NOTES
THE MYSTERIOUS PASSENGERS
Captain Kendall had: For details about Kendall’s background, see Croall, Fourteen Minutes, 22–25.
The Montrose was launched: For details about the Montrose, see Musk, Canadian Pacific, 59, 74.
“The Cabin accommodation”: Canadian Pacific Railway Company, Royal Mail Steamship Lines, 1906 Summer Sailing Timetable. Canadian Pacific Steamship Line Memorabilia. In Archives Canada: MG 28 III 23.
“A little better”: Ibid.
The manifest: Kendall Statement, August 4, 1910, 1. In NA-MEPO 3/198.
While on display: Read, Urban Democracy, 412.
“brilliant but disgusting”: Ibid., 490.
Shortly before: Kendall Statement, August 4, 1910, 1. In NA-MEPO 3/198.
“strange and unnatural”: Ibid., 2.
“I did not do anything”: Ibid., 2.
PART I: GHOSTS AND GUNFIRE
DISTRACTION
“street orderlies”: Macqueen-Pope, Goodbye Piccadilly, 100.
“diffusion of knowledge”: Bolles Collection. Thomas Allen, The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark and Parts Adjacent (Vol. 4). Cowie and Strange, 1827, 363.
“the great head”: Hill, Letters, 50.
A young woman: Haynes, Psychical Research, 184.
Combs Rectory: Jolly, Lodge, 18.
“Whatever faults”: Lodge, Past Years, 29. Lodge learned later in life that during one phase of his career his children were, as he put it, “somewhat afraid of me.” One incident stood out. He came back late from work, tired and irritable. With his children in bed under strict instructions to keep quiet, he began marking a “thick batch” of examination papers. Suddenly, a stream of water poured onto his windowsill from the children’s room above. He became furious. “I rushed upstairs. They had just got back to bed, and said they had been watering a plant outside on their window-sill. I learned too late that it was one they had been trying to cultivate and were fond of. God forgive me, I flung it out of the window.” The pot smashed on the ground. Later, he heard quiet sobbing coming from the room. He regretted the incident forever afterward (Lodge, Past Years, 252).
“I have walked”: Ibid., 78.
“a sort of sacred place”: Ibid., 75.
“practicians”: For one reference to the term “practician,” see The Electrician, vol. 39, no. 7 (June 11, 1897), 1.
“inappropriate and repulsive”: Aitken, Syntony, 126.
“As it is”: Ibid., 112.
“I became afflicted”: Ibid., 112.
“to examine”: Haynes, Psychical Research, 6. At times, surely, it must have been difficult to set aside prejudice and prepossession, as when considering the feats of three sisters known widely as “The Three Miss Macdonalds.” They held séances during which the table would tilt for yes and no and tap out the letters of the alphabet, a tedious process in which communicating just the word zoo would have required fifty-eight distinct taps. A times their tables engaged in high-velocity thumping, so much so, according to one historian of the SPR, “that one of them had to jump on it, crinoline and all, and sit there till it slowed down and stopped at last.” One Macdonald sister later had a son named Rudyard, whose Jungle Book became one of the most beloved books of all time (Haynes, Psychical Research, 61).
“physical forces”: Ibid., xiv.
Committee on Haunted Houses: Ibid., 25.
In Boston William James: James’s encounter with Mrs. Piper prompted him to write: “If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black you must not seek to show that no crows are, it is enough if you prove the single crow to be white. My own white crow is Mrs. Piper. In the trances of this medium I cannot resist the conviction that knowledge appears which she has never gained by the ordinary waking use of her eyes and ears and wits.” (Haynes, Psychical Research, 83).
“This,” he wrote: Ibid., 277.
“thoroughly convinced”: Ibid., 279.
In his memoir: Ibid., 184.
“Well, now you can”: Lodge, Past Years, 113. Lodge’s biographer, W. P. Jolly, wrote of Lodge: “He was of the light cavalry of Physics, scouting ahead and reporting back, rather than the infantry of Engineering, who take and consolidate the ground for permanent useful occupation” (Jolly, Lodge, 113).
THE GREAT HUSH
“My chief trouble”: Marconi, My Father, 23. This needs a bit of qualification, for the idea of harnessing electromagnetic waves for telegraphy without wires had been proposed before, in an 1892 article in the Fortnightly Review, written by William Crookes, a physicist and friend of Oliver Lodge. Crookes by this time was one of Britain’s most distinguished scientists, and one of its most controversial because of his interest in the paranormal. In the early 1870s he conducted a detailed investigation of Daniel Douglas Home, a medium who had held séances for Napoleon III, Tsar Alexander II, and other bright lights of the age, and was known for doing such extraordinary things as moving furniture and grabbing hot coals from fireplaces without injury (and in one case depositing said coals on the bald scalp of a séance participant, supposedly without causing harm). In the famous “Ashley House Levitation” of 1868, Home supposedly floated out one window of the séance room and back in through another. Crookes’s investigations led him to conclude that Home did have psychic powers; he claimed, in fact, to have witnessed Home levitate himself several times. This did not endear him to the men of established British science, and probably accounted for why no one paid much attention to his Fortnightly Review article in which he discussed Heinrich Hertz’s discovery of electromagnetic waves. “Here is unfolded to us a new and astonishing world—one which it is hard to conceive should contain no possibilities of transmitting and receiving intelligence,” he wrote. “Rays of light will not pierce through a wall, nor, as we know only too well, through a London fog. But the electrical vibrations of a yard or more in wave-length of which I have spoken will easily pierce such mediums, which to them will be transparent. Here, then, is revealed the bewildering possibility of telegraphy without wires, posts, cables, or any of our present costly appliances.” The article went virtually unread, and even Lodge appeared not to have paid it any attention (Oppenheim, Other World, 14–15, 35, 344, 475; Jolly, Lodge, 102; d’Albe, Crookes, 341–42).
“Che orecchi”: Ibid., 8.
“an aggregate”: Ibid., 8.
Marconi grew up: For descriptions of Villa Griffone see Marconi, My Father, 6, 22, 24, 191.
“my electricity”: Ibid., 14.
“One of the enduring”: Paresce, “Personal Reflections,” 3.
“The expression on”: Marconi, My Father, 16.
“He always was”: Maskelyne Incident, 27.
“the Little Englishman”: Ibid.
Historians often: Isted, I, 48; Jonnes, Empires, 19.
As men developed: Collins, Wireless Telegraphy, 36–37. For a good grounding in all things electrical, see Bordeau, Volts to Hertz, and Jonnes, Empires.
Initially scientists: Collins, Wireless Telegraphy, 36; Jonnes, Empires, 22.
One researcher: Jonnes, Empires, 29.
In 1850: Collins, Wireless Telegraphy, 37. The year 1850 also witnessed one of the strangest attempts at wireless communication. A Frenchman allowed two snails to get to know one another, then shipped one snail off to New York, to a fellow countryman, to test the widely held belief that physical contact between snails set up within them an invisible connection that allowed them to communicate with each other regardless of distance. They placed the snails in metal bowls marked with letters of the alphabet, and claimed that when one snail was touched against a letter, the other snail, at the far side of the ocean, likewise touched that letter. Concluding that somehow signals had been transmitted from one snail to the other, the researchers proposed the existence of an etherlike realm that they called “escargotic fluid.” History is silent on the fate of the snails, though the nationality of the two researchers hints at one possible outcome (Baker, History, 21–22).
In 1880: Ibid., 37.
He came up with: Ibid., 8.
He called it: Massie and Underhill, Wireless Telegraphy, 41.
Lodge’s own statements: Aitken, Syntony, 116, 121; Hong, Wireless, 46.
“Whilst the issues”: Hancock, Wireless at Sea, 20.
“Giuseppe was punishing”: Marconi, My Father, 24.
The coherer “would act”: Hong, Wireless, 19.
“I did not lose”: Marconi, My Father, 26.
“he did lose his youth”: Ibid., 2624 Marconi saw no limits: Interview, Francesco Paresce, Munich, April 11, 2005.
“far too erratic”: Marconi, Nobel, 3.
THE SCAR
Details about Crippen’s roots come mainly from Conover, Coldwater, 26–27, 43; Eckert, Buildings, 201–3; Gillespie, A History, 12–18, 47–49, 89–93, 127, 131; Holmes, Illustrated, throughout; History, 118, 159, 172; Massie, Potawatomi Tears, 270; Portrait, 276; Shipway, 8–13; Michigan Business Directory, 1863; Trial, 34–39, 87–130; and miscellaneous photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, and other items held in the Holbrook Heritage Room of the Branch County District Library, Coldwater, Mich.
