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  • - [] Fine.

  • Let's do it, bitches.

  • Let's do it.

  • (tense music)

  • - Hello.

  • Today, we're talking about Frances Cleveland,

  • wife of Grover Cleveland.

  • (militaristic march music)

  • So, like, basically, Grover Cleveland

  • gets elected President.

  • And he was just like a fat, lonely man

  • living alone in that White House.

  • He was like, "Okay, I'm in a very unique situation.

  • I'm not married.

  • And like, I need to shake this,

  • going to, like, be the First Lady."

  • Rose Cleveland, Grover's lesbian sister, was like,

  • "Let's invite the Emma Folsom lady

  • to a White House something."

  • Emma went to the White House, and everyone was like,

  • "I think he's going to marry Emma Folsom.

  • Like, that's going to be the way this shakes down."

  • Groves kinda saw Emma's daughter Frances,

  • beautiful 21-year-old girl.

  • And he was like, "How can I hit that?"

  • It was romantic.

  • He wound up being like,

  • "Let's just, you and me, take a little tour

  • of this White House situation."

  • He took her out to some balcony

  • that's all (beep) romantic or whatever.

  • And he was just like, "Look at this, like, look at this."

  • He's like, "I live in the most expensive house in America.

  • It's (beep) fabulous."

  • So she looked at it, and was like, "This is fabulous.

  • I could maybe see myself being the First Lady."

  • But then, Emma Folsom saw that Grover was jocking

  • on her daughter Frances.

  • She was like, "Okay.

  • Like, I think you're about to get with the guy that I like,

  • which is, like, bogus.

  • You just, like, get out of the country."

  • So she sends her to Europe for like one year

  • after her graduation.

  • But unbeknownst to her own damn self,

  • Grover Cleveland wrote Frances a letter and was like,

  • "Let's get married." (laughs)

  • Frances wrote back, like, "Yes, I will marry you."

  • It was like a Chloe and Lamar nine-day wedding situation

  • where they very quickly announced their engagement.

  • Grover was like,

  • "Frances is, like, gonna be the main bitch."

  • The press freaked out.

  • Grover was like, "Okay, well, I will be fully committed

  • to a certain woman.

  • I will be fully committed to a woman as my husband, wife.

  • (laughs) Wait, what was I saying?"

  • I didn't eat today. That's so bad.

  • - [Man] We need to get some food in you.

  • - Okay. Wait, let's see you.

  • Oh, honey, cute. I'm so proud of you.

  • One, place frog and nuggets. (laughs)

  • Okay.

  • Thank you. Thank you.

  • - [Man] What do you think?

  • - Killin' it.

  • So they did that, and the press was hounding.

  • This was the first time that some president married a girl

  • while he was in the White House.

  • She's kind of like an It girl.

  • Every time she was on a magazine cover,

  • they would move mad units.

  • It's like her image was really exploited,

  • and people were putting her everywhere,

  • everything from household cleaning products

  • to small personal items like pill boxes, wooden things,

  • because they felt that like,

  • "Yeah, this girl will sell (beep)."

  • But she is like, "Whatever.

  • You guys can, like, bastardize me

  • and turn me into all of these different commercial products.

  • Actually, I'm a college-educated woman. I'm put together.

  • And like, people are interested in me and in a way

  • that they haven't been interested in other First Ladies,

  • and I'm gonna, like, blow that up.

  • Like, if everyone's gonna be paying attention to me,

  • let's make sure they're paying attention to me

  • for the right reasons.

  • And by the way, I would like to be called Frank.

  • I mean, you can call me Frances, or you can call me Frank.

  • But mostly Frank."

  • - [Man] It's pretty cool girls saying

  • she wants to be called Frank.

  • - I mean, that's the thing is she is a down-ass bitch.

  • She's like, "Every single Saturday, I'm going to meet

  • with the working women of Washington."

  • And there will be lines forming outside of the White House.

  • Frances Cleveland saw two young girls

  • eating out of dumpster one day.

  • She's like, "That's not right. Like, this is not right."

  • And so, she started a charity called

  • The Home for Friendless Colored Girls.

  • "I'm gonna say, like, that's a brutal name for a charity."

  • (dog growling)

  • (shushes)

  • Can you be quiet? Wait one second.

  • Okay. That's good.

  • But she had all this (beep) going on.

  • So, Grover, he was like, "I don't want my wife, especially.

  • Women shouldn't bother their head with politics.

  • But like, especially my wife,

  • should not be bothering her head with politics, like, she."

  • Hold on, where's my lighter?

  • "Thank you."

  • She was the one that said, "Yeah, okay, like, yeah.

  • Okay, Groves, like, you're like,

  • you're telling me that I can't have a political opinion

  • or telling me whatever, but like, (beep) it.

  • These are my girls. Like, I'm gonna have these people.

  • I'm going to shake all of their hands.

  • I'm gonna hear their thoughts. I'm gonna hear their voices."

  • And she went out of her way to support women.

  • She was so charitable. She never stopped.

  • And on her very last day in the White House,

  • 23,000 people came up to meet her.

  • And she was like, "Thanks so much."

  • She's great. Honestly, I'm in love with her.

  • I think she's the greatest First Lady ever.

  • - [Man] Cheers.

  • - Cheers to day drinking.

  • - Day drinking.

  • - College.

  • - Hello, I'm Ryan Gaul.

  • Today, We're talking about the mysterious death

  • of James Callender.

  • (eerie acapella music)

  • - [Taran] Mr. Gaul?

  • - [Ryan] Yes?

  • - So where does our story begin?

  • - None of your business.

  • - [Taran] Okay.

  • - No. (laughs)

  • Alright.

  • Richmond, Virginia.

