>433 Blanchard compilation based on State and locality breakouts below.[1] Last edit 1-19-2024.

For upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

Summary From State Breakouts Below

District of Columbia ( >2)

Massachusetts ( 20) Boston

New Jersey ( 21)

New York (>248)

Philadelphia ( 136)

Rhode Island ( 5)

Virginia ( 1)

Breakout of Heat Deaths (primarily reported as sunstrokes) by State and locality:

Massachusetts (20)

— 20 Boston, July 2. Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Deaths from Sun-Strokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 3.

New Jersey ( 21)

— 1 Freehold, July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 1 Hoboken, July 1. NYT. “The Dog-Days. Continuance…of the Terrible Heat.” 7-2-1872, 1.

— 1 “ Jul y3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 1 Jersey City, June 30. NYT. “The Dog-Days. Continuance…of…Terrible Heat.” 7-2-1872, 1.

— 9 “ July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 1 New Brunswick, July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 1 Newark, July 2. New York Herald. “The Heated Term.” 7-3-1872, p. 5.

— 5 “ July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 1 “ July 5. NYT. “Sun-Shafts. The Heat Considerably Moderated.” 7-7-1872, p. 8.

— 1 Locality not given, July 5. NYT. “Sun-Shafts. The Heat…Moderated.” 7-7-1872, p. 8.

New York (>248)

— 1 Brooklyn, July 1. NYT. “The Dog-Days. Continuance…of…Terrible Heat.” 7-2-1872, 1.

— 3 Brooklyn, July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 5 “ July 4. New York Times. “The Hot Term. Continuation of…Heat…” 7-5-1872, 8.

— 4 “ July 5. New York Times. “Sun-Strokes.” 7-6-1872, p. 8.

— 4 “ July 6. NYT. “Sun-Shafts. The Heat Considerably Moderated.” 7-7-1872, p. 8.

— 1 East Jamaica, July 4. NYT. “The Hot Term. Continuation of the Heat…” 7-5-1872, p. 8.

— 1 Hudson, Jul, July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 1 Hunter’s Point, July 4. NYT. “The Hot Term. Continuation of the Heat…” 7-5-1872, p. 8.

–>200 NYC, June 22-July 4. New York Herald. “Out of the Heated Cycle.” 7-5-1872, p. 4.

— 12 “ July 1. NYT. “The Dog-Days. Continuance…of the Terrible Heat.” 7-2-1872, p. 1.

— 28 “ July 2. Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Deaths from Sun-Strokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 3.

— 40 “ By July 2. Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Deaths from Sun-Strokes.” 7-4-1872, 3.

— 68 “ July 2. Las Vegas Daily Optic, East Las Vegas, NM. “The Disease…” 1-11-1890, 1

— 106 “ By July 3. NY Herald. “The Deadly Heat…Terrible Consequences.” 7-4-1872, p4.

— 54 “ July 3. Burlington Daily Hawk Eye, IA. “Hot Weather. Sun Stroke.” 7-3-1872, p.1

— 53 “ July 3. New York Herald. “The Heated Term.” 7-3-1872, p. 5.

— 36 “ July 3 or 4. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.

— 24 “ July 4. New York Times. “The Hot Term. Continuation of…Heat…” 7-5-1872, p8.

— 40 NYC/Brooklyn July 5. Galveston Daily News, TX. “Deaths From Heat.” 7-6-1872, p. 2.

— 33 NYC July 5. Daily Democrat, Sedalia, MO. “The Weather…Hottest Ever…” 7-8-1872, 1.

— 24 “ July 5. New York Times. “Sun-Strokes.” 7-6-1872, p. 8.

— 9 “ July 6. New York Times. “Sun-Shafts. The Heat…Moderated.” 7-7-1872, p. 8.

–1 Samuel Nelson, 46, “Suddenly [struck] from sunstroke, on Saturday July 6…”[2]

— 2 NYC July 7. New York Times. “Deaths from the Heat.” 7-8-1872, p. 2.

— 3 Newtown, July 5. New York Times. “Sun-Strokes.” 7-6-1872, p. 8.