The young woman: Trial, 34–35; Cullen, Crippen, 33–34.
“I believe”: Trial, 88.
“I told her”: Ibid., 35.
“the coming of a colony”: History of Branch County, Michigan, 118.
“The pleasant drives”: Holmes, Illustrated.
A photograph: This photograph appeared in the Coldwater, Michigan, City Directory of January 1920. Branch County District Library.
“The devil”: Cullen, Crippen, 30. Cullen, on p. 31, goes so far as to contend that the Book of Isaiah was “Hawley’s favorite.” 32 “the vilest show”: Gillespie, History, 89.
As a homeopath: Trial, 89.
At Bethlehem: Ibid., 69, 89.
“I have never performed”: Ibid., 87–88.
In January 1892: Cullen, Crippen, 32.
“it was healed”: Trial, 18–19.
“There was only one”: Cullen, Crippen, 35.
“craved motherhood”: Ibid., 35.
“I love babies”: Ibid., 87.
Filson Young: Trial, xxv–xxvi.
“she was always”: Ibid., 88.
“to the outside world”: Ibid., 126.
STRANGE DOINGS
“to do the duty of two”: Lodge, Past Years, 299.
“Have you ever”: Haynes, Psychical Research, 40. There were so many mediums roaming about the world that an American company sensed opportunity and began marketing a catalog entitled Gambols with the Ghosts, in which it sold various devices for use during séances, such as luminous hands and faces and a “Full, luminous female form” that would materialize slowly and then float around the room (Haynes, Psychical Research, 18).
“Between deaths”: Lodge, Why I Believe, 26.
“I am not presuming”: Lodge, Past Years, 297.
“constantly ejaculating”: Ibid., 295.
“It was as if”: Ibid., 297.
“Every time she did this”: Ibid., 301.
“There must be some”: Ibid., 301.
“there appeared to emanate”: Ibid., 301.
“I saw this protuberance”: Ibid., 301.
“On me touche”: Ibid., 301.
“As far as the physics”: Ibid., 302.
ectoplasm: Ibid., 301.
“The ectoplasmic formation”: Ibid., 302.
“Let it be noted”: Ibid., 305.
“Any person”: Ibid., 306.
“Whether there is any”: Ibid., 60.
GUNFIRE
“Every time”: Marconi, My Father, 27.
“That was when”: Marconi, My Father, 28.
It was a “practician’s” discovery: Aitken, Syntony, 195, 286.
“But,” Marconi said: Ibid., 29.
EASING THE SORE PARTS
“Does your head”: The Weekly Courier, Coldwater, Mich., April 6, 1895.
“I will guarantee”: The News and Courier, Charleston, S.C., July 6, 1898.
“For Piles”: Goodman, Crippen, 13.
“Heed the Sign”: Cullen, Crippen, 37.
Later, during the Spanish-American: See photographs at homeoint.org/ photo/m2/munyonjm.htm.
He called Crippen: Cullen, Crippen, 38.
“as docile as a kitten”: See “Crippen Family Research Records” at familytrail.com/crippen/DrCrippen2.htm
“a giddy woman”: Cullen, Crippen, 39.
“She liked men”: Ibid., 39.
TWO FOR LONDON
“No matter how much”: Paresce, “Personal Reflections,” Part II, 1.
London was still: Details in this paragraph come mainly from Baedeker, London, 3, 93, 96, 97; and Massie, Dreadnought, xx.
The new Locomotives: Browne, Rise, 236.
Queen Victoria herself: Cullen, When London Walked, 137.
“the contact of a dog’s tongue”: Ellis, Psychology of Sex, 21.
The Duke and Duchess: Maurois, Edwardian Era, 278.
“probably including”: Priestley, Edwardians, 66.
Barbara Tuchman: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 68–69.
With this new awareness: Details in this paragraph come from Tuchman, Proud Tower, 92–106; Browne, Rise, 232–35, 279; and Deghy and Waterhouse, Café Royal, 50–57. Malato’s guidebook is excerpted on p. 57, and also in David, Fitzrovians, 96–97.
The new location: Cullen, When London Walked, 101–2.
When the police moved: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 93.
No one called him: Massie, Dreadnought, 15.
Before breakfast: Magnus, King Edward, 333.
The prince hated: Massie, Dreadnought, 15.
By the late 1890s: Rose, Edwardian Temperament, 165.
The number of variety theaters: Read, Urban Democracy, 42; Priestley, Edwardians, 172. Baedeker, London, on p. 64, puts the number of music halls in London alone at 500.
She kept a cast: Massie, Dreadnought, 13.
PART II: BETRAYAL
THE SECRET BOX
“Maxwellians”: For a detailed examination of Hertz’s work and the respect, if not adulation, afforded him by Oliver Lodge and his camp, see O’Hara and Pricha, Hertz. See also Hong, Wireless, 44.
Soon afterward: The postal details in this paragraph come from Baedeker, London, 80, 122, 181.
“It has gone twelve now”: Mullis’s account is quoted at length in Baker, Preece, 266–67.
Preece and Marconi were kindred: Hong, Wireless, 37–38.
Preece recognized: Aitken, Syntony, 210–14, 288.
Later Preece would state: Aitken, Syntony, 288.
In a letter to his father: Marconi to Giuseppe Marconi, April 1, 1896. “Letters,” 96–97.
“He promised me”: Ibid., 97.
“La calma della mia”: Marconi, My Father, 46.
“an Italian had come up”: Hong, Wireless, 38.
“On the last day”: Ibid., 38.
“There is nothing new”: Lodge to Preece, October 16, 1896. IEE, SC Mss. 22/213.
“I think it desirable”: Marconi to Preece, December 5, 1896. IEE, NA 13/2/02.
The Strand Magazine: Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 9; Isted, I, 53.
the ambassador “even apologized”: Marconi to Giuseppe Marconi, January 9, 1897. “Letters,” 100.
“the public has been educated”: Hong, Wireless, 39.
ANARCHISTS AND SEMEN
“I may say”: Trial, 36.
Just east lay Bloomsbury: For more detail about the neighborhood and the Bloomsbury and Fitzroy Street groups, see Stansky, December, and David, Fitzrovians, respectively.
“The door opened”: Stansky, December 1910, 10.
For years the basement: David, Fitzrovians, 95.
Nearby at No. 30: David, Fitzrovians, 95; Deghy and Waterhouse, Café Royal, 54.
Harrison recalled: Cullen, Crippen, 42.
A photograph from about this time: Goodman, Crippen File, 16.
“a few feeble lines”: Cullen, Crippen, 42.
A program from this period: Goodman, Crippen File, 25.
“the Brooklyn Matzos Ball”: Cullen, Crippen, 44.
“smoking concerts”: Trial, 36.
“She was always finding fault”: Ibid., 88.
“that this man visited her”: Ibid., 36.
THE GERMAN SPY
He long had resented: André Maurois wrote of Wilhelm: “He was sensitive and ardent, and for artists might have turned out to be a desirable friend. But at the head of an Empire he was terrifying. His speeches, even his telegrams, were tirades of melodrama; his mother wished she could put a padlock on his mouth whenever he spoke in public.” (Maurois, Edwardian Era, 83)
Kapp described him: Kapp to Preece, March 19, 1897. IEE, SC Mss. 022. Folder 100-276.
“As far as the Government”: Marconi to Giuseppe Marconi, January 20, 1897. “Letters,” 101–2.
Two Americans: Ibid., 102.
In April, however: Marconi to Preece, April 10, 1897. IEE, NA 13/2/08. Also, see Aitken, Syntony, 218, 222–23.
On April 9, 1897: Graham to Preece, April 9, 1897. IEE, NA 13/2/07.
“I am in difficulty”: Marconi to Preece, April 10, 1897. IEE, NA 13/2/08.
Afterward he wrote: Marconi to Giuseppe Marconi, August 8, 1897. “Letters,” 102.
“Marconi at the end of 1897”: Preece’s Recollections, July 26, 1937, 5. IEE, NA 13/2/24.
On Friday, May 7: Kemp Diary, May 7, 1897.
“So be it”: Kemp Diary, May 13, 1897.
“I can’t love him”: Slaby to Preece, June 23, 1898. IEE, SC Mss. 22/180.
“It is cold here”: Kemp Diary, May 18, 1897.
“I had not been able”: Hancock, Wireless, 4.
“I came as a stranger”: Slaby to Preece, May 15, 1897. IEE, SC Mss. 22/180.
In Berlin, Slaby immediately: See Slaby to Preece, June 27, 1897. IEE, SC Mss. 22/179.
He had to withdraw: Hong, Wireless, 13.
