The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1878-07-25
. Considering further the

n BunStrokes who may escape dea0h,
will yet permanently lose their
A health and faculties, it rs evident
4 that the sun at St Louis has caused
q mortality as great as the worst
1 epidemics that have visited this
country; in fine, the deaths from
heat in st. Louis, which boosted,
I,only a few days Since, of being the
Ihpalthiest city in the Union, make
that city equal to New Orleans IN
the worst days Of orr great yellow
fever epidemic OF 1858.
The st. Louis ''sun epiilemic"
began last Friduy. The thermom-
eter then averaged IS degrees.
The result wac some fifty sun
strokes and thirteen Deaths; CD
Saturday the sunstroszes increased
considerably IN number with four
teen deaths. Sunday made an
even worse showing; the thermom-
eter ranged on that bay from 80
to 105, and at one time reached
the unprecedented figure of III In
the shade. Fortunately 1T was
day of rest, or the loss of fife would
inevitably have been far greater
than it was. The effect ii the
weather wasshown in the churches,
which were very nearly deserted
during the morning, the maj ority
of the people staying INSIDE theIr
houses to avoid the sun; with great
good sense, most OF the preachers
postponed evening service, Thereby
saving many lives. Northumberland
iug these precautions, notwrth-
standing the tact that most Of the
people staid indoors, the deaths
from sunstroke still showed an in
crease, and the Sunday Repubfi-
cans list of sunstrokes contained
the names of no less than l50 pei
sons and 50 deaths.
A large number OF these died 10
their beds from heat, without any
.previous admonitious Of illness.
On Sunday morning, for instience, "
no less THAI SIX persons, Henmalrn
Loeuig, VIM. Hodtson, Richard
Mccormick, Ed. Pine, Fraaz Die .
der aud Leopold NllsdmapD, were
found dead In their beds. All of
them had retired the previous night
complaining of the heat, it is true,
but otherwise apparently IN gpod
health; they werefound next morn
lug dead In their beds, aud an ex-
animation by the coroner showed
that the heat alone had caused
their deaths. Numerous other
persons we've FRUSTRATED III their
own houses, ,persons who had been
art no time exposed to the rays OF
the sun, while several cases IRE re-
ported of children dying from the
effects of the weather In the very
arms of their mothers. Nor did
these victims leave this world east
| ly and unoonseiously; their suffer
ings aud agony are described as
extreme, the ma oriby Of them ;ely-
ing 10 Terrible commissions.
The loss of horses Oh all three
days was quite heavy, and several
negroes fell victims of the heat-a
circumstance that created consid-
erabse surprise among the St.
Louisans, who seemed to think
that the negro ought to be safe
from sunstroke.
Such was the terrible story of a
hot Sunday liz st. Louis; elsewhere,
the loss of life from the heat was
neatly as great. East st. Louis
was reported even hotter than st.
Louis, and a number of fatal sun
strokes were cllronieled there. st
Joe reported fourteen sunstnokes,
Cincinnati nine fatal cases, Quincy
five, Little Rock three, Omaha
three, and Dubuque, Chicago, But
Ilington aud other Western cities a
heavy mortality from the effect of
the weather.
The heat, with its fatal results,
seems to have created an actual
panic 10 st. Louis, as that city, the
Largest iu the Mississippi Valley,
actually proposed to suspend bust
ness OF all kinds until the temper
,ature cooled off a little.
4 Such was last Sunday in the
West. lit was not, however, the
hottest day, as the Monday that