— 1 Spring Creek, July 4. NYT. “The Hot Term. Continuation of the Heat…” 7-5-1872, p. 8.

— 1 West Farms, July 5. New York Times. “Sun-Strokes.” 7-6-1872, p. 8.

— 2 Woodhaven, July 4. NYT. “The Hot Term. Continuation of the Heat…” 7-5-1872, p. 8.

Philadelphia ( 136)

— 136 Wells. “Meteorology and Epidemics of Philadelphia,” Amer. Journal of Med., 1873, p134

— ~3 July 3. New York Times. “The Solar Scourge.” 7-4-1872, p. 5.[3]

— ~20 July 6. Galveston Daily News, TX. “Domestic Intelligence.” 7-7-1872, p. 2.

Rhode Island ( 5)

–5 McKenna, Ray. “A Miserable time to be hot.” The Providence Journal, RI. 7-25-2019.

Virginia ( 1)

— 1 Richmond, June 30. Petersburg Index, VA. “Special Correspondence…” 7-2-1872, p. 3.

Washington DC (>2)

— >2 July 2-8. Titusville Herald, PA. “Miscellaneous.” 7-8-1872, p. 2.

District of Columbia:

July 8: “Seven or eight sudden deaths have occurred in Washington during the present week, two or more of them from the effects of the heat.” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Miscellaneous.” 7-8-1872, 2)

Massachusetts:

July 2: “Boston, July 2. — Twenty cases of death from sun-stroke were reported up to noon to-day. A number of persons affected by the heat are lying in a critical condition. At 4 p.m., to-day, the mercury had fallen from 95 degrees to 75 decrees, a fall of 20 degrees in six hours. An east wind brought the welcome change.” (Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Deaths from Sun-Strokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 3.)

New York:

July 2: “New York, July 2. – Thirty-seven cases of sun-stroke were reported by the police yesterday, several fatal. The thermometer at eight this morning opened at 90 in the shade. The Coroners were to-day notified to hold inquests on twenty-eight victims of sun-stroke. This afternoon the heat was intense, the thermometer indicating 102 degrees in the shade and about 146 degrees in the sunlight. Forty cases of death have been reported.” (Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Deaths from Sun-Strokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 3.)

July 2: On “July 2d, 1872…254 deaths occurred, sixty-eight of which were from sunstroke.” (Las Vegas Daily Optic, East Las Vegas, NM. “The Disease Spreading.” 1-11-1890, p. 1.)

July 3: “The thermometer to-day stood 103 degrees in the shade and 140 in the sun. Up to eleven p.m. the police reported 54 fatal, and 56 non-fatal cases of sun stroke.” (Burlington Daily Hawk Eye, IA. “Hot Weather. Sun Stroke.” 7-3-1872, p. 1.)

July 3: “Besides the long list of sunstrokes published in another part of to-day’s paper, the following were received at a late hour last night from Police Headquarters:

Christopher Coughlin, aged seven months, died last evening from the heat.

Jacques Cobb, taken…to Bellevue Hospital, July 2, died…yesterday….

An unknown man…a driver of Schaefer’s brewery, was prostrated…and died…”

(New York Herald. “Additional List of Sunstrokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 4.)

July 4: “New York, July 5. — The deaths from heat alone yesterday foot up forty in this city and Brooklyn.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Deaths From Heat.” 7-6-1872, p. 2.)

July 4: “….Men, women and children have been struck down in scores, many never to rise again, and the death list at the Coroners’ office hourly increases. Such fierce, persistent heat was never experienced before in this city, not even when the most rabid political conventions met and wrangled. Already one hundred and six deaths testify to the terrible power of the midsummer sun, and it would be impossible to calculate the number of those who have suffered from the same cause to a degree which may lead to death or the wreck of constitution. The principal thoroughfares have become like a field of battle – men falling in every direction and ambulances in constant requisition. And the attendant symptoms of such a death are no less terrible than when contending armies meet. Often we find raging delirium, screams as if in intense agony, convulsions that distort the body like a potent poison, and an expression on the face that would make the most hardened turn away; then the final convulsive shudder, and the victim passes the dark river. In other cases the symptoms are like those that attend death by cold. Natural sleep is succeeded by the fatal coma or stupor that presages death.

