Outlaws
- Brianna Buller
- Aug 28, 2022
- 15 min read
Featuring: Elizabeth Báthory, Ching Shih, Agnes McMillan, Emily Davison,
Bonnie Parker, Griselda Blanco, Phoolan Devi, and Anna Sorokin
This theme was chosen by my viewers on TikTok. I asked for help selecting this last theme because I did not know what to do. I had many ideas for possible themes but decided to let the people choose what they wanted to learn about on the account. Their options were artists, authors, explorers, fictional characters, musicians, outlaws, or rulers. I also allowed them to submit their own theme if they felt they had a better idea. By an overwhelming majority, the public chose outlaws to be the next theme. My next challenge was defining what being an outlaw meant to me. As an American, my mind went straight to the Wild West and gunslingers like Annie Oakley, which would be fine, but I did not want to do another American-only theme. So, I started researching famous female criminals around the world in different categories to highlight more stories than just serial killers. In this series, I covered a serial killer, a pirate, a thief, an activist, a bank robber, a drug lord, a bandit turned politician, and a fraudster.
My original idea was to do high-profile women that did more damage than the famous men in their crime categories. While I did that, I also took this opportunity to highlight some stories that make you think about the idea of good vs. evil and one's morality. I used the books This is Herstory by Harriet Dyer and 100 Nasty Women of History by Hannah Jewell for research. Dyer's book had a lot of great options for criminals in the pirate and activist categories. I ended up doing a lot of deep online research to find the women I wanted to highlight. My research used my standard sources from museums and articles to write my scripts. I tried a slightly different style in my scripts. Instead of doing the regular chronological timeline of their life, I wrote them more in a newspaper article or blog style. I really enjoyed writing in this style, and if I had the time, I would go back and rewrite the other themes since it gets more information across to the audience.
*All of the art is of my own creation, and there may be some inaccuracies in the images depicting real-life objects or people. You can think of it as me using my artistic license for the visuals in this project.
#1 Elizabeth Báthory 1560 - 1614
Transcript: Elizabeth Báthory Is known by many as the bloody countess. There are rumors that she is a vampire descendent of Dracula or possibly the mistress to the devil to justify her alleged actions against hundreds of girls and women from 1590 to 1610. The most memorable accusation against her is the claim that she bathed in the blood of her victims to maintain her youthful looks. They say her victims started out as only servants lured to the castle with the promise of work. Later she would extend her cruelty to noble women who came for their education and village girls in the surrounding areas, allegedly killing more than 600 women. King sent his best men to investigate the rumors, and she is found guilty of 80 deaths with 300 witnesses against her. In 1610, She is sentenced to permanent house arrest while her accomplices are burned at the stake for the crime of witchcraft. However, it is believed by some historians that everything laid against her was faked by the king, who didn't like her independence and influence. The thought of her bathing in blood didn't even emerge until more than a century after she died in 1614.
Her image represents the legend that she bathed in blood for eternal youth. Butterflies symbolize hope, rebirth, and life. The colors of the butterfly symbolize happiness, youth, beauty, feminity, life, and peace.
The More You Know: There are plenty of accounts that say Elizabeth abused her servants regularly. However, that is not out of the ordinary during this period for servants of any person to be treated thus. Her husband allegedly built her a special room in his castle for her to deal with the servants. Her torture methods vary in intensity but as still gruesome in nature. They included shoving pins and needles under fingernails, poking them with hot irons, taking knives and scissors to different body parts, sewing mouths shut, and biting off flesh. One account even mentioned her pouring honey on a victim and releasing bees and other insects to feast. During her trial, one witness said they kept a book of 650 victims, but the book was never presented in court and is now believed to only be a fabricated piece of evidence against her.
Watchlist Recommendations: The Blood Queen by Andrei Konst (2015)
Sources
Online - "Meet Elizabeth Bathory, The ‘Blood Countess’ Who May Have Been History’s Most Prolific Female Serial Killer" by Elisabeth Sherman, All Thats Interesting
Online - "The Blood Countess: 10 Facts About Elizabeth Báthory" by Léonie Chao-Fong, HIstory Hit https://www.historyhit.com/the-blood-countess-facts-about-elizabeth-bathory/
#2 Ching Shih 1775 - 1844
Transcript: Ching Shih is remembered as one of the most feared and successful pirates ever. She was born in 1775 in China and grew up in poverty, working as a prostitute. While working one night, she meets her future husband, the commander of the pirate Red Flag Fleet. She negotiated her terms before agreeing to marry him, which were A) they are to be equals and co-captain the fleet, and B) 50% of their earnings went to her. Together, they grew the fleet to encompass an estimated 1800 ships and ruled the waters around China. Her husband died in 1807, allowing her to take over as the sole commander. For the next three years, it is estimated she oversaw 70,000 pirates at the peak and ruled with an iron fist, loyalty being the most important in all aspects. She not only purged her ranks but also would hunt down deserters and cut off their ears. The emperor knew he needed the Red Flag Fleet off the seas, so instead of using force, he agreed to grant amnesty to anyone willing to return to land. In 1810 she agreed and returned with her whole fortune intact, remarried, and lived a simple life until her death in 1844.
Her image is my recreation of traditional Chinese sails. An example can be seen in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Fun Fact: one of the pirate lords at the council meeting at shipwreck cove is portrayed as her. I colored the sail red to represent her Red Flag Fleet and the skull and crossbones to reflect her career as a pirate.
The More You Know: Ching Shih created a personal pirate code with a section relating to the treatment of prisoners, specifically the female prisoners. Generally, the women were to stay untouched and unharmed until she said differently while onboard. If the woman was deemed attractive, a man on her crew could take her as a wife or concubine. The man was to stay faithful and take care of his new woman. Failure to do so would be punishable by death. The women deemed unattractive were released at port and left alone.
Watchlist Recommendation: Ching Shih (Youtube channel Biographics, 2020)
Sources
Book - "This is Herstory" by Harriet Dyer
Book - "100 Nasty Women of History" by Hannah Jewell
Online - "The Story Of Ching Shih, Prostitute Turned Lord Of The Pirates" by Kissy Howard, All Thats Interesting https://allthatsinteresting.com/ching-shih
#3 Agnes McMillan 1820 - 1877
Transcript: At the age of 15, Anges McMillan is found guilty of theft and sentenced to 7 years in Australia in 1836. The British government, from 1788 to 1868, sent convicts to the new island of Australia an alternative to execution. Additionally, the British government sought to build up the working class of their new colony, where men outnumbered women nine to one. They did this by enforcing an old law which allowed the deportation of women convicted of petty crimes. The journey took 4 months in old slave ships that were stuffed full, creating a breeding ground for trouble. Many women fell pregnant from their captors or died because of malnutrition or disease. Those that survived were mainly shipped to Van Diemen's Land, known today as Tasmania. Agnes was one of thousands of children and women punished for a trivial crime by being shipped to Australia to become "Tamers and Breeders." However, these women used this as an opportunity to better their situations in life first by controlling and manipulating the system they were a part of for seven years, then decided to stay and create a society that would no longer see women as only property, and led the world in women's rights.
Her image represents the shackles that prisoners like her wore during this period. The design is my depiction of the real irons she would have worn as a prisoner under the British government. The chains are the colors of both the UK and Australia red, white, and blue.
The More You Know: Convicts sentenced to Australia gave away love tokens before shipping off. Generally, those sent to the new colony would never return. So, these tokens were given as a personal reminder to those who they loved of them. The tokens are usually smoothed down coins and then hand graved with names, dates, and images representing meanings such as love and family. It was illegal to deface a coin, but the artist was already charged with a crime, so they felt they had nothing to lose in this regard for punishment. As the tokens were small and gifted by hand, historians know of only a few hundred that have survived. I am linking here to the Syndey Living Museum website, which discusses convict love tokens and shows examples.
Watchlist Recommendation: The Lady Juliana (Youtube channel Weird History, 2020)
Sources
Book - "The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia's Convict Women " by Deborah Swiss
Online - "Female Migration," Sydney Living Museum
#4 Emily Davison 1872 - 1913
Transcript: In 1906, Emily Davison joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) at the age of 34. This organization is known today as the Suffragettes, a militant group fighting for the women's voting rights in the UK. Her first arrest happened in 1909 charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer. The suffragettes demanded to be treated as political prisoners as opposed to criminals and started incorporating hunger strikes. The prisons combated this by force-feeding the women by pushing a tube down their throats. After those who were arrested were released, the union gave them medals to commemorate their strength and bravery. She was arrested nine times, went on hunger strike seven times, and was force-fed 49 times. When not in prison, she was an active member by breaking windows, setting fire to postboxes, assaulting officials, and writing propaganda. Her final act to gain the vote for women happened on June 4th, 1913, when she attended the Epsom derby running out in front of the King's horse; she would die from her injuries four days later. On June 14th, her funeral procession saw 5,000 suffragettes and 50,000 people lining the streets of London.
