Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Lawyer schemed to steal land by shanghaiing its owner
Astoria shyster L.G. Carpenter coveted Darius Norris's valuable acreage on Long Beach Peninsula. So he got the police chief to arrest Norris on bogus…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
'Oregon's Native Stepson' Hoover saved millions from starving to death
When World War I broke out, Herbert Hoover was the world's most successful mining engineer. He abandoned all that to build an organization to feed th…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Lonely Newburg orphan grew up to be President
He arrived in Oregon at age 9, and people called him “Poor Little Bertie.” He left Oregon for good to go to college at Stanford when he was 17. But H…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Mayor’s wife gave him a real election-day surprise
Laura Starcher and her friends were fed up with the halfhearted, desultory service they were getting from city government. So they got organized, ran…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Skunk’s pelt would be best admired from far away
Clarence the logger was running a trapline as a side hustle. One day, he decided a passing skunk would look great on his stretching rack, and impulsi…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
‘12 Angry Men’ couldn’t have happened in Oregon
At Jake Silverman's trial, 11 jurors wanted him to hang, but couldn't convince the lone holdout to change his vote. So voters changed the law and mad…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
The life and death of a P-town gangster and moll
It had been an accident, but small-time Portland crook Jimmy Walker had shot Rose City crime boss “Shy Frank” Kodat. Unfortunately for Jimmy, he pick…
5 months ago
Hank Vaughan, Oregon’s legendary outlaw: Part 3
The Outlaw as Elder Statesman: In 1883, Eastern Oregon's wildest horse-rustling gunfighter gave up his stock-thieving ways (mostly) and became a whea…
5 months ago
Hank Vaughan, Oregon’s legendary outlaw: Part 2
The Oregon frontier's most colorful almost-outlaw spent a dozen years dodging posses and slipping in and out of the Indian reservation with stolen ho…
5 months ago
Hank Vaughan, Oregon’s legendary outlaw: Part 1
Quick to make both friends and enemies, Oregon's most famous frontier cowboy and almost-outlaw was a gifted horseman and rustler. But his hard-drinki…
5 months ago