Thunderstruck

Cora Crippen informs her husband that she will join him in London now that her career in opera in New York has failed. When she arrives, she treats Crippen poorly, and complains of all the suitors she’d met on the long voyage who were better than he. Their stylish home lies amid the most progressive artists and poets of London as Cora launches her career as a variety show act with her spouse’s funding. She uses her maiden name as inspiration for the stage name Maca Motzki. Crippen must return to the US for work. Upon his return, Cora informs him she’s been seeing another man.

Marconi is made a generous offer by his cousin Jameson Davis to buy the patent for the wireless and give Marconi money for further research as well as control of a company formed to manage the invention. Marconi agrees, deeply hurting his British sponsor, William Preece. Meanwhile, cultural tensions are pushing British society against immigrants, Italians in particular. Marconi launches the company with Davis without telling Preece and, within six months, has more than $20 million (today’s value) in stock and cash.

Marconi demonstrates his invention for Adolf Slaby, a German professor. Unknown to Marconi, Slaby takes extensive notes while unmonitored with the device and is able to replicate the device once back in Berlin. A year later, Slaby has formed his own company, backed by the Kaiser and investors in Germany. Eventually, he will build a wireless empire to rival Marconi’s.

Preece gives a lecture on Marconi’s invention despite a letter of warning from Lodge, now enraged by the attention Marconi is getting for what he perceives as his invention. In an open letter, Lodge complains that Marconi is little more than a hack.

Cora Crippen, who now goes by the stage name Belle Elmore, takes a lover while her husband is in the US. He is a prizefighter-turned-variety show star named Bruce Miller. He believes Belle to be single. When he discovers she is married to Dr. Crippen, Belle explains that Crippen does not protest their association, and they maintain their friendship, exchanging photos and letters and meeting often for champagne. The nature of their relationship is never fully known.

Oliver Lodge’s lawyers get to work discrediting Marconi’s invention as intellectual theft. Marconi finds himself with few allies and powerful foes, William Preece now among them. Preece, now in a post-retirement position as consulting engineer, advises the British government against granting a license to Marconi to operate his machines.

Marconi recognizes that public sentiment is turning against him, and people are impatient for results. Marconi meets Lord Kelvin and, through demonstrations, convinces him of the practical value of the device. Kelvin writes to Lodge, asking for the two inventors to reconcile and work together. Marconi’s company offers Lodge 30,000 pounds for his tuning technology patent, an extremely high sum meant to serve as an olive branch and dangling carrot. However, because Marconi refuses to stop seeking additional funding, Lord Kelvin excuses himself—another missed opportunity where Kelvin may have united Lodge and Marconi if only Marconi had been open.

Meanwhile, Marconi sets up a wireless between Prince Edward’s yacht and the Queen’s home. The Queen and her son send messages frequently, and this is reported in the media, earning Marconi fresh praise. At sea, Marconi continues to test his device with his employee, George Kemp, whom he’d hired away from Preece at the Post Office. After weeks at sea, they have demonstrated the value of sea-to-shore communication.

Around Europe and in the US, scientists and inventors work to harness electromagnetic waves for communication purposes, with success in several countries. Marconi is right to be worried about competitors.

Scotland Yard barrister Alfred A. Tobin interviews Bruce Miller about his relationship with Cora Crippen, AKA Belle Elmore, in a transcript that results in no clarity about the nature of their relationship.

Marconi attempts to get aid from Professor John Fleming, an electrical engineer whom he believes can help him achieve higher power rates for his devices. Marconi has signed no new investors, has no new patents or contracts, and has few prospects. The public is skeptical and impatient, and his competitors are gaining ground. He must do something big to win over support and regain lost momentum. Fleming signs on as an advisor for a one-year contract, and Marconi explains that he wants to send wireless messages across the Atlantic.

Crippen and Belle agree that outwardly, they will appear married, though both acknowledge the turmoil in their marriage as Belle courts Miller. Belle ingratiates herself into a group of artists and soon becomes treasurer of the Ladies’ Guild, where she finds recognition and companionship.

Marconi believes his idea to transmit wireless messages across the Atlantic is necessary to prove his command of the technology, and to beat out competitors. Others are skeptical. A cable already exists between the continents, allowing for telegraphed message transmission. Moreover, scientists believe waves flow in straight lines and thus would not bend to match the curve of the Earth. Moreover, it will be expensive, the technology doesn’t exist, and physics doesn’t support the concept. When he pitches the idea to the company, they disapprove. But Marconi insists, pointing to recent experiments by American Nikola Tesla.

The British Navy opens a contract with Marconi’s company to install wireless on 26 ships. Without Marconi’s company knowing, the Navy copies the device and builds 50 more, equipping their fleet.

In search of funding, Marconi travels to New York by boat and helps set up a small wireless for promotion but leaves America without any contracts. On the return voyage, Marconi rigs the ship with wireless and manages a new over-water record of 60 miles to shore. Onboard, Marconi meets Josephine Bowen Holman, a wealthy young woman, and they become secretly engaged.

Dr. Crippen meets Seymour Hicks, a memoirist, who describes Crippen as a “miserably unhappy” (159) man.

While the German Navy expands, the British fear confrontation. Meanwhile, inventors compete for public attention and lucrative contracts, Marconi, Tesla, Lodge, Slaby, and others among them. Marconi lives in fear of being surpassed, even as he reaches his greatest transmission length of 186 miles. Queen Victoria dies in early 1901, leaving many Britons unsure of how King Edward will rule the Empire.

