by Erik Larson
3 “When our house”: Mason, 111.
4 “We could lie back”: Tapp, 10.
25th and Q: What Isaac Did
1 When the trestle struck: Cline, Storms, 96.
The Beach: A Light in the Window
1 Her sister, Lois: Personal Accounts: Hopkins, “The Day,” 7.
2 The ten sisters: St. Mary’s. See also Cartwright, “Big Blow,” 115, and Mason, 148–51.
3 A few older children: St. Mary’s. There is some disagreement as to the name of one of the three survivors. Mason, at 151, identifies him as Francis Bulnavic. The St. Mary’s booklet says his name was Frank Madera. I chose Bulnavic arbitrarily. Where all accounts agree is that only three boys among the orphanage’s ninety-three children survived.
4 Later, a rescuer: St. Mary’s. Also, Ousley, 114–15. In another macabre sighting, a steward aboard the Mallory liner Alamo said, “One of the saddest sights I saw was the dead bodies of a Sister of Charity and three little boys lashed together floating in the water.” The New York Times, Sept. 23, 1900.
5 August Rollfing sat alone: For August’s story, see Rollfing, 3: 4–7.
25th and Q: Isaac’s Voyage
1 He was alone: Cline, Storms, 96.
2 “My heart suddenly”: Cline, Joseph, 55.
3 “We placed the children”: Cline, Storms, 97.
4 “Our little group”: Cline, Joseph, 56.
5 “Sometimes the blows”: Cline, Storms, 97.
6 “At one point”: Cline, Joseph, 57.
7 They drifted: Cline, Storms, 96–97; Cline, Joseph, 56–57.
8 A rocket of timber: Cline, Joseph, 58.
9 Joseph saw a small girl: Cline, Joseph, 58; Cline, Storms, 97.
10 “Papa! Papa!”: Cline, Joseph, 59.
11 And there was this: Ibid., 57.
PART V: STRANGE NEWS
Telegram
1 First news from: National Archives: General Correspondence.
Gulf of Mexico: First Glimpse
1 About dawn: Galveston News, Sept. 13, 1900.
2 “We found”: Ibid.
Galveston: Silence
1 Saturday evening someone: New Orleans Daily Picayune, Sept. 9, 1900.
2 On Sunday a small party: Weems, 39.
3 As one of the region’s: Personal Accounts: Sterett, 1–3. See also Acheson, 205–17.
4 The swollen bodies: Personal Accounts: Sterett, 2.
5 For Sterett: Ibid.
6 “And so help me”: Ibid.
7 “Everything, it seemed”: Ibid.
8 “It must have taken”: Personal Accounts: Monagan.
9 “I am an old soldier”: “Galveston Horror,” 33.
10 At one point Sterett: McComb, 127.
11 It was a night: Personal Accounts: Monagan.
12 They stopped a man: Ibid.
13 “Surely the man”: Ibid.
28th and P: Searching
1 It was, he said: Cline, “Century,” 31.
2 In the wreckage: Isaac Cline never says exactly what he saw that morning, but, as hundreds of photographs in the Rosenberg Library storm collection show, there can be no doubt that Isaac saw hats, clothing, corpses, and far more.
3 One hundred corpses: Ousley, 120.
4 Some had double-puncture wounds: See note for this page, Venomous snakes.
5 Forty-three bodies: Ousley, 120.
6 “There were so many”: Personal Accounts: Tipp, 9
7 Isaac checked: What Isaac Cline did in the days immediately after the storm is a mystery. I have based this paragraph and others that follow on my sense of Isaac’s character, and on my understanding, derived from scores of personal accounts, of how people throughout Galveston behaved after the storm. That he visited the hospitals and morgues seems beyond question.
8 J. H. Hawley: Personal Accounts: Hawley, J. H., 1–2.
9 A photograph survives.: Photograph of morgue. Rosenberg Library. Storm of 1900 Collection. G-1771. Folder 1.2. “Bodies.” No. 2.
10 Isaac, moving systematically: See note for this page, Isaac checked.
11 Sunday he gave: Galveston News, Sept. 9, 1900.
12 That morning Father James Kirwin: Ousley, 116.
13 Anthony Credo learned: Tapp, 12.
14 Soon after Ruby Credo: Ibid., 10.
15 Judson Palmer lay: First Baptist Church, 3.
16 Later a colleague: Personal Accounts: Lewis.
17 John W. Harris was seven: Personal Accounts: Harris, 7–8.
18 People moved as if dazed: Coulter, 224.
19 “You will hear”: Ousley, 120.
