390 - Cow Women

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] Hello.

[2] We have more exciting news from the world of Exactly Right.

[3] Yes, we are thrilled to finally tell you about our new limited true crime series, infamous international, The Pink Panther Story.

[4] This is a true story of the world's most infamous jewel thieves.

[5] So in the early 2000s, the Pink Panthers planned and executed a series of theatrical smash -and -grab heists in cities like Dubai, London, and Monaco.

[6] They targeted high -end jewelry stores, making...

[7] international headlines and most wanted lists.

[8] Every Thursday host and former BBC correspondent Natalia Antalava interviews journalists, experts, and eyewitnesses to tell the spine -chilling story of the shadowy crime syndicate.

[9] So stay tuned after this episode with my favorite murder to hear the trailer for infamous international, The Pink Panther Story.

[10] And then head to the infamous international feed and click follow so you don't miss the two -episode premiere on Thursday, September 14th.

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[14] Goodbye.

[15] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[16] That's Churchill Hardstock.

[17] That's Karen Kilgariff.

[18] And we're here to podcast at you.

[19] All over you, at you, upon you, around you.

[20] Whatever area you need it to be in, we'll put it.

[21] It's like a massage, but it's us yelling at you about things.

[22] It's a massage for the little horn in your ear.

[23] What is it, a hammer in your ear?

[24] No. It's going through my ear horn, and it feels in my earhorn that it's familiar.

[25] Earhorn is what comes out of it for an old man's ear in Victorian England, but then inside your ear, there's a bone shaped like, I think it's a hammer.

[26] Okay.

[27] Ear marturinos?

[28] Let us know.

[29] Let us know what we're talking.

[30] Let us know what we're talking about.

[31] E &T, Dr. Rinos, we would love any kind of guidance.

[32] I bet there's plenty.

[33] I bet you're right.

[34] And that's our show for today.

[35] It's called wondering, wondering.

[36] Wondering about shit, we have no idea about, let's see.

[37] What's going on is, did you hear in the news that these people were searching a Florida lake for, like, for a cold case?

[38] Yeah.

[39] Guess how many cars, sunken cars they found in that lake while looking for one cold case.

[40] Oh, I guess.

[41] Four?

[42] 30.

[43] What?

[44] 30.

[45] 30 cars.

[46] It wasn't a flooded CarMax parking lot?

[47] What was happening?

[48] I think it's like it was like a dumping ground in Florida for people.

[49] The drug mafia, you know what I mean?

[50] Oh, Miami Vice.

[51] Yeah, from the TV show Miami Vice.

[52] And they found 30 fucking cars, man. Like that is, but so far they haven't found any bodies.

[53] So I think they're just like stolen cars.

[54] Leave it at the airport.

[55] Yeah.

[56] I mean, why pollute our waterways?

[57] Truly.

[58] Any more than you have to.

[59] Beautiful Florida waterways.

[60] Can we please leave them alone?

[61] I bet things will come out of that because it's like, well, then they'll look up those VIN numbers and be like that's where that car was.

[62] which means this person never made it to blink.

[63] Right.

[64] So far, they're only, like, stolen vehicles, though.

[65] They're not, like, none of them have any missing persons ties yet.

[66] So it's just nefarious.

[67] Your missing person cold cases do this to me, where I'm like, now we need to link this up to one of these.

[68] Yeah.

[69] Normally, I would be definitive about, in the same way I am about ear canals.

[70] Just a straight -up expert.

[71] What's good idea?

[72] Yeah.

[73] I'm in Petaluma.

[74] I'm hanging out with my dad quality time with home gym quality stuff.

[75] We watch a lot of sports on television.

[76] And then I, of course, kind of check out and just start looking at my phone and watching TikTok.

[77] And then he goes, what are you doing over there?

[78] Where I'm like, so I have to watch.

[79] You're saying I have to watch.

[80] He's like, why aren't you paying attention to this?

[81] You have to watch this golf with me. We're just like, that's literally.

[82] like, why don't we watch a live cam of a park?

[83] Because it's very similar.

[84] Same fucking thing.

[85] In terms of excitement.

[86] It's probably more exciting, I think.

[87] I think that's like a sports person thing.

[88] You know, like I have some work to do on my computer.

[89] So I'll sit on the couch and Vince will put on like wrestling.

[90] And it's like we're on separate planes now.

[91] Like you're doing your thing and I'm doing my thing.

[92] However, he does start to go like, oh, that guy did that like start telling me stories about that guy, you know, on the wrestler.

[93] And I'm like, you want me to watch this with you.

[94] And so I will.

[95] I'll watch it with you, but like, I thought we were.

[96] Is that when you pick up your laptop and you throw it down on the couch?

[97] I have smashed so many laptops in our relationship.

[98] And then throw them in into a lake.

[99] That's right.

[100] To hide it.

[101] Speaking of sports, I was going to tell you that I ran to Stephen Ray Morris at a fucking Dodger game of all people in places.

[102] What were either of you doing there?

[103] He was with his dad, so he looked very sporty and, like, you know at a baseball cap on and shit and i went with vince we went for his birthday and it's just so happened nice stephen was there that's just even living his best life in your face yeah he's just like he really did it loving doing other stuff besides working for you he really shoved it in my face really did you know how he likes you know how vindictive stephen can get oh my god just vicious vicious I think here's the thing.

[104] I don't follow sports, but I understand.

[105] I feel like sports, they have like automatic shimmer moments.

[106] Yes, like going to them live.

[107] Yeah, because it's like everyone's excited.

[108] Yes, for sure.

[109] Hot dogs.

[110] Hot dogs.

[111] Pretzels.

[112] I mean.

[113] I got fucking nachos.

[114] Like everything about sports are great.

[115] Yeah, wait.

[116] Let's take a sidebar into what did you eat at the baseball game.

[117] Okay.

[118] Oh my God.

[119] I kind of went crazy.

[120] So we had a Jersey Mikes that we brought.

[121] Did you have to sneak that in?

[122] Sorry, do you have to snake outside food?

[123] No, we brought some in.

[124] No, no, it was okay.

[125] I had a hot dog.

[126] Dodger dogs, I mean, I love Costco hot dogs.

[127] Why can't Costco just supply?

[128] Like, the Dodger dogs are not good.

[129] Okay, but I'd be really careful about this.

[130] I feel like people are insanely passionate about stuff like this, where we are blustering into territory.

[131] I am not talking about.

[132] the Dodgers.

[133] I am talking about the janky -ass fucking hot dogs.

[134] And I love hot dogs.

[135] I'm a hot dog aficionado.

[136] My phone's ringing.

[137] It's Elon Musk.

[138] He said we're both kicked off of Twitter.

[139] It's not Twitter.

[140] It's X. Those are the two messages he told me to tell you.

[141] Well, good.

[142] Okay.

[143] And then we got a mini helmet filled with nachos, with nacho cheese and pickled jalapinos.

[144] Nice.

[145] And a pretzel.

[146] And we dip that pretzel and that nacho cheese.

[147] Yes.

[148] Like motherfuckers.

[149] No, was the pretzel good?

[150] Yeah, the pretzel was good.

[151] The naches were good.

[152] You know what I want people to comment is like, what's your favorite snack at your favorite sporting place?

[153] Like I want to show where it just go to different sports arenas and sure, watch baseball or whatever, but also eat like Philadelphia, obviously probably has really good food in whatever.

[154] I'm not even going to guess what their team name is called orioles.

[155] Anyway.

[156] Are you asking me?

[157] Yeah.

[158] I've heard of an Oriole for sure.

[159] Isn't it the Baltimore Orioles?

[160] Karen, you're right.

[161] Baltimore Orioles.

[162] Oh, no. That's the worst place to get wrong.

[163] Oh, no. We have to get out of this danger zone.

[164] We're done.

[165] I'm sorry, Baltimore.

[166] Get him to get us out of here.

[167] This is like, we're just walking along and slapping frat eyes across the face and then expecting things to go great.

[168] It's not a good idea.

[169] We're smacking E &T doctors.

[170] We're smacking hot dog aficionados.

[171] Okay.

[172] All right.

[173] We're done with this.

[174] Let's move on.

[175] I saw Stephen.

[176] It was great.

[177] I do like the idea, though.

[178] If you have a sports arena or stadium and you think there's one good piece of food there, then Georgia and Vince will go on their new Food Network show to tour sport stadium food around the new.

[179] nation.

[180] My dream.

[181] It'll be an apology tour.

[182] And the first place you'll stop is Baltimore.

[183] I'm never going to Baltimore again.

[184] They're going to kill me. Are you kidding me?

[185] Oh my God.

[186] I'm sorry, Baltimore.

[187] We played in Baltimore.

[188] That was that crazy show that had the catwalks.

[189] Remember that?

[190] Yeah.

[191] It was like we were in an 80s concert video.

[192] Yeah.

[193] It was an amazing show.

[194] Baltimore is the fucking, the best city.

[195] I love you guys so much.

[196] I love them there forever and ever.

[197] Amen.

[198] Good job.

[199] Good job.

[200] All right.

[201] Speaking of Baltimore, we've got some ERM highlights for you.

