Listen to the episode here.

You want tough women?! This week, Angie and Theresa share some absolute baddies.

Theresa kicks things off with Diane Nash, who led the Freedom Rides. You know, those integrated bus rides in the deep south, where a bus was firebombed, the victims were arrested (after getting beaten by angry mobs).

Angie pivots the episode into a wildly different direction when she shares the story of Amelie Elie, the woman who launched a gang war in France. She was kinda the modern equivalent to Helen of Troy, but with French gangs of the Victorian era.

Transcript

Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast. The podcast where two absolute nutjobs are going to mainline history, like it is the last thing that we have been put on this earth to do, but we’re going to do it first. And then we’re going to join forces and tell each other the story we’ve only recently learned. I’m host one. I’m Teresa. And that is Angie. 

Angie: I am Angie, and we are only going to do it first because the ADHD kicks in. 

Theresa: We have to do it first. We have to do the last thing first. Pretty much. Yeah. These are things. We are nothing if not consistent. I don’t care what you’ve heard. 

Angie: Truly. Can I very briefly just tell you that I’m reading a book. I’m not going to share the name of the book. I’m not going to say anything else about the book, but there was an evening this week where I spent a large chunk of my time yelling from the bathroom to the bedroom, and my husband about Prussia invading Denmark. 

If you need a clue as to where your wife stands on the Neuro Spicy Spectrum, just know that the next day I said something to my husband about, like, I asked the question why something didn’t get done or why he didn’t tell me something, and his response was because you stood half hour yelling at me about Prussia invading Denmark, hearing the American Civil War. I was like, oh. 

Theresa: Yeah. I mean, honestly. All right. 

Angie: Prussia invading Denmark, hearing the American Civil War, which funny enough. Civil War Revolution. I’ve already like, it made the American Civil War. Oh, it was the Civil War. Okay. All right. I am watching my cat who I think is trying to figure out how to get over to me and then stressing me out. Do you want to go grab him? No. I think he’s just going to try to climb the armoire again, so I’m just going to move into the middle of the room. All right. Problem solved. 

Theresa: So, I was looking at a V spreadsheet, and I realized you took the entire episode last week when you did the greatest beer run ever. And I have to admit, that means I get to go first. That is what that means. I had lined up this story to go with the 4th of July. 

Angie: It’s still the month of July. 

Theresa: It’s still the month of July, but you know, either way, you’re going to hear this and go, oh, I see what you did there, even though it’s a week late. 

So I’m going to pretend that this is Mother’s Day where we talked about it a week late. Yes. Perfect. I’m going to tell you the story of Diane Nash and the Freedom Rides. Okay. 

You ready? Mm-hmm. My sources, SNCC Digital, they have an article titled, Diane Nash, Stanford, the King’s Institute, Freedom Rides, and then the Tennessee Center of Justice, Diane Nash. Okay. 

All right. Diane Nash is born May 15th in 1938 in Chicago, Illinois. She’s raised in a very middle-class Catholic home, and she enrolls in FISC University. Okay. Now, I’m going to assume you are uninitiated like I am because we are alabaster disasters. And as a result, FISC is a prominent private historically black liberal arts college, and it’s located in Nashville, Tennessee. Okay. Because I’m assuming you didn’t have that information on what FISC was. 

Angie: No, all I can think of is the FISC Museum, which I’m not sure is related to that. 

Theresa: Well, and see FISC, the only touchstone I have is the FISC auto-wrecking yard that existed probably a decade or two ago in my hometown. 

Angie: Okay. Well, if you need to know what my very first touchstone for it is, FISC is the name of the bad guy in Daredevil. 

Theresa: All right. Fair. So basically, we were way off the mark no matter how you cut it. No matter where we started. Yep. Yep. So she goes to FISC in Tennessee. Okay. 

And up until this point, she hadn’t truly experienced segregation because she was in Chicago. Okay. Right. Right. 

Okay. Now she’s living in the South and everything shifts abruptly. So she’s quoted in saying, I started feeling very confined and I presented it. 

Every time I obeyed a segregation rule, I felt like I was somehow agreeing that I too, somehow agreeing that I was too inferior to go through the front door and use the facility that the ordinary public would use. Don’t like that. I don’t either. But I love that that was her mindset, particularly with what follows. Okay. So she starts searching for groups to join because she wants to really combat segregation. 

And she discovers a group of workshops that are around nonviolence run by a Reverend James Lawson. He’s holding them just a few blocks from campus. Okay. Now this training isn’t like some wishy-washy group of lectures. Okay. 

This is based off the teachings of Gandhi and it had very practical ways on how to practice nonviolence. Okay. Now I want to pause here because there were a couple of rabbit holes I went on. Number one, this is coming from somebody who’s trained over a decade of martial arts. If you’re in a high pressure situation, you’re going to revert to your highest level of training. 

Okay. You know, like when the panic sets in, you know, you don’t have the opportunity to really think through it. So you’ve got to make sure that that’s trained into you. So if you haven’t ingrained something in your mind, body, or spirit, you’ve nothing. It’s just a great idea that you’re going to forget the moment it hits the fan. Okay. The second thing is I went through and reread some of Gandhi’s history or Gandhi’s essays. His views on nonviolence isn’t passive. 