20 “Oh God”: Personal Accounts: Hopkins, Interview, 10.
21 The storm, Halsey told: The New York Times, Sept. 11, 1900.
22 A photograph exists: Photograph. 27th St. and Ave. N Looking S.E. Rosenberg Library. Storm of 1900 Collection. G-1771. File 7.5. No. 13.
23 The Muats had expected: Muat, Thomas. Untitled news clipping. Rosenberg Library. Storm of 1900 Collection. Subject File. News Clippings.
Daily Journal: Tuesday, Sept. 11
1 I. M. Cline: Daily Journal.
Galveston: “Not Dead”
1 The Tribune ran: Galveston Tribune-Post, Sept. 12, 1900.
2 Soldiers rounded up: Ousley, 117.
3 The barge was moored: Photograph of barge. Rosenberg Library. Storm of 1900 Collection. Photograph G-1771, File 1.2. No. 9.
4 “It was realized”: Ousley, 266.
5 Phillip Gordie Tipp’s crew: Personal Accounts: Tipp, 10.
6 The city’s lifesaving squad: Coulter, 199.
7 “The stench from”: Personal Accounts: Deer, 2.
8 Emma Beal was ten: Personal Accounts: Beal, Part I, 9; Part II, 9–10.
9 One survivor: Personal Accounts: Stuart, 53.
10 There was talk: Galveston News, Sept. 12, 1900.
11 On Sunday night: Galveston News, Sept. 17, 1900.
12 And for William Marsh Rice: Morris, 84–112.
13 “Diligent inquiry”: Personal Accounts: Stuart, 53.
14 “I do not know”: Personal Accounts: Blagden, 5.
15 “Fearful hot”: Personal Accounts: “Charlie,” 5.
16 “Every day the stench”: Tapp, 12.
17 Clara Barton arrived: Barton. Telegram, Barton to William Howard. Sept. 18, 1900.
18 She came with a trainload: Barton. Letter, Barton to Mayor of Galveston. Sept. 20, 1900.
19 Hearst … gave $50,000: Report, 2.
20 The Kansas State Insane Asylum: Barton. Letter, Sept. 25, 1900.
21 Colored Eureka Brass Band: Barton. Letter, Sept. 26, 1900.
22 Elgin Milkine Company: Barton. Letter, Sept. 19, 1900.
23 Fraternal Mystic Circle: Barton. Letter, Sept. 20, 1900.
24 Ladies of the Maccabees: Barton. Letter, Oct. 13, 1900.
25 The city of Liverpool: Report, 71.
26 Cotton Association of Liverpool: Ibid.
27 New York sent the most: Barton. Report of Red Cross Relief, Galveston, Texas, 77.
28 New Hampshire sent: Ibid.
29 “It would not surprise me”: Barton. Letter, Oct. 14, 1900.
30 Among the contributions: Barton. Letter. Cambria Steel Company to Clara Barton, Sept. 21, 1900; Barton to Cambria Steel Company, Sept. 25, 1900.
31 Observers within: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, Isaac Cline to chief of Weather Bureau, Nov. 8, 1900. Isaac wrote, “We fail to find language which will express our feelings of gratitude toward our friends in the Bureau.…”
32 “So, feeling thus”: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, William Alexander to chief of Weather Bureau, Nov. 20, 1900.
33 At 11:30 A.M., Joseph: National Archives: General Correspondence. Telegram, Joseph Cline to Weather Bureau, Sept. 11, 1900.
34 Exactly three minutes later: National Archives: General Correspondence. Telegram, Isaac Cline to Weather Bureau, Sept. 11, 1900.
35 “I wish to report”: Galveston News, Sept. 17, 1900.
37 Joseph, underneath: See Joseph’s memoir, When the Heavens Frowned. In his chapter on the Galveston hurricane, 49–63, Joseph clearly, if at times obliquely, claims to have recognized the true danger of the storm when Isaac did not. See, for example, this page, when he writes, “Until my statement of the danger, everyone there had believed [Isaac’s house] to be immune to destruction by storm.” Everyone, presumably, including his brother.
38 There were dreams: I base this observation on human nature. What survivor of a tragedy has never dreamed that the outcome had been different?
39 “A dream,” Freud wrote: Freud, 155.
40 “The hurricane which visited”: Cline, “Special Report,” 372.
41 “Storm warnings were timely”: Ibid., 373.
42 “As a result thousands”: Ibid., 373.
