The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-08-20
HEAT WAVE OVER WEST.
NO RELIEF COMES AFTER
ELEVEN DAYS.
Dry I'm Kansas City and Distress IL
Reported Among People and Live
Stock I'm Three States.

Kansas City, Mo, Aug. 14.-Kansas.
Missouri and Oklahoma today swell
tered under the 11th day OF a hea,
wave that has paralyzed late crops,
brought water famine and been re-
sponsible for extreme suffering among
the people and the live stock of the
three States. ~
Local showers in Kansas today fail
ed to affect the general temperature
which again reached an average max
imum Of than 100 degrees. In
many p(s ,lhe mrecury climbed TO
1OS an - stations reported temper
ature er than 100.
+ 4. stained heat the present hot
81 - as broken all Kansas records
e mis- summer has been the dricst
% ne history of the State. Since the
y ought began early in May, when the
thermometer rose to 100 degrees, hot
waves have followed with such brief
cool periods intervening that the ex-
ceptiOnal heat has been almost con-
tinuOus. Later crops virtually have
been destroyed in parts of the State
Some farmers are cutting their corn
in the hopes of utilizing il for fodder,
but in some instances the blades are
so dry that it will not even make good
fodder =.
Notwithstanding the warning Of
Kansas State officials that the farm
ers should not rush their cattle to
mari ct. 10000 cattle were brought tor
( the local market today. 49,
! Stockmen on the western ranges of
Kansas find it almost impossible to
obtain feed and water for their stock
/ Creeks, wells and cisterns are dry and
the, Kansas river and other larger
streams are lower than they have been
in go years. teIt a-s-: ..s~~s ~ ~
Pastures are burned so dry that the
greatest precautions are necessary -
avert prairie fires, <, 7AaF5sssS
{ This city has been WITHOUT rain
since July 25. shortage OF water has
caused tiisx big ice faanuf facfrssssae
plants to reduce their output. This
curtailment at a time when the de-
mand is unusual has caused consider.
able suffering.
Thousands of men, , women ana
children slept in the parks, in yards
and on the sidewalks of this city to-
night. Probably 1000 persons slept
in Swamp park. .... ~
Further reports OF distress in Mis-
souri,, Kansas and oklahoma come
Rainfall in the last "a. hours has been
negligible and prospects for more in
the next "a hours are of the poorest.
Wells from which the water supply
of Lawrence, Kansas, a city OF $4,000
inha bitants was obtained were dry
today and water from the Kansas
river, now. very low, was forced into
the mains. The cisterns of Lawrence
are dry. In the corn growing dis
tricts about Wichita many fields have
been so scorched by the sun that the
binding sands have blown the blades
from the corn stalks and corn scarcely
produces even fodder. The last heavy
rain in the Wichita section was April
z. In the district about Hutchisom,
Kansas. although there has been no
good rain for weeks and the heat has
been intense. crops and live stock have
suffered little because Of the sand
strata underflOw of water. Many or
chards, market gardens and alfalfa
fields in the district are being irri-
gated from this underfiow.
st. Joseph, Mo. reported today two
deaths from heat prOstration in the
last "a hours. In the corn-raising
district about st. Joseph, farmers have
abandoned hope Of saving the grain
and are cutting the stalks for fodder.