AMERICA’S TERRIBLE HEAT

Lake County Press, Issue 974, 8 August 1901, Page 2

AMERICA’S TERRIBLE HEAT

[Per Mail Steamer at Auckland.] All the United States east of the Rocky Mountains were visited by a hot wave, which grew more and more intense from about June 24 to July 4. The suffering was pitiful, and many hundreds succumbed, besides thousands of prostrations which were not fatal. In each of the great cities there were hundreds of deaths from cholera infantum. The condition in New York was particularly painful, owing in a great measure to the crowded area. The police superintendent issued orders that men, women, and children be permitted to sleep on the grass in the public squares. Thousands availed themselves of the privilege. At three o'clock in the morning the trains and electric cars out of the city were packed with people trying to escape from the oven which the city streets had become. More than a million people thus hurried out of the city. When the change came it was in the form of severe thunderstorms, which caused many tires from lightning. The thermometer fell 15deg in two hours. The weather has been comfortable except in the middle and Western States since.