Courtesy of Library of Congress The 1896 Northeast heat wave was responsible not only for an estimated 1,500 human deaths, but it killed several hundred horses, which were still the main mode of transportation in large cities like New York.

Of course we’re all familiar with that great July heat wave that rewrote record books, felled at random folks who dared venture out on foot during the day, claimed too many lives regardless of age or physical condition, and literally drove some of us insane, right?

Indeed, who could forget such a calamity playing out right here in Nashua, but also across hundreds of communities big and small in this part of the country?

Well, you actually don’t recall it first-hand, because if you experienced this great heat wave in person – even as a toddler – and you’re reading this today, you’re at least 112 years old.

Now yes, there are a handful of folks scattered about the globe who are still kicking at 112; actually, there are currently more than 50 who are at least 112, according to a list of “verified” cases Wiki maintains online.

Taking it a step further, as I often like to do, Kane Tanaka, a Japanese woman who, at 117 years and 7 months of age currently wears the “oldest living person in the world” crown, would have sweltered through the heat wave as a growing girl of 8 1/2 – had she lived in these parts at the time.

Courtesy of Library of Congress via NPR This Library of Congress photo shows how residents of some New York City tenements, most of them poor, tried to deal with the excessive heat during the 1896 heat wave. Mainly white-colored clothing and sheets were hung on clotheslines apparently to create as much shade as possible for the oven-like buildings.

If you’re doing the math, you know I speak of the famous heat wave of 1911, which really needs no introduction to anyone who fancies themselves an armchair meteorologist, more commonly known as a “weather geek.”

It’s in my capacity as a proudly self-proclaimed weather geek that I wonder why another crippling, deadly heat wave just 15 years earlier has seemed to take a backseat to the 1911 calamity, both in terms of the science and circumstances behind it and general interest.

Once again I tip my hat to the folks at the New England Historical Society, who included a retrospect of the 1896 heat wave in their most recent online newsletter.

Between their collection of anecdotes and those I pilfered from authoritative (I hope) online accounts of what is alternately referred to as the 1896 Eastern North America heat wave, the Great New York Heat Wave of 1896 and variations thereof, the stories of suffering, frustration, impatience, anger and even humor are many.

Starting with Nashua and its environs – “if it’s local it leads,” so they say (not to be confused with “if it bleeds, it leads”) – the Aug. 12 Nashua Daily Telegraph warned readers: “The Heat Wave: Its Deadly Work has Begun in This City.”

Courtesy of Library of Congress An artist's sketch depicts a scene in New York City's Lower East Side during the 1896 Northeast heat wave. It wasn't uncommon for tenement dwellers to climb out onto wood awnings and roofs to try and sleep.

The sun’s “baking, scorching rays have paralyzed business,” the story announced.

The writer found “some consolation” in the “fact that the beach goers have caught it as bad as the stay-at-homes,” a somewhat light-hearted shot at those folks with the means to travel to, and stay at, the beach.

What wasn’t funny, the writer continued, was that he had to report that the heat claimed the lives of two Nashuans the previous evening.

James Jones, a millworker who was overcome at work and rushed to the hospital in critical condition, succumbed within hours.

Over on East Hollis Street, a case of “fatal prostration from heat” claimed the life of a young woman named Anna Thompson, said to be a domestic (housekeeper) at Mrs. Charles Staniels’ boarding house.

Courtesy of New England Historical Society The death certificate for a 48-year-old man who died during the 1896 Northeast heat wave lists the cause of death as "the excessive heat," while "softening of the brain" was listed as a secondary cause.

The writer apparently felt compelled to note that Anna, who was around 50 years old, “was a large woman, weighing nearly 200 pounds.”

A day later, Charles Fortier, an “excellent employee … spoken of very highly” at Roby & Swart, where he worked as a yard man, shrugged off effects of illness and went to work despite his boss’s suggestion he go back home.

At noon, Fortier decided to call it quits and started walking home to Chandler Street, a distance of just under a mile. Six hours later, Fortier’s body was found along railroad tracks not far from Roby & Swart.

“He had turned very black in the face and was a terrible looking sight,” the writer noted.

At around 6 p.m. the same day, and at about the same time Fortier’s body was discovered, Nashua’s fourth heat-related adult death was reported.

Lumina Lavoie, 35, left work at the Jackson mills early because of the heat, and walked home to Salvail Court, just across the street from the mills.

Seeking relief by “bathing her feet in extremely cold water,” Lumina became sick, and lasted “but a short time.”

According to the story, it was believed that immersing her feet in the cold water “had much to do with Lumina’s death.”

Other Telegraph stories told of very busy doctors, who had their hands full with sick children, some considered “quite critically ill” with heat exhaustion, cholera infantum and cholera morbus. Some kids apparently did lose their lives, but the story played up the “good success” the doctors had “in saving lives.”

A rather whimsical headline – “Bostonians Managed to Get Along Without Their Fur Coats” – topped a story in the Aug. 10 Telegraph. It told of the previous day, a Sunday, being “one of the most uncomfortable Sundays in many years … suffering humanity could do little but perspire.”

Which reminds me: Does anyone else, when looking at photos of stifling heat waves before, say, the World War II era, wonder why the heck the vast majority of men are wearing dress-style coats, long sleeve shirts and sometimes even vests, and neckties?

I mean, fashion and proper dress is important to people then as well as now, I get it – but when your fashion sense dictates bundling up no matter how hot it is, I’m at a loss.

A brief story out of New York told of the sad death of a 15-year-old baker named Lewis Pumper, who, “driven to despair by the heat … committed suicide this morning.”

In Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, the heat actually played executioner in one of the oddest heat-related deaths.

It seems the heat “executed in advance the death of George W. Randolph,” who had been scheduled to hang on Sept. 1 for the murder of his wife.

The story doesn’t say whether an appeal was filed.

Now, if you’re a weather-watcher – if you’re not you should be – you know we have a bunch of pretty warm, and fairly hot days coming up, so plan and adjust accordingly, whether you’re a “beach goer” or a “stay-at-home.”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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