Angie: Did we ever think that it was? 

Theresa: Well, I think in the very modern views, like when you look at like people that are talking about pacifism and nonviolence, it’s, I mean, I went to, I went to a pacifist school. I went to a Mennonite undergrad. It was very wishy-washy. It was very like just sit and pray about it. 

It was, it was very much like that. Okay. Okay. Gandhi in his essay titled, The Doctrine of the Sword, this is a quote that is just like fire. He says, I do believe that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. Okay. And that was mind blowing to me knowing that Gandhi said it because that man had not an ounce of cowardice in his body. 

Angie: Probably because of that quote, whether they’re going to do it or not. Like, yeah, there’s no middle ground there. Right. 

Theresa: You don’t get to just say, oh, we’re nonviolent and run. It’s like either stand there and take the hit, looking your aggressor in the eyes or strike back because running isn’t the option you need. 

Right. So Diane, Diane Nash, the Diane Nash, it starts taking the courses on nonviolence and she’s learning how to sit there and take a hit. She’s learning how to get screamed at. 

She’s learning how to be assaulted. And just take it. And I think that’s the point I needed to make. 

That is the connection I needed to realize myself in this story. Okay. Because I think we see the images of the civil rights movement. We see the sit-ins. We see the whatever. And I don’t think we recognize the training that goes into that. 

Angie: Yes, typically not top of the mind. Right. 

Theresa: So for me to go down those rabbit holes, I was just like, oh my gosh, that means this. A means B. Okay. So now let’s fast forward, right? Because now I feel like conspiracy theorists because of the way I just like adjusted in my chair. 

We’re going to fast forward. I realized I did it. I realized like basically. 

That was cute. Yeah. So fast forward 1960. There is a series of sit-ins that are occurring at lunch counters. 

Nash, she’s joined a student group called the Nashville student movement. This sought to negotiate with restaurant owners in hopes to desegregate the lunch counters. They organized a boycott to quote encourage restaurant owners to come to the table. And the owners admitted there when they come to the table, they admit they’re afraid of the white population boycotting if the business is desegregated. 

Angie: Right. Because my paycheck matters more than human decency in this case. Right. 

Theresa: Well, I mean, you know, I hate to say it, but oftentimes you have to make a financial compelling reason to get something changed. Right. Right. So this is where the group does something incredible. They, instead of just saying do it because it’s morally right, they really hear it. 

And so they end up going and doing something that I find amazingly profound. They recruited a group of quote dignified looking middle-aged white ladies to sit at the desegregated lunch counters for three weeks. 

Angie: I’m telling you, if you need a group of somebody to get it done, it’s middle-aged white aunties. They will handle it. 

Theresa: But also pushing back that same looking demographic may not be the safest group. 

Angie: No, I’m not saying they are, but the ones that are are the ones that show up and handle it. Right. 

Theresa: Yeah. And so I was stoked to hear that they found some of these, you know, white middle-aged aunties to like handle it because that made this incredible. So they used these women’s allyship with the black community to get the business owners to desegregate. Okay. And honestly, I would eat lunch daily out for a reason and validate my, you know, be like, Hubs, I had to. I had to. I’m doing good groundbreaking work with a Reuben. It’s my paycheck that I paid for. 

Angie: Okay. 

Theresa: This Montecrisco that I am shoving in my mouth two and a half days a week is revolutionizing our society. I must eat out. Honestly, in my house, that would work. Yeah. 

We would need to budget for it. But yeah, you know, yeah. Now, Nash would go on to say like this incredible thing. She was, when you regard your opponent as a human being, so that somebody to fight, you can really work out problems. With that truth, basically this whole act that they did with the middle-aged white ladies staved off a boycott from black customers because they came in and they saw their aunties, their church members, their whomever, sitting down, not having issues. So they sat down, shut up, and didn’t have issues. 

Angie: Wild how that works. Yeah. Yeah. 

Theresa: Now, Nash goes on to become a founding member of the SNCC. And this stands for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. And here she really enjoys the work that she’s doing there. And she’s hearing about all of these events that are happening around her as this civil rights movement is really starting to bubble up. 

Okay. So one of these events is January 31, 1961. There’s a group called the Rock Hill Nine and they’re arrested at a segregated McCrory’s lunch counter in Rock Hill. You’re nodding. You’ve heard of this event. Yep. 

So this is in South Carolina. And to make their point, the Rock Nine refuse bail. They want all the media attention they can. They don’t want to pay into this. 

They want to just, you know what? We’re here. We’re doing it. 

Yep. Because they believe that the fines are only going to support the injustice of their arrest. And they don’t want to financially contribute to this mess. 

Honestly. So it’s around this time she also starts collaborating with a group called CORE. And that stands for the Congress of Racial Equality. This is important because the whole idea of this is conceived in 1947. We got to back up a little bit when the Supreme Court declared segregation on interstate buses unconstitutional. 

Angie: I didn’t realize that it happened as early as 47. 

