New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-27
A DAY OF OPPRESSIVE HEAT.
MUCH DISCOMFORT AND SUFFERING.

refreshing sleep through a hot night and found that
garng sunshine and sitting air presa ged another
day of discomfort and distress. The tempera-
ture had been lower during the night,
TO be sure. but it was not cool
enough to take the heat from the pavements and
from vast piles of stone and brick that had been
overheated the day before There was not sign
OF a breeze early in the morning and the slanting
rays of the hot sun fell upon the streets through
sick1y looking yellow haze The early ragpickers
totterod about the streets under their bur-
dens painfully than ever and even the sprightly
milkman with his Wild weird cry seemed subdued
by the abnormal state of the weather
he feared q water famine, possibly. At
a. m. Hudnut's thermometer indicated TAO,
at which point the mercury had been since IN tho
morning. 1t took long time for the weary city to
get fairly started in it's work for the day, and when
1t did succeed finally it was in half-hearted Jaded
way that was distressing to behold. There were
friction and discomfort everywhere
At 0 a. III. the mercury reached S0o and at II
o'clock it had gone up to So. Although the
record of the thermometer did not seem
alarming, everybody thought it was hotter
than on the previous day. There was less
breeze, and what air stirring seemed more IN
tensely heated; it was oppressive-suifocating' III
fact. BY noon the city had suffered great loss-of
ductors impcrtinenty if they were going to put
on a sleeping-car at Broome-st.," or If they really
expected to reach Fourteenth-st by tomorrow
morning. Drivers who had wited on the tops of
stages used highly seasoned language IN addressing
truckmen who had collapsed and blocked the street
Policemen, even, became demorazed as to lose
their tempers at slumberers on the park benches,
while loungers along the river front who had gone
comfortably to sleep in shady hooks awoke to find
the sun of noon beating Gcrcey upon their bare
heads, and an rate guardian OF the peace pokIng
them in the ribs The public baths swarmed with
bathcrs all day, and thousands OF NAKED young
stcrs filled the water about many OF piers. Ihe
horses attached to stages, trucks ana street cars
seemed to snter terribly and in most were
driven slowly. The street car horses were changed
very often and the number OF watering places along
their lines of travel were increased. Pedestrians
y hO were forced to 20 about tho blazing streets
reduced the amount OF their clothing 10 mlnl-
num- and in downtown thoroughiares especially
MANY men were seen with coat, walstcoat ana UNI
brella in one hand and a ian III the otner. Inc
benches and excursion resorts about the city claimed
their usual tens OF thousands and all the lines OF
transportation to the seaside ana the riverside were
taxed to heir utmost capacity.
Al $3.50 IN the afternoon Hudnuts Thermometer
announced 10 the swelterlng crowds that
consuIi ed it that the ar was baking at tempeIa-
tuie of go. The regular thermometer had been
fractured he day before and a small one had Deen
put in It's place. IL reported that truck had
done the work of destruction, but many people felt
sure that the instrument had been " Frustrated Dy
the heat" Others asserted that nothing but q
four-horse truck could break the thing any way,
and large numbers OF OveIheatcd tyfaTers refused
to believe tine record OF the new instrument they
knew it was hotter than 80 they looked as II
their temperature was at least 2lZO.
Central Park well nigh deserted during the
hottest part of the day, but late in the afternoon
crowds OF people, children predomnating, began to
enter at ali The gates. They made the most of the
lake. the Dany, the Terrace and the Rambie.
They gazed from the Belvidere upon the cool ex
panse of wafer in the reservoirs OF looked with dis
min. ranFx had laff In fia
evening the crow DIS increased, and every available
seat wa occupied, while the seekers Tor breath OF
fresh air sJreamed along every pathway. In the
downtown squares, too, only tue loungers who
seem indifferent alike 10 extremes oil heat and cold
were To be seen lBthe middle OF the day. As soon
al the shadows of the buildings had creDt across the
benches, however, every seat was occupied and
motley thiohg wound along the walks under the
sn1nilHerng electric lights. Battery Park was
Gro ded all day throughout ITS length ana breadth
by people oil ali sorts aud conditions VINO sOught 10
eaten some stray breeze from the bay before IL had
been siled IN the lot streets All around the sea
wall there was a picturesque fringe OF humanity.
For considerable time after O'Clock the mer-
curry remained stationary In the Thermometer, seein-
inp 10 rest from ltS arduOus laDOrs ana the heat
seemed to ccOme more intense from bong caught
and impIisoned i'll the narrow, stliilDg streets.
Among the crowded tenement houses the people
huddicd INTO their small, dark rooms or into foul
court yards to get out OF the scOrcnng rays or the
sun and they suffered i'll addition to the heat the
mIserles OF hunger ioul air and the utter lack of
many little comforts that more fortunate people
al
cnty and the fiery sun had gone down, these
wretched people swarmed out OF their hiding places
ana filled che doors and steps with suffering men
and women and the streets with yelling children.
But the nignt gave little relief III any part OIL the
town. At u O'clock the Thermometer registered ~,
and there was scarcely breath Of air stirring.
AL the Signal service station on the Equitable
Binding the maximum temperature for the day
WAS $50. At "a. m the mercury there registered
TAO, at Il a. H. 81 at p' III. o. anu at Z p m M;
$50 The barometer at 3 y. III. registered 3OO4
inches. AT the same hour the wind was blowing
from the southwest at the rate of seven miles an
hour. The dispatches from different parts OF tue
country show ed that the sky was clear
III nearly every place, and that 1T
Yuma and few oCher points III the extreme South
west. Boston has been the hottest place Ill the
country for two days Yesterday tbc maximum
Temperature there was 94o, Portland, Me-, and New
YORK being next with 80. Ih, oughOut the North
ths heat was greater thaD in the SOutn, Az Pima
delpnia The maximum was go, at Al bany 900. whlle
at Punta RaSsa, Fla, IL was only 72o. AT Shreye-
p1rt iI was $50, at Nashville SO ut Denlson, Tex,
so, at Galveston So. and At Charleston, S.C 9oI
While the temperature for the present month
promises TO reach the average Tor number OF years
Tor July the rainfall Will tail below the mean, un-
less tnere heavy rains before the lsC OF August
On five days only mas there Deeu enough ram 10
measure, the total amount being ouIy l.|o lhcnes
The July IsOtnerm OF TO-, Us land down on the Sig
nal Service maps, runs through New-l0rk,
but the mean temperature Tor the tWenty-siA uays
INST passed is abOuG 70O. On ten days thus
far the tnern0meter has registered between 9O0 and
go with a da ly range varying from - To II.
From the sth to tue l2t1 Doth oates inclusive tne
maximum temperature varied from 9O0 10 JO0, with
a daily range OF rom 10 to 24o and during the
last three DAYS the MAXIMUM temperature mas BEEN
from 90 TO 81, the daily range being from 10 to
23o On ten days the thermometer marked from
$40 to S9o, with daily range OF IRON
10 TO $40 Beginning on the 18Th
aud ending on the 2lst there was no day on which
tine maximum temperature was below 82o, and on
one OF these days 1t reached 90. The daily range
during tins period was from Ito 10 200. For i've
days the thermometer; marked from ~ TO 79O as
the maximum, the daily range varying from 80
to I9o On day tine 9TH tine range
was only 80, the Thermometer mark
ING b9j and Go as the highest and
lowest points On the 23d instant after the tenn
peraCure remained almost stationary throughout