{"podcast":{"title":"River to River","slug":"river-to-river-1060576","podcast_index_feed_id":1060576,"rss_url":"https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/river-to-river/rss.xml","website_url":"https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/river-to-river","image_url":"https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7cee9f6/2147483647/strip/false/crop/3000x3000+0+0/resize/2000x2000!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fea%2Fb9%2F816b46a344b5bd56d5470b36497d%2Friver-to-river-podcast.png","author":"Iowa Public Radio (digitalservices@iowapublicradio.org)","episode_count":100,"summary":"River to River is a conversation about the news with an Iowa perspective. Together we dig into the story behind the headlines - we talk with newsmakers and a diverse range of experts to find out how the news affects you. We take on challenging topics, explore issues from all sides, and foster conversation and understanding","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T00:17:13.366040+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576"},"episode":{"title":"New book uncovers a dark side of Des Moines history","slug":"new-book-uncovers-a-dark-side-of-des-moines-history","published_at":"2026-07-15T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576/new-book-uncovers-a-dark-side-of-des-moines-history","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576","url":"https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/river-to-river/2026-07-15/new-book-uncovers-a-dark-side-of-des-moines-history","audio_url":"https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/4c9587f2-e550-4709-b293-ad0300ce922d/5d200c83-8a20-48a7-ab87-ad51012cafbe/d4f4485c-5063-48d2-8160-b4870106db96/audio.mp3","summary":"A history of murder, prostitution and police corruption have been buried for a century in Des Moines. On today's episode, we hear the true story of Erastus Wallace Scott, the saloon keeper the 'Des Moines Register' called 'the wickedest man in the wickedest part of town.' He was a killer, a con man and the head of a crime family that terrorized East Des Moines for a decade. We talk with Dave and Rose Donovan about their new book 'The Nastiest Saloon in Iowa: Murder, Prostitution, and Corruption in the Heartland.' The book uncovers century-old murder and corruption hiding in downtown Des Moines, and in Rose's own family tree.","meta_description":"A history of murder, prostitution and police corruption have been buried for a century in Des Moines. On today's episode, we hear the true story of Erastu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2875,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/river-to-river-1060576/episodes/new-book-uncovers-a-dark-side-of-des-moines-history/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576/new-book-uncovers-a-dark-side-of-des-moines-history.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}