Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson [120]
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