The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-09
ONLY ONCE ABOVE ZERO
THE HOURLY RECORD OF THE BIT
TER COLD YESTERDAY.
Little Suffering Among
the Poor.

This mawnin'," said an old colored man.
Il seen man dat said ne b'lieved his year
wuz fross-bit. lie said he wuz a-gon' to
fin n hot stove. / sez Wait minute
honey. an femme look at 20 year /
looked at his year, an, an'-yes, sir-th
inside Of hit wuz as black as yo' hat. 1
picks up han'ful of snow an claps hit
TO his year and he'll it there. He yell like
he wuz a-goin' to die. 1 took him to a
s'loon, an he rubbed whisky his year
an got wahm
Didn't he offer you a drink
yes, sir. but 7 didn't want no whisky.
II wahms We ez long eZ hits a succilatin'
through yo' blood but it leaves We Golfer
an yo wuz b'fo. / TUX a cig-gah, an it
was so col when I went out at III en-
of tn cig-gah friz evan time l took hit
outn my mouf When / got home at noon
tn OF woman and the chilern wuz a hud-
died aroun' tn stove wifi tn bed clo'es
wrapped aroun' EN- If-if--I wish at l
wuz down in oil Mississippi"
Yesterday was the coolest day of the
winter, and those who knew that year ago
on the same day the weather was AZ maxi
mum and 81 minimum could not satisfy
themselves why lin the name of suffering
humanity it couldn't be that way this win
ter, too. The first man who climbed out of
bed yesterday morning. to call the servant
mayhap, felt that it was a cold day Pos
sibly he looked at his fire, and if he was
in the van with most people he saw a
mystic -the-wisp fame floating
dreamily out of the holes in the burner.
Presenting that this was occurring at )
o'clock. it was natural for the man to sup
pose that in a couple of hours it would
warm up a little. But the usual weather
course seemed to be changed, for the tenn
pera ture dropped steadily from degrees
below zero at O'Clock until, at $50 o'clock,
it was 3. Families sat in close commun-
ion around their stoves. and'it was notice
able that in sections of the city where the
gas had been fairly strong before ii was
weak yesterday. Some people complained
that the heaters in the street cars were
not working. At the office of the street
railroad company it was said that the heat
ers in every car were really heating, that
the inspectors had made it their business
all day to see that all the heaters were
working. The weather was so cold it was
explained, that enough air rushed into the
cars when the doors were opened TO undo
the work of the heaters. However, the
heat could not be felt at the radiators
Wood and coal merchants had an optimistic
look and their wagons were familiar sights
on the streets all day.
In one house in Morton Place the family
found that water that had leaked from the
faucet in the bath tub had frozen into a
long icicle In another. the water pipes
leading to the bathroom were frozen up.
and in still another house the family moved
into two rooms, leaving the furniture in
the rest Of the house to be preserved in
cold storage. At the workhouse the men in
the office wore their overcoats, and the
f0yieO Chi no
Insane Hospital was kept comfortably
warm. There was little complaint from the
City Hospital, though the gas pressure
normally from seven to nine ounces-was
three ounces. The weather bureaus tenn
perature scale, from o'clock the evening
before until 8 o'clock last evening, is as
follows.