“To guard against this terrible foe and to repel his attacks should be the first care of everyone in the community. An epidemic of the most virulent kind could not produce a more fearful mortality in a few days. Every day that this intense heat prevails the weaker the human system becomes, and the more necessary the precaution to avoid everything that tends to make the body an easy victim to the fiery destroyer….” (New York Herald. “The Deadly Heat and Its Terrible Consequences.” 7-4-1872, p. 4.)

July 4: “The heat, although severe yesterday [July 4], was not so intense as Wednesday, and the mortality of the City was proportionately less. Still a large number of people fell victims to the sun scourge, and the list greater than it would have been were it not for the unusual number of persons exposed while attending outdoor celebrations incident to the Fourth of July. The atmosphere was close and stifling during the early part of the day, and had not a light breeze prevailed at times, a much greater number of people would have been prostrated….

“The following observations show the temperature yesterday, as recorded by Schultz & Warker, at the Central Park Mineral Springs: Temperature 7 A.M. 81, 12 [noon] 93, 8 P.M. 91, 6 P.M. 79.

Deaths.

“The following deaths from sun-stroke took place in this City yesterday:

John Shaw, aged twenty-eight…

A.G. Bodish…fifty-five…

Ross Gavan, aged thirty…

Michael Kelly, aged twenty-two…

Patrick Lawler, residence not ascertained, at Bellevue Hospital.

Lucy Carroll, aged twenty-seven…

Mrs. ____ Montgomery, aged fifty…

John Graham, at Bellevue Hospital.

Unknown man taken from Seventeenth Precinct, at Bellevue Hospital.

Two twin infants at No. 518 West Twenty-eighth-street.

Unknown man brought from Pier No. 27 North River, at Park Hospital.

John Heasel, aged forty-six…

Mary Brennan, aged thirty…

Chas Creamer, aged thirty…

Margaret Kinley, aged twenty-six…

John Eakins, aged forty…

Martha Hutchinson, aged fifty-four, died suddenly last evening from the heat.

Maurice Bingham, aged forty…

James Smith…died at Bellevue Hospital.

Catharine Keegan, aged sixty…

Wm. McLaughlin, aged twenty-three…

Fred Auerbach, aged forty…

Honora [unclear] Gardiner, aged twenty-nine….

“Effects of the Heat in Other Places.

“John McCarran…thirty-two…Brooklyn, died yesterday morning from the effect of sun-stroke.

“Catherine Cornwall…forty-two…Brooklyn…died…from…prostration…afternoon previous.

“…Rose Thompson, aged twenty-eight years…died suddenly…Wolcott-street, Brooklyn….

“A man named Bacler died suddenly, in Brooklyn, from the effects of the heat…

“An unknown man died of sun-stroke, yesterday…at the farm of John Sturning…Spring Creek.

“…John Farroil, aged twenty-five…sunstruck…Brooklyn…died….

“Patrick Higgins…sunstruck yesterday about noon, while at Hunter’s Point, and died…

“A German named Emil Walters, of Woodhaven, was sun-struck and died in one hour….

“Another German…Louis Ruth, aged twenty-five, of South Woodhaven…killed by sun-stroke…

“An Irish laborer on the farm of Francis Lott, at East Jamaica…killed by sun-stroke yesterday.”

(New York Times. “The Hot Term. Continuation of the Heat and its Effects.” 7-5-1872, p. 8.)

July 5: “The extraordinary heated term, whose oppressive fieriness was quenched in the torrents of last night’s thunder storm, has left a sad record behind it. Although a kind Providence preserved us from the outbreak of any alarming epidemic the Destroyer counted an unprecedented number of victims stricken down directly by the merciless heat. The mortality from coup de soleil has exceeded anything in the recollection of this generation, as the hot spell itself lasted over a greater number of days than any other within the past twenty years. Over two hundred deaths occurred within the past fortnight from sunstroke, while the cases of persons actually attacked lie between eight hundred and a thousand. The lower animals, particularly horses, died by hundreds from the blistering heat….” (New York Herald. “Out of the Heated Cycle.” 7-5-1872, p. 4.)