[202] Okay.

[203] Guys, we're just here to tell you a couple things that are happening on the ARM network lately.

[204] We are so thrilled that you listen to our podcast.

[205] We have other podcasts that we adore that are on this network that if you are ever bored or on a long drive, we'd love for you to check out, for example.

[206] I'm about to do my own, which is hilarious.

[207] Aaron Brown writes these and she's setting me up.

[208] Here's what she wrote for me to say.

[209] Are you listening to Do You Need a Ride with Chris Fairbanks and me?

[210] If not, you're missing out, I have to say, about my own other podcast.

[211] We're back in the car this week, and our guest is our very own Bridger Wyniger from I Said No Gifts, who was recently featured in Vulture, a great article about I Said No Gifts.

[212] And in additional exactly right crossover news, Kara Clank and Lisa Trager of That's Messed Up and SVU podcast are Roz's guests on Ghosted by Roz Her Name.

[213] That's a power matchup right there.

[214] I keep seeing Lisa Trager clips on TikTok.

[215] Oh, my God.

[216] And I save them every time.

[217] I love her.

[218] She is just so funny.

[219] She's such a funny comedian.

[220] Her stand -up is amazing.

[221] She's so vulgar and like doesn't give a fuck.

[222] No. She's so funny.

[223] She's so funny.

[224] And she also is so herself.

[225] Yes.

[226] I was talking to somebody that does sets with her a lot of clubs and stuff.

[227] And they're like, she just destroyed.

[228] every time.

[229] It's because she gets up there and is like, hey, here's my deal.

[230] And everyone's like, yes, we love it.

[231] It's so great.

[232] So go see Lisa Trager live if you can.

[233] And also, while summer is raging in full effect, Erin, don't forget.

[234] We have new SSDGM and murderino beach towels for you in the MFM store right now, along with a bunch of other beloved goodies.

[235] So go get your beach towel.

[236] Those can be used at the pool, too.

[237] Oh, right.

[238] So go to my favorite murder .com.

[239] to check those out.

[240] They transition from beach to pool so easily.

[241] You won't believe it.

[242] And finally, this is one more quick reminder to check out the trailer for Exactly Right's newest limited true crime series at the end of this episode.

[243] It's called Infamous International, The Pink Panthers Story, and it premieres on Thursday, September 14th.

[244] Please check that out.

[245] Please like, rate, review, subscribe, all the above.

[246] It's a great show.

[247] We're really excited about it.

[248] We're working with these amazing journalists, this awesome company that brought the story to us.

[249] So it's a very cool project.

[250] And we have been working on it for a long time.

[251] So we'd love for you guys to check it out.

[252] Yay.

[253] Karen, you know I'm all about vintage shopping.

[254] Absolutely.

[255] And when you say vintage, you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash.

[256] Exactly.

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[272] Goodbye.

[273] And you're first, right?

[274] I am.

[275] I believe I am.

[276] Okay.

[277] I'm going to start this story by telling you a factoid that might surprise you, it definitely surprised me when I read it.

[278] In a couple of days on August 29th, it's going to be the 18th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

[279] Oh, shit.

[280] 18th, almost 20 year.

[281] Yeah.

[282] So insane.

[283] And for those of us who were around in 2005, you know, we all remember watching the news that day, just horrifying, just watching New Orleans be devastated.

[284] The destruction was historical.

[285] And it's after effects, of course, piled on in the weeks that followed.

[286] It was heart wrenching.

[287] It was infuriating.

[288] But today, I'm going to tell you a story that you may not have heard about.

[289] It's the story of New Orleans Charity Hospital, and it's almost 300 years of service to the city's residence, no matter how much money they had in their pockets.

[290] Wow.

[291] If you're from New Orleans, charity needs no introduction.

[292] The hospital's massive Art Deco skyscraper was a fixture in Crescent City.

[293] It was a place so meaningful to the people of New Orleans that some even called it mother charity.

[294] As New Orleans native John Johnston once told a documentary film crew, quote, Charity Hospital gave birth to most of the citizens of New Orleans and gave life to many dying people here.

[295] She stood by our side.

[296] She was here when we came into the world.

[297] She was here when a lot of us left.

[298] If there's something to be called your mother, it was Charity Hospital.

[299] That's our mom.

[300] end quote.

[301] Oh, that's heavy.

[302] Yeah.

[303] So on August 29, 2009, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees broke, the panic and the suffering and the chaos enveloped the city.

[304] But as the waters rose to Charity's emergency room doorstep, and even after the lights went out, the doctors, the nurses and the hospital staff there remained as committed as ever to the people of New Orleans.

[305] This is the story of the final days of operation at Charity Hospital, New Orleans.

[306] Holy shit.

[307] Yeah.

[308] So sources used today are the book Charity by Jim Carrier, a real stories documentary titled America's oldest hospital abandoned, and a 2005 Houston Chronicle article by journalist Tony Freemantle titled Trapped Hospital Workers Kept Most Patients Alive.

[309] And the rest of the sources are in our show notes.

[310] When Hurricane Katrina hit, Charity Hospital has been in operation for 269 years.

[311] It's one of the oldest continuously operating hospitals on the continent, only rivaled by Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

[312] Charity was established in the 1700s back when France still controlled Louisiana.

[313] Wow.

[314] Yeah.

[315] It was founded by a Frenchman named Jean -Louis, who allocated a large chunk of his modest estate in his will to creating a safety net hospital that would treat anyone regardless of whether they could pay.

[316] Just like absorb that for a second into today's privatized health care system that is ruining the lives of so many people.

[317] This country was established by this kind of charity and forward thinking and we need to return to it.

[318] So throughout his existence, charity changed hands and buildings multiple times.

[319] But by the early 2000s, when our story takes place, it's part of the Louisiana State University system.

[320] And it never strays from its mission.

[321] And throughout the years, it continues to operate as a free hospital.

[322] There's a lot of French names in this story.

[323] And I did take French one and two in high school, but much like when this hospital was founded, it was in the 1700s.

[324] So I can't really speak for it anymore.

[325] So Peter W says, quote, nobody asks you, can you pay?

[326] Do you have money?

[327] That's Imagine that.

[328] Imagine.

[329] Hey, Canada.

[330] So Charity Hospital even spawns a unique safety net medical system across Louisiana with nine additional public hospitals offering free services throughout the state.

[331] And they are at the time the only system of this kind in the entire United States.

[332] And unfortunately, and sad to say, they have all been privatized at this point.

[333] This system does not exist anymore.

[334] So Charity Hospital provides some of the best.

[335] health care in the country, their physicians, nurses, residents, and medical staff basically have seen everything.

[336] You know, they treat so many people, and they're able to treat so many people.

[337] They've seen everything from the rarest diseases to the most gruesome injuries.

[338] Writer Jim Carrier says, quote, for every death, there were seven saves.

[339] So good was their record that the Secret Service designated Charity Hospitals Trauma Center for visiting presidents and popes.

[340] Whoa.

[341] So behind the hospital's ER check -in desk, a charity has a motto written on the wall in gold lettering, and it says, quote, where the unusual occurs and miracles happen.

[342] That sounds like a fun place to work.

[343] Yeah.

[344] It sounds like it needs to be rebooted as a medical drama, and then also through that drama, it gets explained why privatized health care is ruining this country.

[345] Okay.

[346] That's just a speech my mom used to give every night at dinners, but I'll go into that later.

[347] Now, charity's success rate isn't just chalked up to exposure and technique.

[348] It's also about the staff's dedication to the hospital, which holds a special place in their hearts.

[349] Dr. W. says, quote, 70 % of the doctors that practice within the state of Louisiana came through the halls of charity hospital.

[350] 70%.

[351] We are committed to the care of our patients.

[352] That's the mission of the hospital, end quote.

[353] And Dr. Ben de Bois Blanc, who ran Charity's intensive care unit, says, quote, I think it's an understatement to say, I have an emotional connection to Charity Hospital.

[354] I first stepped into Charity Hospital in 1978 when I started medical school, and I never left till the doors were closed.

[355] Wow.

[356] End quote.

[357] So by the early 2000s, charities, doctors, and nurses are treating a thousand sick and injured people every day around the clock under every conceivable circumstance.

[358] And so to protect the hospital from potential power failures, there are two heavy -duty generators outside the ground floor emergency wing, fueling a power grid in the hospital's basement, which then supplies electricity to the building.

[359] Most of New Orleans is at or below sea level.

[360] It's surrounded by lakes and rivers.

[361] And because it's on the Gulf Coast, it's no stranger to tropical storms and hurricanes.

[362] New Orleans is protected by a levy system, but flooding, of course, still happens from time to time.

[363] Dr. Norman E. McSwain, Jr., a pioneering trauma surgeon at charity, says, quote, I've waited through waste deep water several times.

[364] It's no big deal.

[365] The pump, right?

[366] Badass.

[367] The pumps take it out.

[368] People who live in low -lying areas have to put new carpet down every few years, but they get used to it.

[369] Damn.

[370] And quote.

[371] Dr. Norman McSwain, Jr. He's just basically, saying if you live in New Orleans, you're used to flooding, it storms flooding, all these things that happen.

