Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-07-08
SIZZLED HUMANITY.
OLD SOL UNLOADS A BIG LOT OF HEAT ON
MOTHER EARTH,
Sending the Mercury to the Highest
Point Of the Ysar---Ninety-hys
Reported at Various Points
About Town.

About Town.
Old Sol was unusually kind to we poor
mortals during the. fist half Of the present
summer. The months Of May and June,
during which, in years gone by, We were
wont to be treated to periods of intense
heat, were this year remarkably pleasant
and agreeable-the days being temperate
and ENJOYABLE, while the nights were cool
and once or twice even frosty-and as week
after week went by without the advent OF
that torrid, e~nneryating and particularly
atrocious heat for which Wheeling, hem
med in as she is by an amphitheatre OF
bare and brown hills which reflect the
suns rays directly into the closely built-up
streets, is somewhat notorious, people be-
gan to predict that this year would pass
without any lOn~g-cOntinued or unusual sea-
son of high thermometer, and that we
could in the distant and tOrrid future look
hack 10 the summer of 1886 as a year when
a mans undergarments stuck not to him,
and the pe~rspiratiOn did not stand out
upon ones eountenanee like the moisture
on the inner surface Of n fernery glass.
Within the past few days, however, the
mercury, under the favorable conditions OF
a bright sun and a clear sky, has showed q
decided disposition to mount to heights
not previously scaled for q twelye-mOnth,
and humanity began to fear the worst.
Yesterday the worst came-at least we
hone there are no warmer days in store
for MS this side of the grave
and with the early appearance OF the
ambitious metal on the high side OF the 80
mark. our citizens began to steam and
smoke and sizzle and drink beer and per-
spire and swear. This was about 10 a. m.
At noon matters had become much worse.
The thermometer at Schnepfs was ut W,
and along the wharf and at one or two
points on the South Side 940 and 80 were
reported. At 3 p. m. the climax was
reached. Schnepf reported 940, several 9th
er druggists made affidavit to so and 90,
and Dick Bird wiped his feyered brow and
insisted il was 1902 ever and rising.
Everybody eOmpelledto be on the streets,
from street ear horses to reporters, suffered
terribly, and it is q wonder that no serious
prostratiOns from heat occurred.
At = o'clock, when the REGISTER news
gatherers sailed forth, the city was almost
as quiet as a Sunday in the country. Not
even a breath of air was stirring, and the
cobbled payements and heated houSe-walls
combined to make each street n fiery pass
rs uninviting to the tourist rs Vas that
thoroughfare through which Satan sped
from Pandemonium to the gates where
Cerberus was on guard.
Down at the Custom House Commission
er Forbes was found tanning himself with
an ancient palm Leaf. He said it was hot.
Below in the pOstOffiee the clerks and car
riers droned about in a liStleSs sort OF way,
seemingly without any ambition to accom-
plish their allotted tasks.
The reporter went around to the City
Hall, where he met Lieutenant Junkins IN
the south corridor. Bob said there was
nothing going on, and famed himself with
his summer hat in o languid manner. In
side, Clerk Bowers and Receiver Dunaway
had hung up a good part Of their raiment
to dry, and were sitting about with q weary
air. Dunaway said it was hot; Bowers
yawned, and said nothing. Over in the
gas office, Assistant Secretary Picket was
catching flies, and his superior officer was
nOdding over a book of accounts, while
Trustee Seeley, looking as fresh and COM
Portable rs thOught the mercury wasat6O, was
smiling kindly at the multitude rs 1t
drifted in to pay gas bills, and passed out
across the hall to the ice-water key.
Up the corridor the Collectors restlessly
paced up and down in their offices, while,
MP stairs, Clerk Barney Galligan slept the
sleepOf the Just with his head under a copy
of the NewYork Herald, lulled into dream
land by the buzz which came from the
Supreme Court room.
Around the Court House things were in
about the same drOwSy state. Clerk Wal
ton smoked his fragrant twelve for a nickle
cigars. and insisted that it was a pleasant
day, the Major sleepily read aloud
from a pleasant legal love story of
1000 manuscript pages, while across the
corridor Clerk Hook YEARLY explained to
q frail looking youth that a marriage Ii
eense cost a dollar, cash money.
At the Mcclure the erStwhile lively rO-
tunda was dead, the billiard room was de-
serted, and the only audible sound was the
rattle of the dice box from the bar as ONE
thirsty soul tried to stick the mixiOlOgist
iF q lemonade.
On the streets little business was trans
acted, and those who were compelled 10 be
abroad vent around with q fan In one hand
and a handkerchief in the other, stopping
ever and anon to consult some exposed
thermometer, and then turn and seek the
nearest saloon with q weary air. At 10
O'Clock last night the mercury had fallen
no lower than So, and as the scribe ut mid
night indites these lines he mentally con-
doles with the thousands who are vainly
e~ndeavoring to sleep In sitting bed rooms,
and pitieS the sick who toss their feyered
forms from side to side in their efforts TO
find relief from the all-peryading heat.
Truly, it was a bad day, and from APP
pearanceS at this writing, tO-day's temper
allure will be 4 close duplicate.
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