Evening star., 1941-07-29
Cold Air Sweeps In
From Canada, Ending
Edst's Heat Wave
High Of About IS Degrees
Expected in D. c. Today
After Yesterdays 100

Washingtonians breathed more
easily today with the thermometer
at noon registering IA degrees less
than yesterday.
The Weather Bureau reported the
temperature was 81 at 12:35 O'Clock,
compared with 96 at the same time
yesterday. A high of about IS de-
grees was predicted for today. IS de-
grees less than the seasons high of
100 degrees at 2:30 pm. yesterday,
A mass of cold air moving south
ward from Canada and bringing
relief to the tortured East reached
Washington at $40 o'clock and
dropped the thermometer from 81
to 70.
TWenty-Seven persons were treated
yesterday for prostration; a colored
man was drowned near Shady Side,
Md, seeking relief in the West River,
and another man was struck by
lightning in Bethesda, Md, scene of
a brief but violent electrical storm.
Surveying damage throughout the
Nation after 1941's worst heat wave,
the Associated Press reported the
loss of 259 lives-127 by heat pros
tration and 1872 by drowning.
In the Washington area the rush
for relief from the oppressive heat
that began in the early afternoon
with the dismissal from work of
employees of Government agencies
not equipped with air conditioning
continued through the night.
Thousands Sleep in Parks.
Park police reported thousands Of
persons sleeping in the parks. Not
until 1880 am today did the mer-
curry reach its low OF 79 degrees
This morning an 1s-mile-an-hour
breeze from the northeast helped
matters.
Coroner A. Magruder Macdonald
said this morning an investigation
of several deaths in the city, at first
thought to have resulted from heat,
disclosed other causes.
The drowning victim was Garnet
Stocks, 81, colored, Of the Sacred
Heart Home, Hyattsville. Md. Police
said he fell overheard from a small
rowboat and disappeared before
help came.
Struck by lightning while unload
White, 50, of Thornsburg, Md, was
reported in fair" condition at
Georgetown Hospital. A fellow work.
man. Alfred Badgrift, colored, of
Alexandria, was dazed by the same
bolt.
The storm which swept nearby
Maryland resulted in eight calls for
the Silver Spring volunteer fire de-
partment. Lightning set fire to an
electric motor in a laundry; tore q
hole in the roof of the home of
Francis Roache, 8400 Fenton street;
caused several minor blazes and
felled a number trees.
Torrential rain fell on College
Park, Md, for abont 80 minutes
but reduced the temperature only
briefly.
The Baltimore weather bureau re-
corded a high of l03 degrees.
Accompanied by a truck carrying
iced tea and salt tablets, 100-odd
men of the 175th Infantry's anti
tank company of Fort Meade, Md.
set out on the first leg of a 76-mile
return trek to the fort from Camp
Ritchie, Md, during the hottest
part of the day.
Maryland beaches were crowded
as were the roads leading to them
Virginia Jared little better, with
a season high of SO degrees reported
at Richmond and Langley Field. In
the north, however, Alexandria, Ar
lington and Fairfax Counties swell
tered under the same temperature
as Washington.
Iowa Has High of 106.
Nine Northern States had readings
above 100 yesterday, led by an
official high of LOG at Fort Madison
Iowa.
Minnesota led in heat deaths
with rs. Illinois had Is and New
York IA. In drownings Michigan
led with 26. Wisconsin had 13 and
Ohio and Illinois 13 each.
In Washington. employees of the
following departments were allowed
to go home early: War, Navy, Agri-
culture, Treasury, Commerce and
General Accounting ONCE, all Dis
trict employees and the Weather Bu-
reau. Workers in the new Municipal