THAT LEXINGTON BITCH

On the morning of 4 September, 1933, raucous laughter erupted from the Rose Room at the Amherst Hotel. Inside was a dapper gentleman standing on a chair, holding a letter in his hand. He read in a loud, mock-frightened voice, to the amusement of his large crowd of onlookers.

"Do not travel to the cold ice and the barren waste where the old old things creep and scheme and wait and move. Do not go there! Do not wake the Sleeping One that has slept undisturbed by humanity for so long. Do not pry open those prison doors, but let the dead keep their secrets!"

Over the next two days, frenzied workers ensured that cargo manifests were double- and triple-checked; missing supplies were re-ordered, incorrect orders were corrected, and mishaps on the ice hopefully prevented. Personal business was also finished-- two pieces of it warrant mention here. Rachel van Buren, socialite that she is, went to the library to research Acacia Lexington in the social papers. Three main events were mentioned, in addition to her nickname: "The Shark", for her astute financial track record...

- She was a debutante at age 16, and was described as a "golden, delicate child". Though her beauty faded within the next few years, she was quite ravishing at the time. (Her lack of social ability was also mentioned, though never directly.)

- Starkweather himself rescued the daring Lexington a few years later in Nairobi. She had gone on one of the "expeditions" he led for rich young go-getters, to the plains of Nairobi. A river swelled unexpectedly, and disaster was narrowly averted when Starkweather instructed the natives and expedition members to fashion rafts (by example). Also mentioned was Acacia's uncanny ability with animals, leading to the natives nick-naming her "The Woman Whom The Giraffes Love".

- Her father died under questionable circumstances (he was found with gunshot wounds to the head). A gun was in his hand, but Acacia first fought the suicide verdict, calling the police various unsavory things. Further, she linked his death to the disappearance of a rare manuscript-- her father owned a copy of "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym", which differed greatly from the published version. Later, she retracted her statements, agreeing that the death of her father was a suicide, and making a statement that she believed the book to be there after all. The investigating detective was Robert O'Meira.

Announced on the morning of 5 September was the name of the captain of the journey, Commander J.B. Douglas (who also captained the Arkham for the Dyer expedition to Antarctica).

At 6:00AM the next morning, the press started pounding on the doors of all expedition members. Douglas had been found murdered. The expedition members reacted in various ways, the most colorful being that of Wallace, who punched and urinated on the members of the press. (Headline: "Expedition Member Assaults Press: Australian urinates on reporters! Is this how Australians live?") Eventually, Moore escaped the press and police, and joined the other expedition members to finish up the manifests.

On the morning of 7 September, Starkweather delivered a stern lecture on the importance of treating the press with restraint. Wallace was absent (almost certainly to the benefit of his health).

On the morning of 8 September, the dogs arrived. This turned into fun mayhem, since their cages were not yet completed. Douglas' funeral was also that morning, and Moore requested that Catherine and Betsy attend. They did so-- it was sparsely attended by Starkweather, Moore, his brother Phillip and a companion, a plain looking gentleman (later determined to be a journalist), and 2 old sailor types. After the ceremony, Catherine and Betsy chatted with his brother. Phillip knew nothing about enemies, but was surprised that Douglas had agreed to go on the expedition-- something had "happened" on the last one, and Douglas wouldn't talk about it. Sometimes, when he got drunk, said Phillip, he would talk about black stones, and how cold they were. (Phillip thought these black stones had something to do with the 2 fingers he'd lost on the journey....) Also mentioned when he was "in the cups" was a graduate student, Danforth, who was quite mad. He was institutionalized upon return, but apparently howled the entire way back to America.

The newspapers, clearly enjoying the expedition being in town, also published on 8 September an article about a convicted whiskey smuggler expedition member. The article was accompanied by photos of Kelley at various speak-easies in town, and aired suspicions of whiskey on board the Gabrielle. A furious Starkweather found Kelley, who rather smoothly convinced him that while he had a previous record, the oil barrels were in fact filled with oil. Starkweather permitted Kelley to remain with the expedition, and stalked off mumbling about retractions.

That night, the expedition members transferred their belongings to the Gabrielle, and made last-minute leaving preparations. Departure time was set for noon of the next day.

Unfortunately, at 1:00AM on 9 September, disaster struck. A fire erupted on the docks near the Gabrielle, where there was still airplane fuel waiting to be loaded. A near catastrophe, barrels of fuel being loaded onto the ship (and more on the ship) were saved from fire by the efforts of Starkweather, Betsy, Kelly, Wallace, and other crew members. Catherine and Rachel aided workers to medical attention on the docks, and saved all but two of the dogs (who were still waiting to be loaded).

At the end, only 3 people and 2 dogs were lost, though the expedition departure was delayed at least 2 days.

As an interesting counterpoint, the Lexington expedition left a day early.

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