Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-02-22
been ranging along at 100 degrees to lo2


degrees as a maximum temperature,
while at midnight the nearest approach
to comfort has been 9S degrees. The
horses to the number of thirty a day
have fallen dead in the street.
As a contrast, on the 18th of the month
the New York World spoke of the
weather in that city and at other points
in this way:
Even the Signal Service man sue
cumbed to the heat and humidity yester-
day. He lay back in his chair gasping
for breath. His collar had melted away.
His clothes hung limp about him, a
stream OF perspiration poured down his
face and his hands hung mo. .ionless by
his side.
On screen behind was written these
words:
OF all the sad words that mortal can spell,
The saddest are these: it's hotter than -
well.
Just below in big letters was written
Please do not say it's hot;
The man who said it last got shot.
And it was no wonder than even the
iron bound, rock-ribbed, cast-steel
double-plated signal-service men were
gone, for the humidity was something
awful, and like an invisible vampire
sapped the vitality of man and beast anG
made them weary of life. Everywhere
the people said so; they told it to one an
other as they hurried through the swelt-
ering streets; they talked of it in the ho
restaurants where they tried to eat anc
drink and forget their misery, and up il
the great high factories and wol lkshops
Down on the Stock Exchange the bro
kers stopped in their wild chase aftel
money and found the weather univer
sal meeting ground where bull and bea
could stand together, and the women il
the big tenement houses painted ant
wondered to each other If it would eve
be cool again.
| The thermometer at the top Of tn,
Equitable building at s o'clock in thu
morning marked n degrees. Th,
humidity then was 76, and the air-bel
thick and sticky AS the day advanced
heavy clouds hung like blankets over th'
earth. Men found the air sitting. 1t il
that between 80 and 2 80 has been ex
perienced in this city this summer. Th'
air became closer and closer, and finall,
the big drops OF a thunder shower begal
to fall. The shower lasted about al
hour, and during that time .06 of an incl
of water fell. After that the air percep
tiblv cooled, and at 8 o'clock last nigh
the official tube registered 78 degrees
The air was still full OF moisture from
the rain, for the humidity was 80.
While New Workers sweltered, how
ever, people at Moorhead, Oak, wor'
overcoats and shivered over fires. Th'
thermometer was just eight degrees abov'
freezing point. Last night Feathe
Point, on the St. Lawrence, was tn,
coolest place. the thermometer shown,
48 degrees. A hot wave seemed to b.
sweeping alongsthe Atlantic coast, for al
the indications from Maine to Florid,
were unusually high. The weathe
mems prophecy of "cooler weather soon
is too vague to bring much comfort.
But while some joked and tried t,
make light of the terrible oppressi, eness
sorrow and death were borne to other
homes on the humid atmosphere. Ann,
Fitzpatrick, go, of No. 332 East Fifty
fourth street; Daniel Shea, 4S, OF No. 81
Baxter street; Kate McGovern, 1!
months old, of No. sos West Thirty y-sixtl
stseet, and Louisa Kurtz, 8 months old
of No. 673 East One Hundred and Fifty
sixth street, died from the effect of th,
heat. The prostrations unattended will
fatal results were as follows:
Mary Flaherty, thirty-fve, of No. "a
East Sixty-frst street, overcome a
Broadway and Park place; taken t
Chambers-stIeet Hospital.
Peter Conway, twenty four, of No. %
East Thirty first street, at No. 40 Heste
street to Cham bers- street Hospital.
John Matchet, forty-fve, of No. A
West Thirty-sixth street, at Tenth ave
nue. and Twenty-second street; to Ney
York Hospital.
Hugh Tracey. sixty, OF No. II Tent
avenue, overcome at Forty-sixth stree
and Ninth avenue; to Roosevelt Hos
pital.
Mary Lally, eighteen, domestic a
the Grand Union Hotel, overcome Will
at work; to Bellevue.
Joseph Tasker, thirtyive, of No. 3
Cherry street, at No. 54 Wall street; t
Chambers street Hospital.
James Mccall, thirty, OF No. SOC Yves
Twenty-fifth street, at No. 531 Yves
Twentieth street; to New York Hospital
John Barry, twenty. eight, Of No. l
Jones street, a. Morton and West. streets
taken home.
That our climate is better than th
/ bet in Europe may be seen from tn
following table: