The Shadow State 51 Scroll and Key Pt. 1

1:03:21 · recorded 2025-08-15 · ▶ watch on Rumble

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0:20 with Warhamster Brady, and we're going to focus today on Squirrel and Key. How are you doing, Brady? If I was doing any better, it would be a sin. I love that line. I stole that one from the movie. I don't remember the movie that was from, but it was good. Doing great. This is fun. We spent, what, the last 30 or so weeks going through the Secret Society skull and bones and pointed out that they are pretty darn nefarious, and I guess the thesis is if you wanted...

0:50 to have a secret society that put its people in the corridors of power throughout commerce diplomacy espionage and business and politics you would probably act exactly like skull and bones has acted for the last 190 years and we made a pretty good case that's true that's the case um there's two other real big of the oldest secret societies on yale's campus um one of which is wolf's head

1:19 which we know very little about. There's a few alumni we know about, and they're not really special. There's no printed lists. But we also have Scroll and Key. We've got a lot more information on Scroll and Key. It's the second oldest, and some say the wealthiest, of the secret societies at Yale. Interesting little factoid. Both Harvard and Princeton pretty much banished secret societies from their campuses in the 1870s. And I think Harvard, for a while, didn't even allow Greek letter.

1:49 And there's a difference between a secret society and the Greek fraternities and sororities. We're not going to go into that too deep. But Skrull and Key is interesting. My thesis, after really going through it, is that they've had a lot of very influential alumni, but it is not the cloak and dagger system that Skrull and Bones is. And I think when you juxtapose them next to each other,

2:19 it even emphasizes how nefarious skull and bones is fair enough fair enough all right so what do we know about scrolling key i am going to share my oops let me get it queued up here a little better okay scroll and key is founded in 1842 that's 10 years after stolen bones and there we go that is their symbol

3:04 Somebody made this. It's not actually their insignia. The scroll and the key. The reason they found it scroll and key is there was dispute over how the elections were done or selections for Skull and Bones. And so four guys in particular just sort of said, OK, we're going to do it our way. And the whole thing was they want to challenge the status quo. The problem with Skull and Bones, of course, was that it favored people who came from prestigious families.

3:35 Think we demonstrated that pretty well? Yes, we did. Well, these guys called it elitist and exclusionary. And in their own words, they yearn for society that valued merit and intellectual curiosity above all else. Well, we definitely did not get that with Skull and Bones. No, it's very crystal clear. This is a contrast. Skull and Bones is all about who you know.

4:05 scrolling key is making the case that it's what you know is more important. And that's really the contrast here. And, you know, it was a profound statement of their principle and their vision. So the core values, the scroll represents knowledge and learning and is a testament to the society's dedication to academic excellence, not just who you went to high school with. Or boarding school. Exactly.

4:35 A lot of these, you're going to see some crossover further down the years. And these are Ivy League. These boarding schools are all grooming schools for the Ivy League. So you're going to see some of these people did go to those private boarding schools. But it's not as bad as you saw with Skull and Bones. So the key signifies access and understanding. And they say it underscored the importance of unlocking new realms of thought and discovery. So that's a.

5:09 that's a pretty good starting point for scroll and key i would think now whether they lived up to those ideals or not we'll see history will tell us um they did the same things 15 juniors get tapped every you know every spring to be the next year's class uh they had a different evaluation process it was supposed to be rigorous and holistic they look for personal character academic achievement leadership extracurricular activities and a dedication

5:37 to make it a positive impact on their community. What's missing from that? Bloodlines. Well, interestingly enough, and we'll get into this, although they're founded in 1842, they really don't have a lot of prominent members for about 20 or 30 years until they built their tomb. And we're just going to take a look at that real quick because I think this kind of hammers home the point. This is the tomb. Wow. Yeah.

6:17 So what do we know about the tomb? Built in 1869 by architect Richard Morris Hunt. Are you familiar with that name? I've heard that name, yes. I know you have because you have visited Newport, Rhode Island, just like I have recently. Yeah. So Hunt's one of the most famous architects in American history. He would be the co-founder of the American Institute of Architects and is the founding member of the National Sculpture Society.

6:49 What else did he do? Well, let's take a look. There's Mr. Richard Morris Hunt, born in 1827, died in 1895. So he is, do I have his history down here? Oh, yeah. Okay. So he's actually a descendant of founding father, Governor Morris, who's one of the two Morrises that are at the Philadelphia Convention. That's one of his ancestors.

7:23 Gets educated in Europe and becomes the first American to ever study architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts. That is the finest architectural school in the world. Yeah. Some of his works. He did the base for the Statue of Liberty. And that is a very intricate building I think a lot of us have visited. Yes. That's this guy's work. He did the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. And whose money paid for that?

8:02 uh the gilded age yeah the robber barons then of course he gets newport rhode island and he builds the breakers now this is done in i just visited there two weeks ago um and it is gorgeous and it is gaudy and it is decadent i have all kinds of interior pictures of the breakers yeah so do i we'll we'll have to share those when we do our thing on the vanderbilt um it is crazy

8:32 The ceilings are just like clouds and ceilings, the ornate work on everything. It's amazing. It's very impressive. Not a small house. That was built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Also on Newport, Rhode Island is Marble House, finished in 1892 for William K. Vanderbilt. If you're going to Newport, those are the first. Go ahead.

9:04 I was going to say, those are the first two houses you have to see in Newport, Rhode Island. I just got back from there. I hit the both of those. They're beautiful. And what was the marble house designed to replicate? Oh, it's a building. Shoot, I didn't take them down to my notes. Go ahead. The Palace of Versailles in France. Yeah. Because I had visited the Palace of Versailles in France a couple of times. And when I walked in those doors.

9:35 with my daughter and my husband, the very first thing out of my mouth and the lady that you get your tour tickets from was sitting over to the right-hand side was, holy crap, this looks like the Palace of Versailles in miniature. And her mouth dropped open and she goes, how did you know that? And I said, because I've been there. And she said, that's what this is modeled after. And it does look like a mini version of the Palace of Versailles. I got in trouble.

