HistoryEducationSociety & CultureDocumentary

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Joe Lex

Hundreds of brief biographies of permanent residents of Laurel Hill East in Philadelphia and Laurel Hill West in Bala Cywnyd, Pennsylvania. Often educational, always entertaining.

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29 episodes
Avg 54 min
English

Episodes 29

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#532
October 9 · 1 hr 55 min
From Beagling to Barbaro: Horses, Hounds, the Main Line, and Laurel Hill
BBB:LHWS #061 Horses and foxhunting... ... can be traced from medieval hunting forests to the horse country of Philadelphia’s Main Line. Discover how hounds, riders, breeders, and civic-minded families shaped the Devon Horse Show and the region’s enduring equestrian culture. Along the way, meet the Laurel Hill figures whose stories connect centuries of sport, society, and stewardship—culminating in the unforgettable legacy of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.
#528
October 6 · 23 min
Frank Whiteside: An Incident on Waverly
ABC:LHS 091-5 Frank Reed Whiteside... ...was an artist and instructor at PAFA who was inexplicably assassinated when he answered his front door one evening. Despite many maddeningly tempting clues, his case remains unsolved nearly a century later.
#526
October 5 · 32 min
Jacqueline & Emily Powell: When a Mother Kills
ABC:LHS 091-4 Jacqueline Powell... ...was only 10 years old when her mother Emily Lippincott Powell shot her in sleep and then tried to take her own life. Emily spent the rest of her life in Friends Hospital.
#529
October 4 · 26 min
George Boehm: Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘em
ABC:LHS 091-3 George Boehm... ...was a workman on the Baldwin floor in 1870 when a quarrel with a co-worker led to his own death from a crushed skull and his assailant's trial and imprisonment. This segment walks you through the justice system of 1870s Philadelphia.
#527
October 3 · 36 min
Roy Wilson White: Three Wrongs Don't Remake Roy White
ABC:LHS #091-2 Roy Wilson White... ...was a gifted young UPenn law instructor who in 1900 was robbed and killed near the campus. Drawing on contemporary newspapers and archival research, the podcast traces how racial panic, sensational reporting, coercive interrogation, and institutional pressure shaped the cases against Henry Ivory, Charles Perry, and Amos Stirling. The result is both a portrait of a promising life cut short and a cautionary account of how the demand for certainty can overwhelm justice.
#525
October 2 · 26 min
S. Morris Waln: Red Dog Meets His Maker
ABC:LHS 091-1 Samuel Morris Waln... ...was a wealthy Philadelphian who spent his free time in the "wild west" each summer until he and his companion were murdered in their sleep by their cook and guide. A cross stands in his memory in Wyoming.
#531
October 1 · 2 hr 45 min
Murder Most Foul, Part 2; Five More Slain Philadelphians
ABC:LHS #091 Murder was part of the background noise in some areas of Philadelphia. S. Morris Waln, born into one of Philadelphia’s founding families, was murdered by his guide and cook during an annual journey west. His stone at Laurel Hill is melting, while a monument in his honor still rises from the Wyoming plains. Roy Wilson White, a promising Penn Law scholar, was robbed and killed after an evening class. Three men were hanged for the crime—but how many were truly guilty? Baldwin Locomotive Works employee George Boehm died after a violent shop-floor attack. The man accused of killing him traveled a long path through the courts, Moyamensing Prison, and Eastern State Penitentiary. Learn of that journey on October 4th. Ten-year-old Jacqueline Powell was killed as she slept. Her mother, Emily, spent the rest of her life confined to an asylum for the crime. October 5th is the solo date for this one. Landscape artist and PAFA instructor Frank Whiteside was shot and killed by a home intruder who took nothing. The case remains unsolved—or does it? Tune in October 6th to find out or keep listening right now as we dive into ABC:LHS #091.
#530
September 28 · 1 hr 8 min
(BONUS) A Cabinet of Memory: When a Museum Closes
Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences... ...was open to anyone who wished to meet dinosaurs, birds, shells, fossils and the people who studied them. Now its public doors are closed, and I have come to Laurel Hill East to break that news to more than 50 of the founders, presidents, curators, collectors and supporters buried here. As we walk from grave to grave, we will follow the Academy from a rented room in 1812 to an internationally important museum—and ask how so much accumulated trust reached such an uncertain moment. This will not be an indictment delivered from a distance, but a careful conversation about the people who devoted their lives to the institution. Welcome to A Cabinet of Memory.
#524
September 15 · 1 hr 23 min
From the Silver Streak to Baby Nukes
