The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-07-18
RELIEF From HEAT.
Local Forecast is for Thun-
derstorms and Cooler
Weather.

The fourth day of the present warm
wave started in with an extremely un-
promising temperature recorded by the
official mercury at o'elock this morning.
The thermometer at tie Ne York
Weather Bureau registered So degrees at
that hour, and the little silver thread in
the glass was steadily rising higher. The
temperature at o'clock yesterday was rs
degrees, and, as yesterdays weather was
record breaking, the meteorological sharps
guessed that new record figures might be
hung up today. A tolerably low tempera-
ture of humidity, 50 at o'clock, held out
some alleviating assurances. The list of
heat prostrationS recorded during the
night included several deaths, and the list
began to be extended after sunrise, re-
ceiving additions every hour.
1t became apparent, however, within, the
hours from to 10 o'clock today that the
hot spell might have lost little of its
fervor The temperature at oclock was
So degs., a gain fonly 8 deg. in an hour
and the same temperature as at o'clock
yesterday. Only deg. more were gained
from O'clock to 10 o'clock, when the
thermometer registered IS, a temperature
less by 2 deg. than yesterday at the same
SO, considerably less than yesterdays.
The workings of the Thermometer, in
dicating break in the warm wave, were
comforting. To add to this the New
YORK local forecasted came out with the
announcement that relief was in sight.
Mr. Emery said that the fore
cast for the thirty-six hours ending
at tomorrow night was for thunder
storms this evening or tonight, followed
by lower temperatures tonight and tomor-
row, with showers tomorrow and fresh to
northwest winds.
None OF the thunderstorms included in
the forecast for last night appeared in
this vicinity, and there was real suffering
from the heat during the night all over
the city and roundabout. Nearly every
body said to everybody else this morning
that he had had little or no Sleep In
many of the crowded quarters of the city
to get sleep was hardly attempted. Hun
dreds and thousands lay down to rest on
roofs and fire escapes, and some of these
persons nearly lost their lives by falling,
as was shown by the mornings hospital
returns. The city got through the first
two days of this heated term without
showing much of it's effects, but yesterday
found the people greatly weakened and
last night and this morning found the
city fairly prostrated
For the vast bulk of the population,
which could not, for many reasons, seek
relief out of town from the torrid atmos-
phere that hung over bake streets and
buildings, even the usual comforts failed
last evening. 1t seemed as though every
one thought of car rides about town for
little cooling off. Beside the fact that
there was only fitful and warm breeze
to help out, the general impulse to try
car ride was responsible for the discomfort
of it, Every car that went up or down
town was crowded after it had gone a
short distance and the passengers wilted.
One thing last night which more than
anything else indicated the genuine dis
tress in the city was the wailing of chill
dren and babies voices. The plaintive
cries of the little sufferers from the heat
were to be heard all over town, in the
tenement quarters and other residential
districts The sounds which showed their
misery filled many of the streets through
which cars ran, their mothers having
sought to give them an airing and find
ing as did every one else, that the car
rides were failures.
The city did not look cheerful and agree
able as it went to work today. 1t looked
irritated, as though its nerves had been
pretty well rasped and as though not
much was to be expected of it in the
way of energetic effort or patience. The
most cheering appearing detachments of
the toilers were those who came from
Long Island, Staten Island or New Jersey,
for they had not had quite such an intol-
cradle night as those in the city, and they
had had few minutes of the refreshing
breeze which blew up the bay and river
this morning. But the effects of these ad-
vantages soon disappeared as the pave
ments of the city and the office buildings
warmed up under the sun. All day long
there was a noticeable tendency, judging
by the thinning out of the crowds on the
streets and by the air of Incidence which
reigned in offices and shops and stores to
put off till tomorrow-when it might be
cooler-what did not have to be done to-
day and to keep off the streets and get
home or away from town as soon as pos
sible.