“The papers seem”: Lodge to Preece, May 29, 1897. IEE, SC Mss. 22/210.
“It appears that”: Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 31–32.
“It would be important”: Fitzgerald to Lodge, June 21, 1897. UCL, Lodge Collection, MS Add 89/35 iii.
“I have distinctly told him”: Preece to Secretary, G.P.O., July 15, 1897. IEE, Post Office Records, English Minute No. 336170/98.
“I have now constructed”: Slaby to Preece, June 27, 1897. IEE, SC Mss. 22/179.
“We are happy men”: Slaby to Preece, June 23, 1898. IEE, SC Mss. 22/180.
BRUCE MILLER
“I merely shook hands”: Trial, 22.
“I cannot say”: Miller Statement, 4. NA-DPP 1/13.
“When I first met her”: Ibid., 4.
“sometimes in the afternoons”: Ibid., 5.
“brown eyes”: Trial, 20.
Only partly true: Deghy and Waterhouse, Café Royal, 22.
“Anything we do”: Miller Statement, 5. NA-DPP 1/13.
“often enough to be sociable”: Trial, 20.
“with his Kodak”: Miller Statement, 5. NA-DPP 1/13.
“with love and kisses”: Trial, 37.
ENEMIES
“In fact Dr. Lodge”: The Electrician 39, no. 21 (September 17, 1897), 686–87.
“What we want to know”: The Electrician 39, no. 25 (October 15, 1897), 832.
“I hope this new attitude”: Marconi to Preece, September 9, 1897. IEE, NA 13/2/13.
“but no practical results”: Baker, Preece, 275.
“ignorant excitement”: Ibid., 279.
“I want to show you”: Preece to Lodge, November 18, 1899. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/86.
“Preece’s attempt”: Lodge to Thompson, January 21, 1900. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/104 ii.
the still-pervasive skepticism: One example: In a letter to Lodge, physicist Oliver Heaviside wrote, “I much question the usefulness of anything of Marconi’s kind in practice, save in exceptional circumstances. The heliograph will carry much farther by day, + a search light by night. No doubt a special field can be found for it. But wires are the thing, in general.” Heaviside to Lodge, June 23, 1897. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/50.
“Wireless is all very well”: Marconi, My Father, 45.
“The chief objection”: Kelvin to Lodge, May 5, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/107.
“I think it would be”: Kelvin to Lodge, June 11, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/107.
“In accepting”: Kelvin to Lodge, June 12, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/107.
“Today was only the beginning”: Muirhead to Lodge, June 4, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/77.
“This struck me”: Jameson Davis to Lodge, July 29, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/70.
ROYAL YACHT OSBORNE: Marconi to Lodge, August 2, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/70.
Anyone who could read: Marconi, My Father, 65–67; Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 41–42.
“go back and around”: Marconi, My Father, 66; Wander, “Radio’s First Home,” 52.
“Alas, Your Majesty”: Ibid., 66.
“H. R. H. the Prince”: Ibid., 67.
“Could you come”: Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 42.
“I am glad to say”: Marconi to Lodge, August 2, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/70.
“a lady’s house”: Kemp Diary, August 24, 1898.
“I wired to London”: Ibid., August 22, 1898.
“I sincerely hope”: Marconi to Lodge, November 2, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/70.
“I much regret”: Marconi to Lodge, October 11, 1898. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/70.
At nine A.M.: Kemp’s account of the ordeal appears in his diary entries for December 17, 1898, through January 4, 1899. Kemp Diary.
In April: Baker, History, 42; Faulkner, Watchers, 6–7.
One night, during: Marconi, My Father, 71–72; Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 20.
“WERE YOU HER LOVER, SIR?”
“Were you writing to her”: This exchange appears in Trial, 20–21.
FLEMING
“Glad to send”: Marconi to Fleming, March 28, 1899. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/66.
“the region of uncertain”: Hong, Wireless, 56–57.
“My attention has been”: Lodge to Fleming, April 11, 1899. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/66
an “indictment against”: Hong, Wireless, 57.
“I made no attack”: Fleming to Lodge, April 14, 1899. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/66.
define “my position”: Fleming to Jameson Davis, May 2, 1899. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/47.
“I have a strong conviction”: Ibid.
THE LADIES’ GUILD COMMENCES
“It was always agreed”: Trial, 89.
“with a free hand”: Ibid., 97.
One evening Miller: Miller Statement, 2. NA-DPP 1/13.
“I never interfered”: Trial, 37.
“Of course, I hoped”: Ibid., 89.
“She got an engagement”: Ibid., 36.
“She would probably”: Ibid., 36.
“There was hardly”: Macqueen-Pope, Goodbye Piccadilly, 300–1.
“When her hair was down”: Trial, 77.
“She wasn’t a top-rank artist”: Rose, Red Plush, 29.
“To fail at even an East End”: Machray, Night Side, 118.
A photographer captured: Goodman, Crippen File, 15.
“Oh Belle does it hurt”: Clara Martinetti Statement. Brief for the Prosecution. NA-DPP, 1/13.
“A GIGANTIC EXPERIMENT”
Why bother at all: For an excellent discussion of this, see Aitken, Syntony, 240–41. Aitken argues that the cable companies could have confronted any competitor with deep cuts in price. The business was lucrative, the companies profitable. They also had the capacity to handle far more business. In a price war, he argues, the cable trust would have proven a dangerous competitor.
He recognized: Interview, Francesco Paresce, Marconi’s grandson, Munich, April 11, 2005. “He had no limits,” Paresce told me. “I think he felt from day one that radio waves would be able to link any two points on the earth.” That Marconi would propose so grand an experiment was due largely to his personality and to his appraisal of his company’s prospects. “In order to win the race he could not continue as he had done before, with little steps,” Paresce said. “Commercially he was realizing it wasn’t working, the system really wasn’t working.”
Paths that might have seemed more prudent did exist, Paresce said. “You would have thought he would have pushed much harder simply to communicate with a ship farther and farther away.” But to settle for this and not test his vision would have run against the grain of Marconi’s character. “I think it was something that was really him,” Paresce said. “He was a very stubborn man, he was a very driven man, and he was self-educated.” But Marconi also understood on some deep level that what science held to be immutable law might easily with time prove to be false. “He learned very early on not to take too seriously the science of the moment,” Paresce said. Marconi perhaps believed “there were enough unknowns about the problem that there was something that would come to his rescue.”
However outlandish Marconi’s idea might have seemed, it did have a practical dimension. “He was an extremely able media manipulator,” Paresce said. “I’m almost certain that the basic reason he did it is he had to give a big impetus to his commercial operation. By making a big splash he could attract more attention to his effort, and attract the best people to help solve its problems.”
“I have not the slightest doubt”: Hong, Wireless, 60.
“When you meet Marconi”: Quoted in Marconi, My Father, 76.
A frightened guest: Ibid., 76.
“peculiar semi-abstract air”: Ibid., 76.
“a bit absent-minded”: Quoted in Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 59.
He found it: Marconi, My Father, 76–77. For more details on the America’s Cup episode, see pp. 77–80. See also, Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 60–61 and Baker, History, 48–49.
“The shock from the sending coil”: Quoted in Marconi, My Father, 80; Faulkner, Watchers, 7.
“I noticed”: Marconi, My Father, 168.
“Well try using the other foot”: Isted, I, 55.
The St. Paul suited him: The St. Paul had a twin, the St. Louis, which in 1907 carried a four-year-old boy named Leslie Townes Hope, later Bob Hope, from England to a new life in America. Of his emigration he later said, “I left England at the age of four when I found out I couldn’t be king.” Fox, Transatlantic, 391; Hope’s quip comes from BobHope.com/bob.htm.
“The Needles resembled”: Quoted in Marconi, My Father, 82–83.
“As all know”: Hancock, Wireless, 20.
Josephine Bowen Holman: To gather details about Holman and her roots, I conducted research in the Indiana State Library, and there consulted the following sources: Indianapolis News, December 20, December 21, 1901; January 21, January 22, 1902; June 5, 1972; Indianapolis Star, December 20, 1909, May 24, 1948; August 4, 1979; Indianapolis Star Magazine, March 8, 1970; Indianapolis Times, July 23, 1937. Also, Lewis, “Woodruff Place,” pp. 3–8; McDonald, Indianapolis, 29–31; McKenzie, Blue Book; and Woodruff Place Centennial, 2, 4.
“absolute certitude”: For material on Tesla and his Century article, see: Cheney and Uth, Tesla, 87, 90, 99–100; Hong, Wireless, 72; the article is quoted at length in Sewall, Wireless, 51–52.
