by Willie Drye
128. In Coral Gables, Leo Reardon and his guests: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 5
129. At 3:30 a.m., Richard Gray’s barometer in the Weather Bureau office had dropped to 29.06: Miami Daily News, September 18, 1926
129. Out on Miami Beach, the sea was swallowing the island: New York Times, September 22, 1926
129. As dawn approached, the hurricane’s winds had reached at least 115 miles an hour: Monthly Weather Review, September 1926, p. 410
129. That was more than Gertrude Rubelli’s house could withstand: “Report of Mrs. Gertrude Rubelli employed by Dade County School Board and Red Cross Chapter”; Folder DR-207, Florida hurricane of 9-18-1926: Donated Records Collection (formerly Records Group 200), Records of the American Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
130. As he huddled with his family in an automobile in the garage: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 7
130. At the Weather Bureau office, Gray’s barometer was plummeting: “Facts on Tropical Hurricane Whose Centre Passed over Miami, Florida September 18, 1926: Folder DR-207, Florida Hurricane 9-18-1926: Donated Records Collection (formerly Records Group 200), Records of the American Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
130. Gertrude Rubelli and her husband ventured out of their car: “Report of Mrs. Gertrude Rubelli employed by Dade County School Board and Red Cross Chapter”; Folder 207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926: Donated Records Collection (formerly Records Group 200), Records of the American Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
131. Once the winds had died down in Coral Gables: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 8
131. “Dawn came, and save for the nearness of other houses”: New York Times, September 22, 1926
131. As the rainy, windy dawn crept over Moore Haven: Will, Lawrence E., Okeechobee Hurricane: Killer Storms in the Everglades (Belle Glade, Florida, The Glades Historical Society, 1990) p. 23
131. At the town’s little railroad station, the agent on duty: The Times, Hammond, Indiana, 10-13-1926
131. When the hurricane’s eye reached Miami, reporter Al Reck: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) pp. 21–22
132. Not far from where Reck was climbing into the taxi, Richard Gray was appalled: Monthly Weather Review, September 1926, p. 410
132. “Saturday was the worst day I ever want to go through”: The Daily Herald, Middletown, New York, September 23, 1926
133. “Never abating for an instant, the wind rose still higher”: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 9
133. Despite the water covering Miami Beach, S.K. Hicks and another attorney friend: New York Times, September 21, 1926
134. Al Reck’s wild taxi ride became even wilder: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 22
134. In Fort Lauderdale, Peggy and Frank Pope watched in astonishment: New York Times, September 22, 1926
134. The winds kept increasing until they were blowing even harder: Monthly Weather Review, October 1926, p. 415
134. “Peering from the rain-clouded windows I could see”: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 22
135. As the storm worsened, Louis Slutsky was worried: New York Times, September 24, 1926
135. In Moore Haven, the dike was giving way: Will, Lawrence E., Okeechobee Hurricane: Killer Storms in the Everglades (Belle Glade, Florida, The Glades Historical Society, 1990) p. 15
136. In Sebring, Atlantic Coast Line officials decided: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 32
136. It was late morning in Miami, but daylight still hadn’t come: New York Times, September 21, 1926
136. In Coral Gables, Leo Reardon and his family were clinging to shreds of the life: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 10
137. Up the coast in Stuart, the winds had raged and the rains had poured: South Florida Developer, September 24, 1926
138. The stories were emblazoned with screaming headlines: Galveston Daily News, September 19, 1926
Chapter Eight: Spinning the Tempest
139. Leo Reardon sat down in a soggy, hurricane-battered apartment: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 11
140. The bowsprit of the Rose Mahoney: Florida State Archives, photo RC08696, “Scene along Bay Shore Drive after the 1926 hurricane—Miami, Florida,” available at https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/31638
140. The storm had wrecked and destroyed the pleasure spots of Miami Beach: Manitoba Free Press, September 24, 1926
140. An eighteen-foot pleasure boat rested on its keel: Florida Photographic Collection, Image #N031900, “Maxwell Arcade after hurricane of 1926, available at https://www.floridamemory.com/solr-search/results/?q=%28n031900%20OR%20tt%3An031900%5E10%29&query=n031900
140. In downtown Miami, the seventeen-story Meyer-Kiser Building: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 17
XX. In the Glades northwest of Miami, an Atlantic Coast Line rescue train: The Times of Hammond, Indiana, October 13, 1926
142. “Miami Wiped Out by Terrific Gale”: Salt Lake Tribune, September 20, 1926