10:05 at the marble house for correcting the tour guide on some of the history on the vanderbilts my wife wants this of course you did you got to get it right especially when you do it for a living but it was they weren't they didn't get too mad at me all right so that's another vanderbilt house this one here is called ochre court and this same same architect he's a busy guy this is built in 1892 for a guy by the name of ogden golay

10:38 Not a household name, but he should have been. He inherited his father's wealth and just ran his real estate empire. He was a businessman. He was a socialite. He's a yachtsman. He's a member of the elite status of the Club of 400. And, of course, his wife marries Cornelius Vanderbilt III. Next building we have is Belcourt Castle. This is built in 1894 for Oliver Belmont.

11:10 This guy's father came to America a few decades earlier as an agent of the Rothschild banking family. And if you've heard of the Belmont Stakes, one of the Triple Crown races, that's named after Oliver's father, August. So another high society, which is what you'd expect when you build a house like this. And these houses are just built to show off their status. We've got the Chateau Surmer, which he did the 1870s remodel.

11:43 This is built for the Wetmore family, and we discussed the Wetmores because they've had several bonesmen, a lot of more senators and house members from Rhode Island. That's the Wetmore family's home. And, of course, we can't forget the Biltmore Estate, the largest private house in American history in North Carolina, also built by Hunt. And if you go through this house, which I did on the same trip we went through,

12:16 Vanderbilt's house up in Rhode Island. This house, and I have a lot of pictures of this house too, both inside and out. There's all kinds of little ghoul and goblin things. It is very freaky on the outside. There's a big stable over to the right-hand side in that picture.

12:41 And off to the left-hand side and down a little hill is this ginormous garden and greenhouse with all kinds of crazy plants. And I have pictures of all of that. So we'll go through that when we get to it. But that is an amazing place. Yeah, it is impressive. And obviously, nobody lives there anymore. Most of these houses, nobody lives there anymore.

13:08 now have been donated to historical preservation societies so the public can uh go visit them anytime i got the season pass the yearly pass for uh newport because there's so many more houses i want to see so we're going to go back several more times in the next year this of course was built for george washington vanderbilt the third or second where's he george washington vanderbilt the second so a lot of vanderbilt um there's one more worth looking at

13:37 Oops, I didn't grab it. The Elbridge T. Gary Mansion. All the talk about gerrymandering. This is the guy who started it was Elbridge Gary. It's not gerrymandering people. It's Gary. It's hard G. He's one of the founding fathers was at the Philadelphia Convention. When they looked at the map of Massachusetts, they said this thing looks like a darn salamander. There's such a winding district. And that's where the term gerrymandering came from. So I bring all this up. Why are we talking about architecture? Well.

14:09 Give me one second, see if I can get back to where I'm trying to be. Follow your little line back there. There we go. We went through that little architectural journey to point something out. This is a relatively young secret society on Yale's campus. And we start going through the people who were involved in the early decades. None of them are very prominent, nor are they extremely wealthy. Yet they're able to hire the most expensive architect in the world.

14:52 to build their tomb. And that's a big mystery. So let's talk about the tomb itself. It's located on High Street on the Yale campus. It's designed in the Egyptian revival style, which contrasts with the Gothic architecture of the whole university. It's got a windowless exterior, which they say exudes a sense of secrecy. You've got the bronze entry doors with geometric designs, suggestions of Masonic origins.

15:28 although we don't see a whole lot of that later on. They've got hieroglyphics, which add to the mystery. And here's a quote, a guy by the name of Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg. He writes that up until as of recent a date as 1860, Keyes had a great difficulty in making up its crowd, rarely being able to secure the full 15 upon the night of giving out its elections. That changed when they built the tomb, and it became a legitimate rival to Skull and Bones.

16:00 So the question I ask again is, where did the money come from? Okay. There are, last count, about 41 secret societies on the Yale's campus. Interestingly enough, they are all registered with the IRS as charitable organizations, 501c3s. Why does that matter? Well, because they've got to file taxes, and we get some information on them. You've probably read, and other people who've looked at Skoll and Key have said that

16:37 It's the wealthiest of the secret societies. Okay. Nobody ever asked, what's that based on? Well, I found it. I tracked it down. Follow the money. Somewhat. Okay, here it is. Business Insider. Let me blow this up a little bit. Track down some of the, it says Yale secret societies often seem shrouded in mystery. They are bastions of influence and intrigue that hold among their members some of the world's most powerful people.

17:25 And then they talked about 501c3 and how they tracked down the seven biggest of these secret societies, what their endowments or their trusts, how much they had in there. And that's how they're measuring the wealth of the secret society, which is absolutely a ridiculous criteria. There's many other ways to determine the wealth of it. But the amount of money they have in their bank accounts, there's something called St. Elmo, got $90,000.

17:52 Founded in 1889, its notable alumni include HBO's girls actress Alison Williams and former U.S. attorney John Ashcroft. So that's it. That's not a rival to Skull and Bones. Agreed? Yes. Another one with about $2 million is something called Berzelius. And it files its taxes under something called the Colony Foundation. Berzelius, founded in 1848. Notable alumni is Bill DeWitt III, the president of the St. Louis Cardinals. Okay.

18:23 Not quite Skull and Bones, is it? No. Skull and Bones only has $4 million in the Russell Trust. RTA Inc. is the Russell Trust Association. Russell was one of the founders of Skull and Bones back in the 1830s. He used to put all the business inside the Russell Trust. And, of course, we know the dozens and dozens of very famous, prominent alumni of Skull and Bones. But apparently they only have $4 million in the trust. Something called the Elizabethan Club, $4.2 million.

18:56 it's found in 1911 describes itself as a social club and members dedicate their time to the discussion of arts and literature of elizabethan era notable members include cole porter the famed composer and songwriter now if you're at yale university and skull and bones taps you on the shoulder and these elizabethan club people tap you on the shoulder which one are you going to go to if you all right here's another prominent one known as book and snake found in 1863 um

19:27 Doesn't really give us what it's for, but their alumni include Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Harvard professor, and Charles Rivkin, the current assistant secretary of state. So, again, not too exciting. Wolf said, one of the big three, it has a reputation primarily of tapping the prep school type and was the last all-male society. Most notable alumni was hedge fund magnate Tom Steyer.

