Isaac's Storm (51 page)

3.
He
paid
cash:
Giles
Mercantile
Agency
reference
book.

4.
"/
suppose
there
is
not":
National
Archives.
Inspection
Reports,
Galveston,
November
1893.

4.
A
New
Orleans
photographer:
Photograph.
Isaac
Cline.
Louisiana
State
Museum.
Whitesell
Collection.
Accession
No.
1981.83.198.

5.
It
was
a
time:
McCullough,
Path,
247.

5.
She
was
pregnant:
Isaac
Cline,
Monthly
Weather
Review,
Sept.
1900.

5.
Temperatures
in
Galveston:
Daily
Journal.

6.
For
the
first
time:
"The
Incredible
Shrinking
Glacier."
6.
A
correspondent
for:
"The
Galveston
Horror."

6.
In
a
pamphlet:
In
Ousley,
Appendix.
See
also
Immigrants
Guide
to
Western
Texas.
Galveston,
Harrisburg
and
San
Antonio
Railroad.
Galveston,
1876.
"It
is
A
FABLE,
generally
believed
in
the
North,
that
Texas
is
a
land
of
snakes,
tarantulas,
scorpions,
fleas
and
mosquitoes
...
"
103.

7.
On
Sundays:
Isaac
never
actually
says
he
and
his
family
visited
Murdoch's
and
the
Pagoda
on
Sundays,
but
given
their
proximity
to
his
house,
the
communal
character
of
the
time
—
and
the
absence
of
television
—
it
is
all
but
certain
that
the
Clines
did
so.
Bathhouse
details:
Fire
Insurance
Map.

7.
An
electric
wire:
Picturesque
Galveston,
10.

8.
The
thudding:
Cline,
Isaac,
"Special
Report,"
3
72.

8.
Isaac
woke:
Ibid.,
372;
also,
Cline,
Storms,
93;
Cline,
"Cyclones,"
13;
Cline,
"Century,"
26;
Cline,Joseph,
Heavens,
49.

8.
Joseph
too:
Cline,
Joseph,
Heavens,
49.

9.
For
days,
however:
Weems,
8-12.
But
see,
especially,
National
Archives:
Weather
Bureau.
General
Correspondence.
Sept.
7,
1900,
William
B.
Stockman
to
Col.
H.
H.
C.
Dunwoody,
summarizing
reports
on
the
storm's
early
character
and
track.
Box
1475.

9.
The
bureau
had
long
banned:
Whitnah,
215.
10.
With
most
of
the
block:
Fire
Insurance
Map.

10.
At
the
corner:
Photograph.
2502
Avenue
Q.
Rosenberg
Library.
Street
File:
Avenue
Q.
Also,
Fire
Insurance
Map.

11.
Dr.
Samuel
O.
Young:
Young
account,
Storm
of
1900
Collection.
Subject
File.
Rosenberg
Library.

11. To
her,
palms
and
live
oak:
Rollfing,
1:1.
Louisa's
autobiographical
account
of

her
migration
to
America
and
her
subsequent
life
would
make
warm,
revelatory

reading
for
any
student
of
the
immigrant
experience.

12. In
the
summer
of
1900:
Mason,
54-56.

12.
jfosiah:
Gregg
Gregg,
101.

12.
The
New
York
Herald:
Eisenhour,
1.

13.
On
Friday,
September
7,
Isaac
had
read:
In
no
document
does
Isaac
Cline
actually
say
he
read
the
census
report
in
the
Galveston
News,
but
it
was
the
biggest
local
news
story
of
the
day.
Isaac
most
certainly
read
it.
See
also
Weems,
23.

13.
One
of
its
French
chefs:
Eisenhour,
4.

13.
"A
child's
white
hearse":
City
Directory:
Advertisement,
J.
Levy
and
Brothers.

14.
The
crests
of
the
waves:
Author's
observation
of
how
tropical
storms
influence
the
surf
off
Galveston.

14.
Isaac
knew
the
low-pressure
center:
Cline,
"Address."
14.
"If
we
had
known":
Cline,
"Cyclones,"
13.

14. The
northeast
wind
brought:
The
locations
of
the
planing
mill,
bulk
coffee

roaster,
and
the
many
livery
stables
are
set
out
in
the
Fire
Insurance
Map
for

Galveston.

