Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-08-16
HOT ENOUGH THEN.
r,urs WHEN THE TEMPERATURE
ROSE WAY UP IN THE FIGURES
r,v.,. Ran Dry. lsst Cooked in The sus'
Husdrsds Fell Dead, kaiirosd
Iron Curied on the Ties.

m. remarkable exhibition OF solar en-
.,ov witnessed in various parts OF tho
United States during the present season
was not really phenomenal event IN our
meteorological history, says the Brooklyn
cO,,,n. In fact, compared with the expe-
riences of other years and other countries
the broil was not an excessive one.
II is not easy to get at the old records on
this subject. but from the few at hand it
appears that the people of the Old World
have suffered more from intense heat than
the new. For instance, in 1903 and 1894 the
Rhine, Lore, and Seine ran dry. mo
heat in several Of the French provinces
during the summer OF 1905 WAS equal 10
that Of . glass-furnace. Meat could be
prepared for the table merely by, exposing
e. ~ the sun. Not q soul dared venture
out between noon and p. NJ. In l7lS
many shops had TO close. The theatres
d,d not open their doors for three months.
Not drop OF water fell during six months.
In 1873 the thermometer rose TO lls de-
grees. In ITS the heat Of Bologna was 80
great that numbers of people were stined.
In July, 1893. the heat again became In
tolcrable. The vegetables were burned up
and fruit dried on the trees. Inc iurhi-
tuTC anu WOOu-WOIh III
cracked and split aud meat went bad In an
hour.
HOT WAVES.
In 1900 Spain was visited by swelter-
ing temperature that Is described as fear,
full. Madrid and other cities were deserted
and the streets silent. Laborers died ia
the fields and the vines were scorched anu
blasted ~ il by . simeon.
Another disastrous hot wave swept
through Europe in June, 1917. The ther;
mometer in Hyde Park, London, indicated
30 to "a degrees in the shade. In the
Champs de Mars during review soldiers
by the score fell victims to sunstroke:
and at Aldershot. England, men dropped
dead while at drill, compelling the officers
TO suspend the exercises.
Some of US recall the terrible experiences
Of 1853 in New York and elsewhere: In that
wear New Orleans was desolated by the
yelov-fever. 1t seemed as If New York
was on Gre. The thermometer ranged from
% to 81 degrees for five or six days. In
that summer was opened the crystal pal
ace ia Reservoir Square at Sixth avenue
and Forty-second street. On the day OF
the Inauguration the mercury indicatedsi
degrees. and people tainted IN the crowd
and fell dead IN the streets. During the
week 2I4 persons were killed in New YORK
of sunstroke.
LIKE YIELDS OF BATTLE.
The vear 1872 was another fearful one in
the metropolis. One hundred and nifty
five cases of sunstroke occurred July Attn,
of which seventy-two proved fatal. Inc
principal thoroughfares were like helds OF
battle. Men fell by the score, and amou-
lances were in constant requisltion. WORK
ing people staggered in sheer exhaustion,
great globules OF perspiration flowed from
their faces, and laborers along the docks
and on buildings IN the process
of erection were Obliged 10 stop work OF
pay the dread penalty. Dumb beasts lay
down by tae wayside and painted their
lives away. Sleep for two or three OF the
hottest nights was well-nigh impossible,
and in the tenement districts women and
children were found dead on the roofs, to
which they had clambered in the hope
of getting breath of cool air.
The scenes in the morgue were APP
psling; dozens of bodies on the stone
slabs under the splashing water awaiting
the recognition OF friends. Here stat
denly there a comely woman, with her
face turned toward the light; yonder the
official photographer. doing his CHASTITY
yet necessary work in preserving the pic
lures Of the dead; eager-eyed relatives
hunting among the corpses for some miss;
ing loved one; horrible stencil mingled
with the oppressive heat, and lamenta-
tons filling the air. Over 200 deaths were
recorded in three or four days.
IN sEvENTY-sIx.
The next serious visitation took place IN
1876. and about July 9th began to make It's
power felt throughout the middle and
southern States, as well az in New York.
In Washington the heat was particularly
Oppressive. General Sherman declared
that the car-rails became so expanded by
the action of the sun as to rise up IN curved
lines, drawing the bolts. In one instance
the rails burst away from the bolts and
left the track entirely. The Thermometer
marked lO4 degrees.
The summer of 1879 will long be remem-
bered for its torpid atmosphere, The
situation will be better understood from
tho following records Norwich, Conn,
June I'd, 100 degrees; New York. June 2Sth,
50 degrees; Charleston, July llth. l0l de-
grees on the Same date, st. Louis, 100 de-
grees; Knoxville, Tenn., July 18th. l03 de.
grees Charleston, July 18th. Ill degrees 16
deaths): Detroit, July 10th. l02 degrees;
New York, July 18th, 10l degrees.
In 1881 1t is said the heat throughout tho
United States was the greatest on record,
the thermometer In many places register;
ing los degrees in the shade. In England
the mercury ranged from 50 degrees to lol
degrees, and in Paris % degrees. In tropi-
cal countries the heat often rises above los
degrees, and at the Cape OF Good
Hope the Thermometer sometimes marks
1903 degrees without fatal results, but
in America, especially in the early
part Of July, before the human system has
become thoroughly adapted to the hot
season, the poisonous effect OF tempera-
lures above 90 degrees put it in jeopardy.
In London it was the hottest season known
in twenty-five years; The director Oh the
record Of such intense heat and it, inter
ference with every department OF trade.
July Fl, 1881, is said to have been the hot
test day ever known in Charleston up TO
that time.
aREATEsr ON RECORD.
Another torrid wave came in August OF
that wear and. with O brief intermission,
continued till the middle of September.
In Richmond the Thermometer registered
l05 degrees; in Washington. 104; IN Iren-
ton, lO4; in Baltimore, Wilmington, Phila-
delphia, Rochester, and elsewhere, from
in Deadwood, 8. D., to the depth Of five
inches, and at Bald mountain tho snow
was two feet Deep.
Nine years ago the months OF June and
July. 1882, were notably oppressive IN
their atmosphere. July IS, 1888. children
IN New York died from the effects OF the
heat. Car-horses fell dead in their traces;
drivers dropped from their steats on trucks
and wagons. Broadway was like . great
Transparent flame of fire.
Business WAS partially suspended, and
many workshops were closed. The crowd
ed parts Of New York on tho east and west
sides were filled with families mourning for
their dead, and undertakers went their
busy rounds as If an epidemic prevailed.
The housetops were turned into 2 vast
bedroom, and the pitiful cries of sick
children mingled with the clinking. OF
glasses in the beer:shops. Seven hundred
and seventy nine little ones died during
this period from diseases superinduced by
the heat.
The sweltering temperature Of last year
appeared to hold its longest reyel in the
central and western portions Of the coun-
try and among the larger cities. Chicago
suffered most severely.
EDUCATING THE NEGRO.