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Show 102 DEATHS FROM HEAT I CHICAGO i Probable That Total Will Reach 200 When All Are Reported. , By International News Service. CHICAGO. July 30. The death-dealing heat sweeping the middle west leached its climax today. In Chicago the official weather bureau thermometer reached the high mark of 102 degrees; at Clarendon beach, the most frequented of the municipal munici-pal bathing beaches, the official "high" was 112. One hundred and two deaths had been reported to the coroner's office at 9 o'clock. This does not include deaths of sixty oabfes or deaths of persona attended attend-ed by private physicians. It is probable that when the final records for the day are completed more than 200 will be found to have succumbed to the ravages of the intense heat. Prostrations were only vaguely estimated. esti-mated. One figure, based on incomplete police reports, placed the number at "000. Only once before In Chicago's history has today's heat record been exceeded. That was on July 21, 1901. when the official of-ficial high temperature was 103. Nor did Lake Michigan afford the needed need-ed relief. Its water registered SO degrees de-grees temperature at- the five-foot depth at 4 o'clock. Normal temperature for the lake is 6S degrees. Municipal and private beaches were mobbed by heat-crazed men, women and children. Crowds numbering 75,000 stormed Wilson, Clarendon and North Shore beaches, clamoring to be admitted to the water. They were fought back by attendants, supported by 100 uniformed uni-formed police, and finally were charged by squads of mounted police and driven from the gates. Riot call after riot call was turned In until finally Chief of Police Po-lice Ilealey himself drafted the mounted police to restore order. More than a score of mothers with infants in-fants In their arms collapsed and were taken to hospitals as a result of their long wait at the beach grates. Twenty or more persons collapsed or were overcome over-come even after they got Into the water. City fire companies throughout the crowded sections kept their hos playing on men; women, children and horses throughout the day. Chicago was not alone tn Its suffering. Wisconsin reported twenty-seven deaths, of which twenty-two were in Milwaukee. Reports from Illinois cities outside of Chicago give an estimated total of about forty casualties, while in Indiana the state totals mounted nearly to fifty. St. Louis reported three additional deaths today, making nine since Friday. In the past month the mercury lias dropped below the 90 mark on only six days. |