the prosecution had always maintained their belief that there was no way it was anything but murder.

And in the press, Nan was presented as this low -class homewrecker or whose immoral behavior had either directly or indirectly caused the death of a man she claimed to love.

But frankly, no one ever considered the death could be an accident because they just looked at Nan and saw what they wanted to see.

That's very true. And now she's sitting here saying, maybe it was an accident.

Like, I don't know.

I know. That's, I'm like, was he trying to shoot her?

Maybe. In like a, you know what I mean?

Maybe trying to shoot her in the back?

I don't know. I'm not going to lodge that allegation, Adam, but I'm just saying like this.

It's just a question.

There's a gun. Yeah.

A gun went off in there.

And he's upset with her.

And there's three possibilities.

They had a fight. It's either there was going to be a murder -suicide situation.

Mm -hmm. That he did it to himself via that hug.

Yeah. Or she did it to him.

Yeah. Because I don't think it would have just been that he would shoot her.

and then move on with his life i think if that was the case that it was supposed to be then it would be a murder suicide situation that is what it sounds like yeah do you think possibly he was trying to shoot her and like thought the bullet would go through her and into him because they were hugging that would be pretty risky yeah i don't know there's like this is just such a confusing Using a tiny space.

Yeah. Two people and a gun.

That's the thing. Because nobody.

There's no. Like, these people can claim they saw it and who knows, maybe they did.

But they're in a closed space.

Exactly. And it's small.

Like, there's not a lot of room in here.

It's not like somebody stood somewhere and we can get a trajectory that way.

Like, this is a very confusing situation.

Yeah. And a very confusing spot to be shot in.

Yeah. Too. Because it's not like, you know, I mean, it's graphic.

But it's not like it's in the head or the mouth or something like that, that you would expect for a...

Yeah, it's below the shoulder.

Because that's not even a real surefire thing.

No. And what if it failed?

What are you doing now?

Who knows? Maybe he wasn't aiming for that specific area because remember, he's drunk.

Yeah. I don't know.

It's just... Again, nobody knows.

This is very bizarre.

It is. So an assistant DA ran's closing arguments.

he told the jury i give her credit for all her cleverness and i accord my recognition to the people who got up to the story she told but actor says she actor says she is stony -hearted cruel avenging adventurous i say to you that the tale she would have you all believe would not carry conviction in the mind of a child wow he was very theatrical theatrical de vaud so after 11 hours of deliberation in the second trial now the jury foreman reported to the judge that they were hopelessly deadlocked with 10 in favor of acquittal and just two in favor of conviction honestly it makes sense to me that there

would be so confusing i have no idea what happened in that car and i could not tell you either nobody does and that's i mean that's a lot of responsibility too to be like i think we should acquit her but fuck what if she did do this that's the thing or Or I think we should convict her, but fuck, what if she didn't do this?

So the judge in the case, Vernon Davis, reminded the jury of their duty and asked that they return to deliberation and try again.

But they returned a little over an hour later saying they had deadlocked and now they saw no way forward. And after talking with the jury foreman, Judge Davis returned to the bench and told the assembled crowd, quote, I have been informed that the jury stood for six for acquittal and six for conviction.

Wow. Now, under those circumstances, he had no choice but to declare a mistrial, and once that was declared, Rand went out and very publicly declared his intent to proceed with a third trial.

This is wild. It's insane.

It's just so long, and it gets more confusing as we go.

Every single time. We're not clearing a damn thing up as we go through these trials.

And we won't. No. So unlike the brief period between the first and second trials, There was an almost four -month gap between the second and third trial, during which William Jerome and the district attorney's office did literally everything they could do to continue pushing Nan's guilt in the press.

They really used the press to their advantage here.

Just one day after the second mistrial, Christmas Day, Rand and Jerome called a press conference to announce their intention to pursue the third trial.

And despite proving herself no flight risk or potential threat to the community, Jerome told reporters, under the circumstances, I will oppose to the release of Nan Patterson on bail in any amount, which that was a move he hoped would emphasize her guilt.

Of course. She hasn't done anything.

She's just been sitting in jail.

Yeah. Like, come on.

Now, when the final trial did finally begin on April 18th, 1905, Rand and the district attorney's office were pushing for a jury of all married men, thinking they would be less inclined to be swayed by Nan's charm and beauty.

