Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1911-08-29

which seventy-two proved fatal.
The principal thoroughfares were
like fields of battle. Men fell by
the score and ambulances were in
constant requisition. Dumb beasts
lay down by the wayside and pant
ed their lives away. Sleep for two
or three of the hottest nights was
we'll nigh impossible, and lin the
tenement district women and chill
dren were found dead on the roofs,
to which they had clambered in tn
hope of getting breath of cool air.
The scenes in the morgue were ap-
palling. Dozens of bodies were on
the same stone slabs, awaiting the
recognition of relatives or friends.
Here stalwart man, who had been
suddenly stricken; there comely
woman with her face turned toward
the light; yonder the official photo
grapher doing his CHASTITY, yet nee
essary, work in preserving the pict-
ures of the dead eager-eyed rela-
tives hunted among the corpses for
some missing loved one; horrible
stencil mingled with the oppressive
heat and lamentations filled the air.
Over 200 deaths were recorded in
three or four days.
The next serious visitation took
place in 1877, and about July 9 be-
gan to make it's power felt through
out the middle and southern states,
as well as New York. In Washing
ton the heat was particularly OPP
pressive. The car rails became so
expanded by the action of the sun
as to rise up in curved lines, draw
ing the bolts. In one instance the
rails burst entirely. The thermom-
eter marked 104 degrees.
The summer of 1879 will long be
remembered for it's torrid atmos-
phere.
The situation will be better UNI
derstood from the following record.
Norwich, Conn.,, June 2, 100 de-
grees Charleston, July II, 101; on
the same day st. Louis 100; Knox
vile, Tenn, July IS, 1903; Charles
ton, July IA, Ill, (sixteen deaths);
Detroit July 16, 1902; New York,
July II, 101.
In 1881 it is said the heat
throughout the United States was
the greatest on record, the Their
mometer in many places registering
105 degrees in the shade. In Eng
land the mercury ranged from 90
to 1O1 degrees, and in Paris SO de-
grees. July 81, 1881, is said to have
been the hottest day ever known
up to that time. Another torrid
wave came in August of that year,
and, with a brief intermission, con-
tinued until the middle of Septem-
Der. In Richmond the thermometer
registered los degrees, in Washing
ton 104, in Baltimore, Wilmington,
Philadelphia, Rochester and else
where, from 90 to 100; yet on Sep
TENDER snow fell in Deadwood,
South Dakota, to the depth of five
inches and at Bald Mountain the
snow was two feet deep.
The month of September of this
year was one of the hottest ever
known in the history of this country
and the commencement of the sum-
mer had been viewd with dismal
forebodings by many people for the
reason that a celebrated weather
prophet had foretold that it would
be unusually rainy, cold and wet.
AS a consequence it proved the
driest known in years. Days, weeks
and even months passed without a
drop of rain falling, and the fine.
powdery dust permeated every
where The weather prophet lost
his caste, but he persisted in an
nouncing rain, knowing that he had
only to stick to it long enough to
hit it in the course of time.