Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-09
FIENDS ARE ABROAD
In Friendly Guise They Spread
Agony on All Sides.
ARMED With HOT WEATHER RECORDS
Add to Horrors of Present Heat
by Bringing Up Past.
o r ELIEF ROMISED

| Ugh. Ughr exclaimed the walrus side
padding to the SEAL
| This is the coolest weather that ever
did feel.'
| Right cold" his sealship answered, his
ripper at his nose.
| With ruminative gesture. Right cold,'' as
weather goes,
But it don't hold an icedoe to that cold
Of '46,
When to its bottom depths the ocean froze
as hard as bricks,
wildly remember" But the walrus
gave a groan
| And sank forever out of sight to leave the
seal alone.
No human being would ever take such
precipitate means of relieving himself from
hearing weather "reminiscences as did the
walrus; but a good many of them feel much
like doing something desperate in Washing
ton Just now. The man with the record Is
at large. He Is the grand high official of
the order which has the is-it-hot-enough-
for-you idiots In Its initial lodge. He is the
penultimate, SO to speak, of the mental
painmakers
Methods of the Maniac Maker.
Just now, when the weather Is warm
enough to be let severely alone. both in a
comparative and every other sense. the rec
ord man has broken loose. He has been
porting over old newspaper files and discov
| ering the highest points reached by the
mercury in years long past and forgotten.
and he has carefully copied them all on
stir-back slip. which he has placed in his
inside pocket. He wears coat, Of course.
and Is against that reform just as he Is
draws that slip forth whenever he per-
CeiveS victim.
The razor at the ashmen's picnic Is
scarcely more horrible in its effects than
10 he ny~l rrytal a.,
The Attack.
He draws 1t with a glee that Is almost
demoniacal every time he sees an acquaint-
ance showing evidences of heat suffering
and thus assails his victim:
Feel hot. hey? Think it's sultry, do
yer? Why. this is nosegay compared to
and dumpty-dump. Why, man. the Their
mometer that day went up to hunnerd
an four in the shade. An here's an
Other
the dead past comparisons that would
even make a craven image cherish homi-
cidal tendencies. Maybe IL these fendS
keep up their merciless pastime some peo-
pie less solid than a statue will exert such
tendencies sure enough. and any sensible
jury in the District would say: "Self-de-
fenSe.'
Only Hope is in Local Rains.
Even those who escaped the onsaughts
of the record f1end suffered the intense
oastigation of the heat. for it was a case Of
weather whipping humanity without ques-
ton. 1t is serious to contemplate that no
relief from the fogging is looked for ex-
cept In the remote contingency of local
rains.
The breeze today was stronger. but in
no other regard was there improvement
over yesterday. The slight haze that over
hung the heavens only seemed. indeed. to
accentuate the heat. Aft1eck's standard
thermometer kindly dropped another half
degree compared with yesterday at the
same hour. registering % at 2 o'clock. At 8
1t marked S9ia and at noon 81.
The weather bureau instrument was 81
at noon and 93 at 2 o'clock. The humidity
was Al.
Heat Kills Contractor Humphrey.
One death from the heat occurred yester-
day. the victim being Arthur G. Pun
phrey. a contractor. seventy-one years old,
who resided at 535 7th street southeast
He was overcome shortly after l O'Clock
at building under course Of construction
by him on G street between 7th and Sth
streets southeast He had gone home to
his luncheon and appeared then to be In
his usual health. although he remarked
upon the intensity Of the heat.
Returning after the meal. he sat down on
a bench and was talking with an employe
when he suddenly gasped heavily and fell
over into his companions arms. Medical
aid was unava1llng and death enSueo IN a
few minutes. His body was taken to his
late home.
Mr.. Humphrey was born near Bladens-
burg and a member OF Union Lodge
OF Odd Fellows. He had been a contract
or for years and had charge of the con-
struction of the German Orphan Asylum
beyond Anacostia. He is survived by
widow and six children. Samuel Humphrey
of Newark. N. j.. Ernest. Mrs DIR: J. r.
Walton. Maude. Nellie and Daisy. the lat
ter being a public school teacher.
Custis Bangor aged about sixty years.
day afternoon while working at Bali Q
street. He was treated at Georgetown Uni
yerSity HOSPITAL.