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another episode of Decoding the Unknown, of

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Decoding the Unknown. Where are we? has written it,

1:28

I read it, that's the format

1:30

of the show, we're talking about

1:32

the format of the show. We're Charlesworth is possibly

1:34

the Charlesworth. ever heard. is possibly the sounds

1:36

posher than like heard. Somehow The murky

1:38

fate of the mysterious than like Windsor. The

1:40

murky well there you go the heiress.

1:42

No wonder she's called Charlesworth. Well, there

1:45

she's called Charlesworth. The

1:49

late journey of of the Minerva

1:51

Sports car speeding along North Wales Cliftopp Road

1:53

in in January 2009 was was

1:55

never destined to be be

1:58

a typically outing for all concerned.

2:00

There was a sports car in 1909? Immediately I'm

2:02

like, wait, Edwardian? And then the first line is

2:04

sports car? What? For starters, the chauffeur, Albert Watts,

2:06

wasn't even driving the car. It was actually being

2:08

driven by his boss, a young woman of all

2:11

things, which might not seem so extraordinary today, but

2:13

this was back in an era where the rare

2:15

sight of a woman behind the wheel was enough

2:17

to make male drivers spill a bottle of portal

2:19

over the dashboard in horror. Ah, the par so

2:22

he'd just be drink driving in a weird car

2:24

drive. I mean, other than the drink driving part.

2:26

Wait, can women drive in Saudi Arabia? Saudi Arabia!

2:28

That they change that they change their eyes! It's

2:30

like, okay, fine, we can drive Jesus. What's next,

2:33

voting? But 24-year-old Violet Charlesworth was no ordinary woman.

2:35

At the time, she was probably one of the

2:37

most well-known residents of the city of St. Asif

2:39

in Wales, largely because she was a member of

2:41

one of the most fabulously wealthy families in the

2:44

neighbourhood. She wasn't the only Charlesworth traveling in the

2:46

Minerva traveling in the Minerva on that night. Alongside

2:48

the slightly useless non-sister Lillian. But it was Violet

2:50

who usually caught all the attention as she had

2:52

become something of a local celebrity and the public

2:55

face of the family about town. It was also

2:57

common knowledge that Violet in particular was on the

2:59

very brink of becoming even wealthier by a long

3:01

way. Just as soon as she hit her 25th

3:03

birthday. Oh, she's got like a trust fund or

3:05

something? But would she ever live to see? the

3:08

eagerly awaited inheritance payday, which was now only two

3:10

weeks away. Oh my, whatever. I don't know what

3:12

is going to happen today, but all I can

3:14

say is that we've just introduced motive for her

3:16

murder by someone who's going to benefit from getting

3:19

that inheritance. The signs are not looking good. Dressed

3:21

in a flowing crimson cloak, Violet puts a foot

3:23

down as the bottle-rene Minerva approaches a sharp coastal

3:25

bend, which was known locally as demon's turn, but

3:27

would soon acquire a brand new nickname. Sounds like

3:30

a bad idea. It's a journey that the passengers

3:32

have made many times before, but they don't quite

3:34

make it all the way past the bend this

3:36

time. The car ends up... hurtling into a

3:38

seawall and coming to an

3:41

abrupt halt just a few

3:43

inches from the edge

3:45

of the cliff. cliff. Jesus. And like

3:47

hurtling into a seawall? car

3:49

In a car these days,

3:52

be be like, yeah, be

3:54

fine. fine. I saw a

3:56

terrible accident the other day.

3:58

day. Well, I didn't see

4:00

it. was, you know, It

4:03

was, other side of the

4:05

highway was closed. was

4:07

driving home from work. was

4:09

come across it. It's just

4:11

a whole bunch of

4:14

cars, like, one's on its

4:16

side. come across it. It's just a

4:18

ruined. And it's just like,

4:20

you look at them

4:22

and you're like, on its I

4:25

mean, those cars are

4:27

really ruined. But that passenger

4:29

compartment ruined. And it's just like, you look cars

4:31

are just incredible. But like, oh yeah, I

4:33

mean, those cars are slam into a But

4:35

feel like it's like, you just gonna

4:38

be a a mist. You see what happens

4:40

when you don't let when you don't let

4:42

be giving women the vote next.

4:44

be You just wait and see. next.

4:46

and I doing the same joke.

4:48

Very nice. same joke, very nice. Albert Watson, dazed,

4:50

but thankfully not seriously hurt. not

4:52

of smashed into it that hard, of

4:55

smashed into a that hard, hurtled an abrupt

4:57

halt. to an abrupt they possibly be

4:59

going they possibly be in the day, a car back

5:01

in the day? You just die you were at speed.

5:03

However, it seems that Violet Charlesworth not so

5:05

fortunate. It's believed that she was

5:07

thrown through the through the the impact of

5:09

the crash impacts of the crash down into

5:11

the sea below, the sea below. What, just wearing

5:13

else was in 1909, in on Come on now. Yet

5:15

although few of her belongings were picked

5:18

up near the scene, near her body

5:20

was nowhere to be found. found. And as

5:22

tragedy sparked headlines across the world,

5:24

there emerged an obvious killer question that

5:26

everyone was now asking. now was the

5:28

point of the chauffeur being chauffeur being

5:30

he the even driving. If all it takes to

5:32

be a chauffeur is to sit quietly in

5:34

the passenger seat, I'm sure in a non -driver

5:36

like me a have been in with a

5:38

chance of landing been in number. of landing that cushy

5:40

I just assumed assumed that because,

5:42

you know, normally she's driven around around driving driving

5:44

along nice sea road and she's like, Albert,

5:47

let me drive. And I like, yes,

5:49

mom. And he like slades over into the into

5:51

the passenger seat while she wheel. I

5:53

the wheel. that don't think think that's

5:55

unusual, but there were plenty

5:57

of other more serious questions piling

5:59

up. up. Not everything about the accident

6:01

and the vanishing body body an awful lot

6:03

of sense. And the biggest question of

6:05

all was, of all ever happened to the to

6:07

the tragic who went missing went before she

6:09

was was about to hit the big time?

6:12

time. Well, murdered her. her. my vibe. vibe. I

6:14

think someone murdered her. her. and is probably going

6:16

to be someone who benefits from this.

6:18

who The story quickly unfolded into a

6:20

massive media scramble for the truth, a

6:22

brutal betrayal orchestrated by a pushy mother,

6:24

a lucrative signer by a pushy mother, a lucrative sign a movie

6:26

deal, hell of a lot of properly

6:28

pissed off people, and lot discovery pissed 300

6:30

and a from discovery made road, miles

6:33

is now known as bend of road,

6:35

which is now known as Violet's leap. Oh, that's... dudes.

6:37

That is not very nice. was She

6:39

was through the through the windscreen

6:41

of a car. She's like, she's

6:43

not like, she's be thrown clear

6:45

of the wreckage. be thrown doesn't

6:47

work the that. Doesn't work like

6:49

doesn't work right or that happens like work,

6:51

in a thousand times like rest of the

6:53

time obviously you should be wearing a of the

6:55

time, being insane wearing a

6:57

seat belt. Stop being insane. Night in

6:59

white certain. Spare

7:02

a a cheery for the poor souls who drop

7:04

dead the very first day of their

7:06

retirement. Is that an urban

7:08

legend or is that actually a common

7:11

thing? You know, like people retire and

7:13

then they're more likely to die because

7:15

suddenly they're like, oh, I don't really

7:17

have a purpose. I've just got nothing

7:19

to do. And then, you know, like,

7:21

I don't know, whenever I get to

7:23

the end of a work week feel

7:25

like retirement is that built

7:27

up for your whole life up

7:29

then that life. Ha! It's like, oh, and

7:32

then you you die Regardless of the cause of

7:34

of the cause of death, to going

7:36

to feel like a a proper to the kick

7:38

to the fun factory. Just as kick to your to

7:40

a heart attack, just as you're on

7:42

the cusp of finally kicking back and

7:44

reaping the rewards you've earned from a

7:46

lifetime of putting your nose to the

7:48

grindstone, the your cruel the of fate robs

7:50

you of your well a lifetime of putting your Now

7:52

that the the of retirement age are

7:54

constantly getting pushed back further and further,

7:56

perhaps a bigger concern today is that

7:58

we'll throw a blissful before or even make it

8:01

to the carriage clock. I've never heard

8:03

of carriage clock. The personalized cufflings, the

8:05

comedy plaque, and the gold-plated tin opener.

8:07

These are the traditional retirement items. The

8:09

gold-plated tin opener. But the story of

8:11

Violet Charlesworth feels like a particularly tragic

8:13

variant on this theme. As she appeared

8:15

to kick the bucket, or at least

8:17

completely disappear into thin air, just as

8:19

the young woman was finally about to

8:21

make it to the day that everyone

8:23

knew she had been dreaming about for

8:25

years. The Charlesworth family were ready pretty

8:27

well off by the looks of it.

8:29

Violet lived. They called her an air

8:31

rest. She's got to be rich, right.

8:33

She's rolling. Her daughter, she's an heiress,

8:35

owns a blocking. Ah, somewhere? St. John's

8:37

word, I wanna say? Owns a blocking,

8:39

St. John, that doesn't sound right. Fuck.