142. In Florence, South Carolina: The Morning News Review of Florence, South Carolina, September 19, 1926, noted resort cities laid waste
142. In Pennsylvania, subscribers to the Clearfield Progress read: The Progress of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1926
142. In Texas, editors at the Galveston Daily News: Galveston Daily News extra, September 19, 1926 “Many Die; Cities Razed”
142. According to the headlines in the Chester Times: Chester (Pennsylvania) Times, September 19, 1926 1,000 Dead
142. In Fort Lauderdale—one of the cities supposedly wiped off the map: Fort Lauderdale Daily News, September 19, 1926
XX. The New York Times was more reserved: New York Times, September 19, 1926
142. By late Sunday afternoon, American Red Cross officials in Florida and Washington, DC, were trying to get a handle: Box 732, Folder 207, Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
143. When the sun came up over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, September 20: Barnes, Jay, Florida’s Hurricane History (Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1998) pp. 123–124
143. “1,000 Perish in Florida Twister”: Charleston Gazette, September 20, 1926
143. “Hurricane Levels Florida Coast Cities”: Salt Lake Tribune, September 20, 1926
143. The New York Times dropped the restraint it had used: New York Times, September 20, 1926
143. A headline in the Chester Times, said the storm had left: Chester (Pennsylvania) Times, September 19, 1926
143. For the record, the official death toll has been calculated: Barnes, Jay, Florida’s Hurricane History (Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1998) p.126
144. “The city is waking to the horrors of the disaster”: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 32
144. And one newspaper whose responsibility was to report the facts: Miami Herald, September 20, 1926
144. Reardon drove to the causeway to see how Miami Beach had fared: Reardon, Leo, The Florida H
urricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) pp. 33–38
144. In Washington, DC, President Calvin Coolidge had heard enough about the hurricane: Memo from John Barton Payne to All Chapter Chairmen, September 20, 1926; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926: Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
145. By late Monday afternoon, Al Reck, the determined reporter who’d braved the worst of the storm: The Athens (Ohio) Messenger, September 20, 1926
145. “All buildings erected by Fuller Co. came through hurricane: Wall Street Journal, September 23, 1926
146. As night fell on South Florida on Monday, September 20: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 5
146. More than a thousand miles to the north of South Florida’s hurricane-induced misery: Washington Post, September 21, 1926
146. Late in the day of Tuesday, September 21, some of the same buses: Reardon, Leo, The Florida Hurricane & Disaster 1926 (Coral Gables, Florida; Arva Parks & Company, 1986) p. 72
147. Saul German, a former Bronx resident: New York Times, September 22, 1926
148. As the storm refugees’ tales of woe were being published in newspapers: Telegram from Sidney Morse to American Red Cross Headquarters, Washington D.C., September 19, 1926; Telegram, Henry T. Reed to American Red Cross Headquarters, Washington, D.C., September 19, 1926; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida Hurricane 9-18-1926: Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross, 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
148. In Stuart, Edwin Menninger was mixing optimism and realism: South Florida Developer, September 24, 1926
148. “I don’t believe the papers can describe all that happened here”: The Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, September 22, 1926
148. “Hurricane terrible,” William Diesbach hastily scrawled to his friend: Hamilton (Ohio) Evening Journal, September 22, 1926
148. Helen Sweezy’s letter to her parents in Middletown, New York: Daily Herald of Middletown, New York, September 23, 1926
149. On September 20, the Miami Herald reported that the storm: Miami Herald, September 20, 1926
149. On Wednesday, September 22, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial: The Wall Street Journal, September 22, 1926
149. Nonetheless, on September 22, Warfield issued a public statement: New York Times, September 23, 1926
150. Perhaps taking his cue from Warfield’s public statements, Miami mayor Edward C. Romf: Buchannan, James E. Miami: A Chronological & Documentary History 1513–1977 (Dobbs Ferry, New York, Oceana Publications, Inc., 1978) p. 98
151. Meanwhile, out in Moore Haven, rescue workers and survivors crazed with grief: The Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times, September 25, 1926; New Smyrna (Florida) Daily News, September 24, 1926
151. At the end of the week, Time magazine’s issue of September 27: Time magazine, September 27, 1926
151. “God permitted the hurricane to strike Florida”: Living Church, reprinted in the New York Times, September 25, 1926
152. “It is true Florida is the playground of the wealthy”: American Red Cross News Release, September 29, 1926; Box 732, Folder DR-207.72, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
