At 8 o'clock on the evening of June 8th, Supreme Commander Gordon stood near the "Demon of Death" watching his different instruments and soon noticed on the other side of the room the radio interceptor start to work. He stepped up to it and listened, caught the orders going from the different enemy headquarters, giving instructions for the combined attack on New York City at 10 o'clock that night. He immediately gave instructions for all the electric lights to be kept on all night and all buildings to be well lighted to show his confidence and let the enemy know that he expected the attack. Colonel Edna Kennelworth was ordered to instruct all army headquarters to send radio messages to the enemy that Supreme Commander Gordon had ordered the City of New York and all buildings lighted up for the night so that they would not miss the city and that he awaited their coming with pleasure. Asked them not to overlook the Mammouth Building which was 110 stories high; that he would be there alone, waiting for them to destroy the building.
Gigantic Attack on New York City
When the news reached the enemy, they knew that in some way their plans had leaked out, but it was too late now to make any change and to delay attack might mean defeat later, so the orders were carried out. About 10 minutes after 10 o'clock, Supreme Commander Gordon sighted the first airplane of the fleet approaching 40 or 50 miles up the Hudson River. He watched them until they got within about 20 miles of New York City, near Yonkers, then he slowly swung the "Demon of Death" around on the revolving base and turned on the rays, at the same time starting the sleeping gas machine working. He swept the territory for 50 or 60 miles in every direction, and as the rays from the "Demon of Death" struck the enemy planes, their motors leaped into a liquid flame. Supreme Commander Gordon saw that the "Demon of Death" was doing its work so he pressed a button and Colonel Edna Kennelworth appeared. He told her to put on powerful glasses and to look at the planes going down. One by one she saw the motors dissolved by the flame from the rays of the "Demon of Death" and the planes falling, one by one, to the ground.
A few minutes after the Northern army was wiped out, the signal came that a great fleet of airplanes was making its way across Long Island Sound. Supreme Commander Gordon swung the "Demon of Death" around and watched the approach of the enemy planes as they came out from the Atlantic Ocean and crossed Fire Island. He let them get within 30 to 40 miles as they came up across the Great South Bay, then he again turned loose the "Demon of Death." Swiftly the planes went down in flames, ending the attack from the ocean.
He watched a little while longer and saw across Staten Island another flock of planes which he knew was coming from Southern headquarters. He called Colonel Edna Kennelworth and said: "This time you may operate 'Spitfire' and destroy the Southern wing." She was a little nervous at first but knowing what this great machine could do, she turned it on, slowly lowered and raised it, moving to the right and left, until she gauged the distance of the approaching planes. One by one she saw their motors turn to liquid fire and sink to the earth. Turning to Supreme Commander Gordon she said, "Look." He focused his powerful glasses toward the South and saw that the air was clear. Turning around he said: "Edna, you are a wonderful woman and I am happy to have you take this part in saving your country. This is the day of women and their influence must help to win war forever." "It seems a shame," she replied, "that the lives of all these brave men from so many nations should be sacrificed. Among the planes that went down by the thousands, I could see some were English, German, Spanish, Austrian, Russian, Japanese, Turkish, and Arabian planes. Certainly almost the entire world is against us and we are winning. This must mean the end of the war. While I know that it is God's plan to teach man a lesson so that he will cease to go to war any more, it does seem a shame that we should take the lives of any more of these innocent men who are forced by selfish rulers of their countries to attack us."
"You are quite right," the Supreme Commander said. "Your noble husband invented the sleeping gas because it was my desire to protect my country and win the war with as little loss of life as possible. From this time on, no more lives will be sacrificed. We will use the sleeping gas, put all the attacking aviators to sleep for seven days and the war will soon be over. I know that there will be another final attack upon New York in a few minutes and I am going to allow you the honor of using the sleeping gas machine and ending the final attack upon the great City of New York without loss of any life."
About the time that Colonel Kennelworth was transferred from Cincinnati to Boston, General Pearson had been sent to Cincinnati to operate the Tunnel machine from there. Immediately before the final attack on New York City, Supreme Commander Gordon ordered General Pearson to swing the Tunnel machine to the East and establish a Tunnel thru the Air between New York and Cincinnati, informing him that the expected final attack upon New York would come over the mountains of Pennsylvania and that this final attack would be from the West; that he wanted a Tunnel thru the Air at least 30 miles wide so that he could protect the Jersey shores and prevent the attack upon New York City. In a few minutes a test was made and the Tunnel was ready to receive the invading army of planes and airships. He knew that New York was now safe and awaited the final combined attack of the Enemy planes that would come across from St. Louis and Chicago to meet on the Western side of the Hudson River.
About 12 o'clock he sighted the enemy planes across the Western coast of Jersey moving in triangle form, and knew that it was the combined forces with probably more than 50,000 planes ready for the final attack. Swiftly they approached, closer and closer. He played his powerful searchlight upon their glistening wings, until they were within 15 to 20 miles of New York. Fearing that they might start dropping bombs on Newark, Jersey City and the towns on the other side before attacking New York, he adjusted the Tunnel thru the Air until it was high enough to reach the enemy planes flying at the highest altitude; then turned to Colonel Edna Kennelworth and said: "Turn on the sleeping gas machine. The Tunnel is ready and as the aviators go to sleep, the machines will plunge into the Tunnel thru the Air and remain suspended without the planes being destroyed or the loss of any lives. This will be a silent, painless victory, but it will demonstrate our power to the enemy and the world."
Slowly and carefully, with a trembling hand, she swung the powerful gas distributing machine into action and as she saw the planes coming by the thousands begin slowly to plunge into the Tunnel thru the Air, she thought of how she had risked her life taking the sleeping gas for seven days to prove its success for the love of her husband, who invented it, and for the love of her country. She thought of Supreme Commander Gordon naming his great ship "Marie the Angel of Mercy" and then realized what was in his mind at the time; that the sleeping gas should be named the "God of Mercy" because it was winning the war in a humane way without taking human lives. Her mind went back to the great destruction of Los Angeles and San Francisco and above all, she remembered the loss of more than a million lives at the battle of Chicago; how merciless the enemy had been, sparing not the lives of women or children. We were now indeed merciful unto our foes and heaping coals of fire upon their heads and she believed this would be a great example to the world. She knew that the enemy had used poisoned gas of all kinds, poisoning the water and foods in the various cities and resorted to every means to destroy both life and property.
As these thoughts were flitting thru her mind, battalion after battalion of planes followed and she was pouring the sleeping gas into the noses of the aviators and the planes were diving into the Tunnel. This was indeed a great victory and she was glad to help accomplish it without the loss of life. The great Tunnel machines had worked successfully and perfectly. The sleeping gas had done its silent, painless work and the army of more than 50,000 planes—the giant attack from the West—rested safely in the Tunnel thru the Air, not a single one having escaped.