43 In later years: Letter, E. M. Vernon, chief, Forecasts and Synoptic Reports Division, to M. S. Douglas, Nov. 9, 1956. “It is estimated,” Isaac Cline wrote, “that about 12,000 people moved out prior to the crisis, otherwise the loss of life would doubtless have been more than double what it was.…” Isaac deployed the passive voice whenever he sought to describe something he himself had done. The 12,000 is almost certainly his own estimate. Rosenberg Library. 95-00020. Box 1, File 7.
44 “Among the lost”: Cline, “Special Report,” 373.
45 “My personal experience”: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, I. M. Cline to chief of the Weather Bureau, Sept. 23, 1900. Box 1476.
Washington: A Letter from Moore
1 “The practical inutility”: Houston Post, Sept. 14, 1900.
2 Moore, in a five-page letter: National Archives: General Correspondence. Draft of letter, Willis Moore to Houston Post, Sept. 22, 1900. Letter as published, Houston Post, Sept. 28, 1900. Box 1476.
3 “We would all rather believe”: Houston Post, Sept. 28, 1900.
4 Isaac mailed the clippings: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, I. M. Cline to chief of the Weather Bureau, Sept. 28, 1900. Box 1476.
5 “Regarding the warnings”: Ibid., 2.
6 “If I had taken the time”: Cline, Storms, 98.
7 “I did not foresee”: Ibid., 99.
8 The Boston Herald: Monthly Weather Review, Sept. 1900, 376.
9 The Buffalo, New York, Courier: Ibid., 376.
10 The Inter-Ocean: Ibid., 377.
11 “An example?”: National Archives: General Correspondence. See clipping from Diario de la Marina, Sept. 18, 1900. Box 1475.
12 “It is apparent to me: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, Willis Moore to secretary of agriculture, Sept. 21, 1900. Box 1475.
28th and P: The Ring
1 There were miracles: First Baptist Church, 7.
2 “The dreams of young children”: Freud, 160.
3 Isaac, Joseph, and John Blagden: Circular. Office of chief clerk. Weather Bureau. Sept. 28, 1900.
4 Someone donated a case: Barton. Report of Red Cross Relief, Galveston, Texas, 52.
5 The Palmetto Post: Palmetto Post, Sept. 20, 1900. In Barton.
6 “It is,” she wrote: Barton. Letter, Clara Barton to “the Public,” Oct. 6, 1900.
7 Toward evening: Weems, 146. Weems states the crew found Cora’s body shortly after nightfall, indicating the crew had begun working in that area some time earlier.
8 “Even in death”: Cline, “Cyclones,” 15.
9 The body was transported: Lakeview Cemetery Record. Vol. I. 1992. Rosenberg Library.
10 Isaac kept the ring: Isaac nowhere states this. It is conjecture, purely, but I base it on a number of things, particularly: Isaac’s essentially romantic character; his devotion to Cora; his deep knowledge of portraiture and the symbolic messages embedded within by their painters; the fact he wears a diamond in Whitesell’s photographic portrait (see note for this page, A New Orleans photographer); and Whitesell’s obvious effort to light the ring and Isaac’s eyes so that both gleam from the darkness.
11 That night: West. Chronology.
PART VI: HAUNTED
Isaac: Haunted
1 On Monday, September 10, Willis Moore: National Archives: General Correspondence. Telegram, Sept. 10, 1900, Willis L. Moore to City Editor, Evening World. The initials H. C. F. beneath Moore’s name suggest that the content of the telegram, perhaps the telegram itself, actually came from H. C. Frankenfield, one of the bureau’s senior scientists. I cite Frankenfield’s reminiscence about weather school in a note for this page (“You will cheerfully”).
2 It rapidly regained power: National Archives: General Correspondence. See exchange of letters, beginning Sept. 13, 1900, A. I. Root to U.S. Weather Bureau. Box 1476.
3 The Central Office: Ibid., Sept. 28, 1900.
4 It killed six loggers: “Six Drowned in Wisconsin.” Untitled dispatch in Rosenberg Library. Storm of 1900 Collection. Subject File. News Clippings. The item is dated Sept. 15, 1900.
5 Manhattan, half a continent: Fernandez-Partagas, 105, note 63.
6 The storm sank: Ibid., 106, notes 66–71.
7 The city conducted: Mart H. Royston Papers. Oct. 9, 1900. Rosenberg Library. Manuscript Collection. 25-0587.
8 Early in 1901: McComb, 122.
9 “Many people”: Personal Accounts: Cortes, 6
10 They created: World’s Fair Bulletin, April 1904, 24–30. Rosenberg Library. 76-0004.
11 It rose seventeen feet: Personal Accounts: Stuart, 78.
12 McClure’s Magazine called it: Turner, George, 615.
13 They raised the altitude: Cartwright, Galveston, 29.
14 The city built: Ibid., 29.
15 To signal the city’s faith: Ibid., 5.
16 “We have got down”: “Chicago,” 686.