July 5: “The first week of July, 1872, will be made memorable in the mortuary annals of New York for the unprecedented number of deaths from all causes, but notably so for the mortality from sun stroke. Judging from the number of deaths which have taken place in this City during the past six days from prostration by the heat, it is to be feared that before the Summer quarter shall have expired the total number of deaths from this cause will far exceed that on any previous year. Within the present century the death record under this head has been comparatively light, except in the years 1853,, 1863, 1866, 1868 and 1870 – the largest number occurred in the year 1866 when 310 fell victims to the heat. The following shows the mortality from this cause since 1845:

1845… 7 1858… 43

1846… 84 1859… 6

1847… 11 1860… 12

1848… 12 1861… 15

1849… 36 1862… 14

1850… 20 1863… 219

1851… 31 1864… 40

1852… 15 1865… 14

1853… 260 1866… 310

1854… 62 1867… 5

1855… 50 1868… 196

1856… 33 1869… 25

1857… 16 1870… 238…

“Up to this year the largest number of deaths from sun stroke in any one week, took place during the week ending July 21, 1866, when 184 deaths were registered. The mortality statements for the week ending today will, it is believed, show that a larger number have succumbed to the heat. But it is not alone the larger number of deaths by sun-stroke during the past week, which attracts attention. The mortality record has ran far ahead of the average, in fact the deaths for the past week are more than double the usual number. For the six days ending yesterday, the mortality was as follows:

Sunday… 149 Wednesday… 302 Total… 1,343

Monday…184 Thursday… 267

Tuesday…210 Friday… 236

“The total number of deaths for the corresponding week in 1871 was 710, and in 1870, 641. When the deaths for today are added to the above, the total number will probably reach 1,500. Exclusive of the deaths set down as ‘sun-stroke,’ a large number of young children have been carried off during the past week, making the mortality in this class very excessive….

The Deaths.

“The following deaths from sun-stroke occurred in this City yesterday:

Winnie Casey, aged forth…

Catharine O’Brien, aged thirty-four…

Mary McMann, aged fifty…

Chas. Smith, aged fifty…

Patrolman McSchutt, of the Fifteenth Precinct…

Chas. Kraemer, aged thirty…

Sarah Hickey,

James Smith,

an unknown man,

two unknown women,

Carlstinn Johnson,

Lena Becker,

John Bishop, and

Hugh Keanealley…at Bellevue Hospital.

Thomas Gardner, aged twenty-nine…

Elizabeth Cowan, a visitor at the Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island.

Mary Sheehan, aged twenty-eight…at Park Hospital.

William Bradley, aged forty…at Park Hospital.

Elizabeth Hoppin, aged thirty…

An unknown man found in the Sixth Precinct, at the Park Hospital.

Wal. Hunt, twenty-eight years…

Charnels De Gray Mourt, forty years…

Joseph Burgers, fifty-four years….

“Effects of the Heat in Other Places.

George Taylor…aged thirty-three…Brooklyn.

A young woman…West Farms, from the effects of a sun-stroke, yesterday.

In Newtown…three deaths from sun-stroke yesterday…all…being farm laborers…”

(NYT. “Sun-Strokes. Comparative Results During the Past Twenty-Seven Years.” 7-6-1872, p. 8.)

July 6: “New York, July 6 – The mortality attending the present heated term is the severest ever caused by solar heat in New York. On Saturday last [June 30] the maximum reached by the mercury was 94; Sunday 98, Monday 99, Tuesday, 89; Wednesday 99, Thursday 88, Friday 90. For the week just ended over 1,000 deaths are reported, an increase of at least 300 over an ordinary summer average. On Wednesday alone 312 deaths occurred. The mortality caused by heat since last Saturday in New York and suburbs would be considered large for a great battle. The scene at Bellevue Hospital and the Morgue since Sunday recall the Westfield explosion. Ambulances conveying the sun-struck patients have streamed in, and hundreds of distressed relatives have thronged around in search of missing ones. The public mind was rapidly manufacturing a panic on the subject of heat, such as prevails during epidemics, and thousands have fled from the city in terror. The recent showers have lowered the temperature about ten degrees, and somewhat tranquilized the excited public feeling.