Her image is my recreation of the actual hunger strike medals the suffragettes gave to the sisters that had just been released from prison. I tried to be as accurate as possible in this design within the restriction put on me by my art medium.
The More You Know: The Hunger Strike medals had the words 'For Valuor" on the top metal piece. The purple represented the 'purple blood' of royalty that flowed in their veins, the white represented purity, and the green represented hope. Each time a woman was arrested and participated in the hunger strikes, she would receive a bar to add to her ribbon with the date of her arrest. Eights bars is the highest number a single suffragette received for her actions.
Side Note: Emily graduated from Royal Holloway College, the same one I am currently attending for my master's degree. Our library is named after her.
Watchlist Recommendation: Suffragette by Sarah Gavron (2015)
Sources
Online - "Six things you should know about the Suffragette hunger strikes" by Beverley Cook, Museum of London
Online - "The Suffrage Movement, "The Postal Museum
Online - "The Life of Emily Wilding Davison," Emily Davison Memorial Project http://emilydavisonproject.org/?page_id=59
#5 Bonnie Parker 1910 - 1934
Transcript: On May 23, 1934, as a result of a firefight between law enforcement and themselves, the infamous duo Bonnie and Clyde died from bullet wounds in Louisiana at the ages of 23 and 24, respectively. In doing so, ending one of the most colorful manhunts in American history. They were charged with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, bank robbery, and car theft. The couple started their crime spree in 1932, evading law enforcement for just under two years. They mainly operated in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Clyde drove, Bonnie navigated, and their friend WD Jones was their photographer. They became so comfortable and assured of their capacity to trick law enforcement that Bonnie started wearing heels instead of flats. They wielded screwdrivers more than guns, replacing numerous license plates for their getaway cars. In 1933, the Joplin, Missouri police force introduced the nation to the duo; Bonnie's image was of her holding a large gun and smoking a cigar. The American public became obsessed with this young, happy, and attractive crime couple; an estimated 10,000 people went to Clyde's funeral, and 20,000 attended Bonnies.
Her image represents the notion that Bonnie started wearing heels instead of flats while on the run because of how comfortable she and Clyde become outrunning the police. The shoe style is a real type that was popular during the 1930s. They are colored in the colors of the American flag red, white, and blue.
The More You Know: Bonnie and Clyde loved having their pictures taken and often stopped to pose for photograph opportunities. In one of the most famous images, Bonnie posed with a gun and a cigar in her mouth. However, their photographer WD Jones would later recount the story behind the picture, saying bonnie only smoked cigarettes and the cigar was a last-minute style choice. While in Joplin, Missouri, the police raided their hotel room thinking they would find some bootleggers but instead had the notorious couple in front of them. After a shootout between the police and the Barrow gang, the gang escaped with no casualties but left behind their cameras and rolls of undeveloped film. When the photographs were released to the public later, people went crazy over the idea of Bonnie and Clyde. A young, attractive, unmarried couple was traveling together. It was one of the first times a woman was wanted by the police, and the fact that they believed she smoked cigars made her even more remarkable in their eyes.
Watchlist Recommendation: The Highwaymen by John Lee Handcock (2019)
Sources
Online - "The Irresistible Bonnie Parker" by Jeff Guinn, Smithsonian Magazine
Online - "Bonnie and Clyde, "Federal Bureau of Investigation
#6 Griselda Blanco 1943 - 2012
Transcript: During the span of her life in the criminal underworld, Griselda Blanco received many nicknames. The godmother when she started her cocaine trade in Queens, New York, in the early 70s, the queen of cocaine when she started her business in Miami in the late 70s, and black widow after all three of her husbands ended up dead after their usefulness had run up. Her first husband got her into smuggling illegals into America, her second into the cocaine trade with their direct line from Colombia, and her third a bank robber. She was directly involved in turning Miami into a war zone between drug cartels between 1979 and 1984. By the early 80s, 70% of the cocaine in America entered through Miami, and by 1981, Miami became the murder capital of the world. Griselda was a ruthless woman who found no usefulness in remorse, enemies, prisoners, or witnesses. If she wanted you gone, there was no escape. However, it seems fitting that in the end, this Queenpin was assassinated in her home country of Colombia in 2012 in the same style she ordered at least 200 deaths.
Her image represents her nickname, the Black Widow. I have horrible arachnophobia, but I knew the art I wanted to create for her was this spider. Both are deadly creatures of nature that don't do well with commitments to their mates.