[372] But of course, in New Orleans, there's also the lingering fear about the big one, the storm that puts all the others to shame.

[373] And with human life at stake, Charity's medical staff knows they can't afford to leave anything to chance.

[374] Hospital leadership routinely begs the Louisiana state legislature for the money to move that power grid to a higher floor, but their requests are repeatedly denied.

[375] The trend of the State House is to cut Charity's budget, which they do routinely not to increase it.

[376] So each year, Charity staff prepares for hurricane season the best it can.

[377] And in June of 2005, the hospital finds money in its coffers for six portable diesel generators, some extra medicine, and saline bags, and enough canned food to supply the entire hospital for several days.

[378] So that's basically their emergency set up, knowing that some storm will happen and just to be prepared.

[379] So now it's the end of that summer.

[380] It's Saturday, August 27th, 2005, and a massive storm named Katrina has just moved through Southeast Florida as a category one hurricane.

[381] But as it hits the Gulf of Mexico, where the water's warm, it gets stronger by the hour.

[382] So by 7 a .m. on Sunday, August 28th, Katrina is upgraded to a category five storm.

[383] with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour.

[384] And it's coming straight at New Orleans with projections showing that it'll pass right over the city's historic French quarter.

[385] And so the mayor of New Orleans announces a mandatory evacuation of the city.

[386] Around 1 .2 million people leave New Orleans and the surrounding communities, but an estimated 100 ,000 stay behind either by choice or because they have no way to leave.

[387] or no ability to leave.

[388] So 26 ,000 of these people will seek shelter at the Superdome, which is its story all unto itself, nightmare story, like horrible things that came out of that.

[389] But at the time when they set it up, it was a refuge and a last resort for a lot of people.

[390] And meanwhile, the staff at Charity Hospital, it's just business as usual for them.

[391] Before 8 a .m., there are already 500 patients checked in totally unreasoned.

[392] related to the impending storm.

[393] It's just business as usual for them.

[394] And among many other cases, the staff at Charity is currently tending to gunshot wounds, mental health crises, strokes, spinal cord injuries, heart attack patients, and women in labor.

[395] So there are a thousand staff members at Charity Hospital on site tending to these patients.

[396] And most of them have packed over nightbags.

[397] So they know Katrina's coming.

[398] They're prepared.

[399] They've gone through her.

[400] canes before.

[401] So they all know they're just going to ride the storm out at the hospital.

[402] Right.

[403] No one has any idea how bad it'll be.

[404] And to the amusement of his colleagues, an orthopedic resident named Duane Belanger even brings a canoe to work.

[405] He, of course, becomes the butt of everyone's jokes because they all think he's overreacting.

[406] But Charity staff is prepared.

[407] They've seen these kind of storms.

[408] They know what they can bring and they're preparing to handle it no matter what.

[409] ICU nurse supervisor Henrietta Walton Nunes says, quote, we had made up our minds that we came in here together and we were going to leave together.

[410] It was that spirit that came up.

[411] I might die with a uniform with charity hospital insignia on it, but nobody abandoned their patients.

[412] It became like a spiritual bond.

[413] If one leaves, we all leave.

[414] And that's what we decided.

[415] Wow.

[416] End quote.

[417] So around 4 p .m., with Charity's ER full, as usual, the rain starts to fall in New Orleans.

[418] But the storm hasn't left the Gulf yet, and this is just a preview of what's to come.

[419] By 7 p .m., the winds are picking up, and at this point, there are now over 1 ,300 people, staff, and patients, in Charity's main hospital building.

[420] Though the storm hasn't made landfall yet, Katrina is influencing the patients in unexpected ways.

[421] like as the night passes, the hurricane's low -pressure system that's incoming reportedly induces labor in six of the pregnant patients.

[422] Oh, no. So that's something to consider.

[423] Watch those low -pressure systems.

[424] Don't storm chase, please.

[425] So early Monday morning, August 29th, Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in southeast, Louisiana.

[426] Along the coast, there are storm surges over 25 feet tall.

[427] and before long, the ferocious storm hits New Orleans and Charity Hospital.

[428] Dr. Du Bois Blanc is working in the ICU at the time, and he says, quote, the hospital was a civil defense shelter during the Cold War.

[429] It's not going anywhere, but it was a little creepy to feel this big, monstrous concrete building vibrating in the wind.

[430] Damn.

[431] End quote.

[432] Yeah.

[433] So at the same time, Dr. Dubois Blanc hears a popping sound, followed by the squeaking of nurses' shoes on the hospital floor, because all around the building, wind gusts are blowing the windows out of their window frames.

[434] Oh, no. In some cases, they're falling out, several stories down to the pavement, crash and glass all below.

[435] And in other cases, they're being blown inwards through hospital rooms, sending shards of glass everywhere.

[436] Holy shit.

[437] Yeah, right?

[438] I mean, that's when it goes from like, oh, this storm is crazy to the windows are blowing in.

[439] Yeah.

[440] So, of course, the nurses run and turn all occupied beds as far away from the windows as they possibly can.

[441] Over in the trauma wing, Dr. Nick Swain Jr. watches in horror as, quote, water blows sideways in big slats like Venetian blinds through the now empty window frames.

[442] Holy shit.

[443] And then the power goes out across New Orleans and inside Charity Hospital.

[444] So the rain's pouring down in sheets.

[445] the wind is howling through the hospital halls and the collective heart of charity skips a beat as it waits in the darkness.

[446] You're in a massive hospital with 1 ,300 people in it in pitch dark.

[447] No, and like in the middle of people giving birth and people in the middle of surgery.

[448] People on ventilators, babies in the NICU.

[449] I mean, it's a hospital.

[450] But thankfully, those generators kick in, the lights flick back on, monitors and machines start humming and beeping again, everyone breathes a sigh of relief, but it will be short -lived because within hours, one of charities two backup generators is destroyed in the storm.

[451] And when it goes, the powers cut again to an entire wing of the hospital.

[452] An x -ray and operating suite as well as rooms with ventilated patients are instantly thrown back into darkness.

[453] And for patients on those ventilators, it's now a life or death situation.

[454] So the nurses run to those rooms with what are called ambu bags, AMBU.

[455] You've seen them probably on Gray's Anatomy.

[456] They're the hand -operated breathing devices.

[457] So the patient has a mask on and it's connected to a squeezable bag.

[458] The nurses throw the masks on the critical respiratory patients.

[459] They create airflow.

[460] And many of the nurses will be sitting there squeezing those ambu bags for days at a time.

[461] Wow.

[462] So elsewhere in charity, staffers, from every department are now desperately trying to restore power to the dark wang of the hospital.

[463] So even though the hospital has just bought the six portable generators in anticipation of hurricane season, they're still in storage waiting to be set up and filled with diesel fuel.

[464] Oh, no. I literally got to that part as I was typing.

[465] I was just like, oh, like just so rough.

[466] Yeah.

[467] Yeah.

[468] Okay.

[469] So a group of the strongest staffers, basically they run, they go, and they're lifting one of the generators, it's 500 pounds, and they're lifting it up several flights of stairs.

[470] Holy shit.

[471] Up to that wing where the power's out.

[472] Yeah.

[473] So Dr. Dubois Blanc winds up connecting with two residents who are running around with an extension cord.

[474] And here's how he tells it.

[475] He says, quote, they literally ran a 12 -gauge cord about 300 feet down the hallway, out the window, up to another floor and plugged into, of all places, a Coke machine outlet on the other side of the hospital.

[476] And into that, we plugged ventilators using a search protector, and then another search protector plugged into that, and then another.

[477] We were running seven or eight ventilators off this one extension cord.

[478] The son of a bitch was hot.

[479] Holy shit.

[480] End quote.

[481] Like, did you ever watch nurse, Jackie?

[482] Just like the way hospitals run and the intensity, where it's, it's like sometimes it's a little bit quiet and sometimes it's really intense and big things happen out of nowhere yeah this is like you have that and then on top of that additional like now it's 10 times harder now it's 50 times harder now it's 100 times harder yeah and like what are you going to do to solve it because you can't walk out yeah that's right that's right and they wouldn't walk out right so that afternoon the storm breaks in new orleans it's moving north of the city there's a sense of peace and quiet, even as the lights continue flickering throughout the hospital, at least the major part of the storm is over.

[483] But for the medical staff in the ICU, including Dr. de Bois Blanc and Henrianda Walt Nunes, one thing is obvious.

[484] Their sickest patients need to be evacuated to a less damaged facility as soon as possible.

[485] Administrative staffers immediately call city and state agencies looking for any indication of when rescuers might show up to evacuate charities patients.

[486] But they can't seem to reach anyone outside of the hospital.

[487] Storm damage has killed communication systems and placing a phone call from a cell phone or a landline isn't working no matter how many times they try.

[488] Then one staffer announces he has a receiver and a ham radio, but they still can't connect with any government agencies.

[489] But the receiver does come in handy between it and a few hand crank radios from the hospital's emergency supply kit, the staff starts getting news updates about what's happening out in the rest of the world.

[490] Throughout the building, teams are huddled around these radios, clinging to every word and what they're hearing is terrifying.

[491] The power is out for millions.

[492] People's homes have been wiped off their foundations.

[493] Many people are stranded and worse.

[494] Now, everyone is worried about their own homes and families, not just the crises that they're facing there at the hospital.

[495] But Charity's employees know their immediate responsibility is ensuring the health and safety of the 250 patients they're currently caring for.

[496] Not one employee leaves the hospital, not one.

[497] Wow, that's incredible.

[498] It's amazing.

[499] Instead, the staff vows to stick by their patients until emergency responders can take every one of them to safety.

[500] So for now, the staff goes back to providing care as usual.

[501] But as this day turns to night, there's still no word or plan for an evacuation.

[502] So now it's Tuesday, August 30th.

[503] And before the sun rises, the power goes off throughout the entire hospital.

[504] Every heart monitor, incubator, dialysis machine, ventilator stops working.

[505] Oh, my God.

[506] Yeah.

[507] And along with them, the air conditioner, the plumbing, and the running water go out because they're also connected to that power grid.

[508] So in total darkness, nurses go back to bagging ventilated patients, never taking breaks unless someone can take over for them.

[509] In the neonatal ICU, which is called the NICU, nurses have to pull premature babies out of their incubators and cradle them in their arms to keep them warm.

[510] Oh, my God.

[511] By this point, the storm has passed, and there's no more rain or wind.

[512] So everyone's Staffers armed with flashlights go down into the hospital's basement to see what's going on and they make a chilling discovery.

[513] The basement is completely flooded.

[514] The cafeteria and the morgue are both underwater and so is their electrical grid.

[515] That same one that Charity's leadership had tried to get moved to a higher floor and they were denied that funding.

[516] So everyone's baffled.

[517] Why would the hospital be flooding now?

[518] Katrina has already passed.

[519] So again, staffer searched the dark hallway as they go back to those radios, only to hear more devastating news.

[520] New Orleans levees have burst.

[521] So while the staff had been working through the night, billions of gallons of water has been pouring into the bowl -shaped city.

[522] And when the sun rises, all of the staff looks outside and what they see is apocalyptic.

[523] The city's underwater.

[524] The hospital looks like it's set in the middle of a debris -filled lake.

[525] And now newscasters are reporting that the floodwaters could rise another eight feet.

[526] Oh, my God.

[527] Yeah.

[528] So the situation goes from dire to catastrophic.

[529] Now, staff knows they have to get Charity's most vulnerable patients to another facility as soon as possible.

[530] And then a hospital administrator finally gets word that FEMA is preparing to evacuate Charity's patients.

[531] But there's genuine worry that the water is going to keep rising all the way up to the first floor emergency unit.

[532] And dozens of of ER patients have to be moved to a higher floor in the hospital immediately.

[533] So hour by hour, as floodwater slowly swirls upwards, the doctors and nurses scrambled to set up an improvised emergency room in a second floor auditorium.

[534] So now all available staffers start moving patients out of the ER and upstairs.

[535] And for those patients who can't walk, staff members strap them onto spine boards.

[536] And when they run out of spine boards, they strap them on to broken up.

[537] off tabletops, and they move them one by one up the pitch black stairwells.

[538] Oh, my God, that sounds so terrifying.

[539] It's like legit apocalyptic.

[540] Yes.

[541] And kind of like, this is a job that's hard enough.

[542] So then it's like, if something happens and you're like, oh, well, you just have to go up, but you have to go up in the dark and with water everywhere.

[543] So you're running around trying to make sure that people are okay in this wing and that wing.

[544] Yeah.

[545] while, if you're anywhere near the ground floor, you're either walking on water or like slippery floor.

[546] Totally.

[547] For this already worn out staff, this move is extremely stressful and of course physically exhausting.

[548] When the second floor auditorium is at capacity, staffers and patients keep climbing all the way up to the ICUs that are on the sixth and twelfth floors.

[549] Oh, my God.

[550] So as the doctors and nurses care for the rest of the patients without electricity, they're forced to make difficult decisions.

[551] Over in the NICU, for example, there are two extremely premature babies who require both incubation and breathing support, neither of which are available in the power outage.

[552] Neonatologist Dr. Brian Barkmeyer, who is caring for these babies, knows that they have to get to a functional hospital as soon as possible or they'll die.

[553] So Dr. Barkmeier finds the staffer with the access to the ham radio and he sends out a signal and miraculously this time, he connects with a team of firemen who are set up on the nearby interstate 10, which is elevated.

[554] So it's a part of this interstate that's above the floodwater.

[555] So if the charity staff can get these babies to the interstate, the firemen are standing by ready to bring them to a more stable hospital.

[556] But the problem is charities surrounded by waste deep water.

[557] But then Dr. Barkmeyer remembers that canoe that resident.

[558] And Dwayne Belanger brought in ahead of the storm.

[559] I forgot about the canoe.

[560] No longer a joke.

[561] Now it's a lifeline for little tiny babies.

[562] This is all about improv.

[563] They're like yes anding this fucking disaster.

[564] It's crazy.

[565] And they're doing it like separate from how they feel, separate from what they're worried about with their own personal lives.

[566] Like they're separated from their families.

[567] that part of it must have been absolutely horrible.

[568] Yeah.

[569] They have to stay and they have to like basically dig in and it's like now they have to treat their patients like their families.

[570] Yeah.

[571] It's so rough.

[572] And this idea that like I wonder if the resident Dwayne Belanger was joking when he brought that canoe in.

[573] I wonder what he was really thinking.

[574] Yeah.

[575] Dr. Barkmeier rushes down the slick hallways covered now with discarded latex gloves, syringes, water bottles, until he, finds the resident Belanger and he explains what has to happen to keep these infants alive.

[576] So Dwayne and two other residents, Alan Butler and Michael Cox, immediately sign on for this challenge.

[577] The four of them grab the canoe and the infants, carry them downstairs, swing open the emergency room, entrance door, and they place the canoe in the floodwater, which is now reached the ER ramp and the three residents step in.

[578] Dr. Barkmeier decides that the babies have, have to be carried one by one, which is very smart, like very smart.

[579] I don't know if that would have struck me at the time.

[580] Yeah.

[581] He hands off the first child who has a breathing tube in her throat.

[582] And he says, quote, make sure the tube stays in place, squeeze the bag about once a second, hard enough to make her chest rise.

[583] Keep the child pink.

[584] Keep her pink.

[585] Oh, my God.

[586] Oh, my God.

[587] End quote.

[588] Oh, my God.

[589] I mean, also, these are resident doctors.

[590] They're just, you know, this is how basically they're cutting their teeth on becoming doctors.

[591] Right.

[592] It's incredible and it's so brave that they volunteered to do it and they're in it.

[593] Yeah.

[594] Here's the good news.

[595] The mission is successful.

[596] Both of these babies live and make it to a stable hospital.

[597] And this day is filled with many of these highs.

[598] Stories of quick thinking, lives saved, set against extreme.

[599] lows, the worst of which was around noon that same day.

[600] Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco's voice comes through those portable radios saying that New Orleans Charity Hospital has been successfully evacuated.

[601] No. Yeah.

[602] And they're like, ah, don't look like it.

[603] They're like, they're in total disbelief, right?

[604] Obviously, there's been a huge communication error.

[605] There's a serious problem.

[606] So everybody grabs those phones.

[607] They try to contact the state government, but there's no signal.

[608] Also, the phone lines, of course, are jammed because everyone across the city is trying to find their families, their friends.

[609] So the calls don't go through.

[610] So they just have to keep trying to call someone.

[611] Meanwhile, Charity's medical team works tirelessly to keep hundreds of patients safe and cared for with no air conditioning, no running water, no lights.

[612] Also, it's hot it's August so it's like that humid sticky heavy hurricane heat yes low pressure system like horrifying also the doctors and nurses can't wash their hands oh fuck yeah the toilets aren't flushing oh shit worst case scenario henrietta walton nunez says that quote at that point it was the basic needs making sure that patients were clean giving them water keeping them fed as best as possible and surviving, but it was getting kind of hairy because most of the nurses had been working around the clock with no breaks.

[613] We had to kick it into survival mode, end quote.

[614] So the doctors are fanning patients who are on the verge of heat stroke.

[615] Nurses are emptying, overflowing toilets.

[616] Anyone who can is bagging ventilated patients.

[617] Groups of staffers are still hauling the five remaining 500 -pound diesel -powered generators up as many as 12 flights of stairs to the ICU.

[618] I mean, that's that kind of thing where, you know, when, like, big guys are always bummed because they're the people that everyone asked to help them move.

[619] I could do a ventilation bag.

[620] I'll do that for a while.

[621] It's like, no, no, no, go back to carrying that 500 -pound block.

[622] Yeah.

[623] And I bet it wasn't just, like, nurses and doctors and like that.

[624] It was, like, all of the staff, probably, you know.

[625] Oh, everybody.

[626] Everybody, yes.

[627] Everybody.

[628] Because there's, you know, what is that orderlies, there's so many people that work at hospitals that make it go.

[629] Janitors, kitchen staff, yeah.

