From Dublin to Devil's Island - The Life & Crimes of Vere Goold
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2024
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1879 Vere Goold was a celebrity in Ireland. After winning Ireland’s first tennis championship, he reached the prestigious Wimbledon final later in the year.
Exactly 30 years later he would die in the most notorious prison in the world – Devil’s Island.
Known as the 'dry guillotine' the conditions in the French penal colony were horrendous.
However few had sympathy for the Irish aristocrat.
His crime had been unspeakable and shocked the world.
This is the Life & Crimes of Vere Goold.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Folks have you checked out the Irish History Podcast shop recently? |
| 0:03.4 | Right now I have a sale of 30% off everything when you use the code sale 30. |
| 0:08.8 | So go to Irish History Podcast. |
| 0:10.6 | dot i.e forward slash shop and get 30% off everything when you use the |
| 0:15.4 | discount code sale 30. |
| 0:19.8 | 1907 was a big year for Ireland's criminal fraternity. |
| 0:25.0 | One of the world's most famous criminal couples, |
| 0:27.8 | the Longford-born Mary Ann Dygnan, better known as Chicago May, |
| 0:31.2 | and the Irish-American Eddie Gguern were back in the news. |
| 0:35.5 | The two had risen to fame back in 1901 when they were caught robbing the American |
| 0:40.1 | Express office in Paris. |
| 0:42.4 | While Chicago May had been sent to a French prison, |
| 0:45.7 | Gerene had been sentenced to what was called the dry guillotine. |
| 0:50.9 | Known as Devil's Island, this prison was in effect a death sentence. |
| 0:55.0 | 68,000 of the 70,000 people imprisoned there, died during their sentence. |
| 1:02.0 | However, Gern would become world famous when he defied this |
| 1:06.4 | statistic in spectacular form. In 1995 he became one of an elite feud to escape Devil's Island and lived to tell the tale. |
| 1:17.2 | In 1906 he had moved to London where he was reunited with Chicago May. |
| 1:22.3 | However, after he violently abused her, she reported him to the authorities, |
| 1:27.4 | leading to a French attempt to extraditegern back to France and Devil's Island. |
| 1:33.0 | However, using his Irish ancestry, which at the time made him a British subject, |
| 1:39.0 | Gern managed to beat the extradition charge in 1907. This would pave the way for what became the next round in the Chicago May and Eddie Gereen Saga. |
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