Theresa: You see what I mean? Like, so this is one of those, again, sitting forward like I’m telling conspiracy theories like continue to pull this threat because you can see the rabbit holes that I went down. 1947, there’s something called the journey of reconciliation. They get on buses and they go and they avoid the deep south. They’re staying in just the upper parts of the south so they don’t get a ton of pushback. There’s tiny bits of violence on a ton. There’s minor bits of media attention. And so when you fast forward 14 years later in this new national context, we’ve got a bunch of things happening. We’ve got sit-ins, boycotts, and then we have the emergence of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. And so these freedom rights of what we’re gearing towards right now, they’re able to harness enough national attention to try to force federal enforcement and policy changes. 

Angie: Get it, young people. Get it. 

Theresa: You say that. You say that. You’re going to have feelings, thoughts and feelings in a minute. Now, so a year before, I’m saying that we were in 61 and now we’re backing up. So in 1960, this is something we need to either learn or remember because it’s probably not top of mind. 

And this U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Boynton v. Virginia that segregation in facilities provided on interstate travelers, such as bus terminals, restaurants, and restrooms, was also unconstitutional. And that happened in 60? That happened in 60. 

Okay. So 47, no segregation on interstate buses. And then in 60, it was like, you know what? We should take care of all the facilities that support the buses and those need to be desegregated as well. 

Angie: You know what? I would have thought that that wasn’t even something I had considered. I would have thought in 47, they would have been like, oh, when you go to a bus stop on the interstate, you might need to use the facilities. 

Theresa: Right. Well, it makes sense in hindsight, right? Because we’re looking at it going, why wouldn’t you? But they’re looking at it as, why would we? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So now we have core, the Congress of Racial Equity, or nope, racial equality. They’re recruiting volunteers for the freedom rights and they’re planning on going to the deep south. They are going to push boundaries. 

Okay. And they have, like there was a podcast I listened to, I didn’t write down which one, but they had interviews of people involved in the civil rights movement. Basically, if you weren’t 18, they had permission slips that had to be signed to allow you to go. Like a field trip? 

Basically. But, okay, imagine this, right? Because it’s not just like a field trip, because you need to really sit with this. 

This is recognizing that this mission that you’re going on could very well result in your death. Now, think of this, because you’ve got kiddos that, you know, I don’t, is Ethan 18? Yeah. 

Theresa: Okay. So imagine he’s 17. Imagine the day before his birthday. You need to wrestle with your child’s desire to change the world, and you need to figure out if it’s worth the potential of needing to bury them. And as a parent, are you willing to make that sacrifice of your child? 

Angie: Okay. So I have contemplated similar thoughts, because I do have an 18-year-old son from the world we live in today, right? And my stance on this is I will never be prepared for something like that, nor would I ever choose to make that sacrifice, but it is not my choice to make it. It is his. 

And I have to respect his choice. Your voice is really quiet. Oh, sorry. 

I had to move. Can you hear me better now? That’s a bit better, yeah. 

That’s weird. Okay. I was saying that I would never choose myself for that, nor would I want to allow it, but he is 18. It is his choice. It is his sacrifice, not mine. That said, I will support the choice he makes. 

Theresa: What about a year ago, two years ago? 

Angie: Same thing. Okay. It’s his, because I started thinking about this again, like when he was probably 15, what, if the world looked this way, how would I respond? Not willingly, but it’s also not my place to squash his conviction. Fair. 

Theresa: Good. I mean, honestly, like this was something like I kind of sat with was like, I would need to, I don’t want to make that choice right now. I want to just, I’m going to go have some cheese about it. Yep. 

Angie: I’m going to hug you extra tight and we’re going to eat all the ice cream out of the container. Yep. Okay. 

Theresa: So either way, parents are needing to make these decisions if their kids are minors. Now, everyone who signs up for this event, age, whatever, they’re undergoing extensive training and nonviolent actions because they know what they’re walking into. 

Angie: Yeah. Okay. Right. We’re getting the coffee thrown at us and being yelled at. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 

Theresa: And that’s just called training 101. It’s like you’ve got to, you’ve got to learn how to take a hit and that’s, that’s not fun. No, I’m not about it. No. May 4th, 1961, the Freedom Riders leave Washington, DC. They’re in two different buses and they’re headed to New Orleans. And they ended up, it says, although they faced resistance and arrest in Virginia, it’s not until they arrived in Rock Hill, South Carolina that they encountered violence. And this is where that first group was arrested. 

Okay. Now, John Lewis is on the bus. The John Lewis Civil Rights Hero. 

Okay. Him and another writer are beaten. Another participant is arrested for using a whites-only bathroom and this kicks off a bunch of media coverage. 

Okay. Which is really what they were gunning for. Now, the Freedom Riders would end up meeting Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders for dinner. 

And it’s during this meal that King whispers, you’ll never make it through Alabama. Hmm. And reading that, I got goosebumps because. Yeah. I eat a, what do you do when that is said? Try to make it through Alabama again. 

Angie: No kidding. Spend more time in the hillsides leveling up before you get back on the bus because your character needs more skill points. XP. Yeah. Yeah. The ride continues through Alice in Alabama or nope, continue through Anniston, Alabama, where on May 14th, the writers are met by a violent mob of over 100 people. Before the bus gets there, the local authorities gave permission to the Clue-Cluck’s clan to strike against the Freedom Riders without fear of arrest. 

Angie: Oh, that’s nice. 

