May 21st was a red-letter day in the life of Robert Gordon. Wheat, corn
and cotton all advanced to the highest levels of the season. Robert
had read reports in the paper that Charles A. Lindbergh had started on
his lone flight from New York to Paris. He went down to the telegraph
office in the afternoon to inquire if there was any news about the
success of Lindbergh's flight. The operator said that nothing had come
over the wire yet, but there had been a report that Lindbergh had
passed over Ireland early that morning. Robert waited in the telegraph
office until about 5 P.M. when a flash came over the wire that
Lindbergh had landed in Paris. This fired Robert's enthusiasm, and he
was very much excited. Right then and there decided that he was going
to New York in the very near future and start to build an airplane
according to his own plans. He went immediately to the home of Mr.
Kennelworth and told him about his plans and desire to go to New York
just as soon as possible.
Mr. Kennelworth was also very enthusiastic about Lindbergh's flight
across the Atlantic, and told Robert that he contemplated going to New
York to be there for the reception when Lindbergh returned, and that
he wanted to visit Walter and see how he was getting along anyway.
So Robert tendered his resignation to Mr. Kennelworth to take place
on May 31, 1927. Mr. Kennelworth accepted the resignation with the
understanding and promise from Robert that if anything went wrong or
he should lose his money or meet with disappointments in New York, he
would immediately return and assume his old position. Robert thanked
him for his kindness and told him that he would feel free to call on
him but that he felt he would never have to return to take up the
position again. In view of his discoveries of the cycles in the Bible,
he could make money in the market, but his object was not alone to make
money for selfish purposes, but to use it to benefit others and for the
protection of his country at the time of the coming great war which
would be fought in the air.
On Sunday, May 22nd, Robert wrote to Marie:
My dearest Marie,
The past week has been a great one for us, and yesterday, the 21st, was
the greatest day in history. Lindbergh, the lone aviator, crossed the
Atlantic and landed safely in Paris. Wheat, corn and cotton went up and
we made more money. Profits are piling up fast, and I will soon have
plenty of money to build my airplane.
I had a long talk with Mr. Kennelworth yesterday afternoon after we
received the news of Lindbergh's flight, and resigned my position, to
take place on May 31st. Expect to go to New York some time in the early
part of June, and of course I want to take you with me as my wife. With
the profits we now have made in the market, there will be no trouble
about us getting along all right in New York and I am sure that I am
going to make a lot more money.
Cotton is going away up in the early part of June and wheat is going
very high in the latter part of May and early June. I will sell out and
take some of my profits so we can get started in good shape. Will see
you next Sunday and talk the matter over and plan the best way.
Your love and faith has sustained me thus far and helped to make me
the success that I am, and with that love, there is no height which I
cannot reach.
I love you more than ever. You are all and everything to me.
Lovingly,
Robert.
During the week ending May 28th, Robert watched the markets very
closely because he figured that wheat and corn would be top around May
28th to June 1st. He wanted to sell out and get the profits so that he
could go to New York. Cotton advanced to the highest level that week
and on Saturday, July was up to 16.40. Robert had a profit of over
$3,000.00 in his cotton. He sold out his July wheat on May 28th at
$1.50 and sold the corn at $1.03-1/2, making about $2,300.00 profit.
This, together with his stock profits, gave him about $6,000.00. He
sold out Marie's corn at $1.03-1/2, making a profit of about $1,100.00
there. She also had a profit of about $1,200.00 on the cotton which
she was still holding because he believed it was going higher. Marie's
profit now amounted to about $2,300.00.
Robert was going to Sherman, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, and Monday
being Decoration Day, he would not return until Monday night. He had
a talk with Mr. Kennelworth before leaving and Mr. Kennelworth told
him that he had been buying more corn on the way up and more cotton;
that he now had a profit of about $25,000.00, all of which was due to
Robert's advice.
Robert said that he was going away to see Marie and confided that he
was going to try to get her to elope with him and go to New York. Mr.
Kennelworth told him that he could take the good news to Marie that he
was going to give them a wedding present of $10,000.00, which was less
than half of the profits he had made. He was going to continue to hold
the cotton until Robert thought it was time to sell.
