The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-08-09
COLDES7
Ieaf On Record Was That
Of 1876
h Vas The Coolest Ever
Experienced
(Danbury. Conn. News)


out the United States and Europe as
the coolest ever experienced by any
person then living. There are persons
in northern New York who have been
in the habit of keeping diaries for
years and II is from the pages of an
old diary begun in 1910 and kept un.
broken until 1910 that the following in
formation regarding this year without
= summer has been taken:
January was so mild that most per.
sons allowed their fires to go out and
There we're few cold days, but they
were very few. Most of the time the
air was warm and springlike. Febru-
ary was not cold. Some days were
colder than any in January, but the
weather was about the same. March,
from the first to the sixth. was inclined
to be windy II came In like small
lion and went out like very innocent
lamb.
April came In warm, but as the days
grew longer the air became colder and
by May there was temperature like
that OF winter, with plenty of snow and
ice. In May the young buds were
frozen dead. ice formed half an inch
thick on ponds and rivers, corn was
killed and the cornfields were planted
again and again, until It became too
late TO raise crop. BY the last Of
ally In leaf and birds and flowers are
plentiful. When the last of May ar
rived In 1918 everything had been
killeC by the cold.
= June was the coolest month of roses
ever experienced In this latitude Frost
pnd Ice were as common as buttercups
usually are. Almost every green thing
was killed; all fruit was destroyed.
Snow fell 10 inches deep in Vermont.
There was finch fall In the interior
of New York state and the same In
Massachusetts. There were only a few
moderately warm days. Everybody
looked, lOnged and waited for warm
weather, but warm weather did not
come.
Il was also dry; very little rain fell.
All summer long the wind blew stead
lily from the north In blasts. laden with
snow and ice Mothers knit socks of
double thickness for their children and
made thick mittens. Planting and shiv.
farmers who worked out their taxes on
ths country roads wore overcoats and
mittens.
On June II there was heavy fall of
sa0W. A Vermont farmer sent flock
OF sheep to pasture on June l6. The
morulng of the 18th dawned with the
thermometer below the freezing point.
About > o'clock In the morning the
owner OF the sheep started to look for
his n0ck. Before leaving home he
turned to his wife and said, jokingly: I:
Better start the neighbors soon: |:
it's the middle OF June and ] may get
lost In the snow"
An hour after he had left home a
terrible snowstorm came up. The
snow fell thick and fast and az there
was 10 much wind the feecy masses
piled In great drifts along the wind
ward side OF the fences and outbuild.
inGs. Night came and the farmer had
not been heard OF.
Hta wife became frightened and
alarmed the neighborhood. All the
aeixAb0rs Joined the searching party.
On the third day they found him. lie
was lying In hollow on the side Of a
hill with both feet frozen; he was half
covered with snow. but alive. Most Of
thu sheep were lost.
u farmer at Tewksbury, w., owned
. large field OF corn. lie built fires.
Nearly every night he and his men
seok turns In keeping up the fire and
watching that the corn did not freeze.
TIA farmer was rewarded for his tire.
ssam IaborS by having the only crop In
the veGi0n.
July came In with snow and Ice. On
July . Ice AZ thick as window glass
termed throughout New England, New
vosk ard In some parts Of the state OF
esansyivania. Indian corn. which In
ssos parts OF the East had struggled
through May and June. gave up. froxe
ano died.
M the surprise OF everybody August
proved the worst month OF all. Almost
every green thing In this country and
Enrope was blasted with frost. Snow
fell at Barnet. 80 miles from London,
England, on Aug. 30. Newspapers re-
csivsd from England stated that 1916
would be remembered by the existing
gsneration as the year In which there
was no summer. Very little corn rip
ensd In New England. There was
great privation and thousands OF per.
aoas would have Derished in This coun.