Thunderstruck (57 page)

He added a tincture
: Weightman,
Signor Marconi’s,
113.

“There have been disasters”
: Ibid., 113. Early the following May, less than four months after breaking her engagement to Marconi, Josephine Holman stepped forward and announced that she had become engaged to a new man. The remarks that followed may have been made with the best intentions, but it is tempting to view them through the prism of love scorned, for Holman would have known well what other women in Marconi’s life also would learn, that one salient trait of his romantic character was jealousy. “I am perfectly happy, but for one little thought,” Holman wrote, “and that would vanish forever if Signor Marconi would find another love and be as happy in his choice as I feel I am in mine.”
Halifax Herald,
May 8, 1902. Beaon Institute, MG 12/214.E.: Envelop/Index Cards.

By the end of the day
:
Indianapolis News,
January 22, 1902. Indiana State Library.

As the liner approached
:
Indianapolis News,
February 10, 1902. Indiana State Library; Bussey,
Marconi’s Atlantic Leap,
69.

details of the new Canadian arrangement
: “How Marconi Came to Canada,” 9–10. William Smith Papers. Notes and Transcripts. Marconi Papers. Memoranda, Printed Matter. Archives Canada, MG 30 D18 III.

“Sir William Preece is”
:
Financial Times,
February 21, 1902.

The
Westminster Gazette
suggested
:
Westminster Gazette,
February 26, 1902.

The
Electrical Times
condemned
:
Electrical Times,
February 27, 1902.

Two days later
: Details of the
Philadelphia
episode come from Bussey,
Marconi’s Atlantic Leap,
72; Marconi,
My Father,
124–25; Weightman,
Signor Marconi’s,
124–26. Weightman quotes extensively from McClure’s account, published in
McClure’s Magazine.

“daylight effect”
: Marconi,
My Father,
126; Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
32.

“Damn the sun!”
: Marconi,
My Father
, 130.

That summer the
Daily Mail: Read,
Urban Democracy,
475.

So things stood when
: Baker,
History,
95–96; Weightman,
Signor Marconi’s,
136–37.

“malignant Marconiphobia”
: Weightman,
Signor Marconi’s,
137.

“Marconi’s whining”
: Thompson to Lodge, April 2, 1902. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/104 ii.

At Glace Bay Richard Vyvyan
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
50; Marconi,
My Father,
146.

En route, during a stop
: Hong,
Wireless,
83; Marconi,
My Father,
131–32.

Marconi blamed Fleming
: Hong,
Wireless,
83.

“It should be explained to [Fleming]”
: Quoted at length in Hong,
Wireless,
83–84.

None of this, however
: Bartram, I, 53; Hong,
Wireless,
117.

“Knowing that experiments were in progress”
: Maskelyne Incident, 2–3.

THE LADIES INVESTIGATE

“a model husband”
: John Burroughs Statement, 4. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.

“kind and attentive”
: Clara Martinetti Statement, 22. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.

“kind-hearted humane man”
: Adeline Harrison Statement, 27. Ibid.

Even before word arrived
: Michael Bernstein Statement, 90. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.

On March 30
: Louise Smythson Statement, 32–33. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.

It took him a month
: Otto Crippen to Melinda May, May 9, 1910. Copy in Melinda May Statement, 37. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.

“The smell,” Jackson said
: Further Statement of Emily Jackson, 45. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13; Emily Jackson Statement, 47, 49. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.

“A night or two after this”
: Further Statement of William Long, 55. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.

“I have at last”
: Le Neve to Jackson, “Sunday” (probably June 12, 1910). Leters from Le Neve to Mrs. Jackson, NA-DPP 1/13.

“Have been ever so busy”
: Le Neve to Jackson, June 29, 1910. Ibid.

“Still,” she told Mrs. Jackson
: Ibid.

“He used to come with me”
: Le Neve,
Ethel Le Neve,
26.

“So time slipped along”
: Ibid., 26.

