St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-12
A PEOPLED SAHARA.
Deplorable Suffering in New
York From Heat Almost
Consuming.
Tenement House Infants Die
Before the Eyes Of Help
less Parents.
Buildings, Heated Through
and Through, Become
Furnaces.
Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and Connecticut Are in
the Torture.

New YORK. Aug. 11.-When the sun
went down Monday evening a whole
city full prayed-prayed earnestly to
Heaven that during the night there
might be atmospheric changes that
should afford relief on the morrow.
Only the Creator may know how many
and how fervent were these prayers for
arespite from the consuming heat. Up
through the crowded tenement region
upon the East side. where the heat is
sitting, and every Vagrant ar that Idly
WhirlS the street dust burns like a
breath from the gates of some infant
Gehenna, there are children who are
slowly perishing in hot and grimy
rooms, men and women who would sell
a fair portion of their souls for an hour
in the cool fields, a glimpse of white
clouds and shady forest ways. And so
they prayed sickening mothers and
despairing fathers. But
Their Prayers Came Back
unanswered, for, when the sun cameup
red and round from the eastern waters
10 morning, he found the conditions un-
changed. A brassy sky, rarehed and
uncOO!ed atmosphere met the day
break and the sun began this morning
practically where he left Off last night.
And so in the crowded districts all day
the death rate has grown rapidly,
and doctors are in such demand
that some of them may succumb to
OverwOrk, should this warm weather
hnger for a few more days. Small chill
dTen are the greatest sufferers, and to-
day there is white Grape upon many an
East-Side door. At o'clock this morn
ing the temperature here was 20 deg,
and at 10 o'clock it was IS deg. The
thermometer at l o'clock this afternoon
registered 90 deg. Then piled-up
thunder heads lOOmed in the sky and
the mothers cried out in piteOus thanks
giving, and all the town felt glad for
shower, a dOWnpOUr that spattered on
the hot stones like suds. soon followed.
just as soon as the shower began the
thermometer fell two degrees. The
humidity at that hour had decreased to
u per cent.
The Sun Came Out
before the first shower had ended and
then the thermometer went up a degree.
The breeze, which had been blowing all
the norm nc, increased to an eighteen
miIe-an-hour gait when the first shower
begdin, as against a six to nine-mile
breeze at 10 O'Clock, but the eighteen
mile-an-hOur breeze soon decreased.
The humidity did not recover. 1t fell
steadily all the afternoon. until at 80
there was but 80 per cent Of it in the at
mOSpheTe. With the advent of the
second shower the thermometer again
to fall, until, al 3:30, 81 degrees was reg
stored. The rain cooled off the sidewalks
and houses and fTeShened up everybody
and everything. 1t was a welcome
relief. The showers were purely local.
What the weather man SAYS about the
weather is good enough so far as it
goes, but it does not give any idea of
what humanity suffers at such a time
as this. A certain number of degrees
on top of the Equitable building does
not give any idea of the condition of af-
fairs in the streets and buildings. At
10:30 this morning, for instance, one
thermometer said it was Sc degrees. and
another that it was SO. A man could
take his choice. One side Of Broadway
was so hot this morning that it seemed
as If every building along that side Of
the thOrOughfare was
4 Big Furnace
full of live coal, and that some one had
left the door open. The heat radiated
from the pavement in tremblicg waves.
Brokers, business men and clerks with
out vests passed listiessly along the
streets, the peTSpirarion rolling off them
in streams. On the shady side of the
street there was such a crowd of pedes-
trians that but little air circulated
there. In consequence, it was sitting
on the shady side of the street. and too
hot to walk on the side where the sun
shone. With the exception of the mon
ster buildings down town. and the
CTR
ture in town was thoroughly
heated up before noon yesterday.
Over on the East side. in fact, in every
tenement house district, the brick work
has been warm for several days past.
But the heat of yesterday warmed up
every portion OF the tenements, even to
the interior woodwork. As there was
no rain or any particular amount of
GOODNESS last night, but a very small
portion of the heat got out Of the build
ingS. In not tenement house in the
city has there been a room or hall, nor
any portion of the building, that has not
been sitting hot for the past fOrty-eight
hours. Even on the roofs there was but
little relief to be obtained because of
the absence of breeze that was worth
the name. In order
To Get the Roofs Cool
to sit or stand on, it was necessary for
The male members of the different fam
lies TO throw buckets of water on them.
Even when that had been done the
roofs were warm and uncomfortable.
That meaut that but few of the dwell
eTs in the tenements got any rest last
night. Many of those who lived within
mile Of the docks went there early in
the evening aud remained until early
this morning. The mothers and women
who had remained in or about the tene-
ments through last night got away as
soon as they could this morning. As
many as could do so went on many
of the free excursions which leave the
city every morning during the summer.
Others. who could leave their homes
for short time only, went down on the
piers and remained there until the sun
got pretty high and made everything un-
comfortable even there. Each one OF the
smaller parks was full of suffering hu-
manity, and in Central park many
thousands found relief. On the busi-
ness streets, particularly along those
streets where the horse cars run, it was
pitiful TO see the sutferings of
the horses. Those attached to
the cars suffered most. In q
great ,Hdny Instances they were
barely able to drag one foot after the
other, though frequent changes were
made at short intervals. On all sides
horses gave out Even those accustomed
to the best Of care succumbed Just like
Their less fortunate brothers. Alto
gether the morning was one of missEy