8:41

Ah, doesn't matter, let's move on. Violet

8:43

lived with her parents, her sister Lillian,

8:46

and her brother Fred in the family

8:48

home, which was a pretty swishy mansion

8:50

in the city of St. Asif in

8:52

Wales, and it was clear that the

8:54

whole family relished the high life. But

8:56

Violet, an Englishwoman now living in Wales,

8:58

while harbouring a strange obsession for Scotland,

9:00

perhaps relished it more than most. She

9:02

was about to take the family wealth

9:04

to a whole new level without actually

9:06

having to do anything. Wait, how? Where's

9:08

the money coming from? Just about everyone

9:10

in St. Asif was well aware that

9:12

Vala was the god-daughter of none other

9:14

than the late Major General Charles Gordon,

9:16

a highly decorated British war hero with

9:18

a strong connection to the local folk

9:20

as he spent much of his early

9:22

military career based in his early military

9:24

career based in Pembrokeshire and went on

9:26

to serve in China where he earned

9:28

the nickname of Chinese Gordon, a force

9:30

made up of Chinese and Western soldiers,

9:33

to a long chain of victories against

9:35

all odds, when supporting the Qing dynasty,

9:37

in suppressing the typing rebellion. He later

9:39

These received distinguished honors from both China

9:41

and Britain, including the buganicious-sounding order of

9:43

the dragon from China, and the slightly

9:45

less so order of the bath from

9:47

Britain. Before finally meeting his end, bravely

9:49

defending Khartoum in sued on from rebels

9:51

in 1885. This guy sounds like he

9:53

had an extraordinarily interesting life. This fearless

9:55

national hero may have disappeared forever from

9:57

the battlefield, but Chinese Gordon left something

9:59

behind for his beloved goddaughter. A portion

10:01

of his estate worth it reported a

10:03

hundred thousand pounds, oh my god, in

10:05

1909. I don't know what that's worth,

10:07

but it's going to be a fortune.

10:09

Uh, fifteen million pounds, Danny says. Yeah,

10:11

that's a hell of a lot of

10:13

money. I had no idea that a

10:15

British Major General was paid quite so

10:17

handsomely, and this sum only represented part

10:20

of his part of his estate. maybe

10:22

he married a rich wife along the

10:24

way or maybe he's just one of

10:26

those rich people who joins like becomes

10:28

an officer in the military. because that

10:30

happens all the time. You probably just

10:32

had loads of family money. The only

10:34

reason, though, was that the money would

10:36

not be awarded to Violet Charlesworth until

10:38

she hit the ripe old age of

10:40

25. That may well have seemed like

10:42

a lifetime away back when Violet was

10:44

a teenager. Still, the Charlesworth family weren't

10:46

doing too badly for themselves. That may

10:48

well have seemed like a lifetime away

10:50

back when Violet was a teenager when

10:52

Violet was born in the English Market

10:54

Town of Stafford in the West Midlands

10:56

in the West Midlands in the West

10:58

Midlands in 18 Midlands in the West

11:00

Midlands in the West Midlands in the

11:02

West Midlands in the West Midlands in

11:04

the West Midlands in the West Midlands

11:07

in the West Midlands in the West

11:09

Midlands in the West Midlands in the

11:11

West Midlands in the West Midlands. and

11:13

Sister Lillian, but precise details. What, so

11:15

16 plus 9? So she was 25

11:17

when she... Oh, she was... Oh, yeah,

11:19

Danny said she was like two weeks

11:21

away. So she was right on the...

11:23

Oh, I didn't realize. Sorry, I could

11:25

have put that together rather than having

11:27

to add up her age from when

11:29

she was born, because Daddy already told

11:31

us. 25. We do know from fragmented

11:33

records that the eldest daughter, Nellie, would

11:35

sadly not live to see her 21st

11:37

birthday, although her cause of death is

11:39

unclear today. Probably, you know, people in

11:41

the past is just like, you know,

11:43

young people die, you know, young people

11:45

die, all the time, super-covered. a hotel

11:47

and a lengthily astint as a ship

11:49

chandler selling essential supply an

11:51

equipment for ships, for ships,

11:54

of his stock

11:56

may have fallen off

11:58

the stern of

12:00

a poop stern of a

12:02

you get what I

12:04

mean. get what I mean. Hey,

12:06

no what I mean, no what I

12:08

mean, no what I mean, say no

12:10

more. Uh, no I don't, oh no

12:12

I don't get it, what does it no

12:14

more I mean, what does it It was

12:16

No I mean, say no more. modest roots during

12:18

their earlier life in England, in which

12:20

they showed a tendency for moving

12:22

around the country quite a bit, hopping

12:24

from their to Wolverhampton in which they showed a

12:27

in line with whatever John was up

12:29

to at the time. But makes it

12:31

sound bit like they spent their

12:33

days licking their days licking begging for begging in

12:35

soup kitchens. They were doing kitchens. They were

12:37

doing never went hungry, went hungry. fairly ordinary

12:39

their fairly ordinary a sharp contrast to how

12:41

they spent their later days. spent mean,

12:43

this isn't I mean, this people get rich.

12:45

uncommon. People get rich. It's, you know, it happens. And they

12:47

enjoy their money. Because by the the

12:49

turn of the 20th century, things were definitely

12:51

looking up for the Charlesworth family.

12:54

They took the plunge and moved

12:56

to North Wales at some

12:58

point in the early in the first

13:00

living in the seaside town in

13:02

for a few years, before

13:04

settling comfortably a a stately manor

13:07

house settling in 1908. into a stately manor house,

13:09

have no idea? Asif, in 1908. -L?

13:11

I'm sure look, these like, you know,

13:14

I have no idea. Roll, if I look it

13:16

up, sure to have to

13:18

pronounce in Welsh, she's pronounced hard to

13:20

say. like, you know, right, how would you say

13:22

that? say that? Jeffrey. So this is, oh, Akkavee!

13:24

Akkavee! So if someone came here... We're not quite sure what happened

13:26

to the other not quite sure what

13:29

happened to the other may well have them

13:31

may well have fled the by

13:33

by this point, but it was

13:35

just Violet, and Fred, who were living

13:37

it up with their parents parents

13:39

mansion with seven bedrooms at Coach bedrooms,

13:41

a gardens and gardens, well -stocked wine

13:43

cellar, a skating rink and a

13:45

hot tub around the back. hot tub around

13:47

the back. And Violet certainly developed a taste

13:49

for the finer things in life.

13:51

things in life. She was spotted around around town, sporting

13:54

expensive furs, and from head to toe with

13:56

diamonds, diamonds, she she averse to slipping to

13:58

a tiara tiara, if she'd been invited to a real... posh

14:00

do. Yeah, because she's now growing up with

14:02

money, like the parents made money, so they'll

14:04

be in touch with, you know, what things

14:07

were like before. The violet not so much.

14:09

She grew up and they were always rich.

14:11

Vanna was usually accompanied by at least one

14:13

of the 12s and Bernard's dogs. Vila was

14:15

usually accompanied by at least one of the

14:18

12s and Bernard's dogs that she was reported

14:20

to have. She had no less than six

14:22

fancy sports cars at her disposal, in which

14:24

she was regularly seen racing around the countryside

14:27

in coastal roads, including, of course, a certain

14:29

bottle-green Minerva manufactured in Belgium, which perhaps wasn't

14:31

the very best at handling sharp ends in

14:33

the road. Six fancy sports cars in 1909.

14:36

These people were rich, rich. 15 million pounds?

14:38

I feel like they're richer than that. Slightly

14:40

weirdly, for an English lady now living in

14:42

Wales, with no Scottish roots whatsoever, she also

14:44

appeared to have quite a deep infatuation with

14:47

old Bonny Scotland, the land of the brave,

14:49

the thistle, and the frozen Mars Bar. Wait,

14:51

the frozen Mars Bar? I thought they fried

14:53

Mars bars in Scotland. When she wasn't dressed

14:56

in furs and diamonds, she liked to pose

14:58

for photographs for photographs in full Highland dress,

15:00

complete with kilted skirt and bagpiping and piping

15:02

hats. Why? You're not a Scottish! While she

15:05

never primarily lived in Scotland, she did rent

15:07

a nice country house in Inverness, which was

15:09

plastered in tartan wallpaper. She also owned a

15:11

player piano, which exclusively churned out traditional Scottish

15:13

music on a loop, and she even had

15:16

a girl writing her own composition entitled Come

15:18

Back to Scotland. Why is she so obsessed

15:20

with Scotland? This reminds me of like people

15:22

who are obsessed with Japan. Like, they're just

15:25

like super into all Japanese culture for some

15:27

reason. Which, I mean, yeah, I mean, I

15:29

don't have anything against Japanese culture, but some

15:31

people are really into it. A copy of

15:34

the sheet music was reportedly sent to King

15:36

Edward the Seventh, although it's not known if

15:38

he ever got the track laid down on

15:40

phonograph cylinders to shove inside the raw Duke

15:42

box. But she was certainly very clean to

15:45

play on the Highlander angle and makeup. as

15:47

if she was some kind of long-lost Scottish

15:49

folk hero. This is rich people shit, isn't

15:51

it? All of this might make violence that

15:54

they may take our lives, but they'll never

15:56

take our freedom! All of this might make

15:58

violas sound like an Edwardian version of an

16:00

influencer or gossip-page princess who was slightly prone

16:03

to vulgar displays of wealth and always desperate

16:05

for attention, totally. But I'm not so sure

16:07

about that. She enjoyed spending her money on

16:09

things that she liked. And she saw no

16:11

reason to hide her wealth. I mean, you

16:14

could do both things. Like, both things can

16:16

be true. She can enjoy spending her money

16:18

on things she likes and also look, you

16:20

know, a bit vulgar. That's okay. And on

16:23

the whole, she was never really viewed as

16:25

a self-obsessed publicity hound. If anything, she was

16:27

viewed as being quite generous. with her money

16:29

and time. She was known as being a

16:32

very heavy dipper in hotels and made regular

16:34

contributions to the community, including the donation of

16:36

silver cups for local football competitions, although admittedly

16:38

she usually made sure that she was the

16:40

one handing them over and getting her face

16:43

in the papers again. But although there was

16:45

potential for Van Charlesworth to be grumply dismissed

16:47

as an annoying poser with too much money

16:49

to burn, she was generally liked and warmly

16:52

received by everyone she had met, admired. Even

16:54

the Dwardian era probably wasn't the best time

16:56

in history to be a woman, but Vala

16:58

wasn't afraid to ruffle a few feathers and

17:01

demonstrate that she didn't give a shit about

17:03

convention or antiquated expectations of how she should

17:05

be spending her time. I mean, yeah, sure,

17:07

but she's rich. Different rules for rich people,

17:09

especially back in the day. The fact that

17:12

she raced around in six sports cars, often

17:14

alone for long distances late at night, was

17:16

a pretty big deal at the time. I'm

17:18

told that licensed female drivers, now slightly outnumbered,

17:21

licensed male drivers in the US at least,

17:23

and have done since 2015, really. But back

17:25

then, I just expected it to be equal,

17:27

to be honest. But back then, in Edwardian

17:30

England, it was a very different story, with

17:32

women accounting for a mere 5% of licensed

17:34

drivers. I'm stressing that we're talking about... license

17:36

drivers here, as we're not not

17:38

covering all the hundreds

17:41

of thousands of women joy

17:43

riders who were presumably stealing

17:45

cars and the towns and

17:47

villages in the early

17:50

hours of early hours of Sunday

17:52

traffic cones at police

17:54

vehicles in pursuit. vehicles in

17:56

pursuit. I more people drove

17:59

more people in the day.