152. Citing a report by Worth M. Tippy, an investigator sent to Florida: American Red Cross News Release, September 29, 1926; Box 732, Folder DR-207.72, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, News releases Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
152. A few Florida newspapers were starting to pick up on the effort: Newspaper clipping, undated, “Experience Of Local Unit In Storm Area Convinces Of Necessity For Relief,” no byline; Box 732, Folder DR-207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
152. “Thousands of three- and four- and five-room cottages are now only a pile: Telegram, William B. Taylor, American Red Cross Headquarters, to Douglas Griesmer, Miami, Florida, September 30, 1926; Folder DR-207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, Reports and statistics, Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
153. In a news release from Washington, Payne said the Red Cross’s fund-raising: American Red Cross News Release, October 1, 1926; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida hurricane 1917–1934; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
153. That same day, Brisbane praised Warfield’s outrageously misleading statements: The Bee of Danville, Virginia, October 1, 1926
153. The war of words reached a nasty apex on Saturday, October 2: Miami Tribune, September 18, 1926
154. The Red Cross fired back the next day: American Red Cross News Release, October 3, 1926; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
154. That same day, Henry Baker, the Red Cross medical director in Miami, made an appeal: Radio script for Henry M. Baker for WRNY Radio; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
154. Included in the comments was a cartoon that appeared on editorial pages of large newspapers: The World-Herald of Omaha, Nebraska, October 5, 1926
154. On October 8, the Wall Street Journal jumped back into the fracas: Wall Street Journal, October 8, 1926
155. A week after one of the nation’s most influential newspapers allowed Knight: Washington Post, October 16, 1926
155. “The educational campaign minimizing the disaster”: Memo, James Fieser to Henry Baker; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida hurricane 1917–1934; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
156. Despite the outrageous verbal assaults on their organization: American Red Cross news release, December 24, 1926; Box 732, Folder 207, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
156. Like thousands of other Florida residents, Edwin Menninger: South Florida Developer, September 24, 1926
Chapter Nine: Hope from the Swamp
157. But that’s exactly what they heard when prankster Charles Haines: Manitoba (Ontario) Free Press, September 24, 1926
157. “Reports from all sections of the country showed that donations”: New York Times, October 15, 1926
158. The hurricane struck Havana around 10:45 that morning: Perez, Louis A. Jr., Winds of Change: Hurricanes and the Transformation of 19th-Century Cuba (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2001) p. 6
159. “The sun is shining brightly in Miami”: Miami Daily News, October 20, 1926
159. Red Cross officials, however, were assembling a glum forecast: Memo, “Confidential Notes of Conference in Atlanta, October 23, 1926; Box 732, Folder 270, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 2
00, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
160. The November 1926 edition of the respected journal Review of Reviews: Review of Reviews, vol. LXXIV, no. 442, pp. 483–485
161. As 1926 drew to a close, Red Cross officials summarized their efforts: American Red Cross news release, December 24, 1925; Box 732, Folder 270, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
161. At 6:25 p.m. on the evening of January 5, 1927, Warfield: Turner, Greg M., A Journey Into Florida’s Railroad History (Gainesville, Florida, University Press of Florida, 2008) p. 204; New York Times, January 6, 1927; New York Times, January 8, 1927; Miami Daily News, January 8, 1927; Miami Daily News, January 9, 1927
163. Despite the new optimism among Miami boosters: Box 732, Folder 270, Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
164. By mid-February, the Red Cross was ready: Box 732, Folder 270, Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1934, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
164. Solomon Davies Warfield was known as an autocratic business leader: Turner, Gregg M., A Journey Into Florida Railroad History (Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2008) p. 199
164. On March 1, 1927, Henry Baker, the director of the Red Cross relief effort in Miami: Miami Herald, March 2, 1926
164. The following day, Baker was invited to a smaller gathering: Letter, Henry Baker to James Fieser, March 3, 1927; Box 732, Folder 270, Florida hurricane 9-18-1926; Donated Records Collection, formerly Records Group 200, Records of the American National Red Cross 1917–1934, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland