Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson [116]
PART IV: CATACLYSM
Telegram
1 We have been: Telegram. National Archives: General Correspondence.
The East Side: Louisa Rollfing
1 August Rollfing: Rollfing, 3: 4.
2 At about two: Cline, Tropical Cyclones, 246.
3 She watched quietly: Rollfing, 3: 3.
Avenue P½: Parents and Their Choices
1 At two o’clock: Young, 2.
2 The water moved fastest: Author’s analysis. Most of the city’s streets were lined with high curbs, which acted like erosion gullies to channel the flow of water.
3 Young saw: Young, 2. Specifically, Young recalls seeing “wrecked shanties, boxes, barrels, wooden cisterns and everything else that fell in [the current’s] power.” That carriages and outhouses and myriad other things floated within is beyond question. He makes no mention of seeing bodies, however—although by that time there were many embedded in the current coursing through the city.
4 “Being entirely alone”: Young, 2.
5 As Louise Hopkins: Personal Accounts: Hopkins, “The Day,” 1–4.
6 There were boxes and boards: Again, the flow carried all manner of debris. It also carried snakes. After the storm, one captain reported encountering snakes far out in the Gulf. See note for this page, Venomous snakes.
7 Louise noticed that: Personal Accounts: Hopkins, “The Day,” 5.
8 At precisely 2:30 P.M.: Daily Journal.
9 At 5:15, the wind: Daily Journal.
10 “We had a warm feeling”: Personal Accounts: Hopkins, “The Day,” 6.
11 “When it was lighted”: Personal Accounts: Hopkins, Interview, 14–15.
12 A neighbor couple: First Baptist Church, 2.
13 It grew cysts: Personal Accounts: Cortes, 4.
14 At 7:00 P.M.: First Baptist Church, 2.
15 “I cannot pray”: Ibid., 2.
16 Garry Burnett recommended: Ibid., 2.
25th and Q: Isaac Cline
1 “At this time”: Cline, “Special Report,” 373.
2 At 6:30 P.M.: Ibid., 373.
3 The sea was strangely flat: Young, 3.
4 The Neville house: Photograph. 2502 Avenue Q. Rosenberg Library. Street File: Avenue Q.
5 It contained homes: Rollfing, 3: 7. For the most vivid record of destruction, see the Rosenberg Library’s collection of aftermath photographs, some of which are quite grisly. One photograph, G-1771, File 7.5, No. 13, shows a vast plain of wreckage where Isaac Cline’s neighborhood had once existed. Another, G-1771, File 1.2, No. 8, shows six men apparently about to bury the body of a woman. She is well and elaborately dressed in pantaloons with horizontal stripes and a dress printed with bold, broad vertical stripes. The men represent a cross-section of society. One is black, his face deeply furrowed with an expression of distaste. It is possible he is expressing disdain for the photographer. Another member of the party is young, clean-shaven, and handsome, dressed neatly in a long-sleeved white shirt, straw hat, and suit pants. Close examination with a magnifying glass reveals that his eyes are closed. The men stand in a great sea of shattered boards.
6 “I was standing”: Cline, “Special Report,” 373.
7 (Joseph claims …: Cline, Joseph, 53.
8 The brothers herded: Ibid.
9 “These observations”: Cline, “Special Report,” 373.
10 One block north: Young, 2.
11 “The debris fairly flew”: Ibid., 2.
12 One witness: Galveston Galveston News, Sept. 13, 1900, 5.
13 Dr. Cline’s house: Author’s analysis, based on Young’s proximity to Isaac Cline’s house, and the orientation of his house. Young, 2. See also Fire Insurance Map. Regarding the absence of Cline’s galleries, see Cline, Joseph, 53.
14 “Strangely enough”: Cline, Joseph, 53.
15 “I urged them”: Ibid., 53.
16 In Dallas, three hundred: Acheson, 211; Mason, 106.
17 (whose Galveston agent: See death list, Galveston News, Sept. 14, 1900. W. Pilford of the Mexican Cable Company is listed, along with his four children, Madge, Willie, Jack, and Georgianna. The list cites the location where they were killed as “Twenty-fifth and Q.” Isaac’s corner.
18 At that moment: Acheson, 211; Mason, 106.
The Levy Building: Vital Signs
1 Saturday evening, John Blagden: Personal Accounts: Blagden, 1–2.
2 Meteorologists discovered: Cline, “Special