[630] At the same time, other employees are roving the flooded streets in Dwayne's canoe looking for abandoned cars to siphon gas for those generators.

[631] It's all exhausting work.

[632] The staff are saving the bottled water for the patients.

[633] They're forced to hydrate themselves with IV.

[634] Oh, fuck.

[635] So by Tuesday night, everyone's physically and emotionally exhausted.

[636] Of course, they're also dehydrated.

[637] They're also overheated.

[638] Many staffers choose to sleep on the roof of the hospital that night, hoping just to catch a slight breeze.

[639] They're wrapped in hazardous waste bags that are serving as impromptu sleeping bags.

[640] And they're clinging to the hope that tomorrow someone will come to help them.

[641] So by Wednesday, August 31st, the reality is setting in that amid the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, Charity Hospital has fallen through the cracks.

[642] No one's coming to evacuate them and patients are starting to die.

[643] Dr. Dubois Blanc remembers sitting in the ICU with his team.

[644] He says, quote, we came to the conclusion that if we were going to get out, we were going to have to get ourselves out, end quote.

[645] They have to do everything.

[646] They have to keep everybody alive, figure out how to escape.

[647] It's insane.

[648] So in certain words of the hospital, staff members and patients start using spare bed sheets to write SOS messages.

[649] And they start hanging them from the building's broken windows.

[650] So this is the thing that I remember most from watching Katrina footage like on CNN, which was people on the roofs of their own homes, hanging signs that say, you know, somebody's bedridden inside, like that kind of help they need.

[651] That's how long people were stranded.

[652] You really only saw that on the news.

[653] The idea that a huge hospital in that city was doing the exact same thing is like mind -boggling to me. Yeah.

[654] They had one sign hanging out the window that said 1 ,000 plus people and sick babies.

[655] Oh, my sign.

[656] In bold, colorful lettering.

[657] Yeah.

[658] Everybody's still trying to place outgoing calls, only now they're not trying to call any government agencies.

[659] Now they're trying to reach members of the media.

[660] Oh, yeah.

[661] And by some miracle, an ICU resident named Jeff Williams gets a hold of CNN.

[662] He explained to them what's really going on at Charity Hospital.

[663] And that day, Wolf Blitzer interviews him.

[664] And Williams tells the world, quote, we have not been able to evacuate almost anyone.

[665] We have at least 42 critical patients as of early this morning, a couple of died, and a couple of people have gotten worse, end quote.

[666] Yeah.

[667] So now, and thank God, he was able to do that because there were people watching.

[668] And amongst those watching is a man named Richard Zushlag, who is the CEO of a large Louisiana -based ambulance company.

[669] And he immediately offers helicopters to help evacuate.

[670] And at the same time, there's a company called HCA, which runs Tulane's Hospital.

[671] And Tulane's Hospital is only about two blocks away.

[672] And so that company, contacts Charities team and lets them know that they can use their helipad.

[673] They're currently doing air evacuations out of Tulane Hospital.

[674] They just have to get to Tulane Hospital.

[675] Oh, geez.

[676] Right.

[677] So basically now the staff has to get their critical patients to Tulane Hospital and one canoe isn't going to do the job.

[678] So staffers sprint to the ER ramp and they flagged down passing boats.

[679] Remember how they were like people actually going through with like small boats to try to rescue the people that were on their roofs and whatever.

[680] So some staffers flagged down some boats and many of them belong to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

[681] Wow.

[682] Because they had been rescuing stranded people.

[683] So starting with the most critical patients, doctors and nurses, once again, strap these people onto spine boards, restrain their arms, tape their medical records to their chests.

[684] Whoa.

[685] Then they carry each patient down those dark stairwells.

[686] Now they're going down.

[687] I think it'd be easier to carry someone up.

[688] Yeah.

[689] Yeah.

[690] Then how easy it would be to be going, I think, I don't know.

[691] And also it's pitch black.

[692] Dr. McSwain remembers, quote, one cardiac patient was on a pump that weighed 500 pounds and had two feet of tubing.

[693] We had to carry him down five flights without separating them by two feet in the dark.

[694] Oh, my fucking God.

[695] End quote.

[696] So now it's like that one is almost a combination of the generator challenge and the ICU challenge combined.

[697] It's beyond.

[698] It's like superhuman what they were doing.

[699] So once they make it to the ER ramp, patients are gently placed on boats accompanied by members of the hospital's medical team.

[700] For the dozen or so babies that need to be evacuated, nurses carry them two at a time, one in each arm.

[701] From here, the boats move through New Orleans.

[702] flooded streets down to Tulane Hospital, where waiting medical staff, carefully lift them back onto dry land and carry them up several more flights of stairs to the rooftop helipad, where Dr. Dubois Blanc and his staff have now set up an impromptu ICU.

[703] They continue to treat patients as they wait for available helicopters.

[704] So these trips to Tulane are harrowing.

[705] At one point, Dr. de Blanc manages to wave down a national guard truck, that is one of those, like, amphibious ones that can drive through deep floodwater.

[706] He loads a sick patient inside, and they set out toward Tulane, but on the way, the patient stops breathing.

[707] So thinking fast, the doctor stabs a hole in the man's chest to relieve the air pressure.

[708] He would later say, quote, right there in the back of that truck, in those floodwaters, we stuck a big old tube in the side of his chest.

[709] We had the wherewithal to bring surgical supplies with us, but we forgot the sedation the analgesics and the anesthetics.

[710] Good night.

[711] End quote, right?

[712] As painful as it was, and I'm sure as nightmarish, this treatment save that patient's life.

[713] Oh, my fucking God.

[714] So that night, Dr. Dubois Blanc and his team head back to Charity Hospital and inside they're greeted by groups of staffers trying to console each other with jokes and stories and sing -alongs.

[715] They're just whatever it takes.

[716] All around the hospital, medical teams continue working in insane circumstances, just before midnight, a team of two doctors perform an emergency C -section on a pregnant patient.

[717] One doctor holding a flashlight, while the other cuts into the woman's body, the baby and the mother both survived.

[718] Oh, my God.

[719] Like, seisections are fucking dicey, everything on when everything's up and running.

[720] In the best circumstances when everyone has washed their hands.

[721] Oh, my God.

[722] Yeah, that's the thing I can't get over is like that they were in the least sterile.

[723] Thank you, sterile circumstances.

[724] It's just horrifying.

[725] I'm sure they were incredibly horrified compared to what they're used to dealing with.

[726] Doctors continue escorting patients from Charity to Tulane until 1 a .m. on Friday morning when there are no critical patients left in Charity Hospital.

[727] At around 3 p .m. that afternoon, airboats.

[728] and heavy -duty trucks finally show up to evacuate the rest of the hospital patients.

[729] Tragically, eight ICU patients are lost during these five hellish days after Hurricane Katrina.

[730] But the other 240 -plus patients in that hospital survived.

[731] Oh, my God.

[732] Yeah.

[733] So the road to recovery post -Katrina is a long and difficult one filled with anguish.

[734] Of course, people's lives are not only uprooted, they're never the same.

[735] Within days of the storm, 80 % of New Orleans is underwater, and across the region, one million people are displaced from their homes.

[736] 1 ,400 people lose their lives.

[737] The majority of those were in New Orleans.

[738] And to this day, Hurricane Katrina causes an estimated $125 billion in damage.

[739] Oh, my God.

[740] Yeah.

[741] To this day, it's the most expensive storm.

[742] in U .S. history, and in today's money, it would be $200 billion.

[743] As New Orleans begins to rebuild, there are serious efforts to restore charity hospital to its pre -Katrina condition, but to the surprise of many, word spreads that there are no plans to reopen the hospital.

[744] Instead, state -affiliated operators make the controversial decision to build a brand new, more modern facility.

[745] This takes several years.

[746] It's a very very very very modern, top -tier hospital that's open to the public, but to the heartbreak of many in New Orleans, the name Charity is dropped.

[747] The new hospital simply called University Medical Center, and it is no longer associated with free health care.

[748] In fact, in the wake of Charity's closure, nine of the ten public safety net hospitals across Louisiana either close or privatize.

[749] Wow.

[750] Heartbreaking.

[751] Those now private hospitals are still required to provide indigent.

[752] care, which means if you can't pay, you still do get care.

[753] But of course, this is in addition to treating patients with private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and it's unclear how this new system has affected health care for Louisiana's poorest and uninsured citizens.

[754] Meanwhile, the abandoned charity hospital still sits in the same location on New Orleans Tulane Avenue.

[755] Rumors occasionally will swirl about it being redeveloped.

[756] Dr. de Bois Blanc, like many of the doctors, doctors and nurses in this story continues to work in the LSU medical system.

[757] And he says, quote, where the unusual occurs and miracles happen.

[758] In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, of course, it has new meaning.

[759] Those days following Hurricane Katrina were our finest hour.

[760] Every day, miracles happened.

[761] I think the real story of Hurricane Katrina is not the images that you saw on television.

[762] The real legacy is that it peeled away all that isolates us from each other and allowed for those human to human connections.

[763] People say what we did was heroic, but we were just doing our jobs.

[764] And that is the story of the staff of Charity Hospital and their heroism and resilience during Hurricane Katrina.

