The Great Bridge (83 page)

“You know, darling, that your presence”: WAR to EWR, April 1, 1864. RUL.

“This full moon evening”: WAR to EWR, April 15, 1864. RUL.

“After all, dear Emmie”: WAR to EWR, April 4, 1864. RUL.

“Look for a big thief next winter”: WAR to EWR, July 4, 1864. RUL.

“Does the
Mary Powell
run”: WAR to EWR, August 1, 1864. RUL.

“Your letter describing the visit”: WAR to EWR, June 19, 1864. RUL.

Ferdinand’s reaction to EWR: WAR to EWR, September 1, 1864. RUL.

“When the two hopefuls”: WAR to EWR, September 25, 1864. RUL.

“I still entertain a lively remembrance”:
Ibid.

“aspired to no higher distinction”: Blake,
History of Putnam County, New York.

Parrott guns bombard Storm King: Pelletreau,
History of Putnam County, New York.

Career of G. K. Warren prior to the Civil War: Taylor,
Gouverneur Kemble Warren.

The distressing thing about Indian fighting: Catton,
A Stillness at Appomattox,
pp. 51—52.

Picnic on the Hudson:
The painting hangs in the Julia Butterfield Memorial Library, Cold Spring, New York.

“I think we will be a pair of lovers”: WAR to EWR, November 18, 1864. RUL.

Warren and Sheridan at Five Forks: Catton,
A Stillness at Appomattox,
pp. 348-357.

WAR’s view of Five Forks: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.

Effie Afton
case: Gies,
Bridges and Men,
p. 151; Sandburg,
Abraham Lincoln,
pp. 124—125.

“I have heard men like Humphreys”: WAR, private memorandum, written sometime in 1914. RUL.

“It is whispered among the knowing ones”: New York
Star,
December 17, 1879.

Edge Moor Iron official writes directly to EWR: W. H. Francis to WAR, October 28, 1879. The letter is contained in the scrapbook kept by EWR from May 1878 to October 1882. RPI.

Secretary of State Evarts retained as council:
Eagle,
January 16, 1879.

Decision of Supreme Court of New York:
Ibid.

Decision of Court of Appeals:
Eagle,
March 25, 1879.

Miller suit: New York
Herald
and
Eagle,
February 28, 1879;
Eagle,
March 7; New York
Herald
and
Eagle,
March 31;
Eagle,
March 23, 1879;
Testimony in the Miller Suit to Remove the East River Bridge.

Slocum charges that the engineers are taking bribes:
Union and Argus,
May 3, 1879; New York
World
and New York
Sun,
May 4, 1879.

“And I want to say right here”:
Eagle,
May 6, 1879.

Davidson and Ferdinand Roebling testify: New York
Sun,
New York
Star,
New York
World,
May 7, 1879;
Union and Argus
and
Eagle,
May 8, 1879.

“I hope I have heard for the last time”: WAR to Slocum, May 6, 1879. RPI.

Engineers exonerated:
Eagle,
New York
Sun,
New York
Herald,
May 28, 1879.

Kinsella declines to serve again, new faces on the board:
Eagle
and
Union and Argus,
June 9, 1879.

Steinmetz attacks Kingsley:
Eagle,
June 10, 1879.

Murphy appears to be out:
Ibid.

Murphy in again:
Eagle,
June 25, 1879.

Tay Bridge disaster: Gies,
Bridges and Men,
pp. 134—146.

“W
ILL THE
T
AY
D
ISASTER
B
E
R
EPEATED”
: New York
Herald,
January 11, 1880.

De Lesseps illustration: EWR’s scrapbook for May 1878 to October 1882, RPI; the illustration is from New York
Daily Graphic,
February 28, 1880.

Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper’s
view of cable work: November 15, 1879.

J. Lloyd Haigh at Sing Sing: Unidentified clipping in EWR’s scrapbook. RPI.

Kingsley-Steinmetz scene: The incident was widely reported and the dialogue differs somewhat from one account to another. This version is a composite from what appeared in the
Eagle,
the New York
Star,
the
Sun,
the
Herald
and the
Tribune
on October 12, 1880, all of which were carefully entered in EWR’s scrapbook.