17 Just four months later: Kane, 171–73.
18 Soon after the storm: National Archives: Letters Sent. Letter, Willis Moore to secretary of agriculture, Oct. 9, 1900.
19 On November 3, 1900: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, I. M. Cline to chief of Weather Bureau, Nov. 3, 1900.
20 “I believe that I have”: National Archives: General Correspondence. Letter, J. L. Cline to chief of Weather Bureau, Dec. 4, 1900.
21 By then, however: National Archives: Letters Sent. Letter, Willis Moore to secretary of agriculture, April 5, 1901.
22 Two weeks later: National Archives: Letters Sent. Letter, Willis Moore to secretary of agriculture, April 20, 1901.
23 In 1909: Whitnah, 122.
24 “When a station official”: Cline, Storms, 140.
25 “The object”: Ibid., 141.
26 Isaac’s disillusionment.: Ibid., 141–46.
27 At nine o’clock: Ibid., 146.
28 The clearest evidence: National Archives. Letter, March 30, 1922, Joseph L. Cline to Henry E. Williams. Reminiscences of Employees. Other Records, 1878–1924. Box 1.
29 He gave up the study: Cline, “Century,” 37.
30 In his monograph: Ibid., 37.
31 In September 1909: Monthly Weather Review. Sept. 1909, 625.
32 On the morning of: First Baptist Church, 8.
33 A month later: Ibid., 8.
34 He divided his annual leave: Cline, Storms, 127.
35 He collected: Ibid., 170.
36 “Time lost can never be recovered”: Ibid., 248.
37 Isaac Monroe Cline: Weems, 164.
38 “Galveston should take heart”: National Archives: General Correspondence. Telegram, Willis Moore to Chicago Tribune, Sept. 13, 1900.
39 The seawall held: McComb, 149.
40 The death toll: Author’s conversations with Hugh Willoughby, Chris Landsea, Jerry Jarrell, Bill Gray, and others. See note on this page–this page, at “The Storm: Somewhere a Butterfly.”
41 None believed: Author’s conversations, as in preceding note for this p
age.
42 There was talk: See Emanuel, “Dependence,” “Hypercanes,” and “Toward.”
43 The Army Corps of Engineers: See U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Interim Technical Data Report. Metro New York Hurricane Transportation Study. November 1995.
44 But in the narrow: Author’s observations.
45 Once, in a time long past: A small marker noting the orphanage disaster stands at the seaward rim of the seawall, opposite the Wal-Mart.
SOURCES
Abbe, Cleveland. Papers. Library of Congress.
Acheson, Sam. 35,000 Days in Texas. 1938. Reprint, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973.
Alexander, W. H. “Thunderstorms at Antigua, W.I.” Monthly Weather Review. U.S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D.C., September 1900.
Anthes, Richard A. “Tropical Cyclones: Their Evolution, Structure and Effects.” Meteorological Monographs. American Meteorological Society, vol. 19, no. 41, February 1982.
Barton, Clara. Papers. Library of Congress.
Bigelow, Frank H. “Report on the Temperatures and Vapor Tensions of the United States.” Bulletin S. Weather Bureau. 1906.
Birch, Doug. “The Incredible Shrinking Glacier,” Baltimore Sun, February 10, 1997, 2a.
Cartwright, Gary. “The Big Blow.” Texas Monthly, August 1990, 76–81.
———.Galveston. New York: Atheneum, 1991.
“Chicago and Galveston.” McClure’s Magazine, April 1907, 685–86.
City Directory, Galveston. 1899–1900. Rosenberg Library.
Cline, Isaac M. “Address of Dr. Cline, Delivered to the YMCA Saturday Night.” Galveston News, December 21, 1891.
———.“A Century of Progress in the Study of Cyclones.” President’s Address, American Meteorological Society, December 29, 1934. Published, New Orleans, 1942.
———.“Cyclones, Hurricanes and Typhoons and Other Storms.” Speech, Isaac Delgado Central Trades School, October 2, 1936.
———.“Relation of Changes in Storm Tides on the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the Center and Movement of Hurricanes.” Proceedings of the Louisiana Engineering Society, New Orleans, La., vol. 6, no. 5, October 1920.