Theresa: Great because that was really weighing them down. Now, the first bus pulls up. I’m not sure they were concerned. Yeah. The first bus pulls up and the driver yelled outside, well boys, here they are. I brought you some expletive and some expletive lovers. I won’t say it. I won’t say it, quote or not. Not going to. Yep. You don’t have to. You’re good. One of the buses gets firebombed and its fleeing passengers are forced into the angry white mob. 

Of course. The violence continued at a Birmingham terminal where Eugene Bull Connor’s police force offers zero protection. And the violence garnered a crap ton of national media attention and the series of attacks prompted James Farmer of CORE to end the campaign. 

Wow. I mean firebombing being beaten. Like this sounds pretty atrocious. The writers flew to New Orleans and this would bring an end to the first Freedom Ride of 1960s. 

Okay. So the violence stopped the first Freedom Ride in Alabama and not long after Diane Nash is chomping at the bit saying we need to start this again. It’s got to continue. 

And she said, quote, the students have decided that we can’t let violence overcome. We are going to Birmingham to continue the Freedom Ride. And she later led all the rides from Birmingham to Jackson in 1961. I didn’t know that. This girl was badass. Yeah, okay. This is viewed by the group or many in the group as straight up suicide. One. Yeah. 

Angie: Given what we’ve, yeah, sort of makes sense. 

Theresa: And so it’s harder to get financial backing for this journey. Okay. Yeah, it makes sense. It’s like you guys are just marching off to your death. I don’t think we’ve got enough for caskets as well. I mean, you were just asking for bus fare, but I know where this is. And I, you know. Yeah. Yeah. 

Angie: Bus fare is one thing. Gas for the bus is another thing. Funerals for all of you is different. A little pricier. 

Theresa: Yeah. But even with all of this, May 17th, 1961, there are seven men and three women that rode from Nashville to Birmingham to resume the Freedom Rides. To resume them. To resume them. 

They’re like, we’re going to pick up where we left off. Deuces. Bye. Now, just before reaching Birmingham, nope, Burnham, I just created this. Birmingham. The bus is pulled over and gets directed to Birmingham Station. And this is where all the riders are arrested for defying segregation laws. Even though we’ve already established that that’s no longer a thing, but the arrests are coupled with the difficulty of finding a bus driver and then there’s a bunch of other logistical challenges. This leaves the riders stranded in the city for several days. Right. 

Enter some wild behind the scenes action because Attorney General Robert Kennedy called the Greyhound Bus Company and demanded that they find a driver. Yes. Which I’m like, wow. Welcome to the cameo of the story, you know, like. Our special guest star. 

Yeah. Now, now we have a Department of Justice representative named John Sagan, baller. And he is trying to diffuse the situation a little bit because he’s riding with the freedom riders. He’s able to meet with a reluctant Alabama governor named John Patterson. And so he’s able to kind of maneuver and get the bus’s departure for Montgomery with a police escort the next morning. Okay, so he’s done some things. Yeah. Now the agreement is they’re going to drive to Montgomery City Light with this full police escort and the state troopers are going to be replaced by local police. Okay. 

Okay. So it looks like a relay race. Yeah, jurisdiction lines and whatnot. So they get to the city limits and the state troopers peel off, but local PD never showed up. Oh, shocking. Surprise. Now the unprotected bus enters the terminal and the riders are beaten so severely by a white mob that some sustained permanent injuries. Good Lord. And when the police finally do arrive, they serve the riders with an injunction barring them from continuing the freedom ride in Alabama. 

Angie: Cool, cool, cool. Because being beat up wasn’t enough. 

Theresa: No, no, no, no. Now we actually have to, hey, we showed up. We’re telling you, knock it off. Go home. Basically. So this is happening. Now flashback to Martin Luther King. 

He’s at a speaking engagement in Chicago. Okay. Same time, Grandma, I’m assuming. 

Same timeframe. He hears about it and he flies, or I say flies, he heads back to Montgomery, unclear how he gets there, mode of transport, not defined. He goes on to speak at a church where he blames the governor for aiding and abetting the forces of violence, which proved he didn’t. Yeah. And he’s calling for a federal intervention declaring that the federal government must not idly stand by while bloodthirsty mobs beat nonviolent students with impunity. There. Which, yeah. Now, as he’s saying this, there’s an angry white mob that’s surrounding the church that he’s speaking at. 

Angie: Of course there is. I didn’t expect anything else. 

Theresa: I mean, I’m like, how are there enough people to be multiple mobs? I know the answer. I don’t like that I know the answer, but it’s just like, is the entire state just an angry white mob? It feels like it. 

Angie: I would like to know how they all get this information on where to go without cell phones. Without Facebook. It’s the God, yes. Like, I know you just call so-and-so’s mom or whatever, but like, it is wiling to me. Yeah, fax. 

Theresa: Right. It’s just like, I see the smoke signals. We’ve got to go mob. Yeah. Yeah. So, from inside the church, Martin Luther King calls the attorney general, Kennedy, who assures him that the federal government’s going to protect those inside the church. 

Angie: How does he plan on keeping that promise? 

Theresa: Kennedy swiftly mobilized federal marshals who used tear gas to keep the mobs at bay. That’ll work. That’ll work. Okay. And federal marshals were later replaced by the Alabama National Guard who escorted the people out of the church at dawn. Oh, okay. 