18:01

Like back in the day. Like night

18:03

to 1909, be night cars are

18:05

going to be pretty new. People I

18:07

be like, oh yeah, don't have

18:10

my don't have my license. I just

18:12

driving around. around. The percentage

18:14

of women drivers in

18:16

the early 20th in the

18:19

early 20th least been able

18:21

to learn everything they

18:23

needed to know by

18:25

1909 to to the

18:28

publication of to the Top selling

18:30

of Dorothy woman in the car, a

18:32

chatty little The Woman for all women

18:34

a chatty little handbook, to motor. women who motor or

18:36

wants a chatty little handbook. handbook. It sounds like

18:38

demeaning It's like, oh, well, we couldn't well we

18:40

couldn't explain this to women in

18:42

a technical way, so we had

18:44

to make had to make it chatty. of

18:46

Dorothy's pearls of wisdom for for Edwardian drivers

18:48

without a beaners include, the under the seat

18:50

of the car the the secret of

18:52

dainty motorist. the The following articles are

18:54

what I advise you to have

18:56

in this recess, in a pair

18:58

of clean gloves of clean gloves, an clean handkerchief,

19:00

powder veil, powder puff, hairpins, and a hand and

19:02

a Under no circumstances no lace or fluffy adjuncts

19:04

fluffy adjuncts to your you will regret

19:06

If you do, you you've even driven

19:08

half a even driven half a

19:10

dozen miles. Drive anyone anyone or riding

19:12

riding a horse, a and if

19:14

a lady or child is on

19:16

top, stop the engine. It

19:18

is an act of courtesy. dogs,

19:20

chickens, and other domestic animals are

19:22

at large not If one is driving

19:24

And if speed, one is not

19:26

responsible for their untimely responsible for their untimely

19:28

ends, it's just like, yeah, I mean, if a in

19:30

your anyway, just. can it over. If If you're

19:32

going to drive alone in the highways

19:34

and alone might be advisable to carry a

19:36

small it might I have an automatic to

19:39

find it very easy to

19:41

handle as there's practically no recoil.

19:43

cult and started off quite breezy

19:45

and bubbly but it soon took

19:47

a dark turn. as there's powder

19:49

puff, no a gun. started off quite

19:52

breezy and What does a

19:54

pregnancy test look like? a like a thin piece of

19:56

plastic with a thing on the end of it.

19:58

OK, so this is definitely a gun. and a gun. And you'd

20:00

think that Dorothy might have considered slowing down

20:02

a bit for a straight dog in the

20:04

road instead of shrugging, reaching for the pound

20:06

of powder puff, and waiting for the inevitable

20:08

bump. The essential handbook had not quite hit

20:11

the shelves before Violet Charlesworth took her final

20:13

spin in a motor, but I wouldn't have

20:15

thought that she'd have needed the advice anyway,

20:17

and she could probably have written an edgier

20:19

version of the book herself, just as she

20:21

could drive the car better than her own

20:23

chauffer than her own chauffeur. The point of

20:25

even having a chauffeur in the first place

20:28

for a chauffeur in the first place in

20:30

the first place in the first place. A

20:32

mystery. Because most of the time you probably

20:34

don't want to drive the car yourself. Like

20:36

most of it is boring. Like, I don't

20:38

know, I'll be driving home from work and

20:40

you'll put that thing on, you know, not

20:42

autopilot, but where it keeps in the lane

20:45

and it stays the right distance from the

20:47

car in front, you just kind of sit

20:49

there. And then, but if I'm driving like

20:51

down a windy road, then it's like, yeah,

20:53

I'm going to drive the car myself. Also,

20:55

because the autopilot can handle it can handle

20:57

it, but that's kind of fun. But that's

20:59

kind of fun. Apparently Violet preferred to drive

21:01

the cars herself as she liked to put

21:04

the pedal to the metal, whereas she felt

21:06

Albert Watts drove like a grandma with nowhere

21:08

to be. I suppose that hiring full-time chauffeur

21:10

could be viewed as a status symbol even

21:12

if you don't intend to use his services.

21:14

But I suspect it's more likely that Albert

21:16

Watts was the family chauffeur. Oh, yeah, I

21:18

totally assumed that. And Violet was just trying

21:21

to appease her father by occasionally pretending to

21:23

make use of him. Oh, I totally assumed

21:25

that this family pretending to be excessive excessive,

21:27

doesn't. She might even have let Albert take

21:29

the wheel as the car was leaving the

21:31

driveway of the manor house before relegating him

21:33

to the passenger seat to twiddle his thumbs

21:35

whilst Violet showed him how to drive properly.

21:38

Another way in which Violet Charlesworth defied expectation

21:40

was the fact that she had a good

21:42

head for business and enjoyed taking big risks,

21:44

often starting her own stock brokers whenever she

21:46

dabbled in the stock market. It was surprising

21:48

enough to see a woman throwing around quite

21:50

substantial sums of money in a ticker in

21:52

which she did it. Upon her first meeting

21:55

with a team of stockbrokers in a fancy

21:57

hotel, one of them later revealed, we were

21:59

expecting to see a middle-aged woman of the

22:01

world, but we found a country girl dressed

22:03

in the best taste with a charming manner.

22:05

Another stockbroker was struck by violence confidence in

22:07

her long... string of bare market investments, which

22:09

she continually speculated against the market on short-term

22:12

declines. pulling in sizable profits from falling prices.

22:14

He was apparently an awe of, quote, Violet's

22:16

courage of repeated bare transactions when scarcely a

22:18

man beyond the circle of professional speculation would

22:20

venture upon bare-selling. Yeah, it's much more risky

22:22

than regular stock market investing because you're betting

22:24

something's going to go down and generally over

22:26

time, stock markets just go up, like if

22:28

you look at it over a long enough

22:31

period. And she was pretty good at it

22:33

too, at least for a while it was

22:35

one of her early stock market triumphs that

22:37

led to her buying the Minerva and a

22:39

little reward. for her shrewd investments. Fan book

22:41

author Doris the Levitt would probably have just

22:43

treated herself to a new handkerchief and new

22:45

revolver and an electric cattle prod. So, as

22:48

far as it was already bringing home some

22:50

serious bacon without any need for a jackpot

22:52

inheritance from a war hero, Godfather, you might

22:54

wonder just how excited she really was about

22:56

hitting her 25th birthday and cashing in the

22:58

check. I mean, yeah, sure, you can make

23:00

money in the stock market and all this

23:02

stuff, but I don't think she's going to

23:05

make like that like that like that 15

23:07

mil. But whilst the Charlesworth family were clearly

23:09

wealthy, they certainly hadn't yet seen anything close

23:11

to the equivalent of 15 million pounds. It

23:13

does it, wait, they've got a giant house.

23:15

They have staff. They've got a chauffeur, they've

23:17

got seven sports cars. If you're worth less

23:19

than 15 million pounds and that's your life,

23:22

I feel like you're overextending yourself, no? And

23:24

regardless of your current financial position, 15 million

23:26

pounds is always going to be a pretty

23:28

cool birthday present stuffed inside a cart. Alas,

23:30

it seems that poor young Violet Charlesworth would

23:32

never quite make it the full distance, but

23:34

she came agonizingly close. Crimson and Clover. The

23:38

patrons of the ship and bub in

23:40

the north Welsh town of, oh my

23:42

god, Penminawa, maybe, in Conway County, we're

23:44

enjoying a typical Sunday Saturday session on

23:46

the lash. I don't know the phrase

23:49

on the lash in a while, means

23:51

to go out drinking if you're not

23:53

British. Maybe it means that another, in

23:55

America. on the lash to go on

23:57

the lash do you say that it

23:59

sounds so British even the way he

24:01

said yeah out on the lash on

24:03

the bit tonight of January the 2nd

24:05

1909 but the high-octane games of domino's

24:07

criavage and shove a penny what was

24:09

shove a penny were rudely interrupted shortly

24:11

after 9 p.m. by the arrival of

24:13

a young woman invisible distress this was

24:15

Lillian Charlesworth The younger sister of the

24:17

more widely known violet breathlessly explained that

24:19

she was in dire need of help

24:21

after the car she was traveling in

24:23

had plowed straight into the seawall at

24:25

demon's turn. Oh wait, is the inheritance

24:27

going to go to her somehow? Lillian

24:29

and Violet spent the day enjoying afternoon

24:32

tea with friends at a hotel in

24:34

Bangor and have been accompanied in the

24:36

car by Albert Watts. That's the chauffeur.

24:38

I hope that he at least got

24:40

invited inside for a couple of biscuits,

24:42

but I suspect he got left in

24:44

the car all day to have a

24:46

play with a steering wheel whilst the

24:48

engine was switched off. I mean, yeah,

24:50

to be fair, he is a chauffeur,

24:52

it's kind of his job. And look,

24:54

I don't know, if I was a

24:56

chauffeur, and they were like, do you

24:58

want to want to come inside? And

25:00

play crib, and play cribbage, and play

25:02

cribbage, and play cribbage, and play cribbage,

25:04

and play cribbage, and play cribbage, I'd,

25:06

and play cribbage, I'd, and play cribbage,

25:08

I'd, and play, and play, and play,

25:10

and play, and play, and play, and

25:12

play, and play, and play, and play,

25:14

and play, and play, and play, and

25:17

play, and play, and play, like, like,

25:19

I just want to see in the

25:21

car just reading. That's just what I

25:23

would prefer, genuinely. On the journey back

25:25

to St. Asaf, Violet had attempted to

25:27

navigate the devilishly sharp coastal bends in

25:29

Pan Manoa. Sorry, around 20 miles from

25:31

home, when she lost control of them,

25:33

Nerva, and crashed it straight through the

25:35

sea wall. Albert was still on the

25:37

scene, feeling dazed and confused and probably

25:39

wondering why on earth had been foolish

25:41

enough to accept such an intensely dangerous

25:43

position as a non-driving chauffeur. But it

25:45

was believed that Violet had been thrown

25:47

through the windscreen and tossed down to

25:49

the rocks below and into the sea.

