Hi Barb, and all, Well, it certainly wasn't 1896, but the earth hadn't gone around that same sizzling sun that many more times either, when we were going through much the same character-building NYC Summers as you describe. Oh, we had electricity and running water, but Mr. Carrier had still to come up with the miracle of AC, so it was the fire escapes and Tar Beach for the majority of us, and fire hydrants and city pools. Two bits would get you all-day admission to Thomas Jefferson pool at 116th St. near the East River, and on the way home a dime is all it took to buy one of the greatest treats on the planet: a huge, salted, doughy pretzel that you chewed slowly, slowly, slowly to get every delicious ounce of flavor possible down your gullet. (Wish I had one now.) Jack Langton -----Original Message----- From: mizscarlettny via <[email protected]> To: NY-IRISH <[email protected]>; NYNEWYOR <[email protected]>; nybrooklyn <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Jul 21, 2015 3:55 pm Subject: [NY-IRISH] THe HEAT WAVE of 1896 Whether your friends are emailing from north, east south or west... everyone's writhing in the high temps these salty days. Just imagine surviving these temps in August 1896 in a NYC tenement? Small rooms cramped with a half dozen or more others, sleeping on roofs or fire escapes, no electricity or air, wool clothing...no running water...yikes! http://www.tenement.org/blog/summer-blaze/?utm_source=The+Tenement+Museum+Newsletter+List&utm_campaign=952e25a4c3-Weekly_Update_7_21_157_15_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_42667ed4e8-952e25a4c3-225141861 City sanitation workers would flood the streets to keep the dusty pavements at bay. Over five hundred horses died during the heat wave of 1896...imagine disposing of them and that stench...Some 1500 people perished from heat stroke in NYC. Some days, you just feel lucky! Barb