As welcome as: Aitken, Syntony, 232–35.
“But greater wonders followed”: London Times, October 4, 1900.
“After you left”: Marconi, My Father, 93.
“I am thinking”: Ibid., 93.
“extreme demands on my time”: Fleming to Flood Page, November 23, 1900. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/47.
“I am desired to say”: Flood Page to Fleming, December 1, 1900. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/47.
“As regards any special recognition”: Fleming to Flood Page, December 3, 1900. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/47.
In December Nevil Maskelyne: Bartram, I, 50.
And there was Lodge: Lodge’s discussions with Muirhead are cited in a letter from George Fitzgerald to Lodge, June 14, 1899. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/35 iv.
He accepted the position: Jolly, Lodge, 132.
THE END OF THE WORLD
“The most noticeable thing”: Hicks, Not Guilty, 68.
In 1898: Massie, Dreadnought, 180; Clarke, Voices, 133.
“At first there will be”: Ibid., 134.
“I wonder if”: Weintraub, Edward, 387.
PART III: SECRETS
MISS LE NEVE
Drouet produced: Cullen, Crippen, 48.
“For dolls or other girlish toys”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 6.
“Very soon afterwards”: Ibid., 8.
“For some reason”: Ibid., 8.
“I quickly discovered”: Ibid., 8.
On one occasion: Ibid., 8.
“With her departure”: Ibid., 9.
“Her coming was”: Ibid., 9.
An even stormier visit: Ibid., 9.
Crippen brought with him: Cullen, Crippen, 61. Cullen contends Crippen also brought with him Drouet’s mailing lists.
“This places within”: Goodman, Crippen File, 12.
In time Aural Remedies: Ibid., 13.
Crippen said, “although”: Trial, 37.
“Give me your hand”: Further Statement of Maud Burroughs, September 16, 1910. NA-DPP 1/13.
“we had a whole day together”: Ellis, Black Flame, 318.
“the only person in the world”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 10.
“by sheer accident”: Ibid., 12.
“THE THUNDER FACTORY”
“They thought”: Marconi, My Father, 100.
“There was nothing”: Thoreau, Cape Cod, 59.
“Plenty of water”: “Report for G. Marconi on his recent visit to America.” Cape Cod National Seashore.
One bit of historical resonance: Kittredge, Cape Cod, 94.
Cook assured Marconi: Marconi, My Father, 100.
“The barren aspect”: Thoreau, Cape Cod, 45–46.
Clouds often filled: For weather details throughout this chapter see Monthly Weather Review, 49, 53, 77, 80, 85, 99, 123, 144, 182, 206, 224, 246, 272, 277, 291, 295, 318–22, 348, 380, 385, 403, 428, 433, 450, 470, 490, 493–94, 516, 536, 543, 569, 572, 596, 606, 610.
“It was clear to me”: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 28.
“period of exceptionally severe storms”: Monthly Weather Review, 99.
“In view of the isolation”: Bradfield to Executive Committee, March 30, 1906. Cape Cod National Seashore.
“a vast morgue”: Thoreau, Cape Cod, 182.
“There is naked Nature”: Ibid., 182.
A photograph: “Marconi Site.” Wellfleet Historical Society.
“To lose him to anyone”: Marconi, My Father, 80.
“I wish I had got this letter”: Ibid., 82.
He formed: Aitken, Syntony, 143; Hong, Wireless, 46.
And Marconi endured: Aitken, Syntony, 246–47, fn 67 on 293.
On May 21, 1901: Daily Graphic, May 28, 1901, in UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/66; Faulkner, Watchers, 11; Hancock, Wireless, 29–30.
Only years later: Faulkner, Watchers, 11.
“If you opened the door”: Cape Codder, June 18, 1970, in Cape Cod National Seashore, File 4.7-2.
“In August”: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 28.
“We used to call it”: Crowley to Fleming, January 11, 1938. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/3.
“We had an electric phenomenon”: Kemp Diary, August 9, 1901.
“The weather is still boisterous”: Ibid., August 14, 1901.
“Caution. Very Dangerous.”: See photograph, Kemp Diary, opposite p. 154.
“the thunder factory”: Weightman, Signor Marconi, 170.
The most important clause: Aitken, Syntony, 235–36; Bartram, I, 51.
CLAUSTROPHOBIA
On September 21: Trial, 9.
Trees lined the crescent: The following description of Hilldrop Crescent and its surrounding neighborhood is derived primarily from the online archives of the Bolles and Booth collections, with additional detail from Baedeker, and a statement by Chief Inspector Walter Dew, in Brief for the Prosecution, 77, NA-DPP 1/13, in which he describes the layout of No. 39. I gleaned other details from two police photographs of the house and its garden, in NA-MEPO 3/198.
In 1902 the prison: Execution had been a neighborhood theme for more than a century. In the 1700s an inn stood in Camden Town by the name of Mother Red Cap, a common stop for omnibuses but also the end of the line for many condemned prisoners, who were hung in public across the street. The Morning Post of 1776 reported that “Orders have been given from the Secretary of State’s Office that the criminals, capitally convicted at the Old Bailey, shall in future be executed at the cross road near the Mother Red Cap—the half-way house to Hampstead….” One of the last things the condemned saw was the sign at the Mother Red Cap representing a woman thought to be Mother Damnable, identified in a bit of 1819 verse as a woman “so curst, a dog would not dwell with her.” Bolles: Henry B. Whealey, London Past and Present, John Murray, 1891.
The law required: Minutes. Executions at Pentonville. NA-HO 45/10629/200212.
One immediate neighbor: Cole to Churchill, November 11, 1910. Executions at Pentonville. NA-HO 45/10629/200212.
“I do not think”: Davies to Prison Commission, November 22, 1910. Execuions at Pentonville. NA-HO 45/10629/200212.
“Gee. You have got a hoo-doo”: Trial, xvii.
“Mrs. Crippen was strictly economical”: Ibid., xviii.
“Mrs. Crippen disliked”: Ibid., xix.
“I followed her”: Ibid., xix.
“They always appeared”: Jane Harrison Statement. Witness, 103. NA-DPP 1/13.
“Mr. and Mrs. Crippen”: Rhoda Ray Statement. Witness, 139. NA-DPP 1/13.
“somewhat hasty”: Trial, 12.
At one point: Trial, xviii.
He told his story: Karl Reinisch Account, “Dr. Crippen on Board.” Black Museum. NA-MEPO 2/10996. This document was off-limits to researchers until 2001.
Another tenant, however: Trial, xix.
“He had to rise”: Trial, xviii–xix.
In June 1906: Cora Crippen to Reinisch, June 23, 1906. Black Museum. NA-MEPO 2/10996.
“He was a man”: Trial, xviii.
Soon after the move: Ibid., xviii.
On January 5, 1909: Ibid., 108.
“His eccentric taste”: Ibid., xviii.
“I have always hated”: Paul Martinetti Statement. Supplemental Information, 27. (The bulk of the master document, Supplemental Information, is housed in NA-DPP 1/13, but portions, including the Martinetti Statement, appear in NA-CRIM 1/117.)
“The rooms which Frankel”: William Burch Statement. Witness, 160–61. NA-DPP 1/13.
DISASTER
“At 1 p.m.”: Kemp Diary, September 17, 1901. Also, see Bussey, Marconi’s Atlantic Leap, 34–35; Baker, History, 65; Fleming, “History,” 39–40.
“please hold yourself in readiness”: Kemp Diary, November 4, 1901.
The balloons and kites: Hancock, Wireless, 32.
It fell, he wrote: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 28.
“masts down”: Flood Page to Marconi, November 29, 1901. Cape Cod National Seashore.
THE POISONS BOOK
In September 1908: Emily Jackson Statement, 44. Coroner’s Depositions. NA-CRIM 1/117. Also, Emily Jackson Statement, 31. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I never saw the baby”: Emily Jackson Statement, 9. Supplemental Information. NA-DPP 1/13. Also, Emily Jackson Statement, 39. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.
“I thought him quite”: Emily Jackson Statement, 47. Coroner’s Depositions. NA-CRIM 1/117.
“He was the financier”: Gilbert Rylance Statement, 81. Coroner’s Depositions. NA-CRIM 1/117.
Crippen continued to concoct: William Long Statement, 84. Coroner’s Depositions. NA-CRIM 1/117. William Long Statement, 17. Supplemental Information, NA-DPP 1/13.
On December 15: Trial, 32.
“I didn’t think”: Louie Davis Statement, 101. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13; Melinda May Statement, 11. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
Belle “did not seem to know”: Maud Burroughs Statement, 97. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
Over the previous year: List of Dr. Crippen’s Orders. Exhibit 49, p. 44. Exhibits, NA-DPP 1/13.