“Whilst we were talking to him”
: Clara Martinetti Statement, 25. Supplemental Information, NA-CRIM 1/117.

On May 6, 1910
: Of Edward’s funeral, André Maurois wrote, “The contrast of all the black with the gay spring sunshine lent a strange beauty to the streets of the capital.” Maurois,
Edwardian Era,
354.

A DUTY TO BE WICKED

The first signals
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
36.

In the midst of it all
: Weightman,
Signor Marconi’s,
145.

“It is beyond the powers”
: Details on Nevil Maskelyne and the Egyptian Hall come from the following sources: Bolles Collection. Thomas Allen,
The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark and Parts Adjacent
(Vol. 4). Cowie and Strange, 1827, 303; Bartram, I and II, throughout; Macqueen-Pope,
Goodbye Piccadilly,
78–81; Oppenheim,
Other World,
25–27.

In an article
: Maskelyne Incident, 2–5.

“The plain question is”
: Ibid., 5.

Cuthbert Hall,
Marconi’s: Ibid., 7.

“Clearly, Mr. Hall is between”
: Ibid., 12; Bartram, I, 54.

At Glace Bay silence prevailed
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
37–40.

“
WHAT’S WRONG
”:
Sydney Daily Post
, Dec. 9, 1902. Beaton Institute, MG 12/214. G3.: Scrapbook.

“
All put cotton wool
”: Marconi,
My Father
, p. 140

Times London
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless
, 38.

A sudden gale
: MacLeod,
Marconi,
78.

Marconi had instructed
: Ibid., 79.

Parkin crafted an account
: Weightman,
Signor Marconi’s,
147–48.

“Although these three messages”
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
39.

The telegram as received
: Ibid., 40.

Roosevelt’s message
: Ibid., 40–41.

Marconi’s critics sensed blood
: Bartram, I, 54.

“I was not concerned”
:
Westminster Gazette,
March 13, 1903. Maskelyne Incident, 17.

“It was clear”
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
41.

In the
Morning Advertiser: Cited in
Westminster Gazette,
March 13, 1903. Maskelyne Incident, 17.

One reader wrote
:
Morning Advertiser,
March 16, 1903. Maskelyne Incident, 21.

“Well, we have got beyond that”
:
Westminster Gazette,
March 13, 1903. Maskelyne Incident, 17.

Even as it flared
: Fleming, J.A. “A Report on Experiments,” 1–7. UCL, Fleming Collection.

Though somewhat wicked
: Hong,
Wireless,
108.

a silver thaw can occur
: Vyvyan,
Marconi and Wireless,
41; see also, Baker,
History,
82, and MacLeod,
Marconi,
86;

BLUE SERGE

For two of Belle’s friends
: John Nash Statement, 2–3, in letter, Seyd to Director of Public Prosecutions, April 29, 1911. NA-DPP 1/13; John Nash Statement, 26–27. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.

Crippen told him
: The dialogue between Crippen and Nash is taken verbatim from John Nash Statement, 2–3, in letter, Seyd to Director of Public Prosecutions, April 29, 1911, NA-DPP 1/13.

Two days later
: For details about Froest and Scotland Yard see Browne,
Rise,
243–44; Jeffers,
Bloody Business,
93; and Williams,
Hidden World,
37.

“Mr. and Mrs. Nash are not satisfied”
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
8.

His name was Walter Dew
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
throughout; Jeffers,
Bloody Business,
116–17.

“I saw a sight”
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
145.

“When we got back”
: The dialogue between Dew, Nash, and Froest is verbatim, from Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
8–9.

Under ordinary circumstances
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
11.

“What was really in the minds”
: Ibid., 9.

“I think it would be just as well”
: Ibid., 9.

RATS

Fleming arranged
: Details of the lecture and the intervention of Nevil Maskelyne come mainly from the Maskelyne Incident Papers, a collection of clippings and correspondence held in the archives of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, London. See in particular pp. 32–52. For overviews and additional details, see also Bartram, I, 55, and Hong,
Wireless,
108–14.