[765] Wow.

[766] Can you believe that shit?

[767] I can tell you're on the brink of tears through that entire thing.

[768] Your eyes were like that bright blue.

[769] Heroin's going to cry soon.

[770] crying eyes.

[771] Well, you know, it's just to have a mother that was a nurse, you kind of understand the first responder dedication.

[772] First of all, it kind of gets to me that I've never heard this ever.

[773] No. Yeah.

[774] In 18 years.

[775] And maybe it was because there were just so many stories.

[776] Yeah.

[777] And there was so much national realization of what happened in New Orleans, the disparity of like help and care and watching the race issue all of it was so big and awful and constant yeah and this idea that throughout all of that charity hospital that was all about the people kind of no matter what never faltered no it's just it's incredible i mean those people deserve and have deserved huge accolades totally I can't believe if I haven't heard that for sure.

[778] It's epic.

[779] It really is.

[780] I can't believe it's been 18 fucking years.

[781] It does not seem that long.

[782] It really doesn't.

[783] No. Wow.

[784] Great job.

[785] Thank you.

[786] Well, I'm going to take us back even further.

[787] Okay.

[788] To the late 1800s.

[789] Let's start there.

[790] I love it then.

[791] I mean, they didn't wash their hands ever.

[792] There was no like.

[793] They didn't know.

[794] They didn't know.

[795] They didn't know.

[796] I'm going to tell you.

[797] the story of Wyoming Madam, Delberg, and her brothel, the Yellow Hotel of Lusk, Wyoming.

[798] They say the Yellow Hotel of Lusk, Wyoming was the charity hospital of Wyoming.

[799] Of the late 1800s, Wyoming.

[800] In a way, where there was Karen, there was care and love.

[801] And there was, and you're right.

[802] The main source I used for this story is a book by June Reed called Frontier Madam, the life of Delberg, Lady of Lusk.

[803] and the rest of the sources can be found in our show notes.

[804] I am positive that Alejandra and Hannah, when they were putting these stories together, we're like, here's one institution of care.

[805] Now here's another institution of care.

[806] So I'm going to tell you about the Madam Delberg.

[807] She's born Mary Ada Fisher on July 15th, 1888 in good old Somerset, Ohio.

[808] She doesn't start going by the name Dell until she's an adult, but I'm just going to call her Dell because it's easier.

[809] Okay.

[810] So in 1898, when she's 10, the family moves to the Dakota Territory.

[811] They live in a one -room house nicknamed a soddy because it's made out of sod.

[812] Oh.

[813] I mean, can you imagine?

[814] Yes, I can.

[815] It's actually the only widely available building material in the Great Plains, so.

[816] So it's just basically dirt and grass?

[817] Mm -hmm.

[818] Wow.

[819] Sod.

[820] As a teenager, Adele is known around town as, quote, the most beautiful girl in wool.

[821] Creek, end quote.

[822] So she's gorgeous.

[823] She gets engaged at 16, but for reasons we don't know, the wedding never happens.

[824] Then at 17, she gets engaged again, and this time it works out.

[825] She marries a man named Stephen Law in November of 1905.

[826] Steven's 24 years old and a freight conductor for the Great Northern Railway.

[827] I think we have to imagine in our minds that Stephen Law looks like Stephen Ray Morris, just because of the mustache.

[828] Yes.

[829] And he's on a like a freight conductor.

[830] You know, Stephen would totally woo -woo.

[831] He would love that.

[832] Except, however, this is where he differs from Stephen.

[833] We don't know much about the circumstances, but Del will later say that he was violent.

[834] Oh, that's not.

[835] Yeah.

[836] Enough of that.

[837] Enough of that.

[838] Also, multiple accounts say that Stephen, who is Canadian, has a low opinion of American women and tells Del about this often.

[839] So, like, we didn't have that in early 1910.

[840] now 22 -year -old Dell was living with Stephen and his sister in North Dakota.

[841] But by the end of the year, she writes to her family, who she still, you know, keeps in touch with, that Stephen's dead, she says.

[842] Stephen is not actually dead.

[843] Okay.

[844] But this was easier to explain than a divorce.

[845] I can relate.

[846] He's dead.

[847] Okay.

[848] Can we not ever talk about it again?

[849] It's not going to be a conversation.

[850] That's the thing.

[851] That's the point.

[852] There's a vague.

[853] He's dead.

[854] And so she moves to the.

[855] resort town of Banff, Alberta, Canada, where Vince and I had Christmas a couple years ago.

[856] Gorgeous.

[857] And she gets a job at the Banff Springs Hotel where Vince and I had Christmas dinner that year.

[858] Was it all fancy and old -fashioned?

[859] It is like the Shining Hotel, essentially.

[860] It's gorgeous.

[861] Wow.

[862] So she gets a job there in the early 1900s.

[863] It looks like a fairy tale castle.

[864] It's in the Canadian Rockies.

[865] and it was popular at the time with wealthy tourists looking to relax and they'd hang out at the Sulphur Springs, which we also did, very lovely touristy town.

[866] Nice.

[867] One day Stephen tracks Del down at the hotel and he instigates an ugly confrontation, but Del's boss protects her, calls the sheriff and she tells the sheriff that she and Stephen had divorced and that Stephen used to hit her and the sheriff like steps the fucking send Steve in a way, we never hear from him again.

[868] So, wow.

[869] Yeah, so something happened there.

[870] You know what?

[871] It's that they were in Canada.

[872] Yeah.

[873] This is a classy country.

[874] Yeah.

[875] So in the aftermath of the incident, Delbe comes close with the sheriff and his wife and their son, Willie, who is about her age.

[876] The problem is Willie starts to crush hard on Dell.

[877] She's not that into it.

[878] He asked her to marry him a couple times.

[879] And she starts to worry that being the sheriff's son, her saying, no, all the going to be an ish.

[880] And so she starts to work on an exit strategy to now get the fuck out of Banff because she's being harassed by a boy.

[881] Yeah.

[882] So working in the dining room, Del has heard her wealthy customers talking about Alaska and the gold rush there.

[883] And so Del being practical, wants to make more money than she can as a waitress.

[884] And she also knows her career options are very limited where she is.

[885] And she knows that in areas where lots of men congregate jobs for women abound.

[886] So she uses all that she's saved from her waitressing job to buy a ticket to Juneau, Alaska.

[887] The capital.

[888] That's right.

[889] We know that.

[890] Gold has been discovered near Juneau in the late 1880s in the city has two minds which attract men.

[891] They're mostly single and on their own.

[892] So Del, who is now 24 years old, spends only a year in Alaska, but she makes about 10 grand that year working as a dance hall girl.

[893] it's considered adjacent to sex work but it's just dancing oh and 10 grand in that time is worth about in today's money 300 ,000 and 10 dollars she makes 300 ,000 dollars a year in a year girl yes in the one year she's there dancing who cares what they say I mean truly yeah yeah yeah do your thing do your dance.

[894] So one of Del's friends from Alaska has settled in Butte, Montana, which is a copper boom town.

[895] So Del and that friend, her name's Bessie, both get jobs in one of the well -regarded high -end brothels in that town.

[896] So they later, from Alaska to Butte, Montana.

[897] Business is really good there until 1917 when Montana is about to start enforcing prohibition.

[898] Oh, yeah.

[899] Yeah.

[900] So she's an avid reader.

[901] She stays on top of the news.

[902] She's like, I know what's going on.

[903] Let's get the fuck out of here.

[904] So she and Bessie look for somewhere more tolerant, and they find the oil towns of Casper, Wyoming.

[905] So in 1918, Dell is now 30 years old.

[906] She and Bessie settle in Lusk, Wyoming.

[907] And she says that the reason she picked Lusk is because she misread it as lest.

[908] And she was like, well, that's a great place to set up a brothel.

[909] Perfection.

[910] But she also knows it's strategically located on the railroad near a new oil pipeline.

[911] line as well as a new uranium mine.

[912] So she's like a businesswoman.

[913] She knows what she's doing.

[914] Yeah, she's smart.

[915] Here she also settles on the name Dell.

[916] So this is when she officially takes her name Dell.

[917] So Dell and Bessie first pitch a tent across from the railroad depot and they work out of that tent.

[918] I'm imagining more like a big old army tent kind of thing.

[919] At least five feet to walk in.

[920] You don't have to bend all the way over at the waist to walk in.

[921] You got to hope.

[922] Also, it's really funny to put a tent up across from the train depot.

[923] Yeah.

[924] Or it's just like, over here.

[925] This away.

[926] Yeah, that's right.

[927] So two years later, in Lusk, 32 -year -old Delt finally buys a property on the same location across from the depot and builds the yellow hotel.

[928] It's a two -story stucco building that's painted.

[929] You guessed it.

[930] Yellow.

[931] Yellow.

[932] Yep.

[933] Sorry.

[934] No, you're right.

[935] And it's an old tiny like western hotel building like you see it in your mind's eye you watch tombstone like you know what the old time your buildings look like yeah so her friend bessie contributes some money towards the purchase of the hotel although it's in dell's name on the title and she puts most of the money down so bessie unfortunately like many sex workers of her era struggles with a laudanum addiction so shortly after buying the hotel bessie moves away when she comes back she's very frail and Dell takes care of her until Bessie dies in 1929.

