The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-02-17

NJ hklu' TOWS NV COTI dL COllOu,
Trainin' out de melon vine.
Last Mondays weather was rec
ord breaker, the mercury in the
thermometer dropping way down be-
low the zero mark. Old inhabitants
say it was the coldest day ever eX-
perienced in Columbia.
At 3 o'clock in the morning the
following readings were taken from
thermometers on the public square
and West Seventh street: Titcomb's
drug store, II degrees below zero;
Woodbridge & Irvine's drug store, Is
degrees below; Alcorn's drug store,
10 degrees below, and James Bros
jewelry store, II degrees below. No
material change was noted in the
thermometer until O'Clock, when
the mercury began to climb slowly,
but very slowly indeed. AT Z o'clock
the thermometer at Alcorn's drug
store stood at 10 degrees below zero,
and the mercury did not succeed in
getting above zero until after 10
o'clock in the morning. During the
afternoon, however, it got as high as
II degrees above zero. Other pri-
vate thermometers in various pOr-
tions of the city registered all the
way from l3 to Is degrees below zero.
Which of these readings is correct
! the HERALD is unable to say; but no
one doubted the fact that it was
! Cold, with big &C." when they
awoke in the morning to find an
arctic breeze creeping under the bed
covering and making cold chills
chase up and down the spine, and
they were further impressed with
the fact when they came in contact
with the atmosphere outdoors.
Every body who could stayed in
doors and hugged the fire to keep
warm. The ground was in good
shape for coasting and slelghing
but few, if any, mustered courage
enough to venture out.
Everything "freezeable" froze
and the plumbers were kept busy all
during the day patching up bursted
water pipes. Grocers who failed tC
keep fire in their stores during the
night also suffered considerably.
Duck River tried to freeze over
but couldn't, as the water was up
four or five feet and running toe
swiftly. However, the water froZe
places, and large pieces of ice could
be seen floating down the river.
The oldest inhabitants of the towr
do not remember ever seeing
the thermometer so low. Sever
al years ago the mercury dropped tC
IL degrees below zero, but that was
the lowest on record until Monday
In Nashville the official registration
at the government weather bureau
was 13 degrees below zero during the
coldest part of the day. This, per
haps, was about the minimum tenn
perature for Columbia. Government
weather officials say that privat
thermometers, while accurate ii
warm weather, are more or less un
certain in winter.
While Monday was the coldes
day, Saturday and Sunday precedin
were not much better. Sunday wa
especially cold, and the mercur.
lowered near the zero mark all da,
long. The congregations at all tn
churches were very small, and ser
vices had tn be cut short.
Coal and Wood Famine.
, To make matters worse the suppl
/ of coal and wood in the city begaI
, to run short Thursday and Friday
, and for awhile fuel could hardly b
secured anywhere. The coal dealer
} finally succeeded in getting severa
car loads of the "black diamond,
however, and the situation wa
( somewhat relieved. They woul
! only sell five bushels to customer
however, in order to allow everyOn
: to get share.
: The supply of wood ran even short
: er than the supply of coal, and tn
4 dealers could get very little haule
: to town, on account of the bad cor
t dition of the roads and the sever
weather.
The coal carts and wood wagon
were kept running all day Sunda
and until late in the night, carryin
+, fuel to those whose supplies had be
come exhausted.