Welcome to AirNManky's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

It's hard for some people to get interested in politics.

All the fighting and negativity doesn't exactly inspire a love for democracy, especially

when it seems like one person's vote doesn't count for all that much.

After all, what difference can one person make?

Just ask Henry Shoemaker.

Henry worked on a farm in Decalbe County, Indiana in the mid-1840s.

He did what guys like him were supposed to do.

He went to work every day, he paid his taxes, and he voted on Election Day.

Now back then, US senators were not elected by the people.

Instead, the voters elected state representatives who would then go on to vote for the senators

of their choice.

That meant electing the wrong representative might lead to electing the wrong state

senator on the line.

1842 was an important year for Decalbe County and its neighbors Stuban.

Both counties were to be counted as one, meaning their combined elections would determine

which single candidate would go on to represent them in the state legislature.

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