Evening star., 1896-08-07
HOLDING OUT HOPE
Cooling Showers May Give Tempo
rary Relief Tonight.
WASHINGTON AND THE bot WAVE
Nothing Permanently Pleasant Dis.
cernibIe at Present.
MAJOR DUNWOODY'S VIEWS

With wilted collar and crumpled cuffs
Forecaster Dunwoody sat in his office at
the weather bureau this morning and
swept scientific eye over the map that
showed the meteorological conditions Of a
sitting and stewing country. Star re-
porter stood opposite to him and anxiously
awaited the dictum which was to mean
solace or protracted swearing to a quar-
ter of a million oppressed people. There
was a dark angry-looking splotch on the
map, extending from the lower point of
Lake Michigan down across the upper half
of Pennsylvania and New York and en-
veloping New England and the eastern
Canadian provinces in it's frown.
THAT is a bank of showers" said Major
Dunwoody, calmly. 1T seems to be NOV
ing down in this direction, and last night.
If you observed the western sky, you saw
a line of black clouds fringing the horizon.
Those clouds were probably the advance
guards of the showers. They will proba-
bly, reach here this afternoon or tonight
and give temporary relief, at least from
the oppress.veness we have been suffer-
ing"
But" he continued, lingering his collar
tutton as though he were almost willing
to lose it and let its linen prisoner free.
there is no permanent relief from the
heat in sight. There is not cold wave
anywhere in the country, and the cond-
tcns do bot promise anything of the sort.
The Crest of the Wave Passed.
Il think, however that Washington has
reached the crest of the hot wave and will
slowly sink into the cooler trough. Hot
waves rise slowly. They seem to push
themselves UP by steady persistence. Some
times they drop suddenly; then, like at
Present, they recede slowly as they
came. What Is the hottest temperature
recorded at the weather bureau mere? One
NJ ndred and four degrees, on September Z,
1881.
Il have always doubted the accuracy of
the instruments that recorded 1t, however
We were in the old building then on G
street. The hottest August DAY on record
here was the 5th of the month in 1852; 100
degrees was recorded tten."
Such recital seemed to make the air a
little more bearable simply by comparison,
but the thousands who didn't know any
thing about 1t famed and fumed and emit
ted perspiration and profanity as IL August
Z, 1896. was the hottest day ever felt, here
CT elsewhere.
On Streets and in Slums.
On the streets, which were almost de-
serted. the thermometers showed signs of
weather as torrid yesterday and the
strong breezes that blew from the south
Ward. while aiding the evaporation from
human forms, moist we'll as divine
caught up the reflected heat from conc rete
and granolithic and drove it into pedestri-
ans faces like blasts from the open doors
of furnace.
Those who were compelled to be out
doors buffeting the breakers OF business
were therefore greatly to be pitied. but
their sufferings We're tame compared to
those experienced of that great army
which lives on the neither side of the city,
swallowed in the Slums and plunged in
poverty. Down in the alleys and up in the
tenenents women went about their hard
domestic duties faint to the point OF pros
tration, and babies and children painted
for breath like animals. To these poor
plodders ice was an almost unknown lux
ury, and thin clothing dream of widest
avarice, SO they sought the nearest pumps
and wore as few rags as the law would
allow. 1t was among these miserable crea-
lures that the heat was felt in it's most
mercilesS character and when they crept
out into parks end reservations and sought
surcease beneath the shade of the trees
even the policemen failed to disturb them
Northern Lights Last Night.
The night that preceded this blighting
daylight gave little sleep to the under
world, and upper creation semed restless
too From o'clock to midnight and after
ern lights" as the aurora borealis is popu-
larly termed. Shafts of white and luminous
fluid shot up several degrees from the ho-
rizon and foated Slowly to the west, as
though truants from the milky way that
traversed the heavens from north northeast
to the southwest. There was no connection
between the intense heat and the aurora
however. according to scientific men, be-
cause the northern lights are believed to
be far beyond the limits reached by the
clouds. But many persons who saw the IL
Elimination in the north attributed 1t to
the prevailing solstice while the more su-
perstltious devoutly expected, as usual
that the world was coming to an end, and
as usual, were pleasantly disappointed
No Drop fn the Thermometer Today.
The weather bureau bulletin today an
nounced that the weather would be gen.
orally fair during the day, with probably
showers II. the evening or at night, and
slightly cooler temperature tomorrow morn
ing. The official thermometer showed no
indications of letting up in its ambition to
rise. At 1870 yesterday a maximum of on
degrees had been recorded. At the same
hour today the mournful tale told by the
mercury was precisely the same.
Deaths In New York.
NEW YORK, August There is no per-
cept,ble diminution OF the heat and hu-
midity that has prevailed here all the
week. By Q am. the police had reports Of
the death Of two of those who were pros
trated yesterday. One was Patrick Lonan
longshcreanan. and the other. VIM. Nee
han, laborer. At 1890 am. the tenn
perature was S6. with the promise of yes
terday's record of 81 degrees being eclipsed
before the day Is done.
WATSON NOT INVITED.
Has Not Been Requested to Attend
the Rryan NnffRcn finn Moot1u~