25:51

The whole area was soon swarming with

25:53

detectives, police officers, trawlers and volunteers searching

25:55

for the body of Violet Charlesworths, three

25:57

items of interest, were picked up almost

26:00

immediately close to the crashed vehicle. A

26:02

pocket map, a swayed diary detailing all

26:04

of violence recent road trips, and an

26:06

expensive tamashander. or floppy Scottish hat, of

26:08

course, with a fetching pom-pom on the

26:10

top. There was no sign whatsoever as

26:12

a handkerchief of clean veil or an

26:14

automatic horse. But we're aborted. There was

26:16

no sign of the body. Neither Lillian

26:18

nor Albert were of much help on

26:20

the night that the police, as the

26:22

police considered them too agitated to be

26:24

answering any tricky questions, but then again

26:26

is not as if they had any

26:28

inside knowledge on where exactly the body

26:30

might have landed. No, but they're very

26:32

useful to talk to in terms of

26:34

like the last people to her alive.

26:36

Do you think the chauffeur and Swartzer

26:38

face, the other, the sister, got, uh,

26:40

got into some scam to get this

26:42

money from her somehow? The news of

26:45

a young and popular woman apparently meeting

26:47

her death in such a ghastly fashion,

26:49

sent shockwaves around the region and generated

26:51

mournful headlines in the national press, but

26:53

only for a very short time, because

26:55

it didn't take long for Edwardian noses,

26:57

to start twitching insuspicion over certain elements

26:59

of the accident that didn't entirely make

27:01

sense? The passengers had been quite fortunate

27:03

in the way that the car had

27:05

swerved into a relatively small stretch of

27:07

seawall. If I had lost control of

27:09

the vehicle, just 10 yards further up

27:11

or down the road, the car would

27:13

have flown right over the cliffs and

27:15

plunged about 50 feet into the sea

27:17

below. Why is there a sea wall?

27:19

I'm wondering like, to me, a sea

27:21

wall is something that prevents the sea.

27:23

It's like a concrete construction. Why would

27:25

it be 50 feet high? Why would

27:28

it be 50 feet high up on

27:30

a cliff? I mean, how high do

27:32

they think the sea is going to

27:34

rise? The wall just got 10 feet

27:36

taller. Believe me. The seawall obviously hadn't

27:38

done much to protect violence, but both

27:40

Lillian and Arbor must have been counting

27:42

their lucky stars that they had quite

27:44

miraculously avoided any risk of getting a

27:46

bit wet. He's putting it mildly. Speaking

27:48

of damp spots, you'd have thought that

27:50

the scene might have been a lot

27:52

messier considering that a body had been

27:54

flung through a windscreen, yet there wasn't

27:56

a single speck of blood we found

27:58

anywhere on the vehicle nor... on the

28:00

rocks, and the car itself was in

28:02

surprisingly good shape too, considering that it

28:04

had just smashed straight through a stone

28:06

wall. There were a few scratches here

28:08

and there, and noticeable big hole in

28:11

the windscreen, but aside from that, the

28:13

Minerva was in sparkling condition. There's no

28:15

way that a car, from 1909, goes

28:17

through a wall with enough force to

28:19

eject someone through the windscreen and it

28:21

comes out in relatively good condition. With

28:23

the other two passengers being perfectly fine.

28:25

No one could believe this, surely. In

28:27

fact, it was safely driven back to

28:29

the family home without any need to

28:31

call a mechanic. There's no way! You

28:33

might have expected the recovery of Ireland's

28:35

body to be fairly swift as the

28:37

water directly beneath the cliff was actually

28:39

very shallow and calm, and you certainly

28:41

would have expected the rest of the

28:43

Charlesworth family to be consumed with grief.

28:45

Yet detectives observed that they didn't seem

28:47

massively concerned about this turn of events.

28:49

Guys, you gotta pretend at least. Be

28:51

like, oh no, my beloved daughter, come

28:53

on, you gotta at least pretend. It's

28:56

true that they'd put up a 20

28:58

pound reward for anyone who found Violet's

29:00

body, but they forgot to sign the

29:02

supporting documentation rendering it worthless. A certain

29:04

superintendentries also noted, they have not worried

29:06

me for details of the search. I

29:08

have had to send them for details

29:10

and particulars. It almost sounds as if

29:12

they were just going through the motions,

29:14

and not in a particularly convincing way.

29:16

There's an even bigger mystery regarding the

29:18

Charlesworth's family fortunes that were piling up

29:20

long before the crash. Whilst we've rattled

29:22

through a potted history of the family

29:24

from the small fragments of supporting evidence,

29:26

you might well be thinking that we

29:28

completely skip to Chapter. One minute, the

29:30

Charlesworths are living a fairly ordinary life

29:32

in England, and the next minute they're

29:34

basking in the lap of luxury in

29:36

a stately man of house in Wales.

29:39

How did that happen? I assume that

29:41

the father who was a businessman hit

29:43

something big. While Violet's mother Miriam was

29:45

a homemaker, whilst her husband John was

29:47

still touting himself as a businessman, but

29:49

still hadn't done anything more lucrative than

29:51

flogging insurance and a few ship supplies.

29:53

Okay, so where's the money from? So

29:55

how did Valas only find a... in

29:57

a position where she could afford six

29:59

sports cars, 12 St. Bernard's, and a

30:01

quite incredibly expensive wardrobe. Although detectives were

30:03

not aware of this on the night

30:05

of the crash, it's a question that

30:07

had also been bothering a private investigator

30:09

who had been looking into the life

30:11

of Violet Charlesworth for a couple of

30:13

months now. It had originally been put

30:15

on the case by a disgruntled lender

30:17

who were growing increasingly concerned that violent

30:19

didn't seem interested in ever giving them

30:21

their money back. Oh my God, are

30:24

they just, are they just living on

30:26

credit on credit? Really? The detectives would

30:28

also initially have been unaware that the

30:30

very day before the crash, Violet had

30:32

been served with a court summons for

30:34

defaulting on her loan. It turns out

30:36

that Violet Charlesworth wasn't quite all she

30:38

was cracked up to be, and that

30:40

Violet wasn't even her real first name.

30:42

Major General Charles Gordon had never been

30:44

her godfather, and there was no massive

30:46

inheritance on the horizon. The whole thing

30:48

had been a fine example of a

30:50

massive future payoff scam in which Violet

30:52

had persuaded friends and a money on

30:54

the promise that... that be paid back

30:56

when she had her 25th birthday and

30:58

received a huge inheritance that never actually

31:00

existed. What a swizz. That's amazing. Wait,

31:02

what about her family? Where they all

31:04

just made up? What about the manner

31:07

and her parents? If you became clear

31:09

to police and the press and the

31:11

morning public, they were no longer searching

31:13

for a dead body on the rocks

31:15

or in the sea. They were looking

31:17

for a bogus he was still very

31:19

much alive and on the run after

31:21

an attempt to fake her own death

31:23

that just turned into a bellyflop of

31:25

epicop of epic proportions. mass son it

31:27

changes from oh I wonder who murdered

31:29

her for her money to oh she's

31:31

uh she's faking her own death painted

31:33

black So,

31:36

let's rewind to the beginning and take another look at the

31:38

roots of the Charlesworth family. The woman known as Violet Gordon

31:40

Charlesworth had actually been born May Charlesworth in 1884. And May

31:42

was not the face of the original scam. That would have

31:44

been her elder sister Nellie. Oh, they're in on it together.

31:46

But back when the family was living in England and Nellie

31:48

was 18 years old, her mother Miriam took it upon herself

31:50

to tell a big story. fat porky to a a

31:52

Barrett that a a young was set

31:55

to inherit a fortune of £75

31:57

,000 on a 21st birthday. The details of The

31:59

details of this are a

32:01

little vague, as it's not clear

32:03

the money was supposed to, where exactly money was

32:05

supposed to come from, come or

32:07

whether Dr. Barrett lent lent any

32:09

money on the strength of

32:11

it, but he certainly seemed to

32:13

believe believe story Miriam had cooked

32:15

up. The tragedy is that that

32:17

Nelly didn't live to see her

32:19

21st birthday, but the idea

32:21

must have continued to marinate in

32:23

Miriam's mind. A few years

32:25

later, when May was 18 old, Miriam

32:28

to go to go everyone that Today

32:30

was due to be given a

32:32

whopping to be given a ,000 on her 21st birthday, £22

32:34

over £22 a mysterious from a mysterious Australian

32:36

man of Scottish descent known as McDonald.

