New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-04
HOTTEST IN II YEARS.
COOLER TO-DAY, THE WEATHER FORE
CASTER SAYS.

AT p. NJ THE OFFICIAL THERMOMETER STOOD
AT o. AND 1T WAS WELL PAST
100 on THE STREETS IN
MANY PLAcrs.
Ninety-nine degrees away up In the weather
tower in the Manhattan Life Building. no. los
and 1903 degrees at plenty Of spots In the streets
not exposed to the direct rays Of the sun and
above 05 degrees everywhere excepting In cold
storage -houses-that is yesterdays record Of
New Yorks thermometer. 1t was the worst
day for heat in seventeen years. No day In the
notorious hot fortnight in the summer OF ls90
equalled yesterdays record On only one day
within the memory and the records OF the
Weather Bureau has the official thermometer
reached q higher point That day was Septem-
Der Z, 1881, when the mercury just touched the
100 mark
After the comparative comfort OF Saturday
yesterdays blast from Natures oven came with
savage force upon the city and the entire east
ern part of the country. 1t came with rush.
too At o'clock yesterday morning the city
was just waking in the cool and delightful lem
perature Of II degrees. The day took the next
hour to decide whether 1t would be ugly or ac-
commodating. 1t decided in favor OF the FORMER
mood and cot to work accordingly. From to
q O'Clock the temperature jumped degrees IN
the next hour it leaped degrees higher. and
an hour before noon It had arrived at the 81
mark At noon 1t stood at % degrees ana az
/ o'clock at o5 Still the fervor OF the air IN
creased. and at o'clock the official thermometer
registered 9S degrees at which point IT haited
for two hours At o'clock it made final
effort the rays Of the sun grew horizontal ana
got up to 90 degrees. which was the worst 1t
could do.
HOTTER IN THE STREETS.
All this time things had been very much more
torrid at the level Of the streets. AT one point
on the Park Slope In Brooklyn trustworthy
thermometer registered 1OS In the shade al
though 1t was partly exposed to the refracH7h
Of the suns rays from the pavement. In Gree
lev Square another thermometer showed us
degrees in an unexposed place. and lid SUI
worse later in the day. One man said he ale
luncheon In a temperature of 1O3 degrees IN
Broadway near Thrty-sixth-st and IN plenty
Of houses the fervor boosted the mercury up
above the 100 mark
This remarkable performance on the part OF
the sun was accomplished In the face II gooo
stiff breeze which blew steadily all day long,
and travelled at some times as rapidly as twen-
ty-seven miles an hour. 1t came invariaoly IKE
blast from the stOkehole OF the hatte-shlp
Oregon
ewes like the breath Of a smelling furnace. 1t
blasted ones courage and withered ambition
1t swept the streets OF the city and left them
as II IT came from a red-hot stove. The only re-
deerning feature Of the day was the fompara-
five absence of humidity Had humidity been
present In large measure the day would have
been inconceivably intolerable instead Of merely
wholly distressing.
In the heat Of the day the streets OF the city
were as nearly deserted as they have ever been
in the daytime since New-YcTk was New York
In In Sixth-ave. in the middle OF the day num-
bers Of people took to the middle Of the street
in order TO take advantage Of what little shade
the structure Of the elevated road afforded. The
sunny sides OF the streets were waste places so
far as humanity was concerned and FOR once
III, bcyc,ist did not endanger the lives Of pedes-
TRANS by his omnipresence. OF course. there
were bicyclists. but their numbers were extreme
" few. The crowds that usually take posses
sion Of the trolley-cars that to nearby places
of resort were conspcuously absent and the
crowds at those resorts were unusually small
This was partly due to the fact that so many
people had taken advantage Of the occurrence
OF two HOLIDAYS together TO escape 10 some COM
paratively distant place. and those who re-
manned in town for the most part content
to sit in darkened rooms and absorb cooling
drinks rather than run the risk of sunstroke
The roadhouses along the Coney Island cycle
Path for example. were singulariyc deserted
and the path itself did not look like the Coney
Island path on Sunday. while there was actually
rlenty of room in the trolley-cars that ran to
the island.
The extreme heat was responsible for Two
deaths and a number of prosrations The list
would doubtless have been much larger had
the day been any other than sunday Inc
crowds that have been surrounding the bulletin
boards were almost non-eXistant yesterday
The bulletin-board tends stayed at home. and
swore that II was hotter here thar az Santiago
The "coppers" who couldn't stay at home stuck
70 the shady doorways and whstled "ThereU
be a hot time In the old town tonight" which
there
EXCURSION BOTS CROWDED.
The excursion boats all carried large crowds
reople apparently thinking that It would he
more comfortable on the water In this they
were deceived. That same caloric wind blew
everywhere. Downtown. In the office section the
streets were gigantic ovens. The bottoms were
the pavements and the asphalt the sides were
the stone buildings and the doors stood open.
In the oven humanity roasted. Up in RIVER
side Drive and the Boulevard the usual sunday
crowds were not to be seen. and even in Cen
trail Park. perhaps the coolest pace Oh the
, island few people were to be seen.
In the tenement house district or the lower
East Side the suffering was great. The thou-
sands who live there made every effort possible
TO lessen the terrors Of the day and night by
camping out the fire-escapes ana IN 'he
doorways and on the staircases. In many OF the
small marrow streets the sidewalks were so
filled with chairs after dark that 1t was impos-
eibIe for pedestrians to pass excepting in the
middle of the street.
The hrenen had busy day. and most OF
their calls were for alarms sent In by auto
M ,ic fire. alarm sysi ems Few OF those alarms