But Hetherington could not: Charles Hetherington Statement. NA-DPP 1/13; Trial, 75–76.
Hetherington relayed: Alexander Hill Statement. NA-DPP 1/13.
His company had no problem: Ibid.
Crippen “did not raise”: Trial, 76–77.
First the form asked: Sale of Poisons Register Book. Exhibit 38. Exhibits, NA-DPP 1/13.
THE SECRET OF THE KITES
To mask the true purpose: Marconi, My Father, 104.
“He reasoned”: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 29.
“BEGIN WEDNESDAY”: Fleming Notebook, December 9, 1901. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/20.
the newspaper reported: Marconi, My Father, 105.
In his diary: Kemp Diary, December 11, 1901.
“I should have gone”: Ibid.
“disappeared to parts unknown”: Hancock, Wireless, 33.
“Today’s accident”: Marconi, My Father, 106.
“I came to the conclusion”: Hancock, Wireless, 33–34.
Despite his crucial role: Hong, Wireless, 80.
WRETCHED LOVE
She was, Jackson said, “rather strange”: Emily Jackson Statement, 45–46. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
Her fingers twitched: Emily Jackson Statement, 27. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
Ethel had a “horrible staring look”: Ibid.
“Go to bed”: Emily Jackson Statement, 46. Coroner’s Depositions, NA CRIM 1/117; Further Statement of Emily Jackson, 42. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
Ethel lay back: Emily Jackson Statement, 28. Brief for the Prosecution, NA DPP 1/13.
“I can’t let you go”: Ibid.
“For the love of God”: Further Statement of Emily Jackson, 43. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I told her”: Emily Jackson Statement, 46. Coroner’s Depositions, NA CRIM 1/117.
Mrs. Jackson assumed: Further Statement of Emily Jackson, 43. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“Why worry about that now”: Emily Jackson Statement, 46–47. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
“Don’t you think”: Emily Jackson Statement, 28. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
That night Ethel told: Ibid.
taximeter: Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989.
“I would describe”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 22. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
“always appeared to be very happy”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 22. Supplemental Information, NA-DPP 1/13.
“Oh make him”: Further Statement of Mrs. Clara Martinetti, 63. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I feel rather queer”: Ibid., 64.
“You call that seven o’clock”: Ibid., 64; Trial, 12.
Clara took off her own coat: Clara Martinetti Statement, 18. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
Paul had two whiskeys: Further Statement of Mrs. Clara Martinetti, 65. Winess, NA-DPP 1/13.
“a funny little bull terrier”: Ibid., 65.
Crippen carved: Ibid., 65.
“the little deadlies”: Forster, Howards End, 117.
Belle offered cigarettes: Further Statement of Mrs. Clara Martinetti, 66. Winess, NA-DPP 1/13.
Belle told Clara: Ibid., 66.
“I had got a chill”: Paul Martinetti Statement, 25. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
“Mr. Martinetti wanted to go upstairs”: Trial, 90.
“He returned looking white”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 18. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
his hands were cold and he began to tremble: Further Statement of Mrs. Clara Martinetti, 67. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I don’t think”: Ibid., 67.
“Don’t come down, Belle”: Trial, 13. Some accounts, likely exaggerated, have Mrs. Martinetti telling Belle, “Don’t come down, you’ll catch your death!”
“On the night of the party”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 18, 22. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
“Immediately after”: Trial, 90.
“This is the finish of it”: Ibid., 37.
“She had said this so often”: Ibid., 37.
“that I was to arrange”: Ibid., 37.
“I did not even see her”: Ibid., 91.
“his own calm self”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 13.
Clara asked, “How’s Belle”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 19. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117; Further Statement of Mrs. Clara Martinetti, 68. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
Belle had gone: Trial, 91.
The main question: Crippen Statement, 123. Statements of Crippen and Le Neve, NA-DPP 1/13.
THE FATAL OBSTACLE
“Unmistakably”: Hancock, Wireless, 34.
This configuration: Kemp Diary, December 12, 1901.
Marconi wrote: Bussey, Marconi’s Atlantic Leap, 51.
During the brief periods: Baker, History, 69.
They began stringing: Kemp Diary, December 19, 1901; Baker, History, 69.
“Signals are being received”: Bussey, Marconi’s Atlantic Leap, 51.
That night, he released: London Times, December 16, 1901; Hancock, Wireless, 34.
That Sunday: Kemp Diary, December 15, 1901; Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 101.
the New York Times: Marconi, My Father, 104.
Over the next few days: Ibid., 104.
Shares of Eastern Telegraph: Indianapolis News, December 21, 1901. Indiana State Library.
Ambrose Fleming: Hong, Wireless, 80; Daily Mail, December 16, 1901. Fleming even clipped a copy and placed it, later, in his personal history. Fleming, “History,” 44.
Josephine Holman professed: Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 113.
who was headed there now: Indianapolis News, December 20, 1901. Indiana State Library.
TO THE BALL
“Shall be in later”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 14. 197 “I was, of course”: Ibid., 15–16.
“He was not in a mood”: Ibid., 16.
“Has Belle Elmore really gone away”: Ibid., 15.
“I could not pretend”: Ibid., 16.
Now Crippen surprised her: Ibid., 16–17.
“a real expert in diamonds”: Ibid., 18.
He showed a clerk: Ernest William Stuart Statement, 88. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
That night Ethel Le Neve slept: Trial, 101.
“Dear Miss May”: Ibid., 23.
The letter to the executive committee: Ibid., 23–24.
“He thought it would cheer us both up”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 19.
Lest this problem destroy: Ibid., 19–20.
The cat led her: Ibid., 20.
“Rich gowns”: Ibid., 20–21.
“I did not question”: Ibid., 23.
“There was scarcely anything”: Ibid., 21.
“From the first”: Ibid., 21.
“What is all this about”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 23. Supplemental Information, NA-DPP 1/13.
“proper engagement ring”: Further Statement of Emily Jackson, 47. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“Do you know”: Emily Jackson Statement, 15. Supplemental Information, NA-DPP 1/13.
“Somebody has gone”: Ibid., 10.
Ethel began spending nights: Emily Jackson Statement, 45. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117; Emily Jackson Statement, 38. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.
She told Mrs. Jackson: Further Statement of Emily Jackson, 47. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13; Walter Dew Statement, 31. Coroner’s Depositions, NA CRIM 1/117.
Soon Ethel began giving: Caroline Rumbold Statement, 92. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.
To her sister Nina: Adine Prue Brock Statement, 78. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
Yes, Ethel agreed: Ibid., 82.
1 outfit of mole: Emily Jackson Statement, 24. Supplemental Information, NA-CRIM 1/117; Clothing Received by Mrs. Jackson from Ethel Le Neve, 71. Exhibits, NA-DPP 1/13.
“Neither of us”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 23–24.
Built in 1873: Baedeker, London, 16; Macqueen-Pope, Goodbye Piccadilly, 319–20.
“wore it without any attempt”: Clara Martinetti Statement, 9. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
John Nash said: John Nash Statement, 2, in letter, Seyd to Director of Public Prosecutions, April 29, 1911, NA-DPP 1/13.
Maud Burroughs saw it: Maud Burroughs Statement, 97. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
She recalled that Ethel: Clara Martinetti Statement, 9. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I noticed that Crippen”: John Nash Statement, 25. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
Mrs. Louise Smythson approached: Louise Smythson Statement, 31. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13; Louise Smythson Statement, 3. Supplemental Information, NA-DPP 1/13.
“After this”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 24.
It made her uncomfortable: Ibid., 24.
“The pack was turning”: Forster, Howards End, 246.
On March 12: Emily Jackson Statement, 38–39. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13; Emily Jackson Statement, 44. Coroner’s Depositions, NA-CRIM 1/117.
“I DON’T BELIEVE IT”
“I doubt this story”: Associated Press dispatch quoted in the Sydney Daily Post, of Sydney, Nova Scotia, December 27, 1901. Beaton, MG 12, 214. G3. Scrapbook.
“Skepticism prevailed”: Hancock, Wireless, 36.
“the letters S and R”: Ibid., 36.
Two days later”: Electrical Review, 49, no. 1256 (December 20, 1901), 1031. Beaton, MG 12/214/A3.
“It is rash”: London Times, December 20, 1901.
Smith watched: For William Smith’s entire account see Smith to Prof. W. J. Loudon, March 10, 1931. William Smith Papers. Archives Canada, MG 30 D18 Vol. 1; also, in the same collection, see Notes and Transcripts. Marconi Papers. Memoranda, Printed Matter, Vol. 3, File 17.