Seventeen-year-old Ethel Clara Le Neve meets Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen at Drouet Institute for the Deaf, a vendor of patent remedies similar to Crippen’s prior employer, Munyon’s. In time, Le Neve becomes Dr. Crippen’s personal secretary. Drouet fails, and he finds work at Aural Remedies. Aural fails, and he returns to Munyon’s. Patent medicine is declining in popularity and public trust, but work is easy to come by for Crippen, who takes Le Neve with him when he moves positions. Through all these transitions, Belle spends money freely while Crippen’s salary decreases, and their financial woes worsen. Meanwhile, Le Neve develops feelings for Dr. Crippen.

Crippen lives under the threat of divorce from Belle and is miserable. Belle’s lover, Bruce Miller, returns to the US in early 1904, but Belle remains volatile. She begins calling Crippen “Peter.” Belle worries about the secretary’s influence on her husband. Le Neve, meanwhile, discovers Belle’s affair with Miller and does not feel guilty about her growing affection for Dr. Crippen.

Marconi’s team struggles to find land on the American East Coast for a tower, eventually landing on a plot in Cape Cod owned by Ed Cook. Construction is hampered by poor weather and concerns about the sturdiness of the construction in the high-wind zone. Marconi and Fleming work to boost power, but with more power, the waves become unmanageable.

Marconi announces his engagement to Josephine Holman. He also wins the much-coveted Lloyd’s contract on the condition Lloyd’s ships use only Marconi equipment. With this, Marconi’s company is primed to monopolize the sea-to-shore industry. Meanwhile, Lodge allies himself with William Preece, winning patents in the US for electrical telegraphy.

Crippen finds a house that is both larger and cheaper, where he can get space from Belle without sacrificing quality. The house is spacious, has a nice garden, and is in a neighborhood of artists. However, the neighborhood is home to two prisons and a cattle yard, keeping housing prices low. With each execution carried out in the prison nearby, bells toll, reminding residents of their proximity to crime and punishment. Belle and Crippen continue the ruse of their marriage, although, to those who knew them, it is clear both are lonely and miserable. In their new home, they take on boarders until Belle tires of them and turns her focus to controlling her pets, Dr. Crippen among them.

In 1907, under the name Mr. Frankel, Crippen rents a bedroom where a lady friend visits him during the day.

Cook’s land boasts high winds that buffet the masts holding Marconi’s device, and soon, the wind levels the masts and their supports. The team quickly constructs a temporary mast, and Marconi transmits to Ireland, 225 miles away. A permanent mast will need to be built at great cost and considerable time. Marconi decides to build a structure in Newfoundland to relay messages and devises a system of balloons and kites to gain height. However, another storm hits Cape Cod, and the masts go down again.

Ethel Le Neve boards with the Jackson family. She suffers a miscarriage but refuses to speak about the father during her recovery. Le Neve wants more from the relationship with Crippen, who is now opening a dental office with a dentist, providing drugs for the services on offer. Meanwhile, Belle is happy with her Ladies’ Guild work, though lonely. Crippen wants Belle to leave him, knowing he can only file for divorce if she deserts him, and then he will be free to wed Le Neve.

Crippen orders a stock of hyoscine hydro bromide and signs the “poison book” at the chemist upon delivery. The tiny amount of drug is “capable of killing twenty men” (212). He pockets the lethal substance and returns to work.

Ever fearful of failure and public humiliation, Marconi devises a plan to explain his Newfoundland visit without giving away the forthcoming experiment. Fleming is never informed of the test that is taking place using his Cape Cod station design, and the newer Newfoundland kite and balloon system. Under bad weather, Marconi’s balloons fail.

Le Neve is sick and Mrs. Jackson, the woman whose home she boards in, is worried. Le Neve reveals she is sick because she must share Crippen with his horrible wife. Mrs. Jackson convinces Le Neve to confront Crippen, which she does, and her depression fades.

On January 31, 1910, Crippen and Belle invite friends, the Martinettis, to dinner. Mr. Marinetti is ill, and his wife takes him home. Later, Larson foreshadows that this particular evening will be dissected carefully in an attempt to understand Crippen’s actions that evening.

The next day Crippen comes home from work to find Belle gone.

Despite many hours attempting to receive a signal from Cape Cod, nothing in Newfoundland is heard though several other wireless receivers pick up the coded message. Finally, Marconi hears something. With that, Marconi knew that electromagnetic waves did not travel in straight lines after all but bent to the curve of the Earth. Marconi wants a second test before announcing his findings, but again the weather worsens. He decides to announce his findings but has no physical proof or verifying witness. The press goes wild with the announcement, and friends and family are interviewed as stock prices for telegraph companies plummet.

Dr. Crippen informs Le Neve that Belle is gone on February 2, 1910, and gifts Le Neve her jewelry. Crippen informs the guild of Belle’s departure, explaining a sick relative in America as the cause. He tells the Martinettis the same story.

Meanwhile, Le Neve and Crippen go to the theater, and Le Neve sleeps in Crippen’s house. She begins giving away Belle’s things to her friends and neighbors. Within weeks, she has an engagement ring from Crippen, among other jewels. Emboldened, Crippen takes Le Neve to a ball, where everyone who knew Belle notices Le Neve is wearing her jewels. By March 12, Le Neve is moved out of the Jackson’s home and into Crippen’s full-time. For the era, this is scandalous, salacious, and ungodly. That Le Neve wears Belle’s clothing and sleeps in her bed is unimaginably improper.

Marconi’s feat is doubted by the scientific community, including Thomas Edison. Further, Marconi is informed that he has violated the Anglo-American’s telegraphy monopoly. Thus, he diverts to Ottawa to make his own deal with the Canadians. In taking this trip, he leaves his fiancée alone in New York for the holidays.

Dr. Crippen sends a letter to the Martinettis saying Belle is dangerously ill in America. He closes the letter on March 24, 1910, stating that Belle has died in America.