“New York, July 6. – The weather this morning was somewhat cooler. The thermometer yesterday was 98 in the shade. Thirty-four new cases of sunstroke were reported yesterday. The number of deaths were thirty-three.

“New York, July 6. – The deaths this week ending at noon to-day, were 1,569, the largest death records of any week in the history of this city.” (Daily Democrat, Sedalia, MO. “The Weather. New York City—The Hottest Ever Known.” 7-8-1872, 1.)

July 6: “The intense heat which destroyed life so rapidly during the early part of last week became considerably modified during the last three days, and yesterday [July 6] the mortality list from sun-stroke was comparatively light….The following deaths from the heat happened yesterday in this City:

Sophia Fishman, aged two years…

Nancy Carter, aged forty…

Mary Riordan, aged forty…

Sarah J. Gourlay, aged forty-eight…

Christian Blasson [or perhaps Blisson]…

Henry Stebbins, an aged man…

Two unknown men at Park Hospital…

An unknown man, aged thirty-five….

“The following deaths and prostrations from the heat occurred in Brooklyn yesterday:

Michael Whalen, aged thirty…died yesterday morning…

Phillip McLaughlin, aged twenty-five…prostrated by heat…died in two hours.

Patrick Tigu, aged forty-five years…

B. Phillips, a lawyer, died…Thursday night from sun-stroke….”

(New York Times. “Sun-Shafts. The Heat Considerably Moderated.” 7-7-1872, p. 8.)

June 30-July 6: “The terrible first week of July, 1872 will not be readily forgotten among the dwellers in the large cities of the Union. As the mortality returns come in from other quarters, it becomes apparent that New-York stands by no means alone in the appalling volume of its death record. Brooklyn actually exceeded, for last week, the rate of mortality on Manhattan Island, and Philadelphia, though maintaining a much lower proportion than ours, stood at nearly double its average rate. The facts concerning the mortality of the three cities for the week ending July 6, are briefly these: New-York had 1,509 deaths, against its weekly average of 620 for the first six months of the year; Philadelphia had 764 deaths, against its weekly average of 420, and Brooklyn had 670 deaths, against its weekly average of 332. The death rate of New-York for the week ending July 6, was equal to 81.1 per 1,000 per annum: the average for the preceding six months being 33.2 per 1,000. The death rate of Philadelphia for the week was 57 per 1,000 per annum; the average for the six mouths previous being 31.4 per 1,000; while the death rate of Brooklyn touched the astounding figure of 80.4 per 1,000 per annum, or nearly three times the average of the six months, viz., 90 per 1,000.

“The single gratifying feature about this terrible exhibit is the fact that contagious diseases had nothing at all to do with the high rate of mortality. Both in New-York and Brooklyn the number of deaths from diseases of the zymotic type was below the average, and the same appears to be true of Philadelphia. In the latter city more than two-thirds of the total number of deaths were those of minors, and of these, 274 deaths are ascribed to cholera infantum. Both in Brooklyn and New-York we have no doubt that the proportion of infant deaths will be found even greater. It does seem hard that a sudden rise of ten degrees in the temperature of Midsummer should cost us, in the twin cities of New-York and Brooklyn, the lives of 150 little children every day that the fierce heat continues. Yet such is the literal experience of the first week in July….” (New York Times. “A Tale of Three Cities.” 7-9-1872, p. 4.)

Pennsylvania:

Wells: “As a consequence of this excessive heat of summer, we find an enormous increase in the fatality of those diseases which are more prevalent in hot weather….The deaths from sunstroke were 136, to 11 in 1871, and 52 in 1870. Of this unprecedented number, only 10 occurred in persons under 20; 28 died between 20 and 30; 32 between 30 and 40; 33 between 40 and 50; 10 between 50 and 60; 21 between 60 and 70; and only 2 over 70 years of age.” (Wells. “Meteorology and Epidemics of Philadelphia,” Amer. Journal of Med., 1873, 134.)

July 6: “Killed By Heat. Philadelphia, July 6 – Twenty-three inquests were held yesterday, mostly from heat.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Domestic Intelligence.” 7-7-1872, p. 2.)

