The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-06-19
HEAT RECORD FOR SUMMER
CRACKED IN CITY; NATION
SWEPT BY Soaring WAVE
Mercury Rockets Past 100
Mark; GrazeS Record
in Chicago.
VAST AREA SC0RCHED
Far West, Midwest, South
SWeIter; Report Crops
Are PeriIed.

CHICAGO, June ia biz
card swept down today on
Churchill, a Canadian town on
the west side OF Hudson bay.
More than two inches of snow
fell. the temperature was below
freezing and a twenty-nile wind
was blowing.
Cool breeZes from that section,
the United States weather bureau
promised, will bring relief Satur-
day and Sunday rom the heat
wave which has extended over
most of the rest Of the continent.
By United Press
CHICAGO, June l9.-Virtually all
the nation sweltered today as a
sizzling sun and sultry breezes
brought temperatures ranging from
90 to 10 degrees.
Hundreds of prostrations, scores
of deaths and suffering was re-
ported from more than half of the
nations states. Accident deaths
increased as thousands Of persons
sought refuge from the heat in
motoring and at bathing beaches.
There is no prospect of general
relief until Saturday night, the
United States weather bureau said,
although scattered rains may be
expected tonight in some sections
of the midwest.
From the Atlantic seaboard to the
Rocky mountains and from Winni-
peg to Memphis, new June heat
records we're in the making. In
many sections it was the hottest
June 10 on record.
Few Miss Searching
Comfortable temperatures were
reported from only a few sections.
They included the northern Pacific
coast states and the northern sec
tons Of Montana, North Dakota
and Minnesota.
The heat wave was welcomed,
however, in the southwest wheat
states and in the corn belt. Early
wheat, which is almost ready for
harvest, was ripening fast, and farm
workers on cultivators in Iowa
fields declared they could almost
see the corn grow under the blaz-
ing sun.
Farmers in Arkansas, whose last
years work was wiped out by the
heat and drought, were worried as
the mercury climbed toward 95.
Rain was needed badly in the
farming region surrounding New
Orleans.
In Springfield, Ill, the mercury
had risen to 81 at 1890. Members
of the state legislature, toiling
through the last day of the 1881
session, removed their coats and
worked in their shirt sleeves, with
handkerchiefs around their necks to
keep starched collars from willing.
Chicago Hard Hit
Chicago was one OF the many
cities where the temperature was
near 95. The city met the emer-
gency by sending extra life guards
to bathing beaches and opening up
water hydrants to provide shower
baths for children in the slun1s.
Three persons died after being
Frustrated in Minneapolis and st.
Paul. About fifteen other deaths in
Minnesota and Wisconsin were at
tributable to the heat.
At Peoria, Ill, John j. Gaffney,
an ice handler, fell dead ten min
utes after reporting for work today.
The other deaths included many
persons who worked Thursday in
temperatures above go and collapsed
today under the renewed high tenn
peratures.
Phoenix was the hottest place in
the country Thursday with max
inun Of 104 degrees, Amarillo was
next with 100 Some other places
with maximums more than 90
were: Cairo, Ill, 90; Springfield,
Ill, So; Davenport, Ia, 90; st.
Louis, ga; Sioux City, ga; Mime
apolis, 81; Ell Paso, 60: Pueblo. So;
Memphis, 81; Kansas City, 90; Little
Rock, 90.