BBB:LHWS 060 Edward G. Budd and Rupen Eksergian... ...were design and structural engineers who forced the Age of Steam into the Modern Era with their iconic Silver Zephyr Diesel Electric car in 1934. Eksergian took his skills further during the Cold War when he was one of the people behind Atomic Annie, a mobile artillery piece with a nuclear warhead. Both men rest at Laurel Hill West.
#519
September 6 · 38 min
Thomas E. Murphy: A Piece of the 1930s Phillies
ABC:LHS 090-5 Thomas E. Murphy ... ... knew virtually nothing about baseball, but found himself owning hundreds of shares of the Phillies during their horrible years of the 1920s and 1930s. He is remembered more as a yachtsman and a co-founder of Jupiter Island, Florida.
#522
September 5 · 25 min
OPTIONAL: What's in a (Nick)Name: Casual Othering in Baseball Nicknames
ABC:LHS #090-6 Many early baseball players ... ... were given nicknames that would never be tolerated today. We can never know how these players felt about being saddled with monikers like Chief, Three-Finger, Chico, Dummy, and Richie, based on being "othered."
#521
September 5 · 30 min
Joseph Howard Berry, Jr.: Penn's Greatest Athlete with a Problematic Nickname
ABC:LHS #90-4 Joseph Howard Berry, Jr. .... ...excelled at baseball, football, track and field, and life. He is in two Halls of Fame. He is little remembered today, partially because of a vile nickname that he carried from his days at Wharton through the rest of his life. His interment location is well hidden.
#520
September 4 · 18 min
Frank Bettger: A Successful Failure
ABC:LHS 090-3 Frank Bettger... (by guest host Rich Wilhelm) ...was a mediocre infielder for the Cardinals who blew out his shoulder and took to selling insurance, at which he was initially less than mediocre. He rebuilt his personality and his life to become one of the best motivational speakers of his day, often compared to Dale Carnegie.
#517
September 3 · 34 min
Frank Fleer Goes Pink
ABC:LHS #090-2 Frank Fleer... ...did not invent the gum that today carries his name, but his name has become synonymous with the pink chewy glob coveted by children of all ages worldwide.
#518
September 2 · 23 min
Francis Richter: Voice for Baseball
ABC:LHS #090-1 Francis Richter ... ...was a sportswriter who championed the new game through his newspaper work and the ubiquitous weekly Sporting Life, which was an essential read in the early 20th century. Richter is in the Baseball Hall of Fame ... sort of.
#523
September 1 · 2 hr 47 min
Play Ball!, Part 4: The Deep Bench – Oddballs, Owners, and Also-Rans
ABC:LHS #090 We start with three ballpark Franks... ...Francis Richter, whose writing helped to make the game respectable; he is in the Baseball Hall of Hame. ...Frank Fleer, the man who ALMOST invented the pink gum that's accompanied baseball cards for nearly a century. ...Frank Bettger, who went from failure to success after he blew out his throwing arm in Chicago (prepared and presented by fellow guide Rich Wilhelm). ...Joseph Howard Berry, Jr., who is in two Halls of Fame but is nearly forgotten today because of an unfortunate nickname; yes, it's that bad. ...Thomas Mitchell, partial owner of the Phillies during some lean times, including the staggeringly bad 1930 season; on the bright side, he co-founded Jupiter Island, Florida. I will release an optional segment on September 5th about the rich history of baseball nicknames, and the problems with who does the naming.
#515
August 18 · 21 min
Jáni Szántó: Violins, Exile, and Hope
BBB 059, part 3 Jáni Szántó... ...was a masterful violinist and instructor who escaped the Nazis with the help of Pope Pius XII and settled in Philadelphia as instructor. One of his old instruments was the "Lord Borwick" Stradivarius, built in 1702.
#514
August 17 · 28 min
Wilhelm von Wymetal: Opera for Everyone
BBB:LHWS 059-2 Wilhelm von Wymetal ... ... was an Austrian emigree with a dueling scar who took his expertise with opera to Hollywood, where he directed stars like Nelson Eddy & Jeannette McDonald, and to Pittsburgh, where he shepherded the Civic Light Opera through its early days of success.
#512
August 16 · 35 min
Oscar “Papa” Schwar: Kettledrum Virtuoso
BBB:LHWS 059-1 Oscar "Papa" Schwar ... ... was a German timpanist whom Leopold Stokowski praised as the best in the business. His rumblings and poundings on kettle drums kept the Philadelphia Orchestra on its toes for more than 40 years. You'll hear lots of drumming in this one.
#516
August 14 · 1 hr 37 min
Saving Music from the Nazis
BBB:LHWS 059 An estimated 1500 musicians ... ...fled central Europe's political turmoil in the 1930s and 1940s. Tympani player Oscar “Papa” Schwar came from Germany; Leopold Stokowski considered him the best kettledrum player he had ever heard. Wilhelm von Wymetal came from Austro-Hungary, dueling scar and all, to New York City, where he introduced and produced more than a dozen new operas at the Metropolitan, and traveled to Hollywood to direct operatic scenes in movies starring Nelson Eddy & Jeannette McDonald. Jani Szántó was a Hungarian violinist who made it to Philadelphia with the help of his friend Pope Pius XII; along the way, he briefly owned the 1702 Stradivarius violin known as “Lord Borwick.”

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