“Best Christmas greetings”: Isted, II, 112.
NEWS FROM AMERICA
Dear Clara and Paul: Letter, Crippen to Martinettis, March 20, 1910. Exhibits, 21, NA-DPP 1/13.
Belle died yesterday: Telegram, Crippen to Martinettis. Ibid., 21.
PART IV: AN INSPECTOR CALLS
“DAMN THE SUN!”
At first: Marconi, My Father, 113.
Black signs at three points: Bussey, Marconi’s Atlantic Leap, 66.
“Potage Electrolytique”: Simons, “Guglielmo Marconi,” 51.
Bowls of sorbet: Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 110.
“I am sorry”: Isted, II, 112.
In his own account of events: Fleming, “History,” no page number.
“ENGAGEMENT IS BROKEN”: Indianapolis News, January 21, 1902. Indiana State Library.
Later, a News reporter: The following exchange appears in the Indianapolis News, January 22, 1902. Indiana State Library.
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.
Crippen ordered a steak: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 15.
“I realized that she had gone”: Crippen Statement, 123. Statements of Crippen and Le Neve, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I was impressed”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 14.
“The girl showed”: Ibid., 19–20.
“He told you a lie”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 35.
“I was stunned”: Ibid., 36.
“There was not enough”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 19.
“I seemed to be living”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 36.
“I certainly had no suspicion”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 21.
“In the bedroom”: Ibid., 21.
“What were these men doing”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 36.
“The place was completely dark”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 21.
“Of course I shall have to find”: Ibid., 22.
“I did not absolutely think”: Chief Inspector Dew Statement, 81. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13. In his memoir, on p. 21, Dew says essentially the same thing: “I certainly had no suspicion of murder. You don’t jump to the conclusion that murder has been committed merely because a wife has disappeared and a husband has told lies about it.”
He told at least one observer: Trial, xxx.
Ethel felt great relief: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 36–38.
“For mercy’s sake”: Ibid., 38.
“My dear,” he said: Ibid., 39.
THE PRISONER OF GLACE BAY
Beatrice and Marconi married: Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 191–92.
Marconi gave Beatrice: Marconi, My Father, 169.
They fought: Marconi, My Father, 172.
They moved to something far grander: Ibid., 175; Baedeker, London, 9; Weightman, Signor Marconi’s, 194.
His ship-to-shore business: Baker, History, 105.
One clause of the agreement: Hong, Wireless, 148; “Memorandum of Agreement.” May 26, 1905. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/47.
The new station at Whittle Rocks: Cash Book, Vol. 33, March 1905. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of Canada Ltd. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72.
In April 1905: Ibid., April 1905.
Each got one: Ibid., April 1905.
In August 1905: Ibid., August 1905 and August 1904.
In 1904 Glace Bay: Balance Sheets, Vol. 22, Glace Bay. See balance sheets for years ended January 31, 1904, and 1908. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of Canada Ltd. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72.
For the first time: MacLeod, Marconi, 95; Marconi, My Father, 176.
As she put it: Marconi, My Father, 168.
He gave her many: Ibid., 176.
The crew of 415: Fox, Transatlantic, 318–20.
“When her husband did emerge”: Marconi, My Father, 176.
One day Beatrice entered: Ibid., 177.
The new station: MacLeod, Marconi, 93; Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 43.
The news made Marconi furious: Marconi, My Father, 178–79.
“The stillness of winter”: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 48–49.
Beatrice did not agree: Marconi, My Father, 178.
He volunteered his own fortune: MacLeod, Marconi, 96; Marconi, My Father, 180.
At Poldhu he inaugurated: MacLeod, Marconi, 96–98.
At last, at nine o’clock: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 44.
He began to see a pattern: Baker, History, 112–13; Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 44.
He realized now: Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 44–45.
LIBERATION
Ethel looked “rather troubled”: This and subsequent dialogue come from Adine True Brock Statement, 83. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
Dew composed a circular: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 23.
“You will look a perfect boy”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 43.
“Dear Sid”: Walter William Neave Statement, 88. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“It was not a good fit”: This and subsequent dialogue come from Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 43–44.
Crippen reassured her: Ibid., 48.
To enhance her costume: Ibid., 44.
“I was terribly self-conscious”: Ibid., 44–45.
“Strange as it may seem”: Ibid., 45.
“Oh, the pretty English boy”: Ibid., 48.
Crippen identified himself: Police Reports as to Enquiries at Antwerp. NA DPP 1/13.
The innkeepers noticed: Ibid.
Later that Sunday: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 24.
A LOSS IN MAYFAIR
He envisioned: MacLeod, Marconi, 80–83; Vyvyan, Marconi and Wireless, 45.
“I was almost too young”: Marconi, My Father, 180.
“Our darling little baby”: Weightman, Signor Marconi, 195.
Now he endured: Marconi, My Father, 180–81.
Eventually he found one: Weightman, Signor Marconi, 196.
Beatrice’s sister: Marconi, My Father, 181.
On April 3, 1906: H. Kershaw to Fleming, April 3, 1906. UCL, Fleming Collection, 122/48.
During this time: Marconi, My Father, 181.
Standing on his head: Ibid., 181–82.
He recruited Marconi’s opponents: Hong, Wireless, 166.
“We find that the administration”: Hozier to Lodge, May 11, 1906. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/77.
Muirhead arranged: Muirhead to Lodge, June 10, 1906. Ibid.
Impressed anew: Lodge, Past Years, 283–84.
In 1906, in response: Massie, Dreadnought, 481–82; Read, Urban Democracy, 475.
That year: Clarke, Voices, 144–52.
One witness: Ibid., 145.
The publisher of the German-language edition: Ibid., 148.
On September 11, 1908: Marconi, My Father, 186.
AN INSPECTOR RETURNS
“Will you do me”: Trial, 30.
Long chose not to mention: Further Report of Chief Inspector Dew, 7. NA DPP 1/13.
a five-chambered revolver: Ibid., 4.
He composed detailed descriptions: Ibid., 4.
The hotel’s owner noticed: Police Reports as to Enquiries at Antwerp. NA DPP 1/13.
Ethel loved touring: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 49.
On Tuesday Dew ordered: “Further Report of Chief Inspector Dew,” 4. NA-DPP 1/13.
“Even in bed”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 27.
At last Long disclosed: Further Report of Chief Inspector Dew, 7. NA-DPP 1/13.
He and Mitchell worked: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 27.
One of the bricks: Further Report of Chief Inspector Dew, 5. NA-DPP 1/13.
Mitchell went to the garden: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 28.
THE MERMAID
In future years: Interview, Princess Elettra Marconi; also, Marconi, Marconi My Beloved, 159.
Suddenly Beatrice appeared: Marconi, My Father, 188–89.
THE MYSTERY DEEPENS
“The stench was unbearable”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 28.
He and Froest set out: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 195.
His task would be: Thomas Marshall Statement, 50. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
The men concentrated: Arthur Mitchell Statement, 4. Further Information, NA-DPP 1/13.
As Dew would note: Particulars of Human Remains, 23–24. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.
There was nothing: Thomas Marshall Statement, 43. Supplemental Information, NA-DPP 1/13. Marshall said, “We found not one single bone, no head, no arms or leg.”
“Someone had simply carved”: Walter Dew Statement, July 18, 1910, 38. NA-DPP 1/13.
The scope of the challenge: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 30.
“From the doctor’s chair”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 195.
He titled the circular: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 29; for a photograph of the circular, see Goodman, Crippen File, 10.
The detectives returned: Alfred Henry Sargent Statement, 156, and Francis Barclay Statement, 158–59. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
“I asked him several times”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 50.
THE DYNAMITE PRIZE
“The Telefunken Wall”: Baker, History, 131.
A company memorandum: “Traffic Between Clifden and Glace Bay from October 10, 1907 to June 27, 1908.” August 4, 1908. William Smith Papers, Vol. 1. Archives Canada, MG 30 D18.
Another company report: “Analysis of Clifden Traffic from 4th January 1908 to 15th August 1908.” William Smith Papers, Vol. 2. Archives Canada, MG 30 D18.
“I might mention”: Marconi, Nobel, 1, 2.
He acknowledged: Ibid., 40.
Nor had he found: Ibid., 27–28.
“It would almost appear”: Ibid., 41.
“Whatever may be its present shortcomings”: Ibid., 44.
FIVE JARS
Dew also retrieved: Walter Dew Statement, July 18, 1910, 39. NA-DPP 1/13.
