The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-07-30
IN THE SUGAR REFINERIES.
HUNDREDS OF WURKMEN shID TO
BAvE BEEN PROSTRAThD.

Ss%' "VcAHASEDs
They Worked In = Tcmrers ure v.ryius
from s1Se to 1ASs Fahrenheit-Tweiv
Denths eported-The Men were Nun-
sered and Their Names Cannot be Given.
The excessive heat since Monday has been
especially felt By the men employ ed In the
WilliamsburSh sugar reflneries. IL is said
that several hundred Of them have been
Frustrated. Twelve are reported to have died
and many others are said to be In precarious
condition.
Inc Havomeyer sugar refinery extends from
south Second street to South Fifth street and
from Kent avenue to the East River. There
are between LOO and 1900 men employed
there IN the day and night shifts. Tho build
ings OF the Brooklyn Sugar Eeflnng Company
front Kent avenue from South First street to
South Second street. and between 25O and $50
men are employed. The men work in heat
which ranges from 1l5o to 1852 Fahrenheit.
Each refinery has n saloon in tho cellar. from
which beer Ia supplied to the men. The men
are mostly Germans. Poles. and Hungarians.
and nre designated by numbers. They live In
the populous lower portion OF the Thirteenth
| and Fourteenth wards.
The p'ostration began on Sunday night,
when two mon wero removed to their homes.
On Monday thirty moro wero reported to have
been over ONE by the heat. and. It is alleged.
t"ooi 'hc" uitu Ou TUESDAY nOTuiUk. hC-
cording to the statement Of policeman. be-
tween fifty and seventy mon succumbed on
Wednesday, In both reflneries. while eighty
I'VE are reported to have been Frustrated on
Thursday. BY Thursday night, It Is said
among tho sugar house employees, ten men
had died.
Between midnight on Thurs Az and 4 o'clock
yesterday morning forty mon are reported to
have been overcome in the Brooklyn refinery
and twenty five men in the Havemever build
ing. Twenty more are said to have been
added to the long list from both reflneries yes.
terday.
1t hns been said that the companies had a
regular staff of physicians who were con-
stantly on duty In the refneries to treat cases
OF prostration. This the men denied yester-
day They said that physicians were formerly
called into tho rciln"ries. but now the cases
We're nll left for ambulance surgeons. SUN
eIto p went a"ns tnS men in the rtner1es
there nave boon hundreds OF cases OF pros
=, When the PROSECUTIONS began" said one Of
the men, the ambulance surgeons were called.
but tho number Of ca os incr"u-. SO rapidly
upon 70 come. Then tho men WHO were over
i G9me ny the heat. as soon as they revived
they were left to care Tor them selves yes '''''0
trated nrs roi.s ana Innssrlans, wIo were
"ral of them have died. while there are many
others whose cond ltion is critical. 1t Is i'm
possible to get the names Of all the men as
they are only known Ivy thoir numbers. When
Il man il Frustrated there are always enough
men hang ing around the refneries ready to
take his place.
-" Every 'rning a veterinary surgeon exam
ines all the horses belonging to the sugar
work 1t is Immediately put under treatment.
The men when they sink exhausted are taken
home and that ends 1t with them. Many Of
them are una 10 to employ doctor. and 1t
goes hard with their families"
While the reporter was hearing the mans
story two mon came out Of the Havemeyer re-
ilnery carrying between them Il German who
Ind been ,pros'rated. The man was taken to
80 South Second street.
A Policeman on duty there said that on
Thursday two mon were Frustrated in the
engine rooT and lay unconscious three hours
hefore they We're removed to their homes. No
reports Of these pro ationS have bee' sent to
the police since Monday. and the dee this which
have occurred were reported directly to the
Board Of Health.
At the office Of tho Havemeyer refinery the
officials were very reticent yesterday They
said that t. their knowledge there were not as
many pr st rations by heat as some OF the en-
pioyres declared and but few deaths. Many
OF the en- they added. went homo feeling
sick. but had not been overcome by the heat.