The electrical engineering students at the University of Washington built and displayed a Tesla Coil (smaller and less elaborate than the fictional one in this book), an electric stove, and many other clever devices at their exhibition on May 18, 1901. The general public was invited to view the wonders of modern science, but the event was not scheduled to coincide with President McKinley’s visit.
I had already written about the death of Bradshaw’s late wife when I happened upon a 1901 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article and knew I’d found the particulars of that event. It’s sadly surprising how many such deaths appeared daily in the news.
I modeled my Detective O’Brien after a photograph of a detective by the same name who worked for the Seattle Police Department in the 1920’s. A handsome man with penetrating eyes and a Roosevelt hat—I’d confess to him in a heartbeat.
And the President of the University of Washington from August 1898 to June 1902 was, like my fictional president, named Dr. Frank Graves. He was the youngest university president at that time, and he did indeed have adorable ears.
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