[936] So very sad.

[937] But Dell is entrepreneurial.

[938] She's made a fair amount of money so she can invest in the hotel.

[939] She decorates it with fine fabrics and beautiful furnishings.

[940] The first floor is divided by a center hall with two sides.

[941] And on one side, there's a client waiting room.

[942] There's a bar and a bathroom and a laundry room.

[943] And on the other side is Dell's apartment.

[944] And upstairs, there are 10 rooms where Dell.

[945] employees meet with clients.

[946] Be hard to sell that as like a single family home after.

[947] Right.

[948] Which are the 10 rooms?

[949] It's a 10 and one.

[950] One bathroom, 10 bedrooms.

[951] That's very good point.

[952] How many kids do you have?

[953] Look at you being entrepreneurial too.

[954] I love real estate.

[955] So shortly after the Yellow Hotel opens, Wyoming enforces its own ban on alcohol and then six months after that, prohibition goes into effect nationwide.

[956] But Dell quickly establishes.

[957] good working relationships with local bootleggers, and the Yellow Hotel develops a reputation for serving clean whiskey.

[958] Oh.

[959] Dell herself doesn't drink.

[960] She doesn't permit her employees to drink while they're working.

[961] And in addition, Dell instructs her employees to dress conservatively, but beautifully when walking around less and has them in understated makeup.

[962] So she's like making it a classy joint, you know what I mean?

[963] It's also kind of smart to play it way down.

[964] And then it's almost like, it's a little bit lustier.

[965] That's right.

[966] Luskier.

[967] It's a little secret.

[968] It's luskier out there than Lusk.

[969] But they still stand out from the other women in town because the other women are like, you know, cow women.

[970] And they're all windswept and outdoorsy, but they'll cultivate a dignified look.

[971] You can't call them cowwomen.

[972] I don't know.

[973] I can't say cowboys.

[974] That's not, that's not correct.

[975] Oh, I see.

[976] I see.

[977] Sorry.

[978] I see what you mean.

[979] But I didn't want to say cow girls.

[980] I can see we're women.

[981] What did you think I meant?

[982] I don't know.

[983] I thought you meant kind of like prairie women, but like, I don't know.

[984] It could be that too.

[985] Cow women just seems negative.

[986] That's it?

[987] Oh, like I'm calling them, no, that's not what I meant.

[988] Shortly after opening the hotel, Del starts to form a close relationship with a dude named Jerry Dahl, who makes repairs at the hotel from time to time.

[989] So they start, you know, dating.

[990] Handyman.

[991] Oh, yeah.

[992] Gotta date the handyman.

[993] Got to.

[994] over the next decade, some people in the town complained about the yellow hotel, but most tolerate it.

[995] The residents of Lusk know that in towns without saloons, where sex workers are prosecuted more forcefully, the men who work in the oil fields are more likely to harass local women, which is such a sad, fucked up fact where it's like, yeah, you got to, these cowmen.

[996] Dells Hotel is usually fined about $100 a month, which is like $1 ,700 in today's money, you know, just kind of like a little payoff, it seems, which she can afford.

[997] In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, Lusk doesn't suffer quite as badly as other parts of the country because the oil industry inflates the town from the worst of the depression.

[998] That said, times are still tight.

[999] And in 1929, the Lusk light and power generator fails.

[1000] And the town is without water or electricity.

[1001] Like they can't afford to keep it up.

[1002] So Del loans the town.

[1003] She goes to fucking City Hall and to like the town meeting and loans the town money to replace the generator and effectively controls the town's water and power for decades after because of it.

[1004] Genius.

[1005] When neighbors occasionally complain about the brothel over the next decade or two, Del reminds them that she could always call in her loan and shut down the town's lights.

[1006] Wow.

[1007] Uh -huh.

[1008] so city officials eventually redraw the city limits putting the yellow hotel outside of them so they don't have authority over it anymore essentially gerrymandering yeah essentially they're like we use this place so why would we shut it down i'm sure yes you know yeah okay like she has shit on everyone yeah in 1933 prohibition ends and this ushers in the golden age of the yellow hotel authorities no longer bother dell everything's legal what she's doing and they also don't to turn the lights off.

[1009] Outside the hotel, it's still the depression.

[1010] People are suffering.

[1011] Dell helps in whatever way she can.

[1012] The town sees an influx of transient men looking for work, and Del employs several of them on odd jobs around the hotel, and she feeds hungry men from the hotel's kitchen.

[1013] So she's a fucking community leader.

[1014] She's, yeah, she's great.

[1015] When Del walks around town, she usually walks by herself or with her Pekingese dog.

[1016] That's like her fucking thing, which is the second story in a row that has had Pekingese dogs.

[1017] Oh, that's right.

[1018] Isn't that weird?

[1019] Yes, that's right.

[1020] They're a very popular breed.

[1021] Yes.

[1022] So she doesn't speak to anyone unless spoken to first.

[1023] She knows that like she can't be like, hey, Dave.

[1024] He's with his wife or whatever, right?

[1025] Like, it'll be known.

[1026] She's in church waving back to the different people that she's, yeah.

[1027] Hey, pastor.

[1028] What's up?

[1029] Hey, what's up?

[1030] So when she hires a new employee, what she does is she has that, employee take the dog out for a walk so that everyone knows this is the new girl in town like come to the hotel because we got a new girl in town genius genius yeah and then in the 1940s the oil boom had initially been fading but then world war two creates increased demand for fuel a new airbase nearby brings in a steady stream of customers i mean this chick is fucking killing it yeah she's becoming one of the wealthiest women in ym also I really love how she kind of like tried a bunch of stuff pivoted was like this doesn't work this she made a mistake the lust mistake that actually then insulated her from what almost the entire rest of the country went through but she was lucky enough to be in like a rich area a place that was insulated from that horrible like everyone losing everything like there's prohibition so many bars go bust because of that there's the great depression there's the war there's the this that and she's fucking fine.

[1031] Yeah.

[1032] It's pretty amazing.

[1033] It's great.

[1034] After the war, renewed demand for oil and the post -war economy keeps the Yellow Hotel busy as well.

[1035] Then the Korean War begins, and those two military bases rev up again, bringing even more business to the Yellow Hotel, like this chick, has got luck.

[1036] She got her spot.

[1037] It's like she got a spot in Vegas or something.

[1038] That's right.

[1039] Lusk.

[1040] So by now the hotel is well known across the state, and Dell herself is also well -known.

[1041] known.

[1042] While in person, she's quiet and discreet.

[1043] She is an entrepreneur and she widely advertises with highway billboards, let's say, Delberg's hotel.

[1044] So like, she's a known person as well.

[1045] Other similar brothels have been shut down.

[1046] So some people feel a bit proud to have this piece of the old West still around.

[1047] Yeah.

[1048] Because it's the 1950s at this point.

[1049] And this is from like the early 1900s.

[1050] And it's kind of like historical, right?

[1051] Yeah.

[1052] Yeah.

[1053] Other people, of course, are less supportive.

[1054] That said, Del is also well known because she's a member of the Chamber of Commerce and she gives very generously to every church and charitable cause in town.

[1055] That's right.

[1056] Paper those MFers.

[1057] Give them what they want, money.

[1058] Every year she pays for several students' college tuition as well.

[1059] Yeah, smart.

[1060] That's right.

[1061] So Dell also invests in real estate and stocks and invests in a few other businesses in Lusk.

[1062] She is by this point very wealthy.

[1063] So she has to keep a low profile in town because it's, you know, modest low profile city.

[1064] But when she and her fucking hot hand be man boyfriend, Jerry, travel and she makes frequent trips to Cheyenne and Denver, she actually keeps a supply of beautiful, rich clothing and fur coats to wear while she's out of town where she can actually show off.

[1065] So she's like into the finer things.

[1066] She's very fucking aware that no one wants to see her showing off in Lusk.

[1067] And so she takes her fucking arm candy, gets out of town and dresses up.

[1068] And then she just goes for it in Denver.

[1069] Yes.

[1070] Right.

[1071] You know, Denver.

[1072] Yes.

[1073] So in 195, she suffers a blow when her hot handyman boyfriend, Jerry, dies of a heart attack while driving his car, sadly.

[1074] She's now in her 60s.

[1075] And she's always remained in touch with her family.

[1076] At this point, they call her Marie.

[1077] They come to visit her at her now her ranch that's outside of town.

[1078] They just think Aunt Marie owns a really successful hotel.

[1079] They have no idea.

[1080] She's a madam, which I like a love.

[1081] In the 70s, all of the booms have died down.

[1082] Lusk's population has gone from 10 ,000 in the 30s and 40s to about 1 ,400.

[1083] Oh, which is a bummer.

[1084] Most of Del's business now comes from tourists who come during elk and antelope hunting season and from cowboys who come from South Dakota, Nebraska, and other parts of Wyoming.

[1085] So by 1978, Del is turning fucking 90.

[1086] Oh, she's finally winding down the business after 60 years in operation.

