The Fourth Floor Amherst Hotel, New York
04:03am Monday 4th September 1933
The sleeping explorers on the fourth floor are awoken long before dawn on the 4th by a loud disturbance, somebody is banging furiously on one of the other doors in the corridor. Though groggy, all of the investigators recognize
Starkweather's voice, although it has a frenzied edge that none of them have heard before.
"Moore!" he shouts. "Blast you, man, I want you awake! Moore!"
Investigators looking out into the hall see
Starkweather, in robe and pyjamas, standing before the door to
Moore's room. His hair is dishevelled and he is unshaven. One fist beats furiously on Moore's door, while a morning newspaper is crushed in the other. Uncharacteristically, Starkweather is in an utter rage. None of the investigators have ever seen James Starkweather behave like this; even after the incident with Lawrence he was composed, although quieter than usual.
Starkweather pays no attention to anyone around him. After a moment he gives up his pounding and slams against Moore's door, bursting it open with a loud crash, and storms inside.
Callum's room is directly across from Moore's and looking in through the open doorway he can see Moore, in bed, scrambling around for his glasses and robe while Starkweather bellows, beet red, and thrusts the newspaper furiously in Moore's face.
"It's her, Moore! All the time it was her! I should have known! Who else could it have been? The conniving witch! I should have suspected her hand in things from the beginning! Blast it, Moore, listen to me! How else could she stop me? Who else would have switched those cans of fish with oil? Who else has the money to spy on us? To throw things in our way? Ruin our goods! Sabotage the dog cages! Delay our trains! Poison the minds of trusted employees! To bribe, to steal, to throw barricades before us, for her own spiteful little reasons."
"I won't allow it, Moore! Not this time! She won't get the upper hand this time! I'll prove to everyone that she's nothing more than a-"
Starkweather stops in mid-sentence. He looks around, still breathing heavily, suddenly aware of the watchers in the hall, and visibly makes a decision. Throwing the newspaper down with a snap in front of the dishevelled professor, he says, in a terrible steely voice, "Advance the schedule, Moore! We're leaving on the 9th. The 9th, Moore! See to it!"
With that, Starkweather storms out through the door, brushes roughly past the onlookers and, ignoring everyone, stomps up the stairs and disappears into his room.
Moore sits quietly in his room. At first he seems as confused as the investigators are; after he picks up the newspapers left behind by Starkweather and glances at the open page, he goes quite still for a moment, and then sighs.
Looking up at the others in the doorway, he straightens his glasses and says, with deadpan composure, "Gentlemen, you heard Mr Starkweather. The schedule is advanced; we now leave on the 9th.
I shall see you at breakfast. We'll have to work a bit harder, I'm afraid. Now, if you will excuse me, I must dress."
He hands the nearest investigator the newspaper. Moore says nothing more until the room is cleared and his door, now unlockable, is nonetheless closed.
New York Times - September 4th 1933 wrote:
LEXINGTON SETS SIGHTS SOUTH
Monday 4th September, 1933
Blonde Beauty to Fly to Pole
New York (ISP) - In a startling announcement from her home in Queens today, millionaire industrialist Acacia Lexington told reporters that she intends to set aside her ledger books in favor of seal furs and snow goggles, in an attempt to be the first woman to stand at the bottom of the world, beating Miss Kitt Knight of the Starkweather-Moore Expedition by days.
Lexington, only child of the late P. W. Lexington of this city, has for years impressed friends and adversaries alike with her skilled maneuverings in troubled financial waters. Now she intends to venture into a new realm. Accompanied by a hand-picked team of journalists, photographers, and wilderness experts, the lovely Acacia will cross the Antarctic wastelands in a specially modified Northrop Delta aeroplane and a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro.
"It's about time a woman did this," she told our reporters. "Today's women are capable of anything that men can do. If I am the first, it only means that others will find it easier to follow." When asked if her planned expedition was in any way affected by the presence of no less than four other parties on the Antarctic ice this summer, Miss Lexington declined to comment.
Miss Lexington tests her Pitcairn autogiro over Manhattan