Blok was experienced
: Blok’s account is quoted extensively in Hong,
Wireless,
110.

“The interference was purposely arranged”
: Maskelyne Incident, 41.

“Everything went off well”
: Quoted in Hong,
Wireless,
111.

In a second letter
: Ibid., 111.

On June 11, 1903
: Maskelyne Incident, 32.

“Sir,” Maskelyne wrote
: Ibid., 33.

As the
Morning Leader
of June 15
: Ibid., 43.

In an interview in
: Ibid., 35.

AH

“curiously enough”
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
10.

“a great favorite”
: Chief Inspector Dew. Report to Criminal Investigation Division, July 6, 1910, NA-MEPO 3/198.

Maud Burroughs described
: Ibid., 7.

“The story told by”
: Ibid., 1.

“most extraordinary”
: Ibid., 15.

“without adopting the suggestion”
: Ibid., 15.

“Is Dr. Crippen at home”
: Ibid., 11.

“She was not pretty”
: Ibid., 11.

“Who are you”
: “Further Report of Chief Inspector Dew,” 1, NA-DPP 1/13. Dew himself offers several different accounts, in different reports and statements, of how this initial contact unfolded.

“Unfortunate the doctor is out”
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
12.

Ethel’s recollection
: Le Neve,
Ethel Le Neve,
28–33. The dialogue between Dew and Ethel appears here as Ethel retold it in her memoir.

At Albion House
: Le Neve,
Ethel Le Neve,
33–34.

“insignificant little man”
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
12. A slightly different account appears in Further Report of Chief Inspector Dew, 1, NA-DPP 1/13.

“I am Chief-Inspector Dew”
: Ibid., 13.

THE GIRL ON THE DOCK

On Nova Scotia he faced a choice
: MacLeod,
Marconi,
90.

They agreed also
: Baker,
History,
96.

The previous December
: Ibid., 98.

“Notwithstanding the great mass”
: Sewall,
Wireless,
89.

“At thirty”
: Marconi,
My Father,
151.

The fact that he was Italian
: Ibid., 168.

In the summer of 1904
: For more detail on Beatrice and her background, see Marconi,
My Father,
155–62, and Weightman,
Signor Marconi,
182–85.

To her, it seemed lovely
: Marconi,
My Father,
161–62.

“the dress she had on was
awful”: Ibid., 155.

He fled for the Balkans
: Ibid., 164.

Stricken with the grief
: Ibid., 164.

Without telling Beatrice
: Ibid., 164.

“It’s so serious”
: Ibid., 165.

Troubling news drifted back
: Ibid., 166–67.

“What can you be thinking”
: Ibid., 167.

“She was a born flirt”
: Ibid., 168.

“I have not mentioned this”
: Baker,
History,
107.

In 1904, while seeking
: Jolly,
Lodge,
153.

HOOK

The fastest ocean liners
: Fox,
Transatlantic,
308.

The government began talks
: Clarke,
Voices,
133.

“Is it not becoming patent”
: Childers,
Riddle,
308.

Ever since the turn of the century
: Hynes,
Edwardian,
22.

A royal commission found
: Browne,
Rise,
279–83.

The government investigated
: Hynes,
Edwardian,
22–23.

A month later the government launched
: Ibid., 32–33.

In London on the night
: Dunbar,
J. M. Barrie,
170.

The
Daily Telegraph
would call
: Ibid., 170.

“Do you believe in fairies”
: Barrie,
Peter Pan,
115.

“How still the night is”
: Ibid., 117.

PART V: THE FINEST TIME

THE TRUTH ABOUT BELLE

“From his manner”
: Dew,
I Caught Crippen,
13–14.

“Meanwhile,” she wrote
: Le Neve,
Ethel Le Neve,
35.