19:59 Again, we don't know too much more about Wolf's Head. We don't have a roster of its members. And then, of course, the scrolling key that has the most money in our bank accounts, so they're called the wealthiest. But I would say that's probably a misnomer. Would you not agree? Yeah, that's weird. Yeah, yeah. There's no real explanation for it. And I haven't dug through the taxes myself, whether that's always been the case, whether that was just a snapshot for one year. But I still want to ask a mystery. Who came up with all the money to build it?

20:34 The scrolling key tomb. Well, let's take a look at their founders. Okay. Let's go a little bit more before we go into the founders. They have some traditions. At the close of Thursday and Sunday sessions, the members go out on the front steps of the tomb and they sing a song called Troubadour. Well, I made a mistake of looking up the Troubadour. And I'm going to play it. Okay.

21:08 And you are going to stop me as soon as you can't take it anymore because this thing is bloody awful. This is awful to my ears. Make sure you can hear it. You can hear it? Yes. All right. I'm going to go to full screen. Gay the troubadour touched his guitar when he was hastening home from the war. Singing from Palestine.

21:55 All right, that's all I can take. Okay, now the difference between you and I, Brady, is I grew up listening to that music. So I could listen to that song the whole time. That's the music my parents played at home. So obviously you did not grow up with that.

22:15 But even just that little bit that you played, they're talking about coming home from war. Yeah, I read through the lyrics. I couldn't really detect any real meaning to it. I mean, there's got to be something in there. I could repost the lyrics. I have them somewhere around here. I find that interesting. Here, hang on a second. Let me see if I can find it. That's okay. We can do it later. No, I should have really quickly. It is weird that the people that...

22:48 promote us going to war would adopt a song about coming home from war as basically heroes okay gailey the troubadour touched his guitar when he was hastening home from the war sing from palestine hither i come lady love lady love welcome me home she for the troubadour hopelessly wept sadly she thought of him while others slept singing in search of the would i might roam

23:19 Troubadour, Troubadour, come to thy home. Hark, towards the Troubadour, breathing her name. Under the battlements softly he came, singing from Palestine, hither I come. Lady love, lady love, welcome me home. Palestine? I thought that place didn't exist. But my whole point about this is, can you imagine you're a college kid, 21 years old, and you've got to do this twice a week with 14-year-old brothers, go out on their front steps and sing this song week after week after week. It's got to have some meaning. I couldn't decipher it.

23:53 All right. They signed their letters with the symbols C.S.P. and CCJ. We don't officially know what that means. The speculation out there is that CSP stands for Collegium Sanctum Petrae in Latin, which would be the College of the Sacred Rock. And CCI would be Collegium Custodium Justitiae, which would be College of the Keepers of Justice.

24:25 that's part of their symbolism they hold biannual events called a z session not too much is known of those here's a fun one the members sign letters to each other y-i-t which we believe stands for yours in the tomb skull and bone signs their letters yours in 322 which is of course the skull and bones masonic symbol in my fraternity we had something similar where we

24:55 yours in a i can't i'm not going to give away the secrets because you were sworn to secrecy but i think that's very common to have special letters to identify your brothers in the fraternal organization so do you know what the date of that song is from yeah i do um 1951 was when it was released uh the song's written in 1820s and but the tennessee ernie ford version of it

25:26 I did have that. I don't have it handy, but he made it. It's 1956. Oh, I, okay. This says 1951, but okay. That's where he may have done it more than once, but the recording we just played was from his album from 1956. Okay. Oh, I guess it was released as a single in 51. There you go. And I never have to hear that song again for the rest of my life. All right. So let's get into the founders. Shall we? Okay. Back to our screen share.

26:10 Say back to our Miro board. Scrolling Keys founders. We're going to feature four of these guys that pretty much did most of the heavy lifting. And again, the story was they didn't like the way Skull and Bones was doing things. So they decided to start their own and base it on merit. The first guy we have is a John Addison Porter, class of 1842. What's great about him? Let's talk about him a little bit. Born in Catskill, New York. Graduated Yale 1842.

26:47 Becomes a professor at Delaware College until 1847. Moves to Germany and studies at University of Geisen. Comes back in 1850. Becomes a professor at Brown University. And then in 1852 becomes a professor of chemistry at Yale. The Yale Scientific School would later be called the Sheffield Scientific School, which is named after his wife's maiden name. He's the namesake for what's called the John Addison Porter Prize.

27:24 And that is a literary award given to Yale, given by Yale to the best work of scholarship in any field where it is possible, this is a quote, where it's possible through original effort to gather and relate facts or principles or both and to present the results in such a literary form as to make the product of general human interest. That sounds like a pretty holistic academic career and award.

27:51 There has nothing to do with all the SPI stuff we usually talk about. Would you agree? Yes. I read through the list of all the people that have won that John Addison Porter Prize. Nobody really notable that shows up in our cloak and dagger stories, but there were two people from the Thatcher family, Thacker, T-H-A-C-H-E-R, which we've run into multiple times, including skull and bones. John would die in 1866 at the age of 44.

28:28 Yeah, this is the guy who came up with scroll and key, came up with those lofty ideals, and apparently lived a life that shows it that he actually meant it, purely scholarly. And he was a professor of chemistry? Yeah. But again, that's not the normal people we feature. We look for people that are, oh, I don't know, a little bit more insidious. Nothing on his records indicates that he had anything to do with politics or intrigue at all. Okay, our next guy.

29:02 It's going to be Leonard Case Jr., a co-founder. Born in... Nice mutton chops, huh? Born in 1820 in Cleveland, Ohio. I just visited the Infantry Museum here at Fort Benning. And one of the things that you notice about people from this era is the hair and the long sideburns. It was just interesting to note the...

29:36 They all look like that. It was an interesting fashion statement. Okay, this guy comes from, born in Cleveland, Ohio. His father is a prominent lawyer in Ohio. Who else do we know from Ohio? People like, I don't know, the Rockefellers and all these people out of Cincinnati, the Tafts, et cetera. Don't see any connection to them with the cases. His brother, William Case, was once the mayor of Cleveland. Leonard Case Jr. Go ahead. Yeah, well, ties to Cleveland.