  • July 17th, 1803.

  • James Callender is found floating face down

  • in the James River.

  • How did he get there?

  • Are you curious?

  • - Very.

  • - Well, in order to find out,

  • we need to go back 10 years to 1793.

  • James Callender, Scottish immigrant, salacious journalist,

  • and a drunk gets a job as a stenographer

  • with the New Congress.

  • And he's like, "Guess what?

  • I don't trust any of these assholes.

  • And I don't, I don't buy what they're doing."

  • He is suspicious to the point where he starts

  • digging up information on them.

  • And so James Reynolds shows up at a bar

  • and says to Alexander Hamilton,

  • "Hey, unless you pay me, I am going to let this story out,

  • that you were (clears throat)

  • (stammering) bangin' my wife."

  • So, Hamilton is writing him a check,

  • but more importantly, he's writing the check

  • from the United States Treasury.

  • So Callender's like, "Hamilton's not only having an affair,

  • but he's taking money from our government?

  • Like, how dare he do that?"

  • And he basically, with one article,

  • ruined Hamilton's career.

  • Hamilton is like, "God damn you." (laughs)

  • "God damn you, James Callender, you son of a bitch."

  • Gone, Callender sits back and was like,

  • "That's where I get my high."

  • But out of the shadows comes Thomas Jefferson.

  • And it was like, "Hey, I saw what you did with Hamilton.

  • Nice work.

  • John Adams, right now, is a sitting President."

  • Callender goes, "Uh, duh."

  • Jefferson's like, "I wanna be President.

  • Take Adams out. I will hook you up."

  • Callender's like, "I doubt you can do what I want,

  • because I want to become the Postmaster General of Richmond.

  • And Jefferson goes, (scoffs)

  • "Dude, I shit Postmaster Generals

  • of Richmonds for breakfast."

  • (laughing)

  • Callender goes, "Fine, let's do it, bitches.

  • Let's do it."

  • Callender writes a new article.

  • He calls Adams pro-monarch.

  • That was bad.

  • John Adams is sitting there going like, "What?

  • No, I am not. I am not pro-Monarch."

  • But the people believe it immediately.

  • So, Jefferson becomes President,

  • but guess who's going to jail.

  • Callender!

  • For sedition charges.

  • Basically, writing to create revolt against the government.

  • And Callender's like, "This is pretty rough,

  • but Jefferson promised me this'll be worth it."

  • And Jefferson is like, "Holy shit. I'm President.

  • Adams is out, I'm in. And Callender...

  • (gasps) Holy shit, Callender's in jail.

  • Hey, hey Jerry?

  • Jerry, can we pardon, uh?

  • Can we pardon?

  • (Taran laughing)

  • Callender?

  • And Jerry's like, "Nah, yeah, we can pardon anyone we want.

  • You're the god damn President."

  • He goes, "Okay, pardon Callender."

  • He gets out of jail, runs to see Jefferson.

  • He's like, (scoffs) "Thomas, That was awesome. We did it.

  • Let's make me the Postmaster General of Richmond."

  • And Jefferson literally was like,

  • "Yeah, um, Jerry, could you please pay Callender $50,

  • and then escort him out?"

  • Callender's like, "Are you kidding me?

  • I'll take the $50 for sure, but guess what, Jefferson?

  • You wanna mess with me?

  • I got one gun, and that's called gossip.

  • And kaput, awesome.

  • Gossip, gossip, gossip, gossip.

  • Gossip, gossip, gossip, gossip."

  • Sorry, that's my pillow, so it doesn't matter.

  • And so, Callender puts out a piece of information

  • so damning nobody could survive it.

  • "Hey, guess what?

  • Jefferson's not as cool as you think.

  • He is having an affair with Sally Hemings.

  • Who's Sally Hemings? Oh, just his slave."

  • Everyone is like, "What? Are you kidding me?"

  • - What did Jerry think about that pamphlet?

  • (laughing)

  • - So Jerry is like, "Did you hear about this?"

  • And Jefferson goes, "Don't put it so close

  • to my face, Jerry."

  • And Jerry goes, "I can do nothing right.

  • I can do nothing right."

  • And by the way, Jerry?

  • 80 years old.

  • (laughing)

  • So everyone's looking to Jefferson to see what he says,

  • but guess what?

  • He decides to ignore it.

  • He just goes, "Hmm, I'm sorry.

  • I don't know what you mean.

  • I don't know."

  • And he's slowly backing out the door,

  • and Callender's like, "No, no, no, no, no.

  • You can't leave. You have to address this.

  • Everybody in my past has address these things

  • as they have come up, and he's just goes, "No.

  • Bye."

  • And Callender's jaw dropped.

  • "What did he just pull on me?"

  • And because he didn't care,

  • the people didn't really care as much.

  • They're like, "Hey, Callender, Callender?

  • Nice try, you dink."

  • His drinking got worse.

  • He's broke.

  • Here we are in 1803.

  • So what happened?

  • Did he walk down to the James River

  • and maybe he was too wasted and he stumbled?

  • Boom, hit his head, floated out to the middle and died?

  • That's possible.

  • Or was something more sinister going on?

  • He had a lot of enemies at that point:

  • Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson.

  • They're founding fathers of America.

  • And to think that they are suspects in a murder mystery

  • is sort of mind-blowing.

  • - I mean, try to name three bigger names.

  • - The Rock?

  • - Well, I mean, when it comes to-

  • - Sandra Bullock.

  • - Founding our nation.

  • - Jack McBrayer?

  • - Jack McBrayer is actually the answer we were looking for.

  • Congratulations.

  • Hi guys.

  • I murdered James Callender.

  • - I'm peeing myself.

  • (triumphant music)

- [] Fine.

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