And in the time between the second and third trials, the Smiths, Nan's sister and brother -in -law, had actually filed suit against Jerome in the district attorney's office, alleging slander and harassment.

Whoa. Whoa. And noting that, on the advice of their attorney, they stayed away from the case altogether.

They'd never actually been subpoenaed for anything, and their attorney was like, just don't touch that with a 10 -foot pole.

Damn, I don't blame them.

No, in addition to that, Rand claimed to have come into possession of these letters sent by the Smiths to Cesar Young, but refused to produce them in court or hand them over to the Smiths' lawyer, which is literally just another example of him having no real evidence in a crime, but making vague and dramatic allusions to the press.

Yeah. And it's like you're sitting there in a legit court case under oath saying you have these letters, but no one has seen them.

And it's like just produce them, man.

Yeah. Produce them if you have them.

You don't have them.

Exactly. So now that is a whole separate piece.

And while the Smiths' lawyers argued with the district attorney's office, Nan's criminal trial proceeded as expected.

In most ways, the third trial was exactly like the other two.

Yeah. Same witnesses giving the same testimony.

But this time, the defense had committed more time to the analysis of the coroner's report and produced their own expert witness who claimed to the jury that the trajectory of the bullet entering under the left shoulder at a downward trajectory would have been consistent with Nan's story of an accidental shooting.

And similarly, the coroner reported that while they found no powder marks on Nan's fingers after the shooting, they did find powder on Cesar's fingers, indicating that he held the gun when it went off.

And that, that's pretty...

That's telling. Yeah.

Like, there was no powder on her hands.

I don't think she shot that gun.

Yeah. I don't, I really don't.

And it's like... How would she have gotten gunpowder residue off her hands?

This is in the 1800s.

Was she wearing gloves?

She's a fancy gal. That's true.

Fancy gals wore gloves back then.

Little delicate gloves.

So I don't know anything about that, to be honest. But I do feel like the prosecution's office would have argued that if they could have. That's true.

You know, like they would have been like, well, she was wearing gloves.

Of course, I mean, they were going for anything and everything.

Yeah, that's true. So I don't know.

I mean, it's possible.

But I feel like The defense wouldn't Wouldn't sit there and be like There was nothing on her hands With the chance that she was wearing gloves Unless this is like a dirty situation And they made sure those gloves were nowhere to be found Which it could be absolutely And it's like then the prosecution can't say She was wearing gloves if they don't have gloves To say that she was That's true What they should have done was talk to the driver And be like did you see her wearing gloves Because why wouldn't anyone bring that up even just to throw it in the minds of the jury.

Yeah. That maybe there was gloves involved, but we didn't find any, but you never know.

She was taken really quickly to the police station, so.

Yeah, but that gun went off.

The, she still, like, it wasn't like the police literally emerged onto this, like converged onto the place the second the gun went off.

Like, she could have stashed it.

But remember, they said her fingerprints could have been on the gun, so I don't think she was wearing gloves.

They said she picked up the gun.

Unless she took the gloves off and picked up the gun and put it back.

Yeah. Who knows? I'm just saying there's like a possibility.

It is a possibility.

That she was wearing gloves.

Or a handkerchief. Fancy handkerchief that she had on her hand.

But then why would his fingers also have gunpowder residue on them?

Because maybe it was his gun.

No, he had gunpowder residue like on his hands.

Yeah, that's true. I don't know.

I don't think she shot it.

I was trying to figure out some way for it to work.

No, I'm glad you did.

To me, that's pretty like open and shut then.

That's what you think.

That he shot the gun.

Yeah. I mean, like, I just tried.

There's no way to— You can explain that maybe she could have. And, like, you can explain why she doesn't have the residue on her hands technically if you wanted to get, like, wild with it like I just did.

Yeah. But you can't explain why he does.

Exactly. Without saying he shot the gun.

That was fun, though.

That was a nice little exercise we just did.

Interesting. That was—yeah, I know.

I don't know. I don't know.

So that's what the defense was doing.

They were like, he's got gun, they're being like, this is open shut.

He has gunpowder residue, she doesn't.

Yeah. But on the other side of things, still convinced that the pawnbroker there was the key to a conviction.

This guy already said, I don't know shit about shit.

This poor guy just keeps getting called because Rand called him again to the stand to testify and he wanted him to identify the Smiths as the buyer of the gun.

But when the time came and Rand asked Stern and whether he could identify the Smiths as the buyers, the pawnbroker said, No, sir, I cannot.