32:38

This This was to to convince a

32:41

wealthy widow and kindly neighbour by the

32:43

name of Martha Smith of lend Miriam

32:45

her entire life savings, a total

32:47

of £400 of 400 £60 ,000 60,000 Mrs

32:49

Smith never got her money back

32:51

and later sobbed, I was simply taken

32:53

in by them. taken to be

32:55

careful. This, yeah, you've got to be This may well

32:57

have been the real route of

32:59

the journey to a new lavish

33:01

life in Wales, by which time

33:03

the story lavish become a little

33:05

more refined. the story had become a evolved into

33:07

Violet Gordon Charles had now the middle

33:09

name is clearly a terrible name

33:11

for a woman, the middle name is clearly a

33:13

dude's name. name. Apologies to all

33:16

lady viewers out there out there called it

33:18

was obviously meant to suggest a

33:20

genuine connection to the connection treasure,

33:22

Major General Charles Gordon, from whom Gordon,

33:24

from set to inherit set to inherit a

33:26

was the culmination. was the new plan, of

33:28

which had first started to tape

33:30

shape back in England, back in England, when

33:32

and May had had discovered they they could

33:34

pick up expensive silk dresses and

33:36

and on credit just by mentioning

33:38

the forthcoming the forthcoming windfall from Chinese Gordon. People in

33:40

the past. I know people still know con today, but this

33:42

today, so obvious. They obvious. much taken pretty

33:44

much taken for a ride in town for

33:46

a ride before moving on to

33:48

Wales to try their luck on

33:50

a much grander scale, had tweaked the details

33:52

a details a little bit as was

33:54

is already pushing 21 by the the her

33:56

a family first arrived in Ryle, and so the

33:58

so the big payout sensibly... got pushed

34:00

back to her 25th birthday to allow

34:02

a bit more time for the scam

34:04

to flourish. But it certainly did flourish.

34:06

They managed to swindle money out of

34:08

stockbrokers, banks, lenders, and even violets and

34:10

fiance, whilst all the time racking up

34:12

huge amounts of credit from store owners

34:15

who were more than happy to furnish

34:17

the most famous lady in town with

34:19

whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted it.

34:21

It's interesting, right? Like, you start off

34:23

with like something small, and then it's

34:25

like because you've... Manish to swindle some

34:27

people so far to give you a

34:29

little bit of money. You can just

34:31

spend that into more money. I love

34:33

these stories. And this long-running deception was

34:35

the sole source of the flashy sports

34:37

cars, the 12 St. Bernard's, the expensive

34:39

jewelry, the diamond tiara, the rented holiday

34:41

homes, and indeed the stately manor house

34:43

and the entire new lifestyle of the

34:45

whole Charlesworth family. Wait, so she's just

34:47

conning people and she's putting her whole

34:50

family up with the conned money. Fascinating.

34:52

During a time when the average wage

34:54

was just 70 pounds a year, Vila

34:56

was raking in around 4, 4,000 pounds

34:58

a year from the fraud and the

35:00

booming speculations on the stock market that

35:02

the stock market that the... had helped

35:04

to fund. Vala worked hard on keeping

35:06

up appearances. The whole Scottish obsession was

35:08

probably just another element of her disguise

35:10

to make her look a bit otherworldly

35:12

and interesting. Yeah, it's like she can't

35:14

be a fraudster. She's too weird. She's

35:16

too eccentric. Posing for photographs dressed in

35:18

full highland gear, suggested that she shared

35:20

rich connections with the lands that may

35:22

have seemed much further away back when

35:25

the world was a bit smaller, or

35:27

I suppose she could have just really

35:29

liked tartan and bagpipes. No, no one

35:31

likes bagpipes, really. But keeping up the

35:33

charade and attracting ever more wealth just

35:35

got easier and easier over time, because

35:37

she had grown so comfortable in the

35:39

role of a woman of a woman

35:41

that she was pretending to be. I

35:43

would imagine that if you asked a

35:45

perfect stranger for a substantial loan while

35:47

you were wearing ill-fitting clothes covered in

35:49

gray stains and you looked like you

35:51

just fell out of a skip and

35:53

smell like a bonfire, you're probably not

35:55

going to have much luck. But when

35:57

you turn up in a sports car

36:00

and you're already wearing furs and diamonds

36:02

and tiaras that you don't even have...

36:04

to pay for, you're going to inspire

36:06

confidence and get showered with even more

36:08

money and more expensive gifts that are

36:10

only going to strengthen your image and

36:12

reputation. In time for the next gullible

36:14

sucker, yeah exactly what I said, like

36:16

you can't a little bit and then

36:18

it makes you look more legit and

36:20

then you can go bigger and then

36:22

you can go bigger. Although I think

36:24

you know banks and stuff would be

36:26

used to this, wouldn't they? Like don't

36:28

trust the car that someone rolls up

36:30

in because it could be rented. and

36:33

businessmen, including one stockbroker, who alone lent

36:35

her a total of 10,000 pounds. Violet

36:37

also warmed her way into the heart

36:39

of a rich doctor by the name

36:41

of Edward Hughes Jones. The doctor was

36:43

under the impression that he was in

36:45

a meaningful relationship with Violet, who would

36:47

soon become his fiancé. He later lamented,

36:49

I was honestly, and deeply in love

36:51

with her. But it seems the violet

36:53

was just chasing another big loan. Dr.

36:55

Edward Jones eventually broke off the engagement,

36:57

eventually broke off the engagement, because of

36:59

what he perceived he perceived perceived as

37:01

utterly bonkers spending habits. But not before

37:03

we enter a total of £5,000 on

37:05

the false promise of a payback. Five

37:08

thousand pounds, just bear that in mind.

37:10

Didn't we just say that the average

37:12

wage was 70 pounds a year? That

37:14

is an extraordinary amount of money! A

37:16

bizarre personal letter from Violet to the

37:18

doctor was later on earth, in which

37:20

it's painfully obvious that she's still suffering

37:22

from delusions of being Scottish, whilst begging

37:24

for more money. She writes, You can,

37:26

well, all my fortune, when I get

37:28

it, will be yours as much as

37:30

mine. It cuts me to the heart

37:32

to ask you for money. It is

37:34

cruel, bitterly cruel, but it is all

37:36

for love's sake, Laddy, Laddy, and now

37:38

Eddie, my own, ever you're devoted and

37:40

some day wife far let. Oh, oh.

37:43

Like, one, the Scottish, two, the old

37:45

language, is just like, ah, what are

37:47

you saying? She wants money from him,

37:49

basically. But the really cruel element of

37:51

Ireland's plan is that she often took

37:53

money from victims who couldn't afford to

37:55

lose it. That nice widow Martha Smith,

37:57

yeah, she took her life savings of

37:59

like 400 pounds. God damn. May have

38:01

had... some savings in the bank from

38:03

the death of her beloved husband, but

38:05

Vila completely wiped her out leaving her

38:07

with nothing. Apparently, Martha was a deeply

38:09

patriotic soul who had become enchanted by

38:11

Vila's tales of her daring and dashing

38:13

godfather major General Charles Gordon, and she

38:15

was only too happy to hand over

38:18

her entire life savings on the understanding

38:20

that she'd surely get it all back

38:22

from the goddaughter of a war hero.

38:24

Suddenly it all begins to sound a

38:26

little bit more roofless, doesn't it? Maybe

38:28

it wouldn't have been so bad if

38:30

she had just struck to screw it,

38:32

stuck to screwing over rich businessmen and

38:34

bankers. Yeah, I always like, like the

38:36

con shows, you know, TV shows, where

38:38

it's like... that you really, where you're

38:40

supposed to support the con artists. I

38:42

always think of white collar, great TV

38:44

show. And it's like you're always backing

38:46

them, because they're always like conning people

38:48

who deserve to be conned. If the

38:51

show was just him conning, like poor,

38:53

poor people, you can't afford to lose

38:55

money, you'd be like, what a dick!

38:57

Of course, the major flaw with the

38:59

whole fiendish plot is the violet had

39:01

given herself a deadline and a pretty

39:03

significant expiration. People were going to start

39:05

noticing that they weren't getting the money

39:07

back that they had been promised. Perhaps

39:09

there wasn't really an awful lot that

39:11

she could do about that. It would

39:13

have seemed a bit far-fetched for an

39:15

inheritance to stipulate that the recipient can

39:17

only cash in the check when they

39:19

turned 94. And besides, extending the date

39:21

of the windfall too long into the

39:23

future may have dissuaded some of the

39:26

lenders from playing ball. I'll pay you

39:28

back in 70 years, buddy. doesn't quite

39:30

sound like such a good deal. But

39:32

the financial problems were already mounting for

39:34

Violet and the Charlesworth family in general

39:36

long before it was time to think

39:38

about putting 25 candles on a cake.

39:40

Whilst Vilers had initially dazzled the stock

39:42

brokers with their prowess on the trading

39:44

floor, later dealings on the stock market

39:46

had become increasingly reckless and had gone

39:48

more than little pair shapes. she ended

39:50

up completely blowing her stolen fortune. In

39:52

total, she now owed today's equivalent of

39:54

£2 million, and despite the family still

39:56

putting on airs and graces in public,

39:58

the reality was that a flat broke

40:01

as the clock ticked ever closer to

40:03

that 25th birthday. I'm not quite sure

40:05

how the rest of the Charles Wirths

40:07

were supposed to get out of this

40:09

mess with any dignity, but Violet had

40:11

clearly decided to rope in the services

40:13

of Albert Watson to sister Lillian to

40:15

stage a desperate last resort which might

40:17

just keep the whole pack of disgruntled

40:19

wolves from her door. Well, I guess

40:21

the problem is for them, the debt

40:23

is with her, and so the family,

40:25

you know, she dies, the debts that

40:27

she has long and I'm going to

40:29

pass on to pass on to the

40:31

family, and pass on to the family,

40:34

and a pass on to the family,

40:36

and a pass on to the family.

40:38

I don't, I mean, they can take

40:40

it from her estate, but I imagine

40:42

that she doesn't really own much anymore,

40:44

given that she's gamb, you know, she's

40:46

better to wear the stock market and

40:48

stuff like that, maybe the house and

40:50

stuff, but I can't, probably not in

40:52

her name, don't know. You'd have thought

40:54

that they might have just put a

40:56

little more effort and thought into the

40:58

execution of the plan to fake violence

41:00

death. They could have battled up the

41:02

car a bit more instead of just

41:04

smashing a hole through the window. They

41:06

could have thrown a bit of blood

41:09

around the scene. And they could have

41:11

found a spot where the water wasn't

41:13

quite so transparently, shall I? Even the

41:15

strategic positioning of the journal, the map,

41:17

and the... Hamashanta seemed a little obvious

41:19

and lame, suggesting only the violet's personal

41:21

possessions had not traveled very far in

41:23

the aftermath of the crash, yet her

41:25

body had vanished without a trace. Yeah,

41:27

her body was ejected through the windscreen,

41:29

so far into the sea that it

41:31

can't be found, and the cars completely

41:33

fine, and so were the other passengers,

41:35

and all of our stuff is exactly

41:37

where it's supposed to be. This is

41:39

the worst fake death ever. It didn't

41:41

take long for whiffs of suspicion to

41:44

start wafting over the cliffs at demon's

41:46

turn, which only intensified when the private

41:48

investigator approached the police with his own

41:50

findings that Violet Charlesworth had been falsely

41:52

declaring herself to be the goddaughter of

41:54

Major General Charles Gordon. This was quickly

41:56

followed by complaints from a long list

41:58

of duped lenders for whom the truth

42:00

had finally began to rise to the

42:02

surface in exactly the same way that

42:04

a dead body had not. Some of

42:06

those lenders, along with police officers, solicitous

42:08

and journalists, descended on to the family

42:10

mention in Santa South in search of

42:12

answers and cash. John, Miriam and Fred

42:14

barricaded themselves in for days, refusing to

42:16

even open the door for the milkmen.

42:19

One newspaper report at the time suggested

42:21

that the police eventually had to scale

42:23

the walls of the property to gain

42:25

access, after which they began to seize

42:27

everything of value to help pay back

42:29

the creditors. Okay, so I guess it

42:31

was her stuff. Well, they're just like

42:33

taking it anyway. The initially sorrowful press

42:35

headlines describing a terrible tragedy soon evolved

42:37

into sensational reports of sensational reports of

42:39

a devious fake arrest. I think the

42:41

North Wales Weekly succinctly captured the transformed

42:43

mood of the region. When they observed,

42:45

as for the people residing in the

42:47

vicinity of the alleged incident, they don't

42:49

know where she is. And what's more,

42:52

they don't care a motorspanner. Ah, the

42:54

history, the historical, like, why isn't motorspan?

42:56

I don't even know what it is.

42:58

And back in the day, it was

43:00

so common that they would use it

43:02

like this. And as the police swiftly

43:04

abandoned the idea of finding a corpse

43:06

in favor of launching a hunt for

43:08

the women in the flowing crimson cloak,

43:10

sales of crimson cloaks were reported to

43:12

take a sudden nose-divers, potential customers didn't

43:14

want to risk being mistaken for the

43:16

fugitive, that might sound a bit silly,

43:18

but there were plenty of false alarms

43:20

to begin with, as practically any woman

43:22

wandering around the UK in a floating

43:24

crimson cloak, or even just driving a

43:27

car alone, was likely to find themselves

43:29

getting reported as the police by an

43:31

over-enthusiastic amateur crime fighter. It was only

43:33

a matter of days before the police

43:35

finally got their most promising lead yet.

43:37

It looked as if far at Charlesworth

43:39

had skipped the country. But she cannot

43:41

skip particularly far. She's got to Scotland,

43:43

hasn't she? She's got to the one

43:45

place that everyone will be like if

43:47

she's going to flee to a country

43:49

where immediately comes to Ireland. Purple haze.

43:54

A couple of female guests had turned several

43:56

heads when they checked into a hotel in

43:58

the Scottish town of Oban a few days

44:00

on. after the supposed car crash, one of

44:03

them went by the name of Margaret MacLeod

44:05

and spoke with a curious accent, which came

44:07

as though she had been quite posh English

44:09

woman attempting to sound as if she was

44:12

born and bred in Scotland. Another curious point

44:14

about this Margaret MacLeod is that she was

44:16

the absolute spitting image of the missing violet

44:18

Charlesworth. Oh my! What a coincidence she is!

44:21

Furthermore, she was staying at the hotel with

44:23

none other than violet sister Lily and Charlesworth.

44:25

Bro, are you joking? This is the worst

44:27

fake deaths that I've possibly ever seen. And

44:30

we've seen a lot of, you know, fake

44:32

deaths on this channel. The pair of them

44:34

aroused further suspicion, the very next morning, by

44:37

scarpering, without bothering to pay their bill, Margaret

44:39

MacLeod even went to the trouble of cutting

44:41

their names out of the guestbook. And if

44:43

there are still any lingering doubts as to

44:46

the true identity of Margaret MacLeod, all there

44:48

are not, Danny. Here was later discovered that

44:50

the hotel guest had rather carelessly left behind

44:52

a telegram behind a telegram in her. How

44:55

did you manage to con so many people,

44:57

and now have turned into an absolutely terrible

44:59

criminal? Like not terrible like the acts, like

45:01

terrible at being a criminal? The pair had

45:04

led it to the next departing steamer, but

45:06

news of the sighting had traveled so quickly

45:08

that a pack of press reporters were already

45:10

waiting to challenge them as soon as they

45:13

stepped back out onto the mainland. Margaret McCloud

45:15

seemed quite taken back by the surprise reception,

45:17

but appeared to be almost amused by any

45:19

notion that she might be the missing woman

45:22

as if such a concept was preposterous. I

45:24

mean, it's a good way to play it.

45:26

Just be like, well, you being silly. I'd

45:28

like nothing like her. She admitted that she'd

45:31

been enjoying following the story herself in the

45:33

newspapers, but pointed out that Violet Charlesworth had

45:35

been described by the press as very tall,

45:38

whereas she was only five foot five and

45:40

a half. If any of the reporters thought

45:42

back a tape measure, they could have proven

45:44

right then and there that Margaret McLeod is

45:47

actually 5 foot 7, oh, which by a

45:49

staggering coincidence was the exact same hide as

45:51

Violet. I mean, so if you're going to

45:53

lie, lie fucking bravely, you know? Just, just,

45:56

fucking, lean in. But in conclusion, she insisted,

45:58

of course I'm not Miss Violet Charlesworth. I

46:00

have no objection to... saying who I am.

46:02

I am Margaret Cameron McCloud. Lillian didn't have

46:05

very much to say for herself other than

46:07

to completely deny that she was violent Charles

46:09

Worth's sister. The strange point about this claim

46:11

is that there might actually be some truth

46:14

to it. While the baptism records of Lillian

46:16

and Violet, well, may as she was back

46:18

then, indicate that they shared the same parents,

46:20

later census records, list them as cousins. It's

46:23

difficult to figure out exactly what was going

46:25

on here, and their true relation remains unknown.

46:27

But it seems that the Charles Worth children

46:29

were already getting on, and their true relation

46:32

remains unknown. But it seems that the Charlesworth

46:34

children were already getting plunged into some weird

46:36

kind of identity crisis, so the pair were

46:39

at liberty to walk away from the report.

46:41

and make their way to Glasgow. Why are

46:43

you making your way out of the country?

46:45

Like Scotland is not far enough. Obviously, the

46:48

police are going to come for you. You've

46:50

got to go to Lebanon. Come on. But

46:52

just how long could this so-called Margaret McCloud

46:54

keep up the charade? Well, just one day,

46:57

as it turns out. By the very next

46:59

afternoon, Margaret made a complete U-turn and took

47:01

the odd decision of revealing her true identity

47:03

and selling her story, or at least a

47:06

fragment of her story of her story, Her

47:08

face was regularly getting plastered all over the

47:10

newspapers and the Daily Express and even resorted

47:12

to selling collectible violet Charlesworth postcards for three

47:15

pennies each. Of course it was. Daily Express.

47:17

Still today. Pretty trashy. Allegedly. Perhaps that is

47:19

what partly inspired Violet to come clean and

47:21

attempt to somehow cash in on the story

47:24

herself. She accepted the not inconsiderable summer £400

47:26

from the Daily Mail in return for an

47:28

exclusive confessional interview, although it turned out not

47:31

to be particularly exclusive, as she'd later agreed

47:33

to extensive interviews with several other newspapers over

47:35

the next few weeks, including the Daily Dispatch,

47:37

who stretched out her life story over three

47:40

weekly installments. Milk that story, dispatch! However, whilst

47:42

recent online dives into the story, I've suggested

47:44

that this is the point where I'll have

47:46

highly unpacked every last skeleton from the closet.

47:49

That doesn't appear to be the case at

47:51

all. She certainly gets off to a promising

47:53

start by dramatically declaring, It is no use

47:55

my denial any longer. I am as violent,

47:58

Charlesworth. But she only actually admits to running

48:00

away to Scotland and leaving everyone to assume

48:02

that she was dead without ever explaining the

48:04

reasons why. There's no mention whatsoever of swindling

48:07

a whole bunch of people out of vast

48:09

sums of money based on a tissue of

48:11

lies. Instead, she suggests that the car crash

48:13

was genuine and that her decision to flee

48:16

the scene was an act of spontaneity after

48:18

becoming separated from Lillian Albert, becoming separated. They

48:20

stay in the car while you flew through

48:22

the windscreen. Come on now. As she put

48:25

it, I gave one low-old look around and

48:27

then an impulse came into my head to

48:29

get away from the horrible associations of the

48:32

place. Her supposed true life story suggests that

48:34

her father John moved away to America on

48:36

his own eight years earlier, which doesn't appear

48:38

to be the case at all as he

48:41

was still very much hold up in St.

48:43

Asaf, while she reckons that her wealth came

48:45

from a personal allowance, topped up with gifts

48:47

from family and friends, although details are suspiciously

48:50

vague, they're suspiciously. But I've now made quite

48:52

a bit of money from just selling a

48:54

crock of shit to the press. Violet decided

48:56

that she was quite enjoying her new status

48:59

as a proper national celebrity and shows she

49:01

decided to keep on milking it for all

49:03

it was worth. Which was quite a bit.

49:05

Yeah, just fake it till you've made it

49:08

and then when you've made it, then you

49:10

should make it by selling the story of

49:12

you faking it. Like this is ridiculous. She

49:14

wrote another song, this time, cheaply entitled Cheekly

49:17

Entie Geely I Musts. She appeared in a

49:19

theatre production at the London Hippodrome called The

49:21

Cliff Road in which she played a version

49:24

of herself reenacting the car crash on stage.

49:26

That sounds quite ambitious to me for an

49:28

early 20th century theatre production, but apparently a

49:30

lot of money was thrown at it and

49:33

a giant water tank was dragged onto the

49:35

stage to represent the sea. And she even

49:37

signed up to play the starring role in

49:39

a silent movie entitled The Welsh Cliff Mystery

49:42

in which she was to play a woman

49:44

who fakes her own death and then goes

49:46

on the run from the book. At least,

49:48

in mind that she

49:51

still hadn't confessed to the whole

49:53

story, I have I have

49:55

no idea how the

49:57

scripts for theatre play and the

50:00

movie would have to flesh

50:02

out into any kind

50:04

of plot plot the

50:06

driver of of the car hot

50:09

it to Scotland, but

50:11

I'm assuming that they

50:13

were both that they were both

50:15

padded out with elements. fictitious I

50:18

mean, Yeah, yeah, yeah, mean, based on a on

50:20

a true story. story is like one like

50:22

that cocaine movie. movie, cocaine a bear A

50:24

lots of cocaine and died. and

50:26

a whole movie out of

50:28

that. that. It's totally possible. We'll We'll never

50:30

know about the film, as it

50:32

never actually made it into production, although

50:34

Violet was still reported to have

50:36

been still generous advance. a The theatre play

50:38

was hardly a roaring success was hardly

50:40

and the curtains came down for the

50:42

last time a lot earlier than

50:44

intended a audiences had taken to as booing

50:46

Violet whenever she appeared on whenever she appeared

50:48

on stage. Ah! Well deserved! Initially, I I wondered if

50:50

this might have been some kind of of

50:52

vocal expression of disapproval regarding her

50:54

sheer shamelessness at carving out a career

50:56

in the spotlight in the on based on somewhat

50:59

dubious issues. It's going to be that she just sucks, right? She's not

51:01

an actress, has no has no acting Although

51:03

she was a really good con I guess I

51:05

guess of kind of acting. going to be

51:07

that she's to be that But terrible, right? But no,

51:09

a really she is actress. actress. Now you might be

51:11

wondering why on her wasn't wasn't arrested, yes! She's just

51:13

just around free? She'd already She had already been

51:15

served with the court summons before

51:17

the crash, there were there were plenty of

51:19

people queuing up to accuse her

51:21

of fraudulent behaviour. behaviour. not as if

51:23

the police would have much of a

51:25

problem in tracking her down, considering considering

51:27

was appearing appearing live on stage the London Hippadrome

51:29

most nights. They just go in a restaurant stage it's

51:31

like, it's like to the day ending to the day

51:33

story Thank you for coming. you for seems

51:35

that seems that so keen to to in the

51:37

glare of public attention of of quietly

51:39

withdrawing to a secret location where she

51:41

might be forgotten, or at least never found.

51:44

It's It's likely that she just viewed her

51:46

new celebrity status as another lucrative money

51:48

spinner, but but it could also be that

51:50

she believed her fame might actually protect

51:52

her from the law. the The police

51:54

surely can't go around arresting rich or

51:56

famous people. That's just not how how things in Edwardian

51:58

England, I told you. you. are different if you're

52:01

rich in the past. Like she could

52:03

drive a car, she could get away

52:05

with crimes. She wasn't even rich, she

52:07

was just vague rich. Imagine being really

52:09

rich? Or maybe it was, it turns

52:11

out that the police hadn't just fallen

52:13

asleep for a year. They had been

52:15

continuing their investigation all this time, and

52:17

were finally ready to seize their moment

52:19

at the beginning of 1910, just as

52:21

the glow from Violet Charles Worth was

52:23

officially bankrupt. And if she already thought

52:25

that the year had gotten off to

52:27

a pretty dismal start, she'd no doubt

52:29

feel a lot grumpier when both she

52:31

and her mother Miriam were finally arrested

52:33

on suspicion of fraud. We had her

52:35

from Miriam in a while. She involved

52:37

in this? Violet to Blue. There were

52:39

a couple of mystifying elements to the

52:41

arrest and subsequent trial which kicked off

52:43

on February the 23rd, 1910 at the

52:45

Chester His Sises in England. The first

52:47

puzzle is why nobody else, aside from

52:50

violent Miriam, appeared to face any kind

52:52

of criminal charges. John and Fred Charlesworth

52:54

must surely have had some kind of

52:56

involvement or at least knowledge of the

52:58

long-running scan, and they would certainly have

53:00

reaped the benefits from it. They would

53:02

certainly have reaped the benefits from it.

53:04

Percating themselves and the family house to

53:06

stop the police from seizing their car

53:08

crash that was meant to allow violence.

53:10

to flee from justice, yes, immediately, no,

53:12

because it was the worst fake death

53:14

ever. But as far as we can

53:16

tell, nobody seemed too fussed about charging

53:18

anybody other than violent and her mother.

53:20

Another initially baffling point is that although

53:22

there was a long list of victims

53:24

who had been duped by the scam,

53:26

Violet and Miriam only ever faced specific

53:28

charges of fraud from her former fiancé

53:30

Dr. Edward Jones and the kindly widow

53:32

Martha Smith. Whilst it's nice to see

53:34

Martha fighting back against the fraudsters, there

53:36

was no sign of any of the

53:38

other victims, not even the stockbroker, who

53:40

was scammed out. of 10,000 pounds. And

53:43

remember, 70 pounds a year average salary.

53:45

That's someone working for more than 100

53:47

years. Oh God. The most likely reason

53:49

is that some of the cond businessmen

53:51

are always simply too embarrassed to publicly

53:53

admit that they had been taken for

53:55

fools by a young woman. And more

53:57

to the point, it's not as if

53:59

they were likely to get any of

54:01

their losses back from a defendant who

54:03

had just been declared bankrupt, so I

54:05

mean, why bother. It doesn't look as

54:07

if either Smith or Jones ever saw

54:09

their money again, which is a crying

54:11

shame for the formerly wealthy widow in

54:13

particular, but their battle in court may

54:15

have been more of a personal matter

54:17

of indication, rather than any serious attempt

54:19

at clawing back their losses. Yeah, I

54:21

mean, look, if she's gone bankrupt, you're

54:23

not going to get your money back.

54:25

I mean, you're just going to join

54:27

a line of creditors, and it's just

54:29

not going to happen. I've been there

54:31

where I've been owed money by bankrupt

54:34

money by bankrupt companies by bankrupt companies,

54:36

and you're like, and you're like, and

54:38

you're like, and you're like, like, and

54:40

you're like, like, like, you're like, you're

54:42

like, you're like, budget sake and you

54:44

just kind of give up and you

54:46

just write it off because you're like

54:48

it's just not going to work out

54:50

because it's going to be way more

54:52

headache than it's worth and all of

54:54

this stuff but in this case if

54:56

she's also been fraudulent just just you

54:58

know go if you need to testify

55:00

in the criminal case because that's going

55:02

to be way more serious anyway But

55:04

Violet and Miriam pleaded not guilty to

55:06

fraud, and their defense reverted to an

55:08

earlier version of the scam. They denied

55:10

ever suggesting to their victims that Violet

55:12

was in line for a big inheritance

55:14

from a godfather Major General Charles Gordon,

55:16

and that was probably a smart move

55:18

on their part, as it could be

55:20

easily proven in court that they were

55:22

not related. Instead, they revisited the far-foggier

55:24

tale that Violet had been promised a

55:27

hundred and fifty-five thousand pounds on her

55:29

25th birthday from a mysterious Australian man

55:31

of Scottish descent named Alexander McDonald. I

55:33

feel like McDonald's going to be like

55:35

Smith or blogs, right? John Avarlett had

55:37

apparently fallen in love when she was

55:39

just 17 and the promise had been

55:41

made shortly afterwards. The only slight niggle

55:43

is that she hadn't heard from him

55:45

for several years and didn't know where

55:47

he was right now, although she helpfully

55:49

pointed out that last she had heard,

55:51

he might be living somewhere in Melbourne.

55:53

She conceded to the jury, I have

55:55

been disappointed. The Daily Herald observed observed

55:57

the striking. and the of

55:59

the two defendants in

56:01

court. Mary Charlesworth is as a

56:03

bit of an angry snake, frequently thrown

56:05

cold in venomous looks her own daughter,

56:07

at as if daughter, as if fault, for own

56:09

up a perfectly good plan. I

56:12

mean, I mean, kinda, kind of, kind of. In

56:14

contrast, Violet is described as In contrast,

56:16

Violet is described as and light-framed,

56:18

her pale face burned with hopelessness. She

56:20

eyes the Welsh with hopelessness. She

56:22

broke down when the her agony

56:25

unmistakingly gave his testimony, her

56:27

agony, unmistakably real. real. And

56:29

it my... Thank you you exactly was

56:31

guilty of being the ruthless

56:33

mastermind mastermind plot forward. hot plot forward. Yeah, maybe

56:35

The mother. Miriam, right? The mother. Because she up with

56:37

the original original 21st the in the money. in Maybe

56:40

she's kind of the one behind it all. of

56:42

the one behind it all. Violet most of the

56:44

blame usually cops most role and bogus her

56:46

She's even been accused of doing

56:48

tremendous damage to other women of

56:50

the era, fighting for political rights to

56:52

other women equality. for political historian equality. A claimed British

56:54

historian Lucy was for riches, for for fame,

56:56

for attention, get and to get

56:58

these things she took advantage of

57:01

new freedoms. but did it in a

57:03

way that wasn't good for other

57:05

women. Viola's story confirmed a lot

57:07

of people's worst fears of empowered

57:09

women that be dangerous, can be criminal. criminal.

57:11

of trying to suggest... of trying to solely

57:13

responsible for pushing back equal rights

57:15

for women by years, rights think we

57:17

need to consider I role played by

57:19

her own the role played mother. Yes, please. please.