30:11 is very interesting just as a note yeah so he graduates from yale with honors in mathematics and languages then he goes back to ohio and goes to cincinnati law school in 1844 goes and works for his father's law firm and a lot of what they were doing was they owned property down in cleveland and there were some lawsuits they were involved with a big settlement and he was involved in that that was most of his legal work

30:49 He stays out of political life altogether for the most part. He goes and builds in finances where it is now the Cleveland City Hall. He would lease it to the city. And one of the things he had in his will says, how to dispose of this property so that it shall most benefit the city has given me much concern. But on one thing I am determined, not a dollar of it shall, so far as I can help, go into the hands of politicians to be mismanaged and wasted.

31:24 let's make that a banner so this guy like a sort of uh anti skull and bones at this point yeah leonard yeah leonard would never marry uh he was absolutely devoted to academic affairs that was his life he would then on his death would endow the what's called the case school of applied science with a 1.25 million dollar endowment and that case school

31:54 later merges it's now what we know is the case western reserve university which has a pretty good reputation again nothing nefarious right right all right let's go to our next founder gotta be somebody interesting in this founding class right well i'm going to come back to one of them but keep going all right this is theodore runyon class of 1842 he's born in 1822 in somerville new jersey uh descendant from huguenots

32:38 He'd get admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1846 and practice law in Newark until the Civil War. He then becomes a brigadier general in the New Jersey Militia. How does that work? These lawyers who probably haven't fired a gun in 20 years get to be officers? Yeah. I mean, that's consistently what we saw with these state militias in the Civil War. I don't know if it's the wealthier families protecting their sons to make sure they're officers as opposed to grunts.

33:11 Finally, this guy becomes a brigadier general pretty quick. He commanded the 4th Division of the Northeastern Virginia in 1861, but he was held in reserve during the Battle of Bull Run and never really saw much combat. 1864, he goes back to Newark and is the mayor for a few years, becomes the president of the Manufacturers National Bank of Newark, and then the chancellor of the state of New Jersey for 14 years. Without any explanation, in 1893,

33:51 Grover Cleveland appoints him the U.S. ambassador to the newly formed country of Germany. Now, what about his background leads you to believe he's qualified to be an ambassador to Germany? That's interesting. Yeah, I couldn't come up with an answer. I tried like four different search engines and AIs. Nobody really knows. So if someone finds it, let me know. He dies in Germany three years later, and that's the end of his story.

34:28 I mean, I'm sure he has some academic connections, but there you go. All right, the last of our four founders is a guy by the name of William Laffrop Kingsley. He's so famous, there's no pictures of him exist on the internet. So I pulled up the guy to the Kingsley Memorial Collection, which is named after him. He's born in 1824 in New Haven, Connecticut. His father was a Yale professor.

35:03 He's the namesake for the Kingsley Trust Association, which is the trust that runs the money for Skrull and Key. I have no idea why he got that honor. It didn't seem like he had a ton of money. His dad was just a professor. But there you go. After Yale, he goes to Yale Law School and then spends three years at Divinity School. Spends time in Europe and in ministry roles in Ohio.

35:41 Then from 1857 to 1892, he becomes the editor and the proprietor of a periodical called The New Englander. And this is a prominent literary and theological periodical. He didn't get much monetary reward for it. Basically, his life's work is putting out papers about life in New England. He would go on to author a comprehensive history of Yale College in 1879.

36:13 I bet that's probably worth reading. This Kingsley Memorial Collection you're seeing on the screen is basically all of his writings put into one collection. And where is it held at? It's at Yale University. So apparently he was a very notorious writer. I guess his epitaph says his legacy reflects a deep devotion to scholarship, faith, and Yale's intellectual life. So those are the four main founders. A lot of the other people, the other group of that 11, don't even have a Wikipedia.

36:52 bio they just weren't that prominent so you wanted to go back to one what do you have john addison porter so let me tell you what my takeaway of what you just presented this appears to be you know how kind of the the takeaway from skull and bones is the string pullers up here and this seems to be the technocrat

37:25 level of this that maybe didn't warrant the top 15 slots. But if you go back to John Addison Porter, he built the original Sheffield Scientific School Laboratory. And did you come across this Sheffield Scientific School? I did. Okay. And if you look at that,

37:56 He also wrote a manual called First Steps in Chemical Analysis. And if you look into that school in New Haven, Connecticut, it basically dealt with what we would call today modern day engineering. It was financed by a railroad magnate, Joseph Sheffield.

38:25 goes on and talks about civil and mechanical engineering, military drawing, and experimental physics. And some of the people that were involved in like precious metal, like how you find it, the technology for that, and physiological chemistry.

38:55 were involved in that. And I noticed that a couple of the others here had ties to Sheffield too. So I find it interesting, like William Wrigley Jr. of the Wrigley family was a graduate of Sheffield. And that school produced a lot of the technocrats that worked for the railroad magnets.

39:26 So they also created the mining engineers that worked for the Carnegies and the Kaisers and those types of people. So this almost seems to me to be like the next level down of people that are more the hands-on, if you will, the applied science version of them. That's just my takeaway.

39:54 Yeah, again, I think it has to do with, you know, how they initiate people. You know, the skull and bones is always about connections. These guys are very academic, academically focused. Now, as we go on through the years and scrolling key gets a little bit more prominent, you're going to see some names that interact with some of our skull and bones. And you'll know some of the names. We'll have a couple of big ones coming in a little bit. But these early years, there's really nothing. The 1850s.

40:24 40s and 50s, there's almost no mention of anybody with a wiki page worth talking about. You have one mayor of Chicago who was a U.S. rep and another guy, Homer Sprague, was the president of the University of North Dakota. That doesn't excite anybody. I do have a couple of interesting ones from the 1850s. Yeah, let's do that. So the 1850s, we've got a couple guys. One, Randall Lee Gibson, and I spelled it wrong. My apologies. Just caught that. He's class of 1853.

41:05 This is a fun story. Born in 1832 in Kentucky, his great-great-grandfather was a guy by the name of Gideon Gibson. Gideon Gibson was a free man of color who married a white woman and owned land and owned slaves. That's his ancestor. His family moves to Louisiana when he's a kid, and he would, after Yale, end up going to law school at the University of Louisiana, which is now Tulane University. Civil War breaks out.

