Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson [119]
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.
36 Isaac could not help it: Isaac never directly states that he should have taken his family to the Levy Building early on, but how could any man in a similar position avoid such thoughts?
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