“There was one large mass”: Augustus Joseph Pepper Statement, 40. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
Amid the discarded skin: Ibid., 46.
“False hair”: Ibid., 41.
As Pepper probed: Trial, 48; W. H. Willcox, Report, 4. NA-DPP 1/13.
Ethel grew weary: This and subsequent dialogue and detail: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 49–53.
His search also turned up: Walter Dew Statement, July 18, 1910, 39. NA DPP 1/13.
“It was the one big topic”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 33.
“Not a day passed”: Ibid., 36–37.
On this score: Browne, Rise, 250, 258.
The most important lesson: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 98.
“I did what I could”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 36.
On Friday, July 15: Emily Jackson Statement, 38–40. Witness, NA-DPP 1/13.
They revisited Clara Martinetti: Clara Martinetti Statement, 63–68. Ibid.
They interviewed Marion: Marion Louisa Curnow Statement, 72–73. Ibid.
“They were on exceedingly good”: Emily Cowderoy Statement, 104. Ibid.
that Sir Melville Macnaghten believed: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 196–97.
Mrs. Ginnette and the police: Cullen, Crippen, 69; Fox, Transatlantic, 405.
“Up till today”: Cullen, Crippen, 70.
“The reverend gentleman”: Ibid., 74.
“Many a man”: Ibid., 72.
Afterward, in the hall: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 31–32.
TESTAMENT
“Marconi-Atlantic”: Marconi, My Father, 192.
“It was without”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 52.
PART VI: PURSUIT BY THUNDER
THE ROBINSONS
“The whole ship”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 52–53.
“I felt so sure”: Ibid., 53.
The captain also produced: Trial, 187.
The ship’s open-sea velocity: Ibid., 188.
“So with a rug”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 54.
He found their hats: Trial, 187; also, Cullen, Crippen, 126.
“I warned him”: Trial, 187.
SUICIDE
In Chicago police arrested: New York Times, July 23, 1910.
In Marseille a shipping agent: Ibid.
In Halifax, Nova Scotia: Ibid., July 24, 1910.
From Brussels came: Ibid., July 23, 1910.
“Many meek looking men”: Ibid., July 24, 1910.
On the night of Wednesday: Ibid., July 22, 1910.
A MESSAGE FROM THE SEA
In talking with Robinson: Henry George Kendall Statement, 2. NA-MEPO 3/198; also, Croall, Fourteen Minutes, 25, and Jeffers, Bloody Business, 125.
Once, a gust of wind: Trial, 188.
Kendall invited the Robinsons: Trial, 188.
“This ruse was successful”: Ibid., 188.
“I was then fully convinced”: Henry George Kendall Statement, 2. NA MEPO 3/198.
One afternoon Kendall spotted: Trial, 188.
Have strong suspicions: Henry George Kendall Statement, 3. NA-MEPO 3/198; Jeffers, Bloody Business, 126; see photograph of Marconigram in Goodman, Crippen Files, 28.
“MR. DEWHURST”
“It was eight o’clock”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 37.
“Read it to me”: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 126.
“What do you think”: This and subsequent dialogue is from Dew, I Caught Crippen, 39.
“It was a serious step”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 199.
Moreover, the Murder Squad: Ibid., 229–31.
Macnaghten worried: Ibid., 199.
“Here is your authority, Dew”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 39.
“That night could not fail”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 199.
An officer with the Liverpool police: Telegram. Head Constable Leonard Dunne to Macnaghten, July 22, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
Only the ship’s captain: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 40.
He was met: Telegram. Head Constable Leonard Dunne to Macnaghten, July 22, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
“It was hopeless”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 40.
“I assumed an air”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 199–200.
Macnaghten’s anxiety increased: Ibid., 200.
New York police: Inspector John H. Russell, Police Department of the City of New York, to Macnaghten, July 22, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
A French rail guard: New York Times, July 20, 1910.
A traveler on an English train: Charles Jones to Head Constable, Cardiff City Police, July 15, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
In Brussels a Scotland Yard detective: Central Officer’s Special Report: Re John Robinson and John Robinson Junior. July 24, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
The innkeeper’s wife: Daily Mail, July 27, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 35.
AN INTERCEPTED SIGNAL
“The doctor was as calm ”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 53.
She imagined the letter: Ibid., 54.
“What is Inspector Dew doing”: MarconiCalling. Search Crippen. See, “Kendall’s Message Reaches Scotland Yard.”
CAGE OF GLASS
“It is believed that”: Daily Telegraph, July 25, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 28.
The story consumed: Trial, xxxi.
“At noon to-day”: Daily Mail, July 26, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 31.
One article speculated: Daily Mail, July 25, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 29.
“Mysterious voices”: Daily Mirror, July 27, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 33.
A French newspaper: Quoted in Goodman, Crippen File, 37.
“The people, who have a sure instinct”: Priestley, Edwardians, 200.
“The King’s Poisoner”: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 324.
He took the first steps: Trial, 68.
“The remains”: Ibid., 66.
He succeeded in locating: William Henry Willcox Statement, 58. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
At No. 46 Brecknock Road: Lena Lyons Statement, 133–35. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.
Another neighbor, Franziska: Franziska Hachenberger Statement, 135A. Ibid.
The most detailed report: Frederick Evans Statement, 136–38. Ibid.
Crutchett tracked down: William Curtis Statement, 162–63. Ibid.
On Wednesday, July 27: Cullen, Crippen, 135; Jeffers, Bloody Business, 126–27.
“What the devil”: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 127.
“Speaking for myself”: London Times, July 29, 1910.
QUIVERING ETHER
“Kindly wireless”: Cullen, Crippen, 135.
“too good a thing to lose”: Trial, 187.
“My dear,” he told her: This and subsequent dialogue come from Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 55–56.
On Friday, July 29: Trial, 187–88.
“There was something”: London Times, August 1, 1910.
“The suspect fugitive”: Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 37.
“What a wonderful invention”: Trial, 188.
THE ST. MARY’S CAT
At St. Mary’s Hospital: Trial, 71; Willcox, Detective-Physician, 28; William Henry Willcox Statement, 58–65. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
“It is necessary”: Trial, 70.
He found, for example: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 27.
He knew of only: William Henry Willcox Statement, 60. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.
When exposed to: Trial, 71.
Adopted by a medical student: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 31.
WHISPERS
Jones proved himself: New York Times, July 30, 1910.
THE INSPECTOR ARRIVES
He was appalled: Walter Dew Report, August 2, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
On shore Dew: Ibid.; Dew, I Caught Crippen, 41. The Marconi station at Father Point offered an example of the costs and problems that accumulated as Marconi expanded his ship-to-shore empire. The Father Point station began operation on December 22, 1906, and almost immediately things began going awry, as recorded in the station’s log. Pipes froze. Engines failed. One entry reads, “Pump pipe thawed out by removing suction chamber and thrusting a red hot iron pipe down the other.”
The record for 1907 is full of similar interruptions. Engines broke down. Signals grew weak and spontaneous disruptions denoted by the letter X became commonplace. “Xs fierce,” the operator wrote one night. And again, “Xs bad all pm.” Weather bedeviled the station. The cruelest month was April 1908, a model of meteorological perversity.
The entry for Saturday, April 4, reads: “Hurricane from West…”
For Thursday, April 9: “Hurricane from East…”
See Log Book of Father Point, Quebec, 1906–1914. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72 Vol. 81.
“The lighthouse foghorn”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 41.
“Now I don’t pretend”: Ibid., 42.
He called all the reporters: Ibid., 42; Walter Dew Report, August 2, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
Even the home secretary: Central Officer’s Special Report, July 30, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
They learned, for example: John William Stonehouse Statement, 143–44. Winess, NA-DPP 1/13.
Later the clerk called: Central Officer’s Special Report, August 1, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
A BOAT IN THE MIST
“The last night was dreary”: Priestley, Edwardians, 199.
“I don’t think I will”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 56.
Inside the lining: Walter Dew Statement, 75. Brief for the Prosecution, NA DPP 1/13.
The ship’s surgeon: New York Times, August 1, 1910.
As a precaution: Priestley, Edwardians, 199.
TREACHEROUS WATERS
Dew realized: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 42–43.
Kendall led the party: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 44; Priestley, Edwardians, 199.
“During my long career”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 43.
Crippen, he wrote, “had been caught”: Ibid., 44.
“I am Chief Inspector Dew”: Ibid., 44.
EPILOGUE: INTO THE ETHER
THE TABLE OF DROPS
“If the fatal dose”: Trial, 69.
Investigators made another: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 62.
Dew’s manner was so paternal: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 60.
“He mystified me”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 56–57.