July 8: “The deaths in Philadelphia last week were 764, an increase over last week of 350. Over one-half of the deaths were of children under one year.” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Miscellaneous.” 7-8-1872, p. 2.)

Sources

Burlington Daily Hawk Eye, IA. “Hot Weather. Sun Stroke.” 7-3-1872, p. 1. Accessed 9-23-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com

Cambridge City Tribune, IN. “Deaths from Sun-Strokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 3. Accessed 9-27-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=97308245

Daily Democrat, Sedalia, MO. “The Weather. New York City—The Hottest Ever Known.” 7-8-1872, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=769576

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Deaths From Heat.” 7-6-1872, p. 2. Accessed 9-27-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=40954063

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Domestic Intelligence [Philadelphia heatwave].” 7-7-1872, p. 2. Accessed 9-27-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=40954067

Las Vegas Daily Optic, East Las Vegas, NM. “The Disease Spreading.” 1-11-1890, 1. Accessed 9-23-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=85912707

McKenna, Ray. “A Miserable time to be hot.” The Providence Journal, RI. 7-25-2019. Accessed 1-15-2024 at: https://www.providencejournal.com/story/opinion/2019/07/25/my-turn-ray-mckenna-when-ri-heat-was-really-terrible/4608915007/

New York Herald. “Additional List of Sunstrokes.” 7-4-1872, p. 4. Accessed 1-19-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-herald-jul-04-1872-p-9/

New York Herald. “Marriages and Deaths.” 7-8-1872, p. 6, col. 6. Accessed 1-19-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-herald-jul-08-1872-p-12/

New York Herald. “Out of the Heated Cycle.” 7-5-1872, p. 4. Accessed 9-26-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=14119684

New York Herald. “The Deadly Heat and Its Terrible Consequences.” 7-4-1872, 4. Accessed 9-27-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=14119529

New York Herald. “The Heated Term. Another Day of Mournful Melting in the City.” 7-3-1872, 5. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=14119385

New York Times. “A Tale of Three Cities.” 7-9-1872, p. 4. Accessed 9-26-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717524

New York Times. “Deaths from the Heat.” 7-8-1872, p. 2. Accessed 9-26-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717492

New York Times. “Sun-Shafts. The Heat Considerably Moderated,” 7-7-1872, 8. Accessed 9-26-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717536

New York Times. “Sun-Strokes. Comparative Results During the Past Twenty-Seven Years,” 7-6-1872, p. 8. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717535

New York Times. “The Dog-Days. Continuance Yesterday of the Terrible Heat.” 7-2-1872, 1. Accessed 9-26-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717435

New York Times. “The Hot Term. Continuation of the Heat and its Effects.” 7-5-1872, 8. Accessed 9-26-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717531

New York Times. “The Solar Scourge. The Effects of the Heat in This City and Vicinity Yesterday,” 7-4-1872, 5. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19717491

Petersburg Index, VA. “Special Correspondence of the Index.” 7-2-1872, 3. Accessed 9-27-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=3599387

Titusville Herald, PA. “Miscellaneous.” 7-8-1872, p. 2. Accessed 9-27-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2831251

Wells, Wm. L. “Meteorology and Epidemics of Philadelphia.” American Journal of the Medical Sciences (Isaac Hays, Ed.). Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea, 1873, pp. 133-134. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=TBECAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true

[1] This is a very conservative estimate in that, as the papers cited note, the reports are essentially for sunstroke deaths, and most are people in their 20s to 50s. It is noted that mortality rates more than doubled during the heat wave. Today many of these would be classified as heat-related deaths, particularly for the very young, elderly, and those ill or with underlying medical conditions, which are not part of the statistics we have here.

[2] New York Herald. “Marriages and Deaths.” 7-8-1872, p. 6, col. 6.

[3] “The weather today was the warmest of the season. At 3 o’clock the thermometer marked 100 in the shade. A large number of cases of sunstroke have been reported, several of which were fatal.”

1872 — July 1-7, Heatwave/Sunstrokes, esp. Boston/20, Philly/136, NJ/21, NYC/>248 –> 433