Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-10
HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR
A Record Of 96 Degrees Marked at the
Weather Bureau.
No Relief IL In Sight-High Tempera-
thre IL Again Indicated
for Tomorrow.

A Dig, reQ-1aced man STOOD at the Pala1s
Royal corner at o'clock today squeezing
the moisture out of a huge cambria hand
kerchfef and looking over at the rapidly
disintegrating crowd that had been attract
ed by the alarm of fire sounded for an in
cipient blaze which had started in pile OF
rubbish in the cellar of house on G street
west of 18th.
They'll say twas spontan'us combus
chun.' he said with scornful sniff. "bu
tibet fire didn't catch all by itself, an
know 1t. I know what done it." he con
tinued. adding new dampness to the cam
brio WIPE. "The sun shined in through &
crack into that cellar and just natural!
set the old stuff down ther a burnin'.
It's doggone funny to. me-" he went on
'that there amt fire in every block, OF
where there's shingied roofs, anyhow
That sun up there's not enough to- con-
fagrate anything 'that'll combust"
Extravagant as that might seem. there
were countless hundreds of conservative
minded people who held very similar ideas
And there was plenty of excuse for them
because the day was the hottest in the
calendar of the year 1897.
The suns rays were simply awful. They
cleft an atmosphere that was clear, thir
and dry, and they fell upon an already
overheated earth, that gave back the
caloric with mirror-like fidelity.
Nature animate and nature inanimate
suffered alike. The days effect on the
leaves and grasses, already beginning tc
wither from the heat of the past few days
was plainly apparent. The leaves curled
up and rustled in the light breeze, that was
like furnace heat from an open register
and the grass shrunk and shriveled. Mer
sweltered, suffered and swore. Even sum.
mer girls looked wan. and horses were kept
at slow gait, and didn't even relish that
No Cool Nights Possible.
There is little hope for any cooling off
at night here, either" continued Chief
Williams During the first days of the
present SPELL the earth managed to get rid
of its heat early in the evening and the
nights were beara5le. Now the earth Is
overheated and cannot get rid of It's sur
plus"
1t is a very fortunate thing that there
is SO little humidity in the atmosphere If
this condition was largely present the heat
would be dangerous. Many thermometers
down town on business streets registered
9S. 30 and 100 in the shade, and the streets
We're pretty well depopulated during the
early afternoon.
The Weather Bureau Thermometer.
A few minutes after o'clock this after
noon Star reporter. in company with
Chief Williams Of the forecast division of
the weather bureau, stood in front of the
little instrument in the forecast room,
WHICH RECORDS the record made by the mer-
curial thermometer on the roof The indi-
Gator. which had trembled at 95 degrees,
made quick jump to the 96th line. then
fell back to o. and slowly started to rise
again. This Indicator" said Mr. Williams,
sometimes INDUCES in slight errors to the
extent of fraction Of a degree
1T may be that 80 degrees has not been
absolutely reached, but it has come very
close to it. 1t is the hottest day of the
year." he continued, the fext highest so
far as recorded in 1897, being SIS on the
last day Of June. The hottest day ever re-
corded In Washington was a September
day. On the Sth of this month in the year
of 1881 the weather bureau thermometer
marked lO4 degrees.
No Relief in Sight.
There is no relief in sight so far as We
can discover" said Chief Williams, with a
very sympathetic infection as he regarded
the disconsolate expression, that was mixed
up with the perspiration on the reporter
face, "and high temperature will prevail
tomorrow. There is a cool area UP in the
northwest. but there Is no telling whethes
II VIII move this far or Lot, $50
At Bismarck. Oak. last Tue sday, the they.
mometer reached l02; yes terday 1t had fall
len to rs. There is a very hot streak. how
ever, between that GOODNESS and this sec
ton. 1t was the hottest day ever known
In northern Michigan yesterday, the Their
mometers at Alpena and Marquette mark
ing "a degrees. ;