On the afternoon of May 28th, Robert boarded a train for Sherman,
Texas, with the lightest heart that he had ever experienced in his
life. Now that his dream was really going to be realized, he was never
so happy. He figured that with the money he had made and with Marie's
money, and the $10,000.00 which Mr. Kennelworth was going to give them,
he would have about $18,000.00 which would give him capital to continue
to speculate in the market and money for his plans on his great
airplane.
As the train rolled across the plains of Texas and Robert watched the
sun setting across the prairies on that Saturday afternoon, he dreamed
of the day when he, like Lindbergh, would cross the country in his
great airplane. He could think of nothing else but Lindbergh's great
flight and what it meant to the world. He realized that Ezekiel's
prophecy of that war which was to come and be fought in the air, was
coming true, and the great plane described by Ezekiel, the eagle with
wheel within a wheel, would one day become a reality. He could now
see the possibilities of his dream being fulfilled and he was sure of
success.
Marie welcomed him with enthusiasm and open arms. She was so proud
of him and so happy that he made good in the market. He had been so
thoughtful to buy cotton and corn for her and sold out the corn with
$1,100.00 profit. She told Robert that he was a wonder; that he was one
of the greatest young men in the world and a genius, and that he would
be a greater man than Lindbergh when he was as old as Lindbergh.
Robert said that on June 9th, he would be 21 years of age, and on that
day he wanted to be married and start on his career as a real man. He
wanted to go back to Texarkana after the holidays, wind up his affairs
and get ready to go to New York. Wanted her to go with him, starting
Saturday, June 4th, so they would arrive on Sunday, June 5th, in St.
Louis, be married, and proceed immediately to New York. He asked Marie
what she thought about going to her father, telling him he had now
made good and had enough money to start out, and ask his consent to
their marriage. Marie said that it was useless; that her father would
never consent to her leaving school and being married, no matter how
much money the man she was going to marry had to take care of her. Her
father was bent on her finishing her education and she knew it would be
a hopeless case. There was no use talking about it.
She asked Robert if he didn't think it would be better for her to
remain in school for another year or two, to finish her education, and
then she could join him in New York and be married. She thought it
possible that he might get along better for a while without her. But
Robert would not listen to this and told her that he would never go
without her. His future happiness and success depended upon her love
and encouragement. Her love had guided him safely thus far and would
lead him on to greater things. He had dreamed of the time when he would
come home at night from his work or study, to find her there and see
her beautiful eyes, the lights that would guide him on to success.
She could either make him the most miserable man in the world or the
happiest. His entire future and fate were in her hands and she could do
with him as she willed. Marie agreed to keep her promise she had made
to him long before,--that regardless of money or conditions, she would
leave father, mother, brothers and sisters, and go with him anywhere,
even unto the ends of the earth, and that if he insisted, she would
elope because she knew that was the only way since her father would not
give his consent.
On Sunday, May 29th, Robert and Marie went to Dallas, Texas. They had
planned when they were ready to elope, that Marie would leave from
Dallas on the "Sunshine Special" in the afternoon of June 4th. She
was to keep her plans absolutely secret and Robert was to board the
same train that night at Texarkana, and after the train was out of
Texarkana, he was to find her, go on to St. Louis together, be married
there on Sunday morning, and leave Sunday noon for New York. Robert
was extremely happy and talked of nothing but the success that was to
come to them; of his great plane that he was to build and the part it
would take in protecting the country in the great air battle which he
was sure was yet to come, when foreign countries thru their jealousy,
would attack the United States from the air and do great damage to
this country. He told her that in the end Uncle Sam would win; that
the Stars and Stripes would proudly float from the great buildings in
New York, and that they would live to see that day and he wanted her
there with him when his great "ship" would help win the victory for
his country. Walter Kennelworth was in the city and they were going to
work together on inventions and discoveries that would help win the war
which he knew was sure to come.
It was the most interesting and pleasant Sunday that they had ever
spent together. They drove around Dallas and talked over their future
plans. Sunday afternoon they returned to Sherman, and Monday forenoon
Robert spent with Marie. They went out to the cemetery and placed some
flowers upon the graves of soldiers who had lost their lives in defense
of their country.
Robert talked of the great feat of Lindbergh and of the honors that he
would receive from the foreign countries, and told Marie what a great
time they would have, as Mr. Kennelworth was going to New York and they
would all be there at the great reception when Lindbergh returned.
