AtDtDA(28): The Terrible Rumors

[Dave Monroe]

"'Unless the terrible rumors about him are true.'
   "According to Professor Vanderjuice, the story was abroad that
Tesla, seeking to communicate with the explorer Peary, then in the
Arctic, projected unspecified rays from his tower at Wardenclyffe in a
direction slightly west of due north, had mistaken his aim by a small
but fatal angle ....'" (AtD, Pt. IV, p. 794)


"the story was abroad"

There is another possible - if wildly improbable - cause of the
mysterious event at Tunguska in 1908 (7 September, p 14). One of
Nikola Tesla's great projects was the wireless transformation of
energy over large distances. He believed that this could be harnessed
in war to destroy incoming attacks from over 300 kilometres away.

Tesla built his "death ray" at Wardencliffe on Long Island, and it is
a possible that he tested it one night in 1908. The story goes
something like this. At the time, Robert Peary was trekking to the
North Pole and Tesla asked him to look out for unusual activity. On
the evening of 30 June 1908, Tesla aimed his death ray towards the
Arctic and turned it on. Tesla then watched the newspapers and sent
telegrams to Peary, but heard about nothing unusual in the Arctic.

However, he did hear about the unexplainable event in Tunguska, and
was thankful no one was killed, as it was clear to him that his death
ray had overshot. He then dismantled his machine, as he felt it was
too dangerous to keep it....

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17623644.800-tesla-and-tunguska.html

And see as well, e.g., ...

http://prometheus.al.ru/english/phisik/onichelson/tunguska.htm
http://www.thebirdman.org/Index/Others/Others-Doc-Science&Forteana/+Doc-Science-StrangePhysics/Tunguska-PossibleTeslaDeathRayExperiment.htm


Peary

Robert Edwin Peary (May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American
explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909,
to reach the geographic North Pole -- a claim that subsequently
attracted much criticism and controversy, and is today widely
doubted....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Peary
http://www.pearyhenson.org/robertepeary/
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/roberted.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ice/sfeature/peary.html


"then in the Arctic"

Robert Peary did not even leave New York City at the start of his
polar expedition until July 6, 1908, 6 days after the Tunguska Event
of 6-30-08, and did not reach Ellesmere Island until the summer of
1909 ....

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=ATD_792-820#Page_794


"his tower at Wardenclyffe"

Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower (1901 – 1917) also known as the
Tesla Tower, was an early wireless telecommunications aerial tower
intended for commercial wireless trans-Atlantic telephony,
broadcasting, and to demonstrate the transmission of power without
interconnecting wires.[The core facility was never fully operational
and was not completed due to economic problems....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower


Ellsmere Island

Commonly spelled Ellesmere Island. Lying within the Canadian Arctic
Archipelago and with Cape Columbia, Ellesmere Island is the most
northerly point of land in Canada. With an area of over 75,000 square
miles, it is the world's 10th largest island and Canada's third
largest....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellesmere_Island


"Morgan's"

John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American
financier, banker, philanthropist, and art collector who dominated
corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In
1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and
Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric....

[...]

In 1900, Morgan financed inventor Nikola Tesla and his Wardenclyffe
Tower with $150,000 for experiments in radio. However, in 1903, when
the tower structure was near completion, it was still not yet
functional due to last-minute design changes that introduced an
unintentional defect. When Morgan wanted to know "Where can I put the
meter?", Tesla had no answer. Tesla's vision of free power did not
agree with Morgan's worldview; nor would it pay for the maintenance of
the transmission system. Construction costs eventually exceeded the
money provided by Morgan, and additional financiers were reluctant to
come forth. By July 1904, Morgan (and the other investors) finally
decided they would not provide any additional financing. Morgan also
encouraged other investors to avoid the project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan#Later_years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan

And see as well ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Later_years


"capitalistic propaganda"

Darby as socialist?  Anarchist?  Let me know ...


"Brother Tom Swift"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift
http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/airship.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/a#a267
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1976/1/1976_1_64.shtml

Not to be confused with ...

http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/