Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-07-08
INTENSE HEAT
Causes Suffering Along
the Atlantic Coast.
Thermometer Registers From
IS TO SO In Maine Cities.
Weather Bureau Promises Relief In
Showers and Cool Wave.

-ScN i oIh July "a SHltt.l SoulI-
erly breeze that followed the trail
of a mild summer storm today filtrat-
ed through New Yorks sun-baked
streets tonight and brought some re-
lief from the tropical spell that has
killed nearly two scores of persons,
prostrated hundreds and held the
city's population helplessly in its burn
ing folds for over a week
Twenty persons Succumbed to the
heat today, a total of 33 deaths from
that cause within the last 36 hours.
Scores were Frustrated. The ther-
mometer reached 92 degrees at noon
and the weather bureau which is To-
Gated in a down town sky scrapper
but many thermometers on the streets
found the mercury hugging the 100 de-
gree mark. Cooler weather is prom
iSed for tomorrow.
The temperature dropped to 50 de-
grees after the storm this afternoon
and though the fall was only few
degrees, the change was a welcome re
lief to hundreds who We're driven
from their rooms to the roof and pub
lie parks to sleep last night. Thou
sands sought surcease from the heat
at the beaches today.
Between 6 o'clock and midnight the
police and hospital records showed
that the heat had claimed seven more
victims At midnight the total of the
dead in the metropolitan district num-
bered II.
After suffering intensely from the
heat, George Grody, 65 years old, shot
and killed himself with a revolver at
his home on 1st avenue tonight.
In the lower East Side tonight thou
sands of people slept in the streets.
The tenement houses We're practically
unbearable. In the Italian quarter.
the sidewalks were lined with sleep
ers, some in chairs or haminocks.
swung between basement bannisterS,
while many more stretched out on
quilts on the stone walks. The fire
escapes were packed with sleepers.
So intense was the heat in factory
and shop throughout the city that a
number Of manufacturers and en-
plOyers when the heat in their shops
had gone above the 100 mark sent their
employees home for the remainder OF
the day. Thus several hundred working
men and women found brief respite.
New York, July 7.-After a breath
less, sweltering night during which
many of New York's millions tossed on
sleepless couches or lay in parks or on
fire escapes or even in the open
streets, the sun came up this morning
with promise of even greater discom-
fort and distress in store.
A. a,l1- n'n1ork nOf q breath or
air was moving and thermometers on
the street level registered 80 degrees
1t was not until two hours later that
the weather bureau thermometer
reached the 80 mark, but from that
time on the movement was more rap
i'd At 9 o'clock the weather man re-
ported 81 degrees, but in the meantime
the humidity had fallen from IS to 13
AS always, the greatest suffering
was felt in the crowded tenement dis
tricts. All through the night came calls
to the hospitals to go to the aid of un-
fortunates who had found the abnor-
NAL conditions too severe strain up
on them.
When the early morning list of vic
Tins of the heat wave was made up
today, it was found that q persons in
the greater city had died as a direct
result of weather conditions during the
last "a hours. Reported prostrations
numbered hundreds, and thousands
rot so seriously affected were treated
at their homes or by private physi-
clans.
Continued on Page Twelve)