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The Warden’s Wife

EPISODE 6: THE WARDEN’S WIFE

Kate Soffel was the wife of Allegheny County Jail warden Peter Soffel. In 1902, she helped two of her husband’s inmates to escape. She spent two years in prison for her crime, and the remainder of her short life atoning for it.

This is the story of how it all happened.

EPISODE NOTES

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” “Cake

Lee Rosevere “Tension” “Betrayal” “Keeping Old Letters” “Intervention

Borrtex “Walking

Research for this episode came from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette archives, the Historical Crime Detective Database, the Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), the Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, Utah) and the Scarehouse website.

The Labor Organizer

EPISODE 5: THE LABOR ORGANIZER

Fannie Sellins was a labor organizer for United Mine Workers of America and led a group of Eastern European immigrants in their fight against the Allegheny Coal and Coke Company in 1919. Her death became emblematic of the violence associated with Pittsburgh’s labor movement.

EPISODE NOTES:

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” “Cake” “Mortality” “Box Canyon” and “Winter Walk

Research and resources used for this episode came from the  Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine Volume 63, Black Valley: The Life and Death of Fannie Sellins by Richard Gazarik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Archives, University of Pittsburgh Labor Legacy Archives

The Asylum

EPISODE 4: THE ASYLUM

Many Pittsburghers know Dixmont State Hospital as the empty buildings on the hill in Kilbuck Township; a good place for ghost hunting and loud parties. But for 122 years, it served as a sanctuary for the mentally ill.

EPISODE NOTES:

Production help from David Smith.

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” “Cake” “Window Shopping” “Morels” “Sanctuary” and “Caravan

Research and resources used for this episode came from the Detre Library & Archives at the Heinz History Center, the Beaver County Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Archives.

The above photo was taken by Brian McDermott and originally appeared in the Beaver County Times.

The Numbers Runner

EPISODE 3: THE NUMBERS RUNNER

Gus Greenlee was a numbers runner, bootlegger and businessman who used his considerable wealth to buy a legendary Hill District jazz club and assemble one of the greatest baseball teams ever to take the field.

EPISODE NOTES:

Production help from David Smith.

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” “Cake” “Storm Passing” and “Bittersweet

Dee Yan-Key “Grand Hotel” “Lucky Day” and “Through Golden Fields

Research and resources used for this episode came from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Archives, “Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend” by Larry Tye, “Stories Not Told in History Books” by Nina Greenlee and “The Crossroads of the World: A Social and Cultural History of Jazz in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, 1920-1970″ by Colter Harper

The Aviatrix

EPISODE 2: THE AVIATRIX

One afternoon in August 1928 – months after the transatlantic flight that made her famous but years before she was lost forever – Amelia Earhart crashed her plane at Rogers Air Field in Fox Chapel. Learn how it happened in this special mini episode of Nebby.

EPISODE NOTES:

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” and “Cake

Research and resources for this episode came from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Archives, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery and the official website of the Earhart family.

The B-25

EPISODE 1: THE MISSING B-25

On the afternoon of January 31, 1956, a B-25 bomber on a training mission ditched into the Monongahela River near what is now Sandcastle Water Park. Drivers on the Homestead High Level Bridge parked their cars and watched as the plane headed toward them. When it finally passed overhead, it missed the bridge by only 25 feet. It splashed into the Mon, spewing a geyser into the sky, and floated for about a mile before slipping into the fast-moving, muddy water.

Two of the six airmen on the plane that afternoon died in the Monongahela. The other four were treated at area hospitals and released. But no one seems to know what became of the plane.

Did the government pull it out of the river under the cover of darkness or is it still down there buried under 60 years’ worth of silt and debris?

EPISODE NOTES:

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” “The Gall” and “Cake

Borrtex “Floating” and “Pleasure

Research and resources for this episode came from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Archives, personal interviews with Steve Byers and Bob Shema, and the U.S. Air Force accident report.