The More You Know: Griselda was released from prison in 2004 after serving almost two decades for racketeering and murder after agreeing to the plea bargain. Griselda was deported to Colombia, and by this point, age and years worth of ingesting cocaine caught up to her health-wise. One day while out in Medellín, two assassins on motorcycles shot her while driving by in the head, and she dies instantly. The method of motorcycle drive-bys is one that she started in Florida as one of her preferred methods of killing. It is unclear who ordered the hit on her. After years of making enemies of different drug crews from around the states and South America, like Pablo Escobar, the Italian mafia, and members of her own team, it would be impossible to get the true story.
Watchlist Recommendation: Cocaine Godmother by Guillermo Navarro (2018)
Sources
Online- "Meet Griselda Blanco, The ‘Queen Of Cocaine’ Who Ruled Her Drug Empire With An Iron Fist" by Daniel Rennie, All Thats Interesting
Online - "Top Five Women of Organized Crime" by Jeff Burbank, The Mob Museum
#7 Phoolan Devi 1963 - 2001
Transcript: At the age of 37, Phoolan Devi is assassinated in front of her home in New Delhi, India, in 2001. Her story is steeped in sadness, cruelty, revenge, and rebirth. Born into a low caste family and at the age of 11, she is sold into a marriage. A few days later, she leaves her husband and returns home to where her family forced her to go back, yet a year later, she leaves him again, now she is considered ruined goods. Later she is kidnapped by a local gang and repeatedly violated. However, she befriends the second in command, who kills the leader, allowing Phoolan to rise into a position of leadership. She became an infamous figure in India, being dubbed the Bandit queen and a reincarnation of the goddess Durga. She and her gang exacted revenge against all those who had wronged her and other young women. When she was arrested, she was wanted for 22 counts of murder from a massacre in a village and 26 counts of looting and kidnapping. She went to prison for 11 years until she was pardoned and then decided to become a politician, the first from a low caste in India. Sadly, her death is the result of a revenge plot for the massacre from years earlier.
Her image represents the notion that she was the Goddess Durga reborn in human form. This is just one common recreation of the goddess' likeness, who is the goddess of power and strength. She embodies purity, knowledge, truth, and self-realization. Durga is the Supreme Being who preserves the ideals of moral order and righteousness in the universe.
The More You Know: Phoolan becomes more legend than a woman by the end of her life; in death, it has only worsened. In India, people either hate her and use her story as a tool to scare children into compliance or love her and view her as a goddess. Filmmaker Hossein Fazeli has been working on a documentary about Phoolan, aiming to demystify her to the world and focus on who she was as a person. He also wants to use her story to bring the topic of sexual assault on women to the table, especially in India. Many historians, filmmakers, and Phoolan herself did not like the movie about her life by Shekhar Kapur. She felt it did not portray her or the story correctly (below is the film for you to watch and make an opinion for yourself). Fazeli's goal is to fill this gap and do her and the story justice. However, he finds that people are so far on either side of the spectrum in their opinion of her that it is challenging to create quality content. The documentary is still being made, and hopefully, we will get an update on the project soon.
Watchlist Recommendation: Bandit Queen by Shekhar Kapur (1994)
Sources
Online -"The Life and Legend of India's Bandit Queen" by Michael Snyder, Roads & Kingdom https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2017/indias-bandit-queen/
Online - "Women in History – Phoolan Devi" by Isabel Locke, University of Birmingham https://blog.bham.ac.uk/historybham/women-in-history-phoolan-devi/
#8 Anna Sorokin 1991 - present
Transcript: Anna Sorokin was born outside of Moscow, Russia, and later moved with her middle-class family to Germany, and at the age of 19, she moved to Paris to join the fashion world. Anne Delvey was a German Heiress visiting New York's fashion week in 2013. Before that, Ms. Delvey never existed except inside the mind of Ms. Sorokin. Delvey became Anna's alias as she proceeded to con over 200,000 dollars from friends, hotels, and banks until she was arrested in 2017. Her cover story consisted of her being extremely wealthy and interested in starting a life in New York alongside the other members of high society. She would often use invalid credit cards, fake bank statements, or called IOU with friends to keep up the illusion of wealth. Additionally, she spoke of her goals of opening different foundations or private clubs to her wealthy friends to gain funding. In 2019 She was found guilty on six charges of larceny and theft. In a New York Times interview after the verdict, she said, "The thing is, I'm not sorry, I'd be lying to you and to everyone else and to myself if I said I was sorry for anything."
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