15. "Only
one-tenth
of
an
inch":
Cline,
"Special
Report,"372.

15.
"The
usual
signs":
Ibid.,
372.

15.
"Such
high
water":
Ibid.

15.
Isaac's
concern:
Cline,
"West
India
Hurricanes."

PART
I:
THE
LAW
OF
STORMS

The
Storm:
Somewhere,
a
Butterfly

To
reconstruct
the
origins
and
early
travels
of
the
Galveston
hurricane,
I
relied
on
books
and
papers
by
the
twentiedi
century's
most
significant
hurricane
researchers,
among
them
William
Gray,
Christopher
Landsea,
R.
H.
Simpson,
Richard
Anthes,

Kerry
Emanuel,
and
the
two
Pielkes,
Roger
junior
and
senior
(see
Sources).
I
found
the
Pielkes'
Hurricanes,
published
in
1997,
to
be
especially
useful.
My
description
of
how
an
easterly
wave
cycle
might
be
perceived
by
the
crew
of
a
ship
is
based
largely
on
an
extended
conversation
with
Hugh
E.
Willoughby,
head
of
the
Hurricane
Research
Division
of
the
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration.
I
also
included,
indirecdy,
the
observations
of
researchers
I
interviewed
in
1998
for
a
Time
magazine
article
on
intense
hurricanes
yet
to
come,
among
them
Landsea;
Gray;
Pielke
junior;
Mark
DeMaria,
chief
of
technical
support
for
NOAA's
Tropical
Prediction
Center;
Jerry
Jarrell,
director
of
the
Tropical
Prediction
Center;
and
Nicholas
K.
Coch,
self-styled
"forensic
hurricanologist,"
Queens
College,
New
York.

20.
Three
children
died:
Galveston
News,
Aug.
13,1900.
20.
"The
air
near
the
surface":
Garriott,
"Forecasts,"
321.

20.
Springfield,
Illinois,
reported:
Galveston
News,
Aug.
13,1900.

21.
In
August,
mean
temperatures:
Bigelow,
"Report,"
47,51,
54,
68,
70,
84,
125,
135.

21.
From
mid-July:
Galveston
News,
July
14,July
15,
Aug.
10,1900.
21.
Ten
billion
joules:
Galveston
News,
Sept.
1,1900.

21.
Crickets
swarmed:
Ibid.

22.
Others
became
massive:
For
excellent
descriptions
and
illustrations
of
clouds,
see
International
Cloud
Atlas.

23.
Ships
directly
in
the
path:
Author
interview,
Hugh
Willoughby,
Hurricane
Research
Division,
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration.

25. "Brown
is
the
new
color":
Galveston
News,
Aug.
2,1900.

25. Every
day
an
ad:
Galveston
News,
Aug.
1,1900.

26. "But
suppose":
Zebrowski,
264.

26. "Coulda
butterfly":
lbid.,263.

26.
"One
simulated
storm
":
Ibid.,
265.

27.
"Adda
littleglitch":lbid.,266.

Washington,
D.
C:
Violent
Commotions

In
this
chapter,
I
relied
heavily
on
the
memoirs
of
Isaac
and
Joseph
Cline,
and
on
two
fine
histories
of
weather
and
the
weather
service,
David
Laskin's
Braving
the
Elements
and
Donald
Whitnah's
A
History
of
the
United
States
Weather
Bureau.

28.
As
a
hobby:
Cline,
Storms,
14-17.

28.
In
fall,
at
acorn
time:
Joseph
Cline,
Heavens,
44.

28.
Isaac's
uncle
swore:
Ibid.,
8.

28.
Stories
circulated:
Ibid.,
10-11.
"As
I
look
back
on
it
now,"
Joseph
wrote
of
the

wild
man,
"it
was
a
soul-sickening
spectacle
to
see
a
human
being,
if
one
could

call
him
that,
in
such
a
pitiable
plight."