At the Quebec prison: C. L. Gauvrea to Superintendent, Scotland Yard, December 9, 1959. Black Museum, NA-MEPO 3/3154.
Dew kept Crippen: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 57.
“I don’t know how things may go”: Ibid., 54.
“I had to be present”: Ibid., 55.
Four thousand people: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 28.
The spectators included: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 129.
On the stand Spilsbury: Browne and Tullett, Scotland Yard, 53–54.
At this point a soup plate: Trial, xxxii; Jeffers, Bloody Business, 128.
Muir asked: Trial, 94.
A warder took his money: Memorandum, W. Middleton to Governor of Pentonville Prison, October 25, 1910. NA-PCOM 8/30.
The fact of his incarceration: Memorandum HM Prison Brixton, September 19, 1910. NA-PCOM 8/30.
“It is comfort”: Ellis, 316. During Crippen’s incarceration, an old man applied to be hanged in his place, arguing that his own life was not worth as much as that of a doctor. The offer was declined. Browne, Travers Humphreys, 78.
Ellis was known to be: Memorandum to Commissioners, March 11, 1914. Execuion Record, Execution of Josiah Davies, March 10, 1914. NA PCOM 8/213. One notorious series of executions conducted by a hangman named Berry had demonstrated the worth of attending carefully to the physics of the process. He tried three times to hang a convicted killer named John Lee, and three times failed, prompting a judge to commute Lee’s sentence to life. Chastened, Berry resolved to correct his mistake by adding a little extra distance to the drop for future executions. His next subject was a killer named Robert Goodale. The noose tore Goodale’s head off. A year later, while trying to hang a murderer named David Roberts, he allowed too little distance. Roberts struggled in midair until prison authorities killed him by other means. See Browne, Rise, 180.
“Character of prisoner’s neck”: Execution Record, Execution of Hawley Harvey Crippen, November 23, 1910. NA-PCOM 8/30.
The prison warder: Inventory, Crippen’s Clothing, August 21, 1911. NA PCOM 8/30.
Ellis continued to moonlight: Rochdale Folk, at manchesterhistory.net/ rochdale/ellis.htm
An editor for: “To H. H. Crippen, Condemned Cell, Pentonville Gaol.” November 19, 1910. Newspaper Extracts, NA-HO /44/1719/ 195492.
One theory: Hicks, Not Guilty, 83.
“I never looked upon”: Humphreys, Criminal Days, 113.
“Full justice has not yet been done”: Browne and Tullett, Scotland Yard, 58.
“We carefully examined”: Central Officer’s Special Report: Murder of Cora Crippen. Information, September 1, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
“There is no bad smell: Central Officer’s Special Report: Special Enquiry at Railway Stations re Crippen, September 16, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
The Public Health Department: Alfred Edwin Harris, Medical Officer of Health, to Sir Melville Macnaghten, October 7, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.
At precisely 3:15: Memorandum: “I beg to report the funeral cortege….” NA-MEPO, 3/198.
“Dr. Crippen’s love”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 47.
the Wee Hoose: Cullen, Crippen, 197.
“the most intriguing murder mystery”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 7.
Just before two in the morning: Canada’s national archives contain a great trove of material on the Empress disaster. See in particular: Commission of Enquiry into Wreckage of Empress of Ireland, June 16, 1914. Archives Canada, RG 42 Vol. 351.
As the Germans raced: Musk, Canadian Pacific, 74; Croall, Fourteen Minutes, 229–30.
He joined the Royal Navy: Croall, Fourteen Minutes, 230.
One mast remained: Musk, Canadian Pacific, 74.
Alfred Hitchcock: Hitchcock, “Juicy Murders,” 23; Massie, Potawatomi Tears, 277; “Hitchcock’s Favorite Crime,” members.aol.com/vistavsion/ doctorcrippen.htm.
What Hitchcock found particularly appealing about the Crippen saga was its subtlety. “The Crippen case was fraught with understatement, restraint, and characteristic British relish for drama,” he wrote. He called understatement “an occupational tradition of English police. With the most atrocious criminals, they never bluster up and say, ‘O.K.—we gotcha!’ They say: ‘I beg your pardon, but it seems that someone has been boiled in oil. We wondered if you’d mind answering a few questions about it….’” Hitchcock, “Juicy Murders,” 23.
Crippen also proved a fascination: Gardiner and Walker, Raymond Chandler, 197–98.
A play called Captured by Wireless: Coldwater Courier, April 12, 1912. Holbrook Heritage Room, Branch County District Library, Coldwater, Michigan.
“A Sick Joke With Music”: Cullen, Crippen, 202–3.
During World War II: A bomb also struck New Scotland Yard and destroyed several floors, including the police commissioner’s office. Happily, he was not in at the time. Browne, Rise, 360.
THE MARRIAGE THAT NEVER WAS
They waved: Marconi, My Father, 197–99.
Since then no ship: “What is the economic value of the International Ice Patrol?” U.S. Coast Guard at www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/FAQ/Org6.shtml
The companies agreed: Baker, History, 135; Aitken, Syntony, 284.
As soon as the Marconi men left: Baker, History, 158–59. As war loomed, Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary, looked out the window of his office and watched as the lamps in St. James’s Park were lit. As tears filled his eyes, he spoke one of the saddest sentences of history: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” Tuchman, Guns, 122.
Marconi’s station at Poldhu: Baker, History, 159.
“Calls for assistance”: Marconi Co. of Canada Annual Report, Year-Ended January 31, 1915. File 191, 2–48. Annual Reports. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72 Vol. 6.
In 1917 a German submarine: Hancock, Wireless, 91. Marconi himself may have been a target of the Imperial German Navy. In April, 1915, Marconi booked passage on the Lusitania and sailed to New York to testify in a patent lawsuit his company had brought against a competitor. While he was there, German officials warned that if the Lusitania reentered English waters, it would be torpedoed. A rumor circulated that the Germans planned to capture Marconi. On May 7, a German submarine did indeed sink the Lusitania.
Later that month, Marconi learned that Italy had entered the war. He was still in New York. He excused himself from the patent fight and sailed back to London aboard his old favorite, the St. Paul. He took the German threat against him seriously, however, and traveled incognito. From England he crossed to Italy, where he was put in charge of the Italian army’s wireless operations. Baker, History, 171.
“The past had been dead”: Marconi, My Father, 232.
Marconi sold their house: According to Degna Marconi, the sale was devastating. Degna recalled one day walking past the house just as the move was under way. “The door of our old home stood open and I went into the front hall. Most of the furniture had been taken away, and in its place were crates covered with dust. In a corner a few books we had once loved had been dumped like so much trash. Lamps with broken shades and letters in my father’s handwriting littered the floor. Mother, too sad to attend to the home that was being destroyed, had left the packing to the servants.” Degna wrote this in 1962. “I still feel grief for myself, a child standing alone in that derelict house.” Marconi, My Father, 234.
“I would like to wish”: Marconi, My Father, 252.
“They only want”: Ibid., 269.
“Young man”: Baker, History, 185.
“What a world we live in”: Sir Henry Morris-Jones. “Diary of a visit to Canada and the U.S.A., 1926.” Archives Canada, MG40 M22 Microfilm Reel A-1610.
“I admit that I am responsible”: Aitken, Syntony, 272.
The climax of the day: Marconi, My Father, 294.
As he aged, Marconi became aloof: Baker, History, 295.
“Listen for a regularly repeated signal”: Isted, I, 54.
“I am very sorry”: Indianapolis Times, July 20, 1937. Indiana State Library.
Amelia Earhart: Ibid.
That night the gloom: Ibid.
“I was unobserved”: Marconi, My Father, 311
FLEMING AND LODGE
“a fighting fund”: Lodge to Preece, June 15, 1911. Baker Collection: Further Papers of Sir William Henry Preece. IEE-NAEST 021.
“They are clearly infringing”: Ibid.
“I agree with every word”: Baker, Preece, 304–5.
“I am delighted to hear”: Preece to Lodge, October 24, 1911. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/86.
“I love you”: Lodge, Raymond, 205.
“Father, tell mother”: Ibid., 207.
“I recommend people”: Ibid., 342.
The book became hugely popular: Lodge’s biographer, W. P. Jolly, put it nicely: “Seldom can a work of research and philosophy have been more opportunely published, when almost everyone in England was mourning the loss of some friend or relative.” Jolly, Lodge, 205.
“It is quite clear”: Fleming to Lodge, August 29, 1937. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/36.
“Marconi was always determined”: Ibid.
CODA
VOYAGER
For the second time: Cullen, Crippen, 191.
After arriving in New York: Ibid., 199–201.