Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-09
w EAT Err RECORD S
A Downtown Thermometer Has Some
thing to Say on the Subject.
fhe oMcini Instrument Too High in
the Air to Indicate the Real Tenn.
perature ON Earth.

weather bureau makes me sick" said a
long, tall red-complexioned tube, as it
reared itself back against the side of an
avenue store entrance and fixed it's neck
Tie SO as to call attention to the fact that
thefe Were 80 degrees under it's collar 'It
pretends to give the state of the atmos-
phere that Washington people breathe and
stew In, but it don't do anything of the
klno. man would have to get a balloon
TO experie nee such temperature as that gov
ernment instrument tries to palm off on a
suffering populace as official. Do YOU know
where that brazen impostor hangs itself?"
continued the rival, getting hotter and
pushing the indicator up to 81, and cycling
blood heat with ardent ambition. We'll,
Sir III ten you, cause 1 was up there my
self once.
There is structure on top of the weather
bureau for all the world like a tower made
OF Venetian blinds. It's the coolest place
In town, away up in the air, where every
breeze that blows Is bound to come and
Just where you'd give your right arm to
swing hammock and make connections
with iced drinks That's where that
weather bureau thermometer is hung and
pretends to make a fair record of our tenn
perature around here. Why it's the dead
est fake you ever saw. That instrument
would think it had fever if it came down
among people like 1 am. I'm right along
on the dead level of humanity, l am. /
don't climb up on any roof or hoist myself
! up tree in order to make folks think
It's cooler than it is by making a record
way up in the air.
But reckon you newspaper fellows ere
to blame. You scuffie along these hot
asphalt streets and cross sunny places
and stop in shady doorway to get cool
again. and never give a look at us fellows,
who could tell you what the real tempera-
ture is where the people walk and live and
breathe and swelter and make your record
IN the paper something worth regarding
But, no, Stree, you just let the office Icy
get at the telephone and call' up the
weather bureau and depend on the record
made by machine that's got a place uret-
~ near second cousin to a country Ice
mouse to feel the weather in. If you want
TO see how hot 1t is, why don't you visit
some OF US fellows down town.
Some Downtown Records.
1t was the Thermometer at James Y.
Davis Sons that was doing all this talk
Ing. 1t hung against the door side, under an
awning and a red umbrella, and at l
O'Clock it marked 81 degrees In Hagerty's
doorway, next to the corner of 18th and the
avenue, the tube marked 90 at the same
Four AT Ograms, in the shade and under
an Ice cream soda sign, the record at /
o'clock was o. The sun struck the
bulb of the big thermometer in front
VI q 1ranam avenue eStaD-
lishment, and 1t jumped to 115 while The
Star reporter was looking at it, going up
nVe degrees IN as many minutes. On F
street there were fewer thermometers. At
Mertz's " was recorded at o'clock. Inside
| Of the Boston House, near the shipping
counters and writing ROOM the thernlom-
eter marked SO. Across the street, in front
OF 5. Desio's store, where the shade
was cool and Snviting, when compared to
other places around, the mercury showed
81.
All over town the same figures ruled for
Shaded thermometers. Those looked at were
all in comparatively cool places, where
man would stop to rest and swab his moist
frontispiece. They were stationary, I'M
movable and hfeless. They didn't have to
hustle for business or indulge in mental
worry on the same account. If they had
| their capacities would have been over
taxed and their ability to record the heat
would have failed to meet the demands.
1t was one of the hottest days of the year
down town, and the suffering of working
men, animals, and especially work and car
horses, was unusually intense, while there
was no relief for the sick save vagrant
breeze that played at intervals and fresh
| ened the atmosphere.
Overcome by the Heat.
William Johnson, q colored laborer fifty
two years old, was overcome by the heat
While working on a sewer at list and B
streets southeast. He was removed to his
| home, No. Alexander court northwest, in
a precariouS condition