RPI alumni dinner:
Eagle,
February 19, 1881;
Engineering News,
February 26, 1881.

“The men who have come from the Institute”:
Engineering News,
February 26, 1881.

Rossiter Raymond at the RPI dinner for 1882
(fn.):
Unidentified clippings. RPI.

There is no known description of the view from WAR’s window written at the time. This one has been derived from contemporary photographs of New York taken from the Brooklyn side of the river.

EWR leads the first walk over the bridge: New York
Star, Eagle,
and the
Union and Argus,
December 13, 1881.

22 The Man in the Window

“The best way to secure rapid and effective work”: New York
Star,
August 23, 1882.

Trustees’ meeting of December 12, 1881:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, 1867-1884,
pp. 461-462; also New York
Star,
Brooklyn
Union and Argus,
and the
Eagle,
for December 13, 1881.

Stranahan’s customary method:
Eagle,
December 13, 1881.

Total expenditures January 1, 1882; also HCM’s estimate:
Eagle,
January 10, 1882.

Meeting of the trustees, October 13, 1881:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 457-458.

“When I consented to make this change”: WAR to HCM, January 9, 1882, p. 11. LER.

Cables could uproot the anchorages:
Ibid.,
p. 12.

Seth Low at his first trustees’ meeting:
Eagle,
January 10, 1882.

“the first scholar in college”:
Dictionary of American Biography.

Low’s campaign for mayor: Syrett,
The City of Brooklyn, 1865-1898.

Meeting of the trustees, June 12, 1882:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
p. 468.

Robert Roosevelt’s letter to Mayor Grace: New York
Herald,
June 14, 1882.

HCM talks to the press: New York
Sun,
June 16, 1882.

“His plans and diagrams are all about him”:
Ibid.

Sellers of Edge Moor ridiculed:
Eagle,
New York
Sun,
New York
Herald,
June 27, 1882.

Meeting of the trustees, June 26, 1882:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 469-470.

Slocum’s remarks:
Eagle,
New York
Sun,
June 27, 1882.

“unsubstantial fabric of a dream”: Quoted in Syrett,
The City of Brooklyn,
p. 153.

The best roundup of rumors concerning the health and mental decline of WAR: New York
Sun,
July 31, 1882.

WAR’s letter of explanation:
New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings,
pp. 473—474.

WAR claims he is powerless to push Sellers: WAR to HCM, July 19, 1882, RPI; also New York
Sun,
August 17, 1882.

“Newport has never looked more attractive”:
Eagle,
July 3, 1882.

WAR’s “cottage” at Newport: The house still stands; it is now a Catholic convalescent home and is located, ironically, beside the Newport end of the gigantic new suspension bridge over Narragansett Bay.

WAR will not “dance attendance on the Trustees”: Draft of a long letter to Comptroller Campbell, undated. RPI. It is not known whether the letter was sent.

WAR will not be “dragged into the board and put on exhibition”: Draft of a letter to the New York
Sun,
probably written in July 1882; probably never sent. RPI.

“no less than one hundred and twenty politicians”:
Ibid.

“This is the same General Slocum”:
Ibid.

Kingsley overpaid by $175,000:
Ibid.

“I have always had bitter enemies in the Board”: Draft of letter, WAR to Comptroller Campbell, undated. RPI.

“I have over and over again been interviewed”:
Ibid.

Low reported to be out of town briefly: New York
Herald,
August 3, 1882.

“Mr. Roebling, I am going to remove you because it pleases me”: WAR, undated notes, written sometime in late August 1882. RPI.

Death of G. K. Warren and decision of the military court: Taylor,
Gouverneur Kemble Warren.

“Please make it convenient to be present”:
Eagle,
August 17, 1882.

Trustees’ meeting of August 22:
Eagle,
New York
Sun,
New York
Star,
New York
Evening Post,
New York
World,
New York
Herald,
New York
Tribune,
August 23, 1882.