The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-01-21


the Orange by the Cold Weather.
Jacksonville Letter.
The 10th opened cold and clear, and t'ia mer-
curry went down to 2l2o, while on the morning
of the 18th it registered 1873, the lowest tempera-
ture ever recorded except in January, 1885. when
the mercury fell to ~ SO say the ancient inhabit
ants. In January 1850 the thermometer regis
tered l6o above zero, when the oranges were
frozen and all of the young orange trees were
killed. The injury to the present crop of oranges
can not as yet be estimated, but the probability
is that it will be between 81, 500 600 and So 000-
600. and it is supposed that all of the young trees
are killed. The first warning was received in
time to give the owners of the groves an oppor-
tunity SO pick their fruit, and in many cases it
was needed, but there are many people who do
not believe in Hazens predictions any more
than the people in olden times believed in Noah's
warnings, so the frost took the foolish ones by
surprise as the food did the scoffers. At Punta
Rassa the thermometer registered at twenty
seven degrees, and reports reached here of frozen
fish being washed ashore on the island. The
steamer Athlete arrived in Jacksonville on Tues
day from the Halifax river country with 649
boxes of oranges that were picked before the
frost The captain of the Athlete reports every
thing frozen in that section of the country. At
Fernandina, Pensacola, Gainesville, Sanford,
St. Augustine, Orlando, Tampa. Key West and
Cedar Keys the thermometer ranged from fif-
teen to twenty-five degrees, and slight frost is
reported in Cuba Owing to the unnaturally cold
weather all of the Jacksonville schools were sus-
pended, and it is said that some of the
boys INDUCED in a sliding match upon one of the
creeks that was frozen over. Some of the col
ored people believe that the Yankees are re-
sponsible for this weather. for they didn't have
no col weather until desc hyar foxes from de
Norf done come down hyar" Three mornings
in succession the voices of the newsboys were
not heard in their usual loud tones crying
"Mornin' pape'i Fluridi Time Ununl' but they
were congregated in numberless groups upon the
street, where, with the debris from old and new
buildings, they built fires and basked in the
light of the flames during the chilly days. The
suffering among the colored people throughout
the Southern States must have been intense, for
perforated cabins with but one fireplace are not
much protection from the biting cold. A SER
want girl insthe employ of one of the families in
this city. shouted to the ice-man, who had de-
posted some frozen fluid upon the porch on one
of the cold mornings:
''You jess go way. Nobody don't want to see
you no noah. Yo done made mischief huff wild
yer ole ice Jess look at dem friz up oranges.
I tell We 60 way from hyar."
There are numerous visitors from the North
in Florida who are disappointed over this freez-
ing weather, and the only way in which they
console themselves is by comparing the weather
here with that at the North. While there the
freeze will continue for months, here it is again
Summertime. dare not reiterate just now, what
l have always declared, that Florida is a-para-
dise for fear significant terms will be applied to
me, as they are to those whose statements are
doubted; but still believe it to be the Eden of
North America. No epdemics have been known
to prevail no cyclones or earthquakes have been
experienced, and its mortality list is the least
of any State in the Union, compared with the
number of its inhabitants