Angie: Yeah, we couldn’t- Okay, I guess that’s when we got there. It took a while to squash the dissent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Now, May 29, 1961, the Kennedy administration announced that it had directed the ICC to ban segregation in all facilities under Sure Edition. And the rides continued. Okay. Now, students from all over the country are purchasing bus tickets to the south and crowded into jails into Jackson, Mississippi. 

Angie: So we’re going to flood the Mississippi. So we’re going to take it to Jackson, Mississippi, and we’re all getting arrested and hanging out in the local jail. Okay. Yeah. Okay. 

Theresa: And with the participation of these northern students came even more press coverage. This is exactly what they wanted. I mean, ideally what they wanted is no segregation. They wanted, I think, like they’re willing to sacrifice, but I think in truth, I say that’s what they wanted. But the truth is they didn’t want to have to be in the situation to begin with, but when in Rome. 

Angie: But if we have to be in this situation, this is the outcome we’re hoping for. We want to be on the news. Yeah. I know that makes sense. Yeah. 

Theresa: So November 1, 1961, the ICC ruling that segregation on interstate buses and facilities was illegal, that took effect. So now, December or November 1st, they’re like, all right, all right, now we’re actually going to enforce it. You win. And so the following July, Nash is arrested for conducting nonviolent workshops for black youth in Jackson, which I do not understand the logic there. 

Angie: I guess because to someone from the outside looking in, despite the fact that it says nonviolent, we don’t know that for sure. Like what if they’re teaching other things? 

Theresa: Well, they’re teaching. They’re teaching them to make us violent. Yeah. And they’re the force us to hit them. Yeah. 

Angie: You could just keep on. Keep scrolling. But I always tell people. Yeah. Yeah. 

Theresa: So Nash told the judge she’s planning on serving the entirety of the two year sentence that they’re trying to threaten her with. At this point, she’s married. She’d married a colleague in the movement named James Bevelle, and she’s pregnant with their first child. Okay. And she’s like, yeah, I’ll be here for two years. 

I’ll give birth to my first child in jail. Here is fine. Thank you. 

Yeah. She served 10 days on a contempt of the court charge, and the judge never pursued a longer sentence. He just lost the paperwork. Yeah. She went on to say, I think they decided it was likely to be more troubled than they had banked on. Good for her. 

She basically just called their bluff. Now she would later fight against the Vietnam War and advocated for housing rights and the poor. In 1920, nope, in 2022, President Joe Biden awarded Mrs. Nash the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the nation’s highest civilian honor. There is a park in front of the Metro Nashville Courthouse, and this is where she, and originally she had in the Siberia Stam spot confronted the mayor in 1960. That spot has a new name, Diane Nash Plaza. Good for her. I looked. She’s still alive. She’s 88. 

Angie: I just saw a picture. I googled it, and I thought it was a wait. 

Theresa: That’s cool because I didn’t get any photos. I didn’t think of it. That is the story of Diane Nash and the Freedom Rides. 

Angie: I love that. I do not have the notes prepared for this, but I had a story that would have totally paired well. So well. That’s not ready yet. She’s going to have to wait a little longer. 

Theresa: I’m down for that. I’m good. 

Angie: I’m waiting on some potential more information to arrive. 

Theresa: I understand how that goes. 

Angie: I sent an email. We’ll see. I have a wildly different story today. Like wildly different stories. And what I planned, then what I was going to go with, what I changed my mind to and still didn’t pick any of those was like, OK. Thanks, Interwebs. So are you ready? My sources. A utterly interesting.com article called Amelie Ellie, the woman who started a gang war in Velopoc, Paris. 

Theresa: Yeah, this is wildly different. 

Angie: Oh, wildly different. Her Wikipedia page. A Victorian Paris blog site put together by the author, Eva Polanski. This is actually a really clever thing that I can’t say I’ve ever seen another author do, but she categorized all of the research for her books into journal entries and then made a blog of them to keep all the research together. Interesting. It’s really clever. And at the same time, it gives access on the internet to people looking for these very obscure moments in time. 

And that’s actually super cool. There is a really well done YouTube video put together called Bandits of the Velopoc, the Apache Murders in Paris. But sadly, the entire video was in French. 

And while I love the language, I do not speak enough of it to have followed along with that. But I kept it because it was really well done. So there’s that. Okay. Shocking. 

My story starts in France. Yes, surprise. And I’m not even a little bit sorry. I know I’m not sorry. Sorry. 

Sorry that I’m not sorry, I guess. Amelie Ellie is born March 14th, 1878. She would later say it was June 17th of 1879. And I am unclear why that would matter. 

But to her it did. She was born in Orleans, France at the Hotel du to Mélanie-Louise-Délicorte and a tencentine called Gustave-Jean-Elie. They would shortly after move to the 11th adornation in Paris. Now, at the time… 

Theresa: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You said daddy was a tencentine? Yes. Okay. I just want to make sure I heard because you don’t get a lot of tensmiths. Well, he’s a tensmith. Yep. So he’s… 

Angie: Is a tensmith the type of artisan? I would consider them a type of artisan. 

Theresa: I mean, yes. I consider blindsmiths the type of artisan too. So… Yes. 

Angie: Okay. So we’re on the same train. Okay. So they move into this neighborhood in Paris. At the time this neighborhood is in an industrial area. It’s home to a lot of different type of artisans as well as like the Bastille Sits in the southwest area of this. And this is where you would also find like a really good deal of working class families. But you can also expect that the living conditions, they’re not the best here. You’ve got a much lower survival rate. 

I think it… One of my sources said like seven times lower for children. Oh. Yeah. Okay. That’s lovely. Yeah. 

It’s sad. And a lower quality for life as a whole for all of the residents living in this neighborhood. We don’t know a ton about her childhood, but we do know that the area that she is raised in is overcrowded and the perfect place for street gangs to thrive. Not only that, but according to the author, Pulaski, quote, one girl in ten would end up as a prostitute. It was the highest rate in the capital. Wow. Yeah. 

Theresa: The street gangs and sex workers. 

Angie: Pretty much. Yeah. So supposedly when she was about 13, she falls in love with a boy who is a couple of years older than her. And at one point they try to run off together. They make it to a hotel where they are found and separated. 

And then they spend… She’s Powell? She’s 13. Okay. I thought you said that. All right. Yeah. 

Yeah. She is… She has met the love of her life, daddy. She loves him. They would spend the next year constantly trying to escape with each other and eventually, like her parents, they would find them and separate them and send them off and… 

It just happened repeatedly. And eventually her parents all but give up on her. One source says that at age 14, she lost her mother as well. So I’m assuming that not only is mom out of her life, but she has died by this point. So things are not funny and roses for her. And of course, her and her young boyfriend break up as they are wont to do. 

Theresa: Shock it. One source… I love your life at 13 isn’t forever. 

Angie: I know. Wild, right? But one source did suggest that she left him. So I was like, okay. Now she is on the street with no way to support herself. She is 14 years old. And this is when she meets a woman called Helene de la Cortella and she is a well established sex worker with some very wealthy clients. She takes her in, shows her the ropes, possibly even becomes her lover. But she is a jealous gal and she is pizzeria. So eventually Amelie outduces Amelie even. 

So she does. But now, shortly after leaving Helene, she pops into this little bistro called La Palma Lard and she meets her next caregiver slash companion slash hemp, a man called Bouchon. And he provides protection, but he was also rather demanding and rather jealous, insisting that she have to earn a quota with her work. And he would beat her if she failed to meet it. He would beat her if she took any time out for herself, like whatever he could beat her for, he was doing it. Now, according to Plansky, one evening when our girls were about 19, she is beaten not only by Bouchon, but one of his followers. So that night, she just left and sort of wandered around the city for the next few nights. Like, I imagine sort of in a daze. That kind of thing. But then she meets a man called Joseph. 

I’m going to butcher this. A linear. They call him Manda. He is kind of a looker. I’ll show you his picture later. And he has this interesting skill set where he is a tool maker for tools used in burglary. 

Theresa: You know, we do need people in every kind of industry. 

Theresa: And lockpicks are super important. 

Angie: You might lock yourself out of your own house and you are going to need the tools this man makes. 

Theresa: The locksmith needs them too. 

Angie: I just make them for the common man to train. That’s what I’m saying. So there’s that. But he also has another skill set. He is apparently great with knives and happens to be rather high ranking in one of the local street games. Two things here. One, when Bouchon found her, he tried to claim rights to Amelie and Manda stabbed him. 

That’s the problem solved. Two, because he was involved in one of these gangs, it’s a bit of a prominent gang in the area. They’re called the Apaches of Paris. 

Now let’s take a short side quest because I know the face you’re making says why. There are two different groups of Apaches in Delaporte, Paris. One is this violent underworld type collection of gangs that would include hooligans like Nightmuggers, Street Gangs, and just your assortment of everyday criminals. 

Now, according to what I read, they got their name in 1900 when a police inspector is describing to a journalist called Victor Morris a rather bloody scene. And he says, quote, Bevu un verbo plus the Apaches, which I’m so sorry to all the French speakers of the world. 

Theresa: I know I’m a retard. You could have just said it in English. 

Angie: Well, the translation doesn’t come across direct either, but it is something to the effect of that’s a real Apache thing. Oh, great. Clearly playing off this concept of this like preconceived notion of what the Apache are like in the United States. 

And it’s stuck. So all these little street gangs are called the Apaches. Now, the other group of less Apaches is a group of musicians, writers and artists. They meet weekly and sort of just show off to each other and balance ideas off one another. You can say they’re a different type of collaborative group. 

You know what I mean? They earned their name in part because of how prevalent the gangs are. And the story goes that a group of them are leaving the opera one night, like maybe 1903 and 1905. And a newspaper seller is trying to get their attention. So he yells less Apaches at them. 

And these guys sort of see themselves as outsiders as well, since they often feel their style is a bit audit at odds with conservative tastes. So it sticks. And I’m like, hold on, why are there two lives? I’m so confused. 

But anyway, so just needed that little side quest to have that visual of what the world looks like right now. The utterly interesting article points out that Amoe’s new man, he makes a really big point when he stabs Bouchon. In his world, that is not only a statement of intent, but also serves as a warning to anyone else who might have eyes for her. 

Like I’ve staked my claim. She’s not doing anything about it, right? As you have properly guessed it by now, their relationship is not stable, like from at the very beginning at all. And Amanda would often see other women. He’d be gone a lot. He really couldn’t afford to keep her the way that she had been formerly accustomed to being kept. So she leaves him. Like our girl is independent, if not nothing. 

So okay, there you go. Partly they think to win her back. And partly I think because he is like moving up the ranks, he becomes the head of his gang. Like, hey, I need to win her back. 

Theresa: I need to be the leader. Yeah, pretty much. 

Angie: Yeah. But our girl has already moved on. There is an individual called Dominique Francois Eugene Lefebvre. He just goes by like that. He belongs to a rival gang, which to me feels like a terrible idea on her part. 

Theresa: But you know, when you’re into DJs, you’re into DJs. When you’re into gang leaders, you’ve got a thing, right? Like you’re into the bad. 

Angie: She knew her type. Yeah. So you can imagine that this doesn’t sit well with Manda and when he finds out, right? So in 1902, Amelie, she’s like 23, 24 years old, Manda and several of his men find an attack like a… He is found with multiple stab wounds and possibly even two gunshot wounds. He is rushed to the hospital. Following the attack, when questioned, he can’t tell the authorities who did it. He simply doesn’t know. Surprise. 

I know. As this was the accustomed of their gangs, like, look, we can be enemies, but none of us are narcs. So he just lets it go. After he’s released from the hospital, they try again. Now, according to Plansky, the author that I mentioned earlier, Manda attacks them in their hotel. No one’s hurt, but now this sort of means all that war. 

About a week later, a battle would erupt between the groups. Like it would be shot again, which makes me think that the timeline in my other source was a little bit off and he wasn’t actually shot the first time. Because he was shot twice in this instance, too. So maybe something’s a little wonky in the timeline, but either way, he’s shot. 

And on the right, makes it to the hospital. They again question him and he again… Don’t know. I was surprised. 

I didn’t tell you how. Yeah, gosh. Yeah. He gets released from the hospital and on the right home, he is attacked and stabbed three more times. So if you’re counting, that is three. 

Theresa: Yeah. Do you get work in his comp for that? 

Angie: I don’t know what the pay package looks like for these things, but I am wondering, like, you’re real curious. Like, three or more, is it like a… how does this work, right? 

Theresa: Like the concussions for the NFL at five, you retire? 

Angie: Yeah. There’s a journalist called Arthur Dupin and he is reporting for the teacher note on the incident. And he would say, quote, these Apache customs from the West, excuse me, these are Apache customs from the far West, unworthy of our civilization. For half an hour in the middle of Paris, in the middle of the afternoon, two rival gangs fought over a girl from their fortifications. A blonde with a high bun, her hair styled like a dog. Like a dog. So, yeah. 

Okay. I did not include a picture, but they’re easy to find. She was known as Kasky Dior, like a blonde helmet. Blonde helmet. That’s pretty much, yeah. 

And that’s just how she did her hair, whatever. Now, after this third attempt, they’re caught. It’s unclear if it’s because Leica’s father has ratted them out after having already lost three other sons to this type of violence, or if something else triggers the police. Either way, somebody catches on and it takes about a week to find Manda because he has left for London. 

Theresa: But he is always smart. Yeah. Yeah. 

Angie: He comes back and he is picked up by a group of 50 officers. Now, obviously, the press has been on this story from the start. And by the time trial comes in May, Paris is hooked and Amelie is famous. There are large crowds attending the trial every day. And the press describes… 

Theresa: She’s the modern Helen of Troy. 

Angie: Pretty much, yeah. The press describes every detail of the trial down to the men’s tattoos, what their appearance was, all their affiliations. And of course, the press loves Amelie and they’re all like a sucker for this great story that it’s all for her affection, right? So the press is just having so much fun with her. That said, though, the press would describe her with wonder and a bit of contempt, saying she’s gorgeous, but she’s manipulative, and the men simply couldn’t resist her or control her. I’m like, well, okay, good for you, bitch. 

Theresa: Say something to make us hate her, why don’t you? Because right now… 

Angie: Yeah, I’m a big fan of her work, like… So at the same time, you have writers creating songs, they’re writing plays. Painters want her to sit and pose for them. Like, it’s a whole thing. 

Theaters hire her to play herself. I’m here for that. Pretty awesome. I’m not going to say that I’m going to be a fan of them. They’re postcards with her portraits that are produced. 

It cracks me up. But the thing is, when Amelie testified, she broke the Apache Code of Silence. She gave up names, information. 

She did. The gang’s operations, all this stuff that they, of course, want to stay in the underworld. And according to them, this is unforgivable. But you can imagine that for the public and for the papers, she is getting so much sympathy and fame. After all, she’s just a girl basically thrust into this world that she needed to learn how to operate by herself. And she did that, and then she had to testify her whole life on the stand, basically, like… 

So there’s a lot of sway going her way, but not from the Apaches. The men’s verdicts are incredibly harsh. Amanda, because he claimed his work crimes of passion, was sentenced to a lifetime of forced labor in one of the penal colonies. Wow. 

