The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-10-03
Historic Hot Spells.

From Brooklyn Citizen.
In 1903 and 1904 the Rhine, Loire and
Seine ran dry.
1t seemed as if New York was on fire in
1858. The thermometer ran from 80 de-
grees to % degrees for five or six days.
During the week, PA people were killed
in that city of sunstroke.
In France, in l7lS, many shops had to
close. The theatres did not open their
doors for three months Not drop of
water fell during six months. In 1913
the thermometer rose to 11S degrees.
The heat in several of the French prov
inces during the summer of 1905 was equal
to that of glass furnace. Meat could be
prepared for the table merely by exposing
it to the sun. Not soul dare venture out
between noon and p. m.
In 1900 Spain was visited by a swelter-
ing temperature that is described as fearful
Madrid and other cities were deserted and
the streets silent Laborers died in the
fields, and the vines were scorched and
blasted as if by simeon.
The year 1872 was fearful one in New
York. One hundred and fifty-ive cases
seventy-two proved fatal. The principal
thoroughfares were like fields Of battle.
Men fell by the score, and ambulances were
in constant requisition.
In 1778 the heat of Bologna was SO
great that numbers of people were stifed.
In July, 1893, the heat again became in
tolerahle Vegetables were burned up and
fruit dried on the trees The furniture
and woodwork in dwelling houses cracked
and split, and meat went bad in an hour.
A disastrous hot wave swept through
Europe in June, 1851. The thermometer
in Hyde Park, London, indicated from 80
degrees to 81 degrees in the shade. In
the Champs des Mars, during a review,
soldiers by the score fell victims to sun
stroke, and at Aldershot, England, men
dropped dead while at drill.
In July, 1876, intense heat began to
make its power felt throughoutthe Middle
and Southern States. IN Washington the
heat was frightful. General Sherman de-
clares that the car rails became so expand
ed by the action of the sun as to rise upin
curved lines, drawing the bolts. In one
instance the rails burst away from the bolts
and left the track entirely.
The summer of 1879 will long be re-
membered for its torrid atmosphere. The
situation will be better understood from
the following record Norwich, Conn,
July ,, 100 degrees; Charleston, July IL,
101; on the same date, ST. Louis, 100;
Knoxville, Tenn, July 13, 103 Charleston,
July IA, III (sixteen deaths); Detroit,
July 16, 102; New York, July II, 101.
In 1881 it is said the heat throughout
the United States was the greatest on re-
cerd, the thermometer in many places reg
istering 105 degrees in the shade In
England the mercury ranged from 80 to
101, and in Paris 90. In London it was
the hottest season known in twenty-five
years. The director of the Paris observa-
tory declared there was no record of such
intense heat.
GSeptember, 1891, will pass into history
as almost unprecedented. In many places
all work had to be suspended, wells, cisterns
and creeks dried up. and the mercury
ranged from 900 to 112o in the shade. In
portions of the West much farm work was
done by moonlight, owing to the extreme
heat-Eps. DEMOCRATIC ADVOCATE.