by Erin Lindsey
New-York Tribune October 29, 1886
WORLD-LIGHTING LIBERTY
The Bartholdi Statue Unveiled
COMPLETION OF THE GREAT WORK ON BEDLOW’S ISLAND—THE PARADES AND CEREMONIES INTERFERED WITH BY RAIN AND FOG—A GREAT DAY FOR BARTHOLDI AND FOR THE TWO REPUBLICS—THE LAND PARADE SUCCESSFUL IN SPITE OF OBSTACLES—VESSELS ON THE WATER LOST IN MIST—EXERCISES ON BEDLOW’S ISLAND—ADDRESSES BY SENATOR EVARTS AND MR. DEPEW—THE TORCH NOT LIGHTED
Only the luckless weather yesterday robbed New-York of one of those brilliant spectacles which come now and then with great national celebrations and leave a dazzling memory of pomp and circumstance for years to come behind them. As it was, the promises of clearing skies which the Signal Service men had tantalizingly sent out were broken one by one to the most patient hope, and the day dragged along from one ceremony to another in a disgusting mess of rain and fog, which lightened now to a misty drizzle or thickened afterward to a steady pour.
The huge land parade formed off Fifth Avenue in the wet and marched along the slippery, muddy streets with dripping ranks and ragged edges. The Presidential party and the French delegates stood shivering for hours on the unsheltered reviewing platform and looked drearily forward to the moment when the long procession would pass. The naval column in the North River was hid almost from the start in fog and mist. No traces of the great marine spectacle which a fair day had promised were to be seen from the Battery or the Brooklyn Bridge.
At the island itself a raw east wind swept the open ramparts of old Fort Wood and the soft drizzling rain fell in slanting sheets on the crowd huddled closely in the grand stand under the protecting shadow of the pedestal’s foundations. Umbrellas and great coats were useless and the ceremonies were shortened unexpectedly, but, perhaps, to the relief of many, by a mistake of signals for the unveiling and the salute.
Yet in many ways the ceremonies of Bartholdi Day will always be memorable here. The land parade itself was 20,000 strong and though the rain fell incessantly on the slippery streets, the line showed scarcely a straggling or broken edge.
The crowds along the route, too, numbered hundreds of thousands, all filled with enthusiasm and reckless good will. Men and women pushed and trampled upon one another and the slushy mud was spattered right and left; yet good order was kept and fewer disturbances were reported to the police than on any other recent great celebration day.
Nothing, too, could quite overcome the impressiveness of the unveiling itself or the graceful flow of eloquence with which the splendid gift of the French people was finally turned over, after so many years of waiting, to the hands of the United States.
It was a great day for Bartholdi, who saw at last the fulfillment of that sculptor’s fancy on which he has lavished so unselfishly the best ten years of his life. And if one may believe the poets and orators, or judge by the enthusiasm of the crowd, in distress and discomfort as it was when the stately figure of the huge, clear-lined, pure-faced Goddess was unveiled, it was a great day for Liberty, for America and for France.
Pearson’s Magazine May 1899
THE NEW WIZARD OF THE WEST
By Chauncy Montgomery M’Govern
AN INTERVIEW WITH TESLA, THE MODERN MIRACLE-WORKER, WHO IS HARNESSING THE RAYS OF THE SUN; HAS DISCOVERED WAYS OF TRANSMITTING POWER WITHOUT WIRES AND OF SEEING BY TELEPHONE; HAS INVENTED A MEANS OF EMPLOYING ELECTRICITY AS A FERTILISER; AND, FINALLY, IS ABLE TO MANUFACTURE ARTIFICIAL DAYLIGHT.
Not to stagger on being shown through the laboratory of Nikola Tesla requires the possession of an uncommonly sturdy mind. No person can escape a feeling of giddiness when permitted to pass into this miracle-factory and contemplate for a moment the amazing feats which this young man can accomplish by the mere turning of a hand.
Fancy yourself seated in a large, well-lighted room, with mountains of curious-looking machinery on all sides. A tall, thin young man walks up to you, and by merely snapping his fingers creates instantaneously a ball of leaping red flame, and holds it calmly in his hands. As you gaze you are surprised to see it does not burn his fingers. He lets it fall upon his clothing, on his hair, into your lap, and, finally, puts the ball of flame into a wooden box. You are amazed to see that nowhere does the flame leave the slightest trace, and you rub your eyes to make sure you are not asleep.
The odd flame having been extinguished as miraculously as it appeared, the tall, thin young man next signals to his assistants to close up all the windows. When this has been done the room is as dark as a cave. A moment later you hear the young man say in the laboured accentuation of the foreigner: “Now, my friends, I will make for you some daylight.” Quick as a flash the whole laboratory is filled with a strange light as beautiful as that of the moon, but as strong as that of old Sol. As you glance up at the closed shutters on each window, you see that each of them is as tight as a vice, and that no rays are coming through them. Cast your eyes wherever you will you can see no trace of the source of the odd light.
Scarcely have you begun to marvel when the light goes out by a touch on a button by the young man’s hand. The room is in darkness again until the same laboured accentuation causes the reopening of all the shutters. Some animal is now brought out from a cage, it is tied to a platform, an electric current is applied to its body and in a second the animal is dead. The tall young man calls your attention to the fact that the indicator registers only one thousand volts, and the dead animal being removed, he jumps upon the platform himself, and his assistants apply the same current to the dismay of the spectators.
You feel a creeping sensation course up your back, and you see the indicator slowly mounting up to nine hundred, and then one thousand volts, and you involuntarily close your eyes, expecting the young man to fall dead before you the very next minute. But he does not budge. Quickly the indicator goes up, up, up, until presently it shows that ten thousand volts, then two million volts of electricity are pouring through the frame of the tall young man, who does not move a muscle.
At a sign, the current is stopped, the room is again made dark as night, and presently the visitor sees the sharply-defined black silhouette of the young man, with a beautiful halo of electricity in the background, formed by myriads of tongues of electric flame which are darting out from every quarter of the tall, thin frame.
To tell of these and a thousand other wonders that Tesla does in a trice gives only a faint conception of their effect on the visitor. To really appreciate them one must see, hear, and feel them in the flesh. It is a scientific treat of a lifetime, but it is a treat that few can enjoy, for the laboratory of Tesla is securely locked against everyone not provided with an introduction from a personal friend of the audacious wizard.
ALSO BY ERIN LINDSEY
Murder on Millionaires’ Row
THE BLOODBOUND TRILOGY
Bloodbound
Bloodforged
Bloodsworn
THE NICOLAS LENOIR MYSTERIES
(WRITING AS E. L. TETTENSOR)
Darkwalker
Master of Plagues
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ERIN LINDSEY has lived and worked in dozens of countries around the world, but has only ever called two places home: her native city of Calgary and her adopted hometown of New York. In addition to the Rose Gallagher mysteries, she is the author of the Bloodbound series of fantasy novels from Ace. She divides her time between Calgary and Brooklyn with her husband and a pair of half-domesticated cats. Visit her online at erin-lindsey.com, facebook.com/ELTettensor, and twitter.com/ETettensor, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Map
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Author’s Note
Roosevelt’s Steady Gain
World-Lighting Liberty
The New Wizard of the West
Also by Erin Lindsey
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
A GOLDEN GRAVE. Copyright © 2019 by Erin Lindsey. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10721.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover illustration by Gary Redford
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-18067-4 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-250-62092-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-18068-1 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250180681
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First Edition: September 2019
1. Morris, Edmund, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Random House, New York, 1979.
2. Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace; Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999.