41:39 He's in the South, so guess who he fights for? The South. He's a colonel in the 13th Louisiana Infantry. By 1864, he becomes a brigadier general. He fought in the Atlanta Campaign. Why is that a big deal? What's the Atlanta Campaign? Yeah, they burned it to the ground. Yeah, that's Sherman's March. They just got fighting against that. And I don't care if you're pro-North or what have you. Sherman was a butcher because they're burning women and children to the ground.

42:11 and really set the stage for reconstruction. This is a military occupation for the next 12 years, what the North did to the South, and was it by imperial powers. Doesn't matter how you feel about Civil War, that is an absolute fact that the North was brutal on that march. He would also, okay, he gets assigned to the defense of Mobile, Alabama, and there's something called the Spanish Fort Siege, where he actually pretty brilliantly held his men.

42:44 in the fort to the very last second when north got there and he got everyone out at the last minute so he was given a lot of military accolades for that he'd get captured at cuba station alabama in may 1865 and was pardoned in 1866. what was he pardoned for well they didn't say because he can't say he was pardoned for sedition because they couldn't legally prove that secession was illegal so it's interesting

43:19 But I'm not going to relitigate the Civil War on this show. So then, 1874, he gets elected to the House of Representatives. And he had a famous bill which sponsored the levies and improvements of the Mississippi River Bill, which actually did a lot for building our infrastructure up and down the Mississippi. Became a U.S. Senator in 1883 and died in office in 1892. So interesting life, huh?

43:47 It also says that while he was in Congress, he served on the Committee for Armed Forces and framed the early plans for the modern-day U.S. Navy. That would be the right time for that, huh? Oh, yeah. Hey, he's in there right when the Office of Naval Intelligence is invented. Yeah. Just to bring up a fun subject. Yes. Do you want to tell the audience what that's all about? No. I talked about it yesterday on the show. We all know.

44:19 The distinction between military intelligence and the CIA, we know the difference. Apparently this guy does too. So that's Randall Gibson. Again, a guy with a bio like this when we're doing Skull and Bones, I wouldn't have even mentioned him. There's just nothing nefarious there, besides being a politician, I guess. All right, our next guy is the guy by the name of George Shiraz Jr., 1853. Got the mutton chops going again.

44:54 This guy's interesting. Born in 1832 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Starts out at Ohio University and then transfers to Yale where he gets tapped for scrolling key. Yeah. You don't see that very often. But again, this is not a guy who comes from it's more of a blue collar guy. Right. Right. And that's kind of the theme here that I'm seeing. This is like the the competent technocrat class. But go ahead.

45:25 The problem with that description is I always use technocrat in a negative terminology. You're giving it more benign meaning than I like to do. So I agree with your idea. We just need to find another term that reconciles with my bias against technocrats. Well, we could call them the blue collar version of Skull and Bones. But you also don't see a whole lot of networking like you do in Skull and Bones. It's like the scrolling key is just really just sort of an academic credential, less than a network. You don't see that early on at all.

45:54 yeah where skull bones you saw the intermarriages of the family from day one yeah that's true yeah so it's a totally different culture here there's the old money and the bright guys are smart enough fun to get into school on their own merit without having that you know but again without the smart people below them they have no power of course that's the praetorian guard it's always been that way yeah yeah and i think this maybe we should call them the praetorian guard then um

46:22 the academic version of the praetorian card because these are the smart people the the chemists the um yeah so um the military guy who designs the modern day navy these are the the worker bee versions of but go ahead okay so starts at ohio u gets to yale gets tapped he starts law school at yale and then leaves and finishes his law training

46:50 Under a law office, you could do that apprenticeship. He would practice law in a place called Dubuque, Iowa, from 1855 to 1858. And then he moved to Pittsburgh and practiced from 1858 to 1892. So, nice little 34-year career in Pittsburgh. 1992, he gets nominated by President Harrison to be a Supreme Court Justice. Now, how does a Pittsburgh lawyer get that?

47:22 It kind of helps when your third cousin is the Secretary of State, Joseph B. Bradley. That's who recommended him to Harris, and then he becomes a Supreme Court justice. Here's where it gets, well, you got to go into him on the Supreme Court, because this is fun stuff, and I can't skip over this part of history. There are two major decisions that he was part of, and he was on the right side of one of them, and I would say the wrong side of the other. First one is a case called Pollock.

47:55 versus Farmers Loan and Trust Company at 1895. Why is that important? Well, this is all about the income tax. And I'm going to get a little wonky here. So Congress, the Constitution does not allow for an income tax. And the language is very specific. It has to do with apportionment. It has to be all taxes to Congress levies has to be levied, paid by the state in a portion with their representation in Congress. So the more Congress people you get, the more you pay in taxes. The fewer congressmen you get, the less your taxes are.

48:27 This was the balance they did at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, a balance between the big states and the small states. Fine, you get more representation, you pay more. Fair enough? Yes. They debated that ad nauseum in Philadelphia. But the key is that it was apportioned to the state for them to pay, not people. There was no direct income tax allowed. Correct. Under the Constitution.

48:56 Civil War comes up and Congress passes the Revenue Act of 1861, which was basically 3% tax on income of anyone making over $800 a year. That's about $28,000 today. I'd be okay with a 3% tax. I probably would not throw tea into the harbor with a 3% tax, although the founding fathers would have. So that's our first direct income tax in Civil War, and that pays about one-fifth of the government's revenue for the war. Because it was an emergency measure, that income tax got repealed in 1872.

49:31 This is Reconstruction period. This is the Gilded Age. This is everything going on in the 1870s, 80s, and 90s. We pretty much have single-party rule in D.C. Those are the Republicans. The robber barons are making a lot of money, a lot of it on what we call federally funded internal improvements, which requires federal funds. So they decided to come up with another tax in 1894. This is called the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which created...

49:59 decreased tariffs, which was great for the businesses, and increased, created direct tax on everyone else. This is our big multinational corporations shifting their taxes onto us. This creates an unapportioned direct tax. This goes to the Supreme Court pretty quickly. And Mr. Shiras Jr. votes with majority in a 5-4 opinion that overturns the act. No income tax. It is unconstitutional. The Chief Justice writes the opinion. It's got the name of Melville Fuller.

50:33 And he writes, the federal tax on income derived from property is unconstitutional when not apportioned among the states according to representation in the House. As we just said. Yes, that's the Constitution. Yeah, who wants the income tax? People that want to suck at the government's teat. And also socialists. So much so that the Socialist Labor Party has been advocating for a graduated income tax since 1887. All of that gets overturned.

51:05 with the 16th Amendment in 1913, which gives us the direct tax. And I think I should probably read the 16th Amendment real quick because I got it up here. There it is. Somehow, we got three-quarters of the states to agree to this. The Congress shall have the power to lay and hold and collect taxes on incomes from whatever source derived without apportionment among several states and without any regard to any census or enumeration.

51:46 And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we stop being free people. 100%. Yeah. And we've been at war ever since. Yes, we have. Because the government now has almost unlimited funds. Correct. And the people who suck at the teeth of the government, who we like to, you know, the Hamiltonians, the Lincolnians, the robber barons, who've made all their fortunes, a lot of it with taxpayer, out of tax dollars, now have more dollars to go to. And now they're sitting at the foundations and the think tanks.

52:17 and in the political purposes to direct where this new tax dollar is going to go because now they've already cemented their position and that's how our country was stolen was right there so i think that's kind of important case that he was on and he voted the right way he did he got it right uh the court's holding regarding taxation of interest income was later overruled in 1988 south carolina versus bakers now you get taxed on interest unless municipal bonds something we need to fix

52:49 Another really famous case was Plessy v. Ferguson. 1896. The Supreme Court rules that legal segregation laws do not violate the Constitution. This creates the, quote, separate but equal doctrine and legitimized the Jim Crow laws. The Supreme Court ruled 7-1 against Plessy. That's the creator of this ruling. And Saras is one of the people that voted for.

53:24 Plessy. I voted for the judgment. He's in the majority. So who's Plessy? This is a fun story. He's a mixed race man and he boarded a whites only train car in New Orleans. They had white cars and colored cars. That violates Louisiana. It's called the Separate Car Act of 1890, which dictated equal but separate railroad accommodations. Plessy gets charged for the crime.

53:59 And appeals it. Governor John Howard Ferguson, that's the Ferguson in there, denies his request to dismiss the charges as unconstitutional. So it gets to the Supreme Court. They issue a 7-1 decision. And in the quote, they say the 14th Amendment established legal equality. It did not and could not require elimination of all distinctions based upon color. That would not be very popular today.

54:33 Interestingly, that decision in Plessy versus Ferguson has never been overturned. The Brown versus Board of Education of 1954 weakened Plessy, but it did not overturn it. So legally, the Plessy versus Ferguson ruling is in some ways still on the books to this very day. Yeah. So a little fascinating career. But again, getting to the Supreme Court is a big deal. But is there anything you see there that's a little bit skull and bonesy at all? No. Really don't.

55:09 Shiraz dies in 1903 in Pittsburgh. He retired from SCOTUS right before dying. Interestingly enough, he's got a son named George Shiraz III, who served in Congress from Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1905. His son came from the Phillips Academy in Andover, grooming school, went to Cornell undergrad and then Yale Law. And George Shiraz III was an avid photographer.

55:43 and naturalist. And National Geographic calls him the father of wildlife photography. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. So, well, I think it went a little quicker than I thought. You know, really, that's just to set the baseline for who Skull and Keys is. And again, I think that may change as time goes on and to get more notoriety. But it appears to me that they were founded for pretty holistic reasons to be the antithesis of Skull and Bones.

56:14 Yeah, you've not convinced me that they're the antithesis. But they are definitely not as nefarious. Yeah. It's still a lovely club. It just does not appear to be as inbred. Correct. We'll get to the 1860s. There's really nothing exciting in the 1860s. They really don't start taking off until that tomb is built. And then you start getting some fun names. And we'll get to those next week.

56:45 I don't want to jump ahead yet, but the 1860s, I'm not even bothered with an entry. One congressman is listed. And again, we don't have a full roster of Skrull and Key like we did for a bunch of decades of Skull and Bones. Most of what we know is people that wrote in their own memoirs. I was in Skrull and Key and some other observations. It's been gathered by historians through a lot of years. Skull and Bones, we got lucky because of Charlotte Izzard.

57:16 That's all I really had prepared for today. That's awesome. It's perfect. One hour show and you finished within three minutes of it. Okay. So we're going to continue on obviously with this series and we anticipate another two shows on Skull and Key. Yeah. Skull and Key. Skull and Key. Skull and Key. Yeah. Now you've got me doing it.

57:44 I think it might be two. It's almost a tongue twister. It may be two or three shows. It depends on how much depth we want to go into. We're going to be repeating a few things on some of the people. We're definitely going to have an entire show dedicated to the Vanderbilts. I can't wait for that one. It's a little bit off our normal theme, but it's not. We'll tie it together.

58:11 The way the Vanderbilt's actually the rise and fall, all that good stuff. Yes. But again, there's some other great names. And, you know, a good friend, Dr. DeProgram, has done a lot of homework on the Auchincloss family. And I've told I've told her we're going to do a high level view of them because they're involved with scrolling key later on. But I'm not going to do the deep dive in the Auchincloss because she's done the homework and I don't want to steal her thunder. But we will point you in that direction. Yeah. So that's my caveat. I'm not going to go as deep as we would normally into that family because it's a fun one.

58:41 And again, that's I just don't think it's right. Her video is not ready. And I don't want to steal someone else's homework. And when she does her video, it's her prerogative. Fair enough. Yes, absolutely. She's an amazing researcher. Yeah, I got to watch the five minute preview of the video she's putting together. And my wife watched it as well. We absolutely we can't wait for her to get done. I mean, it's it's a she starts out telling some of her story and I'll leave it at that.

59:08 Yeah, and you guys need to keep her in your prayers. She is going through some very interesting things right now, so please keep Dr. DeProgram in your prayers. And we should tell everyone how to find her channel. I have that real handy, so give me one second. Bear with me. Yeah, she's on X as well. She interfaces with Warhamster and I quite often.

59:40 But she is extremely busy right now. Yeah, it's Rebooted America is the Rumble channel. Rumble channel, Rebooted America. And she's good. It's really good stuff. But I can't do the stuff she does. No, she is very, very talented. So please go subscribe to her channel and like her videos and follow her on X. You will not be disappointed. She's amazing. Indeed, I agree 100%.

1:00:09 And she's at her Twitter is at rebooted America. All one word. Yeah. OK. All right. So we will see you next week. And it's going to be a very interesting week next week, because as all of the regulars know, Bridget and I are going to for the first time get to be able to do a show together because we're actually going to get to meet each other in Nashville.

1:00:39 So we're looking forward to that. And I will see everybody at our normal show at four o'clock this afternoon. You guys have a nice weekend. And thanks for being here, Brady, and bringing all the interesting facts about our history. And we had an architectural lesson today. No one expected that one.

1:01:03 And I'm really excited about the Vanderbilt so that we can show off the pictures for the people in the audience that have not had the opportunity to go through them. There is official photos, but in my opinion, they don't do a lot of the interior justice. And some of the real, and obviously I have a completely different perspective on what I find interesting that I take pictures of.

1:01:33 the breakers or is it the marble one that has the weird little Chinese thing out in the back? Was that the marble? That's marble house. Yeah. Um, completely out of character. You walk out the back veranda of the marble, um, mansion and tucked over on the right hand corner is this big Gotti Oriental garden looking thing. And I was like, what the heck is that? Um, but.

1:02:03 It was like where they went and had tea. It's right off by where the cliff is that goes down to the water. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, Chinese tea house. It's overlooking the water. So my wife and I stopped there and had a drink. There's a restaurant in there. And apparently when we build our dream house in Florida, I've got to build her a tea house smaller than that. But that's on our agenda now, thanks to that trip. And hopefully not that green color. Do you think I have a say in this? Yeah, I would.

1:02:33 mind having a tea house, but my tea house would look like the tea house on the island at Lake Tahoe. Have you been to Lake Tahoe? I lived there for two years. Okay, so you know the little tea house that I'm talking about on the little island at the south of the lake? That's my kind of tea house. That was beautiful. It was relaxing. It was calm and looking. That thing right there is, to me, hideous.

1:03:03 that's just me very good well until next until next time everybody cheers see you guys later

Entities here

Skull and Bones47 George Shiras Jr.12 Yale University9 Randall Lee Gibson8 John Addison Porter8 Richard Morris Hunt7 Supreme Court of the United States6 Leonard Case Jr.5 Rhode Island5 United States4 William Laffan Kingsley4 Theodore Runyon4 Wolf's Head Society3 Cleveland3 Sheffield Scientific School3 Plessy v. Ferguson3 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania3 Marble House3 Ohio3 American Civil War3 Vanderbilt family2 Harvard University2 New Jersey City2 Constitutional Convention 17872 Cincinnati2 Palace of Versailles2 New Haven, Connecticut2 Elizabethan Club2 Russell Trust Association1 Benjamin Harrison1 William Vanderbilt1 Battle of Bull Run1 Cornelius Vanderbilt Starr1 Auchincloss family1 Rothschild family1 John Ashcroft1 Cole Porter1 Brown University1 Italian Socialist Party1 Germany1

Claims made here

Richard Morris Hunt member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 6:17

“So what do we know about the tomb? Built in 1869 by architect Richard Morris Hunt. Are you familiar with that name? I've heard that name, yes. I know you have because you have visited Newport, Rhode I…”

Richard Morris Hunt founded The Breakers host_asserted ▶ 8:02

“uh the gilded age yeah the robber barons then of course he gets newport rhode island and he builds the breakers now this is done in i just visited there two weeks ago um and it is gorgeous and it is g…”

Richard Morris Hunt founded Marble House host_asserted ▶ 8:32

“The ceilings are just like clouds and ceilings, the ornate work on everything. It's amazing. It's very impressive. Not a small house. That was built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Also on Newpor…”

Marble House front_for Palace of Versailles host_asserted ▶ 9:04

“I was going to say, those are the first two houses you have to see in Newport, Rhode Island. I just got back from there. I hit the both of those. They're beautiful. And what was the marble house desig…”

Richard Morris Hunt founded Ochre Court host_asserted ▶ 10:05

“at the marble house for correcting the tour guide on some of the history on the vanderbilts my wife wants this of course you did you got to get it right especially when you do it for a living but it w…”

Richard Morris Hunt founded Belcourt Castle host_asserted ▶ 10:38

“Not a household name, but he should have been. He inherited his father's wealth and just ran his real estate empire. He was a businessman. He was a socialite. He's a yachtsman. He's a member of the el…”

August Belmont member_of Rothschild family host_asserted ▶ 11:10

“This guy's father came to America a few decades earlier as an agent of the Rothschild banking family. And if you've heard of the Belmont Stakes, one of the Triple Crown races, that's named after Olive…”

Richard Morris Hunt founded Chateau-sur-Mer host_asserted ▶ 11:10

Richard Morris Hunt founded Biltmore Estate host_asserted ▶ 11:43

“This is built for the Wetmore family, and we discussed the Wetmores because they've had several bonesmen, a lot of more senators and house members from Rhode Island. That's the Wetmore family's home. …”

Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg exposed Skull and Bones book_quoted ▶ 15:28

“although we don't see a whole lot of that later on. They've got hieroglyphics, which add to the mystery. And here's a quote, a guy by the name of Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg. He writes that up until as of re…”

Alison Williams member_of St. Elmo host_asserted ▶ 17:52

“Founded in 1889, its notable alumni include HBO's girls actress Alison Williams and former U.S. attorney John Ashcroft. So that's it. That's not a rival to Skull and Bones. Agreed? Yes. Another one wi…”

John Ashcroft member_of St. Elmo host_asserted ▶ 17:52

Berzelius front_for Colony Foundation host_asserted ▶ 17:52

Bill DeWitt III member_of Berzelius host_asserted ▶ 17:52

Cole Porter member_of Elizabethan Club host_asserted ▶ 18:56

“it's found in 1911 describes itself as a social club and members dedicate their time to the discussion of arts and literature of elizabethan era notable members include cole porter the famed composer …”

Henry Louis Gates Jr. member_of Book and Snake host_asserted ▶ 19:27

“Doesn't really give us what it's for, but their alumni include Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Harvard professor, and Charles Rivkin, the current assistant secretary of state. So, again, not too exciting.…”

