The Frontier

Robert Spears transitioned from small-time cons to long-term grifts in the 1920s, including impersonating millionaire Oscar Delano to rob attendees at professional conventions.

Spears's 'convention grift' involved gathering personal details from drunken attendees to impersonate them via phone and swindle their families for bail money, a method mirrored by modern AI voice scams.

At the 1926 Freemason convention in Saint Louis, Spears employed a team of sex workers to collect marks and automate his phone scams before being arrested on suspicion of running a brothel.

Spears ran a parallel scam placing fake ads for high-paying factory jobs, then charging desperate applicants a $2,500 'refundable security fee' that put families into debt.

After fleeing Saint Louis, Spears reinvented himself in Kansas City as 'Eastern Mystic Kegab Jipterm,' a racist caricature selling fake spiritual and financial advice before his arrest in Topeka.

Spears's career was punctuated by repeated arrests and prison stints, including 18 months in Leavenworth for wire fraud in 1927, yet he always returned to grifting upon release.

In the 1930s, Spears partnered with con man William 'Al' Taylor for nearly a decade of cross-country scams until Taylor retired to Florida, marrying without revealing his criminal past.

Spears's 1940s crime spree peaked when he chloroformed and held at gunpoint his cross-country travel companions over missing stolen money, leading to a four-year robbery sentence.

Post-prison, Spears moved to Dallas, exploiting Texas's lax regulations to become a licensed naturopath using a forged diploma and a license bought from a disillusioned psychiatrist.

By 1955, Spears built a lucrative practice selling amphetamine-laced 'B-Slim' pills and fake devices like the 'electro-psychometer' to wealthy Dallas clients, earning the equivalent of $50,000 a month.

Spears was named president of the Texas Naturopathic Association in 1954, using the position to bribe officials until he was caught offering a $60,000 bribe to a state representative.

His main illicit business was performing illegal abortions, often using a dangerous violet paste called 'Metrovact' or a copycat poison that could cause fatal internal burns.

Spears's recklessness culminated in 1959 when a 22-year-old schoolteacher died after he used his abortion paste, leading to a police raid that uncovered his tools and fake diplomas.

Facing life in prison, Spears took out a $100,000 flight insurance policy, then convinced his old partner Al Taylor to board National Airlines Flight 967 in his place before it disappeared, likely bombed.

Spears was later arrested while hiding with a trunk of dynamite, convicted on various charges, and died in prison, having orchestrated a plane bombing that killed 42 people for a failed insurance payout.

Robert Evans introduces Robert Spears as a prominent con man from a family of grifters, noting he was an influential figure in the first wave of naturopathy whose life culminated in serious plane-related crimes.

Brandy Posey, a comedian and owner of Burn This Record label, promotes her new comedy album, "Milk Job," set to release as a special in April.

Benedict Lust, a German-born American, is widely credited as the founder of naturopathy despite not being a medical doctor, starting the first major wave of the discipline.

Lust contracted tuberculosis around 1872 and claimed recovery from the "water cure," a method involving cold water plunges and showers, popularized by Father Sebastian Kneipp.

While cold water immersion has physiological effects and may help with inflammation or stress, Robert Evans clarifies it is not scientifically documented to cure tuberculosis.

In the early 1900s, traditional medicine often over-prescribed drugs like heroin and cocaine, making alternative remedies appear less harmful, blurring the lines between established doctors and 'quacks.'

Lust integrated various fringe treatments like osteopathy, chiropractic, botanical medicines, sun baths, and electrotherapy into a unified field, emphasizing that the body could repair itself by restoring balance.

Lust opposed processed foods, unnatural drugs, and medical legislation that restricted personal liberty in choosing health treatments, advocating for "homespun efficient remedies."

The term "naturopathy" was coined by doctors John and Sophie Scheel in 1902 and subsequently purchased by Lust, who then opened a school for naturopaths and possibly the world's first health food store in New York.

Early naturopathic treatments included "aeropathy," which utilized "human bake ovens" reaching up to 500°F to treat conditions like rheumatism, along with astral healing and potions made from patient tissues or blood.

The American Medical Association (AMA) targeted Lust, leading to 14 arrests and a $500 fine for criminal libel against AMA detective Francis Benzerki in 1921.

From the 1920s to the 1930s, roughly half of U.S. states passed laws permitting naturopathic practice, but most were repealed as modern evidence-based medicine rapidly advanced.

The National College of Naturopathic Medicine, founded in Portland, Oregon in 1956, saw minimal enrollment from 1960 to 1968, with an average of eight students and only sixteen graduates total.

Robert Vernon Spears, born June 26, 1894, in Cassville, Missouri, began life as Clyde Stringer or Clyde Porter, with his con-woman mother Matilda using multiple aliases and altering his birth records.

Clyde experienced deep childhood poverty, as his mother Matilda constantly moved and conned strangers to provide for her son after abandoning his father, George Stringer, and falsely claiming his death.

As a teenager, Clyde began riding trains and funding his travels by committing petty crimes like passing bad checks, often getting caught but avoiding serious charges due to his charisma.

At 16, Clyde forged a check for $9 (equivalent to $233 today) from the MKT Railroad, cashing it with his friend's father, which led to a widespread pursuit and him being dubbed "the gilded youth Clydestringer" by newspapers.

After serving over a year in prison, Clyde established a pattern of committing fraud in small towns, getting arrested, and either talking his way out or serving short sentences, then resuming his activities.

In 1917, after passing more bad checks as Clyde Porter, he stole a car to escape, leaving a note for its return, which contributed to his sympathetic "gentleman bandit" public image.

Clyde's charges were dropped on the condition that he joined the army for World War One, where he adopted the fake name Robert Vernon Spears, which he largely used for the rest of his life.

Prior to reporting for duty, Spears stole $2,000 from fellow recruit C.S. Gilbert, who later refused to press charges, emphasizing his friendship with Spears.

Spears served as an aviator sergeant in the 314th Aero Squadron during World War One, though he later falsely claimed to be a first lieutenant fighter pilot who survived harrowing aerial duels.

After the war, Spears engaged in a repeated pattern of conning women, marrying them, and then stealing their possessions before fleeing to a new town to start another fraudulent marriage.

In Denver, Spears encountered his match in Laura Myers, who stole all his money and fled an hour after their marriage, turning his typical con on him.