[1087] Wow.

[1088] Uh -huh.

[1089] In 1979, she slips on an icy sidewalk, breaks her hip, she closes the hotel for good and moves into an assisted living facility.

[1090] When she's first assigned to a room, her roommate fucking clutches her pearls and is horrified to learn that she'll be bunking with the famous Del Burke, owner of the Yellow Hotel.

[1091] What kind of a true asshole do you have to be?

[1092] Where it's like, you will have stories every night until you pass over.

[1093] That's right.

[1094] Make a friend.

[1095] And that's why a different woman gladly moves in with Del. Oh, great.

[1096] She's like, over here, please.

[1097] Yep.

[1098] Come sit by me. And another occasion of volunteer stops by Del's room and asks if she'd like to read the Bible.

[1099] And Del tells her, quote, get the hell out of my room and turn the TV on as you leave.

[1100] So she's our best friend.

[1101] Yes.

[1102] At this point, hospital workers have to call in Del's family to come help take care of her.

[1103] And this is when they all find out that Aunt Marie is the famous Del Burke.

[1104] Some of them clutched their pearls and are horrified.

[1105] I'm sure the older generation and I'm sure the younger generation are fascinated by it.

[1106] It's like finger guns into the ceiling.

[1107] It's a little bit like my dad and I were watching TV last night and we were watching something on PBS.

[1108] Yeah.

[1109] And my dad goes, oh, I know that guy.

[1110] I saw him at Woodstock.

[1111] And I go, what?

[1112] You went to Woodstock?

[1113] And he goes, hell no. He was just lying for fun.

[1114] He was fucking with him.

[1115] And it was like two seconds.

[1116] I thought that I'd uncovered, like, a mysterious past story from my dad's life.

[1117] Jim's got jokes.

[1118] Jim's got jokes.

[1119] He knew how funny it would be of, like, of course I didn't go to Woodstock.

[1120] It's everything I stand against.

[1121] That's right.

[1122] That's right.

[1123] So, Adele dies of natural causes in 1981 at the age of 93.

[1124] And it said she dies as one of the wealthiest women in Wyoming.

[1125] Yes.

[1126] Yes.

[1127] The Yellow Hotel is so widely known in the region.

[1128] And here's a tidbit of trivia that fascinates me and will fascinate you.

[1129] 3 ,000 people came to Lusk for the estate sale of the Yellow Hotel.

[1130] Can you imagine what was in that?

[1131] I have a couple pieces of information.

[1132] First of all, that's twice the town's population that came to her estate sale.

[1133] No one was ready.

[1134] No one was ready.

[1135] The room keys each go for around $150.

[1136] Yeah, they do.

[1137] And that's in the beginning of the 80s.

[1138] A metal ashtray with a saucy picture on it goes for more than $400.

[1139] And, like, everyone, just so you know, you go to estate sales for deals.

[1140] Like, this is expensive.

[1141] You would not pay that at a normal estate sale.

[1142] Right.

[1143] The internal bell system, which sex workers would use to signal that they were ready for a new client, sells for $850.

[1144] Wow.

[1145] A velvet wall hanging inspires a fierce bidding war.

[1146] It goes for well over $1 ,000.

[1147] And in today's money, that's $3 ,362.

[1148] So people were there to spend money.

[1149] Yeah, they were.

[1150] And also, it's a velvet painting.

[1151] Yeah.

[1152] That is kitsch upon kitsch.

[1153] I mean, truly.

[1154] And like the original.

[1155] It's not like some guy did it to make it seem cheese.

[1156] Right.

[1157] It's like, no, no, this is from a Wyoming brothel.

[1158] And it's seen some shit.

[1159] Yeah.

[1160] So at the sale, Dell's grand niece, she's 39.

[1161] We have to assume that she's cool as shit.

[1162] Like, awesome.

[1163] Because she goes to the estate sale.

[1164] Her name's Lorraine.

[1165] And she says, quote, I only found out about her real life two years ago.

[1166] The notoriety has taken some getting used to, but I'm having a great time.

[1167] I bet.

[1168] So she was like, cool.

[1169] Auntie Dell is cool.

[1170] Yes.

[1171] Lots of locals from town work the estate sale, and the town of Lusk generally embraces Dell's story in a way that they, of course, never really did openly while she was alive.

[1172] So they understand it's part of history.

[1173] At the estate sale, the auctioneer, a Lusk local says, quote, quote, everybody knows what she did for a living, but she was widely accepted.

[1174] She did a lot of good things.

[1175] She was certainly no drawback to the community.

[1176] Hell no. In a 1973 interview, a few years before her fall, Del reflected on her relationship with the town, saying that after 1930, quote, no one's ever really threatened to shut me down.

[1177] Maybe it's because I know too much for everybody's good.

[1178] Unfortunately, in the following decades, the Yellow Hotel falls into disrepair.

[1179] and in 2012, the town of Lusk burns it down because it's deemed a hazard.

[1180] Oh.

[1181] Which sucks.

[1182] And that is the story of Del Burke, an entrepreneur who leveraged every big moment of the first half, the 20th century, to grow her business and support her community.

[1183] Yeah.

[1184] Del Burke.

[1185] Another one I've never heard of or even like the slightest reference to.

[1186] That was great.

[1187] I love that story.

[1188] The book is called Frontier Madam.

[1189] the life of Del Burke, Lady of Lusk, if anyone wants to read that.

[1190] So great.

[1191] Yeah.

[1192] So before we go, I just want to say, I know everyone's been seeing this horrible, devastating fire on Maui and what happened to the town of Lahaina, which is so horrible.

[1193] I know on this podcast I've talked about going to Hawaii so many times.

[1194] It's one of my favorite places to go and the idea that that happened there.

[1195] and it's just so sad.

[1196] If you can do anything, please donate to the Maui Strong Fund.

[1197] You can find information at Hawaii Community Foundation .org to donate.

[1198] And Georgia, if you're good with it, we're going to donate $10 ,000.

[1199] And please consider not going on vacation to Hawaii because they don't have the services.

[1200] And they don't have the support system they are trying to grieve.

[1201] I mean, it's really amazing to see the way the Maui community and the other islands are coming together to get supplies over there to make sure people have generators, water, food, all those things.

[1202] That's Hawaii.

[1203] That's that community.

[1204] Definitely.

[1205] It's so devastating.

[1206] I'm glad we can send that money over there.

[1207] Yeah.

[1208] Cool.

[1209] All right.

[1210] Well, thanks for listening, everyone and being here and being a part of it.

[1211] I mean, I really enjoyed both of these stories today.

[1212] A lot of good, inspiring stuff to think about.

[1213] That's us, the feel good podcast that you.

[1214] you know and love.

[1215] You know how we are.

[1216] It's super positive.

[1217] All right.

[1218] Well, stay sexy.

[1219] And don't get murdered.

[1220] Goodbye.

[1221] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[1222] You can't get on a plane with a million dollars in cash.

[1223] Someone who's going to stop and ask you questions.

[1224] But you can fit a million dollars with diamonds in your pocket.

[1225] I'm Natalia Antalava.

[1226] I'm a journalist based in Eastern Europe and I'm going to take you to the world of Serbia's most infamous jewel thieves.

[1227] The amount that they're calling in these two -minute heist is so astonishing.

[1228] It's like magic.

[1229] They're called the Pink Panthers, and this is their story.

[1230] They wanted to be known all around the world.

[1231] They were brazen.

[1232] They ventured the jewelry shop in Paris, threw out a magnum and a grenade, and then they escaped with about $100 million of jewelry.

[1233] And they seemed very much.

[1234] virtually untouchable.

[1235] You know, in Serbia, these guys were connected with very powerful people.

[1236] But when the heists are this spectacular...

[1237] They entered, they stole the stuff, they were out of there within 32 seconds.

[1238] And there is this much money.

[1239] If you've got a 10 -carat, flawless diamond, basically you're talking about a million -dollar stone.

[1240] So they break the window like this, and they have taken an aclays, it was maybe 3 million.

[1241] It's very, very smart.

[1242] someone's bound to come after you.

[1243] He did a couple of heights, one of them pretty spectacular, but he didn't have the reason to believe that someone would want to kill him in Serbia.

[1244] From exactly right media, a Best Case Studios production.

[1245] So destiny of one good Pink Panther is a lot of money, a lot of fast money, prison 100 % for sure.

[1246] This is infamous international, the Pink Panther story.

[1247] After the prison, again fast money and again prison.

[1248] Follow Infamous International, the Pink Panther's story on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[1249] You can listen to the show early and ad free on Amazon Music.

[1250] Download the Amazon Music app today.

[1251] This has been an exactly right production.

[1252] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[1253] Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton.

[1254] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[1255] This episode was mixed by Liana Skolace.

[1256] Our researchers are Marin McClashen and Ali Elkin.

[1257] Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail .com.

[1258] Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter at My Fave Murder.

[1259] Goodbye.

[1260] Follow My Favorite Murder on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen so you don't miss an episode.

[1261] If you like what you hear, rate and review the show.

[1262] Visit exactly right store .com to purchase my favorite murder merch.