Now, Rand clearly expected a different answer and was stunned by Stern's statement and asked several more times if he was sure, and each time he was given the same response.

Nope, I cannot identify the Smiths or Nan Patterson as the individual who purchased the gun.

Please don't subpoena me again.

I'm busy. I don't know shit about shit.

I have a pawn shop to run.

It's also a pawn shop broker.

I'm sure he's like leave me out of this yeah like I'm good even if I remember something I don't remember something exactly so on May 3rd 1905 the jury adjourned for deliberation and much like the previous trial they emerged at 2 30 a .m to report that they were deadlocked oh my god the court recorder stressed to the foreman that after three trials and considerable effort there was a lot riding on a unanimous verdict, either guilty or innocent, but like fucking figure it out.

But the foreman insisted there was no hope.

And a short time later, all of the relevant parties were brought back into the courtroom where the foreman was formally asked whether the jury had reached a verdict.

And he said, we have not.

Oh my Lord. I am convinced that there is no hope of an agreement.

No, I am also convinced of that.

And with that, a third mistrial was declared.

Laird but this time even assistant district attorney there Rand admitted a fourth trial was highly unlikely so on May 12th 1905 after three exhausting trials Nan Patterson was released from the tombs and allowed to leave New York a free woman but she had spent over a year in jail close to two and despite having essentially lost the case William Jerome the district attorney held a press conference in an attempt to save face he told reporters there was unanimity I can never ever say that unanimity in the jury room on three points that jay morgan smith bought the pistol from the pawnbroker stern

that nan patterson took the pistol into the cab with her and that caesar young did not commit suicide wow like that's not true because if there had been unanimity you wouldn't be sitting here right now like shut up yeah so following the mistrial and her eventual release nan returned to her parents home in washington dc and in a wild fucking twist of events in september of 1905 she remarried her former husband leon gaines martin shut the fuck up and just faded out of the spotlight into obscurity what but not surprisingly the marriage did not last long even the second time around and they divorced

with nan getting married for a third time in 1910 this time to a man named captain some uh sumner scott and they lived outside of Seattle until her death in 1947 at the age of 65.

Wow. And nobody knows whether or not she killed Cesar Young, except now that we've gone through this, I kind of feel like she didn't.

I kind of feel like she didn't either.

Because why would there be gun residue on his hands?

That's what I can't get past. I can't get past that.

If neither one of them had it on their hands, I'd be like, all right, well, some shit went down here and I'd be more likely to be like, she might have worn gloves.

of I think the thing is it's just like a very strange scenario scenario yeah like you don't I I've never heard of another case like this and there's and it's there's like motive absolutely you know there's all the motive in the world I think that's where it gets shady and hairy is like you can sit there and go but you know what I'm like coming like I could see why like this motive is here but then you look at the the very few facts that's the other thing there's so little evidence here of anything and where you can say there's motive for murder you can also say there's motive for him to end his life

he had just lost a ton of money according to Nana at least and she was losing his his side piece yeah and she wasn't willing to go to Europe with him and maybe he was knowing that you know he has fucked over his wife so many times she's going to be it's going to be a tough road back to redemption for him and he has to go to Europe and try to forget about and try to fix the relationship while trying to forget about the person that he is claiming he loves yeah so and then he was drunk yep what a strange fucking tale a tale and whatever happened here it's really sad thank you to Dave because Dave

is the one that found this one oh man it was interesting that's really wild yeah i'll be interested to see what people think that was yeah i'm very interested to see my my feeling is that he shot that gun yeah but i can't tell you anything further than that i don't know i don't know how i don't know i i'm almost positive he shot that gun because of the gunpowder yeah that's me too and i just don't know if he meant to kill himself or if he meant to kill Nan or if he meant to kill both of them.

I just don't know. I don't know.

But what a story huh?

That's a wild tale and with that we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not so weird that you lie about a bunch of stuff in the press because like ew that's annoying If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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[난 패터슨 사건: 1904년의 미스터리한 살인과 세 번의 재판]-[Episode 511: Nan Patterson and The Death of Frank "Caesar" Young]

📋 Summary

난 패터슨 사건: 해결되지 않은 1904년의 비극

불륜과 파국: 사건의 배경

의문의 총성과 증거의 부재

미디어의 편견과 세 번의 재판

맺음말: 미스터리로 남은 진실

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript