Welcome to Dun & Dun. I'm Alicia, your hostess on this journey, All Things Dominic Dunn.

Before we begin today's episode, I have a big thanks to give to Elizabeth for giving me a little

clarification on the 44-gallon drum of sperm at the wedding last week. This would be sperm oil

from sperm whales, which is used in oil lamps, at the time of

that marriage, at least. The thing about sperm, oil, it burns bright, there's no odor, it's a big

deal to get that much light burning fuel. Elizabeth, I really appreciate that clarification. I feel so much better about that whole situation.

It has bugged me for a long time. You rock. Also, I want to give a big shout out to Mark S.

Your encouragement and support means the world. Thank you for listening and sharing the love

and some excellent information that will be coming in future stories.

You rock. And thanks to all y'all too for coming back to Dun & Done this week.

Continuing through our New York State of Crime season, we got just a little while longer in

the gilded age, investigators. Two weeks ago, we introduced Alva Vanderbilt. We left her hosting the ball

where she is going to smash into high society in 1883. But there's a whole arc about Alva

from that point onward. There is a rise, there is a brutal fall, and another kind of rise, a resurrection, if you will.

Alva Vanderbilt, sassy Southern girl, making it happen her own way. Let's investigate.

Music The term gilded age is actually coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in 1873 within the book titled The Gilded Age,

A Tale of Today. The gilded adjective isn't really necessarily complimentary, though. This is

glitter on the surface, but when you scratch the surface, the gilded is just paint. Underneath all

that shiny, it's corrupt. There's a class of the super

rich and they are spending in the most conspicuous of ways. The large amount of spending is done

initially by the robber barons. This is the American industrial age, and there are

a number of families making a lot of cash, like so much cash. The children and grandchildren of

...