57:21

It was clearly original idea to to lies

57:23

about the the older daughter Nellie in in order

57:25

to whip up for hugely hugely expensive

57:27

items of clothing the the family couldn't

57:29

afford. afford. Exactly. And after Nelly died, the

57:32

scam was passed down to the

57:34

young and impressionable Mae May who who always

57:36

a new role to play and a

57:38

new responsibility for generating wealth for

57:40

the whole family. the That's not to

57:42

suggest That's not to suggest that Valla was entirely a

57:44

victim herself. By the time she

57:46

reached her early early she could

57:48

have reassessed her position and and taken

57:50

time to consider consider that swinging own old

57:52

out of their fortunes might not

57:54

be the most ethical way of

57:57

be the the bank way of topping up the bank

57:59

account. No shit. But it It's interesting that violence

58:01

appeared to show genuine remorse in court,

58:03

whilst Miriam was just consumed with anger

58:05

at the position that she now found

58:07

herself in, perhaps indicating that a manipulative

58:09

and overbearing mother was furious with her

58:11

daughter for ruining her plans and letting

58:13

the side down. It does kind of

58:15

really seem that that's what's going on,

58:18

doesn't it? The trial itself lasts for

58:20

two days, during which it became embarrassingly

58:22

clear that the mysterious benefactor Alexander McDonald

58:24

did not exist, and that the staged

58:26

car crash had been an attempt to

58:28

flee the consequences of peddling another giant

58:30

whopper involving a war hero. It took

58:32

the jury just 20 minutes to find

58:34

violence and Miriam Charlesworth guilty of two

58:37

counts of obtaining money by false pretenses

58:39

and four counts of conspiracy to obtain

58:41

money by false pretenses. It was violent

58:43

who got singled out for the most

58:45

attention from the most attention from the

58:47

judge, as he wrapped ingenious woman who

58:49

might have had an honorable and possibly

58:51

distinguished career if half her ingenuity had

58:53

been properly directed. It sounds like a

58:56

school report. Like, Simon has a lot

58:58

of energy. It's a shame it's not

59:00

directed towards his schoolwork. Literally something I

59:02

must have read many times. He didn't

59:04

have much to say about Miriam, but

59:06

maybe he considered her to be a

59:08

lost cause. They both got exactly the

59:10

same punishment, regardless. As was fairly common

59:12

in the Edwardian era, they were ravaged

59:15

death by a pack of rabid wolves,

59:17

let loose inside the courtroom. No scraped

59:19

out I was looking at the wrong

59:21

case the judge initially sentenced the pair

59:23

to five years hard labor But later

59:25

felt it had been a bit harsh

59:27

and cutting down to three Viola's Miriam

59:29

only ended up serving two years of

59:31

penal servitude before they were released on

59:34

license in 1912 After which they disappeared

59:36

into complete obscurity Fade de Gray This

59:40

might all sound like a story that could

59:42

only happen in the olden days back when

59:45

people were more reassuringly stupid But it's strikingly

59:47

similar to a much more recent story Involving

59:49

the Russian swindler Anna Sorockin who infiltrated the

59:51

upper-class New York social and art scenes under

59:53

the vague persona of wealthy heres Anna Delvey.

59:55

There's a great Netflix show about this. Well,

59:57

like, it's entertaining. I don't know if I

1:00:00

describe it as great. It's kind of forgettable.

1:00:02

But it's a, it's, like, I don't know,

1:00:04

I love these carter stories. Between 2013 and

1:00:06

2017, she managed to afford friends, acquaintances, banks.

1:00:08

and hotels to the tune of €275,000 on

1:00:10

the strength of a multi-million euro trust fund

1:00:12

that didn't exist. And it seems that she

1:00:15

took inspiration from Varlet Charlesworth in more ways

1:00:17

than one. As she later used this as

1:00:19

a springboard for a celebrity career, albeit after

1:00:21

serving just under four years in prison on

1:00:23

convictions of attempted grand larceny, larceny in the

1:00:25

second degree and theft of services. She sold

1:00:27

the rights to her story to Netflix in

1:00:30

2022 for the myriad of a... restitution and

1:00:32

fines that she had clocked up, totaling nearly

1:00:34

$300,000. Since then, her story has been the

1:00:36

subject of a stage play. She's written a

1:00:38

book and made countless appearances on television, most

1:00:40

recently popping up as a contestant on Dancing

1:00:42

with the Stars in 2024, on which she

1:00:45

was still legally required to wear her ankle

1:00:47

monitor at all times. It sounds like Anna

1:00:49

Soroccan is making a better fist of this

1:00:51

shameless criminal celebrity log than Violet Charlesworth ever

1:00:53

managed with a lousy short-lived stage show and

1:00:55

unproduced silent film. But maybe the options for

1:00:57

building a brand out of bad behaviour were

1:01:00

a bit more limited back in 1909. You

1:01:02

can be sure that if there was such

1:01:04

a thing as an awardian version of I'm

1:01:06

a celebrity get me out of here, then

1:01:08

Violet would have been in their jungle faster

1:01:10

than a greased pig. Now there's still plenty

1:01:12

of debate, though, whether Violet Charlesworth was ultimately

1:01:15

a cunning criminal genius or a hair-brained wannabe

1:01:17

con artist with no cards to deal. Her

1:01:19

exit plan certainly left a lot to be

1:01:21

desired. Yeah, it's like it was all going

1:01:23

really well under the mother's purview and then

1:01:25

when she decides to do something for herself,

1:01:27

it's absolutely hamfisted and just the worst disappearance

1:01:30

ever. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? The stage

1:01:32

death could generously be described as amateurish at

1:01:34

best, and whilst taking up a new name

1:01:36

in Scotland is far less likely to work

1:01:38

out, when you're traveling with your sister and

1:01:40

leaving telegrams behind in your room addressed your

1:01:42

real name. Maybe she wasn't

1:01:45

born to be a

1:01:47

criminal, often described as

1:01:49

charming and generous, perhaps

1:01:51

the life of perhaps the life

1:01:53

of May would have turned

1:01:55

out I differently turned she

1:01:58

hadn't been raised by

1:02:00

a been raised by a pushy mother,

1:02:02

with with greed. Then again, maybe

1:02:04

downfall was propelled by her

1:02:06

by her The wicked greed.

1:02:08

The wicked plan actually

1:02:10

came excruciatingly close to

1:02:13

working out for all

1:02:15

concerned could could potentially have

1:02:17

been a grand example

1:02:19

of the fake it

1:02:21

till you make it

1:02:23

strategy, leading into glorious

1:02:25

triumph with zero consequences.

1:02:28

Bala's initial dealings stock market may

1:02:30

have been financed by by money

1:02:32

from deception, but she was still

1:02:34

pulling in some impressive profits. Yeah, for a

1:02:36

time, but then it all went wrong. all went

1:02:38

would have been the perfect opportunity to pay

1:02:40

off all of her creditors and set up

1:02:42

an entirely legitimate enterprise that people we now

1:02:44

describe as victims and set up an entirely have been hoodwinks.

1:02:46

Yeah, we'd have never heard of her. people we

1:02:48

rich and as her yeah, no, I would money

1:02:50

from scamming people. that they have I thought I was

1:02:52

scamming them, but I ended up giving the

1:02:54

money back with interest and getting rich. rich and

1:02:56

just been like, I got my money out. out. It's not as

1:02:59

if anyone had ever seen her quite masterful disguise. The disguise.

1:03:01

The only reason that her plan

1:03:03

fell apart is because she continued

1:03:05

to squander money on herself while

1:03:07

recklessly gambling away the rest on increasingly

1:03:09

stock market speculation. speculation. And this... is what

1:03:11

led her to the point of

1:03:13

desperation and imminent exposure when her

1:03:15

25th birthday loomed closer into view

1:03:17

and she suddenly didn't have a

1:03:20

pot to piss in. It all

1:03:22

worked out so differently so she'd just

1:03:24

she'd down a bit, a bit, or with the

1:03:26

sports cars and the diamonds and the symphonards and maybe found

1:03:28

a better a better stockbroker. That sharp in in the

1:03:30

coastal road, road, formerly known as the Demon's

1:03:32

Turn, is now more commonly known known

1:03:34

locals as Violet's but the final the final

1:03:36

mystery mystery is where Violet where Violet leaving

1:03:38

prison in 1912. in It's believed

1:03:41

that Mary Miriam Charlesworth died just eight years later

1:03:43

in 1920, possibly a victim of

1:03:45

the great influenza pandemic of

1:03:47

1918 1918 to often referred to as

1:03:49

the to as the despite the fact

1:03:51

that it was thought to have

1:03:53

originated in the United States rather

1:03:56

than Spain. States, rather than Spain. Gravesluths

1:03:58

have recently discovered a death record. which lets

1:04:00

a a Charlesworth who died who died in

1:04:02

trends -Trent in Staffordshire in 1957 age of

1:04:04

the age of shame the cause of It's

1:04:06

a shame the cause of death

1:04:08

isn't listed. after disappeared after being

1:04:10

flung from a on on fire that

1:04:12

was about to hurt all over

1:04:14

the top of a mountain that

1:04:16

was also on fire, I suspect

1:04:18

I be talking about the same talking

1:04:20

about the same is, as we don't know

1:04:23

for sure. sure. And I just have a have

1:04:25

a feeling that after suffering shame

1:04:27

shame and disgrace of serving a

1:04:29

prison sentence, may have may have been

1:04:31

more tempted to move away to Bonnie

1:04:33

Scotland under a completely different identity,

1:04:35

leaving the shadow of the of the Charlesworth

1:04:37

in England. in Such a move

1:04:39

would of course now make it

1:04:41

nigh on to figure out how exactly

1:04:43

Violet Charlesworth spent the rest of

1:04:45

her life, but I hope that

1:04:47

any wealthy investors of the any

1:04:49

kept their wallets firmly in their

1:04:51

pockets kept ever bumped into an elegant

1:04:53

if they ever in Scotland an claimed into

1:04:55

be an on the verge of inheriting

1:04:57

a vast fortune from Lord Angus

1:04:59

verge of being an of the tartan realm,

1:05:02

in of the who claimed beyond the verge inheriting a

1:05:04

vast fortune from Lord Angus Burns, guardian of the glens and keeper

1:05:06

and keeper of the Highland winds. And that is where we end

1:05:08

today's episode. Thank you so much for being here. and I'll see

1:05:10

you next time. Angus

1:05:15

of Winds.