28.
Another
turned
Boyd's
Pond:
Ibid.,
13.

29.
The
law
of
convenient
epiphany:
Cline,
Storms,
23-24.
29.
He
read
everything:
Ibid.,
23.

29.
his
greatest
dream
was
to
write:
Ibid.,
23.

29.
"I
first
studied
to
be
a
preacher":
Ibid.
,26.

30.
The
president
of:
Ibid.,
27.

30.
A
marker
showed:
Ibid.,
30.

31.
But
mainly:
Ibid.,
30.

31. "Meteorology
has
ever
been:
Laskin,
138.

31. Mark
Twain,
merciless:
Ibid.,
146.

32. In
1881,
police:
Whitnah,
46-47.

32. Complaints
also
rose:
Ibid.,
46-53.

32.
The
assault
got
personal:
Ibid.,
53.

33.
"You
will
cheerfully
":
Frankenfield,
4.

34.
Isaac
led
them:
Cline,
Storms,
32.

34. At
Fort
Myer,
Isaac
took
apart:
Ibid.,
33.

34. The
word
madman:
National
Archives:
Administrative.
"Telegraph
Cipher."
Box
1.

34.
"Paul
diction
sunk
":
Whitnah,
26.

35.
These
nocturnal
sessions:
Frankenfield,
6.

35. Often
recruits
told
each
other:
von
Herrmann,
4.

35. One
lieutenant
deliberately:
Geddings,
9.

35. Another
officer,
seeking:
Ibid.,
3.

35. One
morning
a
recruit:
Ibid.,
11.

The
Storm:
Monday,
August
27,1900

Here,
and
in
subsequent
chapters,
I
relied
on
an
unpublished
report
by
Jose
Fernandez-Partagas,
a
late-twentieth-century
meteorologist
who
re-created
for
the
National
Hurricane
Center
the
tracks
of
many
historical
hurricanes,
among
them
the
Galveston
hurricane.
He
was
a
meticulous
researcher
given
to
long
hours
in
the
library
of
the
University
of
Miami,
where
he
died
on
August
25,
1997,
in
his
favorite
couch.
He
had
no
money,
no
family,
no
friends
—
only
hurricanes.
The
hurricane
center
claimed
his
body,
had
him
cremated,
and
on
August
31,
1998,
launched
his
ashes
through
the
drop-port
of
a
P-3
Orion
hurricane-hunter
into
the
heart
of
Hurricane
Danielle.
His
remains
entered
the
atmosphere
at
28
N,
74.2
W,
about
three
hundred
miles
due
east
of
Daytona
Beach.

All
references
to
the
storm's
latitude
and
longitude
in
this
chapter
and
subsequent
chapters
come
from
page
108
in
Fernandez-Partagas's
report.

36. The
first
formal
sighting:
Fernandez-Partagas,
96,
note
1.

Fort
Myer:
What
Isaac
Knew

37. He
read
how
men
caught:
No
one
can
know
precisely
what
Isaac
read
at
Fort

Myer,
but
it
is
reasonable
to
conclude
that
he
studied
storms
in
great
depth,

since
in
his
time
storms
were
the
"meteors"
of
the
greatest
interest.
For
horse

flies,
see
Rosser,
The
Law
of
Storms,
40;
for
stranded
deer,
see
Ludlum,
61;
for

levitated
cannon,
Ludlum,
62,
70.
In
Barbados
in
1831
a
hurricane
carried
a

150-pound
piece
of
lead
over
1,800
feet,
and
a
400-pound
piece
1,680
feet.

McDonough,
7.
McDonough
found
also
that
the
Barbados
storm
caused
a

strange
change
in
ambient
light.
"While
this
storm
was
passing
over
the
West

Indies
...
objects
which
were
of
a
whitish
color
appeared
to
be
of
light
blue,
so

marked
as
to
attract
the
attention
of
all
the
inhabitants."
McDonough,
8.

37.
Thomas
Jefferson
kept:
Hughes,
26.
George
Washington
also
kept
a
weather
diary,
Hughes
tells
us,
and
made
his
last
entry
the
day
before
his
death.