Yeah. And Leica, he is sentenced to eight years in a penal colony. Basically, they just want these men out of Paris, like, good day. After the trial, she writes the account of everything that she’s done for the fin-de-se-ce-ce-ce-ce-ce-ce-ce-ce-ce-ce, which I’m pretty sure I can pronounce that right in my brain, but not, apparently, with my mouth. Anyway, this is a very popular journal of the time. Her fame, as bright as it was, passed really quick, and the rest of her life was super low-key. 

On January 17th, 1917, she married a shoemaker that was 20 years younger than her. Get it, girl. He was called, I know, right? Andre Alexander Nardine, and she helped raise his four children from the previous marriage. In 1925, a journalist finds her supposedly running three brothels, and in his interview, she said, I have managed these establishments since their foundation. 

I have been at Les Rosières for seven years, never any scandal, never any noise. These gentlemen from the pre-picture will tell you, please say, if you write an article about me, that I am now a good wife, and that I earn my living honestly. Only one source gave me that interview. It seems fitting for her story, but all the other sources go on to say that they basically live in Paris the rest of their life off of his modest shoemaking salary. So I’m not really sure if her running brothels was a real thing, or just added sensationalism, unclear. 

But either way, like she just wanted a quiet life at this point. She died on April 6, 1933 at 55, possibly an asthma attack. She’s buried in the local cemetery. What’s interesting is that her story and life as vivid and wild as they were for the time and as publicized as they were, when the trial was over, she just sort of simply dissolved back into the neighborhood and nobody ever talked about it again. 

Like that was just the end of it. In her memoir, because she does have a memoir that I cannot wait to get my hands on if I can find one translated, she phrases the Parisian prostitute to whom she attributes a humanitarian role. They provide dreams for men and relieve wives and saved families. 

She takes in, she would say, young clerks and pampers them in her arms and thus plays an economic role by promoting public wealth circulation. And that’s the story of how one girl accidentally started the gang wars in Bellevue-Bauk, Paris. 

Theresa: I had never heard of her. 

Angie: It was just the happiest of accidents that I heard of her and I was like, oh my gosh, what a fun story. Here I am. 

Theresa: Thank you. Thank you for sharing. And I see that you’re sharing your, okay. So, Manda looks like this guy is a bricklayer. He does. He has a square jaw and a mouth that goes completely from one ear to the other ear in a straight line, cold dead eyes. Yeah, in this particular picture, yep. He looks like he’s wearing either a P-coat or a very thick work jacket. Leica, Leica, yeah, he’s got a Mario Brothers mustache. Yeah, he looks like Luigi. He has a middle part, but his bangs sweep down over his forehead still with the part. 

It’s an interesting thing. He’s wearing a white shirt and then she is in the middle. So, we see the men. They’ve got like this mug shot kind of look. Yeah. And she’s got kind of this glamour shot with an exposed shoulder and a sarong type thing and her hair piled up. 

Angie: That is a high level exposed breast as well. Oh. You just can’t see the front. 

Theresa: Okay. And a weird bun on the top of her head, kind of like Fred Flintstone’s wife. Actually, exactly like Fred Flintstone’s wife. Was it Wilma? Wilma Flintstone? Yes. Okay. She even has the pearls on. Yeah, honestly, very Wilma Flintstone. And then underneath is a set of brass knuckles that looks like it could be a gun or a shiv. It is. It’s a gun and a shiv. 

Angie: And a set of brass knuckles. This was the Apache’s mode of problem-causing. Okay. And I have a picture of it with you. 

Theresa: If you don’t know what to get me for my birthday or Christmas, might I suggest? Or Tuesday, whatever. I mean, I didn’t think I needed anything. But you’ve seen this. That looks rather needy. Needful, needfulness. 

Angie: So apparently, according to what I read, because I saw this weapon and I was like, what? It’s magnificent. They would take their, like if they were going to mug somebody, it would be like a three-man job. You’d have the lookout. You would have the guy that would basically incapacitate the victim. And despite the fact that their goal was not to murder them, they often would strangle them. 

And then the third guy would wear these brass knuckles and then, like, beat down the victim and pat them down looking for all the potential valuables that they might have. And I don’t know if this gun was a creation of Manda’s, but it’s genius. And I would like to know why we don’t have more brass knuckle guns. 

Theresa: Probably because brass knuckles are illegal. So anyway, I would like to know why we don’t have any guns. I mean, but none chucks are illegal too, but guns are legal. So just put two sets of guns on a chain and fling them around wildly. Problem solved. Done. 

Angie: That’s the story of Emil. Amelie. Oh, and I’m still sharing my screen. There you go. 

Theresa: I have adored that, and that’s she is up there with Diamond Annie of the 40-odd. 

Angie: I actually thought of Diamond Annie while I was doing her story. I was like, oh, wonder, because they were pretty close in time frame. Yeah. From what I could remember. 

And I was like, that’s pretty cool. I wonder if they knew of each other. Probably not. Yeah, probably not. I mean, different sides of the pond and all. And I mean, maybe Amanda knew of the Diamond Annie because he was making his way over the… 

Theresa: Maybe, yeah, maybe he ran into the 40 elephants in the East End. But if you have loved this incredible romp through history, rate, review, subscribe, send this to somebody else who might end up being in a girl gang or leading their own gang war. And on that note, goodbye. 

Theresa: Bye.