Charles Rivkin member_of Book and Snake host_asserted ▶ 19:27

Tom Steyer member_of Wolf's Head Society host_asserted ▶ 19:27

John Addison Porter member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 26:10

“Say back to our Miro board. Scrolling Keys founders. We're going to feature four of these guys that pretty much did most of the heavy lifting. And again, the story was they didn't like the way Skull a…”

John Addison Porter member_of Delaware College host_asserted ▶ 26:47

“Becomes a professor at Delaware College until 1847. Moves to Germany and studies at University of Geisen. Comes back in 1850. Becomes a professor at Brown University. And then in 1852 becomes a profes…”

John Addison Porter member_of University of Giessen host_asserted ▶ 26:47

John Addison Porter member_of Brown University host_asserted ▶ 26:47

John Addison Porter member_of Yale University host_asserted ▶ 26:47

Leonard Case Jr. member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 29:02

“It's going to be Leonard Case Jr., a co-founder. Born in... Nice mutton chops, huh? Born in 1820 in Cleveland, Ohio. I just visited the Infantry Museum here at Fort Benning. And one of the things that…”

Leonard Case Jr. member_of Yale University host_asserted ▶ 30:11

“is very interesting just as a note yeah so he graduates from yale with honors in mathematics and languages then he goes back to ohio and goes to cincinnati law school in 1844 goes and works for his fa…”

Leonard Case Jr. member_of Case School of Applied Science host_asserted ▶ 31:24

“let's make that a banner so this guy like a sort of uh anti skull and bones at this point yeah leonard yeah leonard would never marry uh he was absolutely devoted to academic affairs that was his life…”

Theodore Runyon member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 31:54

“later merges it's now what we know is the case western reserve university which has a pretty good reputation again nothing nefarious right right all right let's go to our next founder gotta be somebod…”

William Laffan Kingsley member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 34:28

“I mean, I'm sure he has some academic connections, but there you go. All right, the last of our four founders is a guy by the name of William Laffrop Kingsley. He's so famous, there's no pictures of h…”

William Laffan Kingsley founded Kingsley Trust Association host_asserted ▶ 35:03

“He's the namesake for the Kingsley Trust Association, which is the trust that runs the money for Skrull and Key. I have no idea why he got that honor. It didn't seem like he had a ton of money. His da…”

William Laffan Kingsley headed The New Englander host_asserted ▶ 35:41

“Then from 1857 to 1892, he becomes the editor and the proprietor of a periodical called The New Englander. And this is a prominent literary and theological periodical. He didn't get much monetary rewa…”

John Addison Porter member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 36:52

“bio they just weren't that prominent so you wanted to go back to one what do you have john addison porter so let me tell you what my takeaway of what you just presented this appears to be you know how…”

John Addison Porter founded Sheffield Scientific School host_asserted ▶ 37:25

“level of this that maybe didn't warrant the top 15 slots. But if you go back to John Addison Porter, he built the original Sheffield Scientific School Laboratory. And did you come across this Sheffiel…”

Joseph Sheffield funded Sheffield Scientific School host_asserted ▶ 37:56

“He also wrote a manual called First Steps in Chemical Analysis. And if you look into that school in New Haven, Connecticut, it basically dealt with what we would call today modern day engineering. It …”

William Wrigley Jr. member_of Sheffield Scientific School host_asserted ▶ 38:55

“were involved in that. And I noticed that a couple of the others here had ties to Sheffield too. So I find it interesting, like William Wrigley Jr. of the Wrigley family was a graduate of Sheffield. A…”

Randall Lee Gibson member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 40:24

“40s and 50s, there's almost no mention of anybody with a wiki page worth talking about. You have one mayor of Chicago who was a U.S. rep and another guy, Homer Sprague, was the president of the Univer…”

Randall Lee Gibson carried_out_attack Atlanta Campaign host_asserted ▶ 41:39

“He's in the South, so guess who he fights for? The South. He's a colonel in the 13th Louisiana Infantry. By 1864, he becomes a brigadier general. He fought in the Atlanta Campaign. Why is that a big d…”

Randall Lee Gibson carried_out_attack Siege of Spanish Fort host_asserted ▶ 42:11

“and really set the stage for reconstruction. This is a military occupation for the next 12 years, what the North did to the South, and was it by imperial powers. Doesn't matter how you feel about Civi…”

Randall Lee Gibson pardoned United States host_asserted ▶ 42:44

“in the fort to the very last second when north got there and he got everyone out at the last minute so he was given a lot of military accolades for that he'd get captured at cuba station alabama in ma…”

Randall Lee Gibson founded Office of Current Intelligence host_asserted ▶ 43:47

“It also says that while he was in Congress, he served on the Committee for Armed Forces and framed the early plans for the modern-day U.S. Navy. That would be the right time for that, huh? Oh, yeah. H…”

George Shiras Jr. member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 44:54

“This guy's interesting. Born in 1832 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Starts out at Ohio University and then transfers to Yale where he gets tapped for scrolling key. Yeah. You don't see that very often. …”

Benjamin Harrison appointed George Shiras Jr. host_asserted ▶ 46:50

“Under a law office, you could do that apprenticeship. He would practice law in a place called Dubuque, Iowa, from 1855 to 1858. And then he moved to Pittsburgh and practiced from 1858 to 1892. So, nic…”

Joseph B. Bradley appointed George Shiras Jr. host_asserted ▶ 47:22

“It kind of helps when your third cousin is the Secretary of State, Joseph B. Bradley. That's who recommended him to Harris, and then he becomes a Supreme Court justice. Here's where it gets, well, you…”

George Shiras Jr. member_of Supreme Court of the United States host_asserted ▶ 47:22

George Shiras Jr. member_of Plessy v. Ferguson host_asserted ▶ 52:49

“Another really famous case was Plessy v. Ferguson. 1896. The Supreme Court rules that legal segregation laws do not violate the Constitution. This creates the, quote, separate but equal doctrine and l…”

George Shiras Jr. member_of Skull and Bones host_asserted ▶ 55:09

“Shiraz dies in 1903 in Pittsburgh. He retired from SCOTUS right before dying. Interestingly enough, he's got a son named George Shiraz III, who served in Congress from Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1905. …”