Welcome to Calm History. I'm Harris, and this podcast is my quirky mix of education with sedation.

So go ahead, lean back, put up your feet, and settle into my time machine of tranquility.

I hope this episode distracts and relaxes your overactive brain squirrels.

Get ready for a true crime story about a millionaire, a homeless person, and a race horse spy ring.

Well, I'm not actually sure if a race horse spy ring is involved. You can listen and decide for

yourself.

The 1894 case of the homeless tramp and the millionaire John Jacob Astor.

A quick note before I begin.

This story includes the terms homeless, vagrant, bum, and tramp. Although the preferred terms by many today

are houseless, unhoused, unsheltered, unsettled, and other terms. Let's begin.

In 1894, the famous journalist Nellie Blye wrote an article about an incident that occurred

at the home of John Jacob Astor.

This is a true story that appears to be absent from almost every Internet resource about

John Jacob Astor. Yet, it's a fascinating story that ends with a small twist, or maybe perspective

is the better word.

But first off, who the beep-bop-boop is, John Jacob Astor?

Well, he was born in 1864, into a family known for their fat stacks.

But he didn't do this Scrooge McDuck thing and swam around all day on huge piles of gold coins.

Instead, he went to Harvard.

He wrote a book.

He helped develop a turbine engine,

and he also invented a bicycle brake and even a device to produce gas from peat moss.

...