He said good-bye to her on Monday afternoon and started back for
Texarkana, knowing that the next time he would meet her, would be on
board the train for St. Louis, where she would become his wife.
From that time on, Robert counted the minutes, in anticipation of the
great happiness of the following Sunday when they would be married in
St. Louis. He was strongly attracted to St. Louis because Lindbergh had
left from there in the "Spirit of St. Louis," on his successful flight.
He thought it would be good luck to marry in St. Louis and start from
there to New York to spend their honeymoon.
On Tuesday morning, May 31st, Robert started early to Mr. Kennelworth's
office as that was to be his last day in the office and he was anxious
to clean up all the business necessary and render Mr. Kennelworth
all the service possible before he went away. He confided to Mr.
Kennelworth the arrangements of eloping with Marie. Mr. Kennelworth
told him that he would arrange to go to New York about the 11th of June
and was sorry that he couldn't make the trip with Marie and Robert and
see them married in St. Louis. But he said to Robert, "That is the time
when two young people like to be alone, and I am afraid that I wouldn't
be a very good chaperon on the trip. So it is all for the best and you
will get along all right without me."
Robert told Mr. Kennelworth that he figured according to his cycle
theory, cotton should be sold out about June 1st or 2nd, that there
would be a reaction. He had also figured that it was time to sell wheat
and corn for a reaction.
On June 1st, Robert sold out his July cotton at 16.80 and also sold
out Marie's cotton. Robert's profits and capital together now amounted
to $7,000.00. Robert sold 25,000 July wheat at 1.48-1/2 and 25,000
July corn at 1.06-1/2 on June 1st. He went down to the broker's office
to watch the market for that week, because he knew the next few days
would be very important and anxious days for him. He was thinking every
minute of the day when he would start to New York and would make Marie
his wife. This would be the greatest start of all his life, as he was
starting it under favorable conditions and with plenty of money. He
knew that success was certain and was never more hopeful.
On Saturday, June 4th, he closed his short contract in July wheat
at 1.43 and his corn contract at 1.02. He had made a profit of over
$2,000.00 on wheat which brought his capital up to $9,000.00. Mr.
Kennelworth had taken Robert's advice and gone short of wheat and corn
on June 1st, after selling out his cotton. Cotton declined from June
1st as Robert figured it would. He told Mr. Kennelworth on Saturday
morning that he was going to buy in his wheat and corn, because he was
getting ready to go away that afternoon and was not going to make any
more trades until he had arrived in New York. He would have everything
in cash and ready to make a new start after the honeymoon.
Mr. Kennelworth had sold wheat and corn heavily and had made over
$50,000.00 since he started to follow Robert's advice. He made back
all the money he had lost in the slump in oil stocks in 1919 and
was very grateful to Robert. He handed Robert New York exchange for
$10,000.00 as a wedding present. Told him that he could call on him for
any additional help that he wanted in financing the building of his
airplane or for any other purpose. Robert assured him that he would not
need any more help; that he could make all the money he wanted and that
his success was assured.
Robert told Mr. Kennelworth that he made over $4,000.00 for Marie
on her little capital of $400.00 with which she had started. Mr.
Kennelworth was very much elated over this. This was the first time he
had heard about Marie putting up $400.00 to buy cotton. He told Robert
she was the kind of a woman to marry, the one who believed in him and
would back him with her money and everything else. He believed it was
love of the right kind--that success was sure to follow. Robert was so
happy that afternoon that he called Marie on the long-distance 'phone,
and told her of his great success in the market in wheat and the money
Mr. Kennelworth had made; told her that they had now a working capital
of around $25,000.00 and with that much money, in New York it would
be only a question of a few years when he would be a millionaire. The
main thing, however, was not money but the use he wanted to put it to
in completing his invention. Marie was very happy and told him that
she was making arrangements to go to Dallas and would leave there that
afternoon on the "Sunshine Special," and after the train pulled out of
Texarkana, he would find her on board. He was to keep everything quiet
and not let anybody know anything about the elopement, as her father
might try to stop her. No one in Texarkana but Robert's mother and Mr.
Kennelworth knew about the secret elopement. Robert kept everything
quiet about his resigning from Mr. Kennelworth's and going to New York,
because he thought that there might be some leak somewhere and that Mr.
Stanton might find out about Marie's elopement and stop it.