The Great Bridge (82 page)

Tweed arrested in Spain: Werner,
Tammany Hall,
pp. 247-251.

Letter of resignation: WAR to HCM, September 8, 1876. RPI.

WAR to the
Eagle:
Undated. RPI.

“I was publicly and specifically singled out”: WAR to HCM, September 11, 1876. RPI.

Haigh’s matrimonial adventures:
Eagle,
January 6, 1880.

WAR returns to New York City by barge: Unidentified clipping in a scrapbook kept by EWR. RPI.

“There is something colossal in the look of the East River piers”:
Ibid.

HCM notified of stock sale: WAR to HCM, November 2, 1876. RPI.

Aspinwall proposal:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 384-386;
Eagle,
November 14, 1876.

Presidency stolen: Nevins,
Abram S. Hewitt,
p. 320
ff.

Men to be trained: WAR to HCM, November 6, 1876. RPI.

Oil kettles, sample ferrule, iron and steel rope: WAR to Farrington, November 16, 1876. RPI.

“Man is after all a very finite being”: WAR to James S. T. Stranahan, November 20, 1876. RPI.

Technical instructions to Trenton: WAR to Ferdinand Roebling, undated. RPI.

Requirements for Number 8, Birmingham Gauge:
Specifications for Steel Cable Wire, for the East River Suspension Bridge
—1876, original copy, RPI; also LER.

Opening and contents of the bids: Meeting of the Trustees, November 4, 1876,
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 387—389; also, Meeting of the Executive Committee, December 6, 1876,
Proceedings,
pp. 643-645.

Reporter sees Martin and HCM: New York
Herald,
December 16, 1876.

“If one man’s samples”: WAR to HCM, December 15, 1876. LER.

Hill’s computations: New York
Herald,
December 16, 1876.

Aspinwall and Kinsella comment: New York
Herald,
December 20, 1876.

Hill’s answer: New York
Herald,
December 21, 1876.

Executive Committee Meeting of December 23, 1876:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 645—646.

WAR’s report on tests: WAR to HCM, December 18, 1876. LER

Board of Directors’ Meeting of December 28, 1876:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
p. 389.

“Unquestionably Bessemer steel wire is the cheapest”:
Eagle,
January 10, 1877.

Model of cable and Hildenbrand drawing:
Eagle,
December 26, 1876.

Trustees’ Meeting of January 11, 1877:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 389-391.

“The assurance of the correct performance”: WAR,
Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, January 1, 1877,
p. 18. LER.

Slocum requests Army engineers:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 389-391.

Hewitt letter:
Eagle,
January 12, 1877.

Brooklyn Theater fire: New York
Times,
December 6, 1876.

Ashtabula disaster: Gies,
Bridges and Men,
pp. 125—130. Footnote:
Ibid.,
p. 130.

Trustees’ response to Hewitt’s letter:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 389-391;
Eagle,
January 12, 1877.

Kinsella’s comments on decision:
Eagle,
January 16, 1877.

“They can help us and the public”:
Union,
January 16, 1877.

“My attention has been called”:
Eagle,
January 23, 1877.

“It has become the deepest of mysteries”:
Union,
January 18, 1877.

“In laying this plan”: WAR, private notes, undated. RPI.

19 The Gigantic Spinning Machine

“I never saw better days for bridge work”:
Eagle,
clipping in a scrapbook kept by EWR, no date. RPI.

“…no man can be a bridge builder”: Unidentified clipping, dated February 12, 1877, in a scrapbook kept by EWR. RPI.

“The undulating of the bridge”: New York
Tribune,
February 19, 1877.

WAR’s sign at the footbridge entrance: From a photograph.

“Trinity Church steeple was fencing”: New York
Tribune,
February 12, 1877.

Farrington discloses imagined report of crossing
(fn.):
Farrington,
Concise Description of the East River Bridge.

“While Revs. Drs. Storrs and Buddington”:
Eagle,
February 22, 1877.

Lengthy descriptions of the wire spinning and of the array of apparatus involved were published in the
Eagle,
June 1 and July 7, 1877, and in
Appleton’s Journal,
January 1878; “The Gigantic Spinning Machine”:
Eagle,
July 6, 1877.

Report of WAR’s return to Brooklyn:
Eagle,
May 20, 1877.

HCM and the footbridge craze:
New York Illustrated Times,
August 18, 1877.

“I started to go once”:
Ibid.

Seaman’s epileptic fit:
The New York Times,
September 20, 1877.

Eagle’s
comments on suicide: October 19, 1877.

“It is as brittle as glass”: WAR to Paine, December 3, 1877. RPI.

“This is what Mr. Kinsella is pleased to call the best”: WAR to HCM, December 3, 1877. RPI.

Kinsella says cost no issue:
Eagle,
December 4, 1877.

“All of which is bosh”:
Union and Argus,
December 4, 1877.

Accident at the Brooklyn anchorage:
Eagle,
December 23, 1877;
Union and Argus,
December 24.

“The brick arch fell because it had a right to fall”: WAR to HCM, December 31, 1877. RPI.

“There are so many points to be considered”: WAR to Hildenbrand, January 9, 1878. RPI.

“I want you to help me get out a specification”: WAR to Farrington, February 9, 1878. RPI.

January 8 meeting of the Executive Committee:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 667—668.

“Of course more or less legal information is required”:
Union and Argus,
January 8, 1878.

20 Wire Fraud

“Yet the existence of evil in human life”: JAR, “Life and Creation,” 1864. RUL.

Storm of January 31, 1878: WAR,
Communication from Chief Engineer W. A. Roebling, In Regard to the Method of Steam Transit Over the East River Bridge,
p. 8, LER;
Eagle,
January 31, 1878.

Murphy predicts 1880 completion:
Eagle,
February 5, 1878.

WAR plans for bridge trains:
Eagle,
March 4, 1878.

“An ingenious arrangement”: WAR,
Communication from Chief Engineer W. A. Roebling,
p. 6,
fn.

“Neither, must we overlook the effect”:
Ibid.,
p. 5.

Minnesota
clips a cable:
Eagle,
March 4, 1878.

Death of Tweed: Werner,
Tammany Hall,
pp. 257-258.

“He never thought of angels”:
Ibid.

“If he had died in 1870”: Callow,
The Tweed Ring,
p. 298.

“Alas! Alas! young men”:
Ibid.,
quoted, p. 297.

“A villain of more brains”: Quoted in Werner,
Tammany Hall,
p. 263.

“Well, the Brooklyn people have no right”: New York
Sun,
clipping in a scrapbook kept by EWR. RPI.

Virtually every paper on both sides of the river carried a long account of the breaking of the cable. This description has been drawn chiefly from the following: Brooklyn
Union and Argus,
June 14 and 15, 1878; New York
Herald,
June 15, 1878;
Eagle,
June 14 and 15, 1878; New York
Times,
June 15 and 16, 1878; New York
World,
June 16.

“It will not sway from side to side”: New York
World,
June 30, 1878.

HCM cuts back the work:
Eagle,
August 12, 1878.

The exchange of letters between WAR and HCM concerning the Haigh wire deception is contained in “Exhibit No. 6,”
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 132-138. They include: WAR to HCM, July 9 and 22, 1878; HCM to WAR, July 25, 1878; WAR to HCM, July 28 and August 6, 1878.

Trustees’ meeting of August 5, 1878:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
p. 441.

Trustees’ meeting of August 7, 1878:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
p. 441.

WAR’s private notes on Haigh: RPI.

“We have brought machinery to a pitch”: George,
Social Problems,
p. 19.

“The thousands who daily cross”:
Eagle,
August 8, 1878.

“It has pleased the average penny-a-liner”: EWR, unpublished biographical sketch of WAR. RPI.

“Each must hang in its own peculiar length”:
Appleton’s Journal,
January 1878.

Close call on the buggy:
Eagle,
January 5, 1879.

Wrapping wire contract changed: Meeting of the Executive Committee, September 12, 1878,
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
p. 682.

“The end, then, is near”:
Eagle,
October 5, 1878.

21 Emily

“At first I thought I would succumb”: WAR, sometime in the spring of 1903. RUL.

“Mrs. Roebling is a tall and handsome woman”: Trenton
Gazette,
April 15, 1894.

“I would send you a little tintype”: WAR to Elvira Roebling, March 5, 1864. RUL.