New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-09
HEAT AND HUMIDITY.
DAY OF SUFFERING IN THE CITY.
rur,wr.r,1rR FOX COASTER SAYS THAT IT VIII. ,


Ri, COOLER TO-DAY WITH RAIN
Nobodv dared saw rs this hot enough for
vouo" Yesterday bun II one had dollar Tor
every time he heard the remark passed ms
&c certainly the mos, uncoInfortable Gay IN
wears" he could retire on his income Tor the
ros, =, his life And yet nasty and almost in
toIerable as the day was, II was very far from
bei,p q record-breaker in the matter OF heat.
Early in the morning. when the city was )Cst
beginning its days work. the prospects loi
ooord breaking heat were excellent Plenty OF
80, thermometers showed 81 degrees at y
o.c,ock in the morning bat none Of them tha'
o,,,a he trueted y~ached a higher point than VI
or % degrees all day
rrron, the po,nt of view of the local fo:ecaster
,ho dav vas not excessively hot Up IN MS
tower the Thermometer never rose apo'c 90 w
rrees TINS illustrating tine theory tha' ''e
higher the thermonete the lower It's recoiu'
The Official thermometer did its worst a'
O'Clock in the afternoon. and shorty al'ei ""'
I; got the idea that il was too far up III 'ii7
world whcreupon it slid rapidly down '"e ''Ve
ard at : o'clock in the evening 1t ma'Aeo oi''
- degrees.
Bui he official thermometer comes very la'
from measuring the discomfort OF New
day like YESTERDAY. There have been one o.
two worse DAYS than yesterday THIS suiiiAiei'
ons vas that sizzling sinoom of sunday in
July. and there have been many Gays ho' ID.
from as bad However. the entire city bowed
Itself groaning under yesterdays misery anu
again il was the humidity that wrought the evii.
NoarIv all dav there was 81 Isr cent OF this
commodity in the air, and in the evening II
had fallen ONLY to 50 PEI cent. The best part
~ the story is that when Tribune reporter
talked with the Weather Bureau last evening
he received a promise that it would be cooler TO-
dav and that the GOODNESS would be accom-
,anied bv rain The rain had already begun TO
fall early last evening. 1t was gentle shower
with an occasional distant flash of lightning,
Int II had perceptibly cooled the air at mid
night.
Two wears ago at this time the city was in
the grasp OF Of the fercest. II not the
6orcest hot wave that the memory Of the old
est inhabitant included Two years ago yes
terday there were 62 deaths in the old city Of
New York from heat. and In the second week In
August. two years ago. there were no less than
Col deaths from the same cause out of total
of 1,S1O deaths Nobody who lived in the city
through that period Of two weeks heat is likely
ever to forget It.
Horses fell In the streets by hundreds, and
were left where they fell so long that they be-
came a menace TO the health Of the community,
so overwhelmed were the authorities by the
task suddenly imposed upon them They were
days of horror for the hospitals and their sur
geons In the crowded tenement-house dlstricts
people slept in the streets and on the housetops
nv thousands The authorities flooded the
streets from the hydrants. The public baths
were open all night, and many public employees
worked only a few hours each day. Everybody
who could fed TO the country.
There comes a time when IT is too hot for
anybody to try TO do anything except devote
himself to being not. Even amusement Is not
to be thought Of Few persons think of public
amusements on such night as last night was
and those who do, look before they get through
with it as If they wished that they mad not
' thought Of H. For anuec,nent implies notion
at least the motion required 10 get the person
80 sis 10 be amused TO the place where the
amusement is going on And II neat Is d lioue
OF motion is motio1 mode or heat ana the
latter Of these two propositions is by FAR the
more obvious TO tfel eunscientinc observer.
Therefore WIZ move and create more heat. Tor
the mere sake OF being diverted from the
thought Of the heat already suffered? 1t is bet
ter 10 suffer those ills you have than labOrously
to fly TO others that you know all about -,
The roof garden manager thinks mat II IL VIII
only be as hot as il can--hot enough 10 SUIT the
soda water manufacturer ana the steaihpos.
company-it will suit him, too. The not night
comes and for little time he rejoices. Then
comes a shower. and he has to move his snow
down into a more or less close nan. Inc duui-
and some stay and wish that they had not
come al all. and resolve never TO come again;
They have all left their umbrellas at nome, ana
they all blame the manager for II. But all
kinds of weather are bad for the amusement
business. When 1t is good weather TO be OUT OF
doors everybody wants 10 stay out or doors
and when il is bad weather to be out OF doors
nobody wants to go out to get 10 Il pace Vl
amusement That IS the way the manager iOoks
at the grudge that Fate has against MN '" nat
difference does ii make whether you nave d
show downstairs and it is too hot for ANYBODY
10 come 10 IT, or whether you have one on lns
roof and the people are kept away by the coio
and the RAIN 49,,
Yesterdays heat and humidity drove tnou-
sands out OF town to the neighbOrlnS Dedches'
Many business men who had returned from the
country or the ;e3shOre after being there nve'
Sunday fled again to seek GOODNESS there Inc
hotels were supernaturally quiet. The sunny
side Of the streets looked lonesome. Altogether
n was a memorablv trying day. In a few in
stances II was fatal day. There were severai
deaths directly due to the heat and several
more prostrations from the Same cause.