100 years ago: Kansas Day surprise: Lawrence wakes up to 45-degree drop in temperature

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 29, 1914:

  • “Following an extended series of June-like days came the drop in temperature last night, convincing argument that it really is still winter. From a point 63 degrees above zero at 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon the thermometer tumbled down to 18 above at 7 o’clock this morning, with every indication that January type of weather would prevail for some time. A month which has been almost all summer is to have a genuine winter ending, it seems…. The change had been promised by the weather bureau, but it made the shock none the less severe when the town awoke this morning. The change from summer to winter had come overnight. The return of winter follows a most unusual period of January weather. Overcoats had been discarded, the thermometer hovered far above the freezing point, and there was a spring-like atmosphere prevalent. But it was only January and hence the sort of weather of today is entirely in keeping with the calendar…. A terrific wind from the northwest made the drop in temperature seem more decided than it was…. In Topeka, persons who attended the theaters last night came out unaware of the change. The men had not fitted their hats tightly on their heads and when they stepped out of the shelter of the lobbies hats flew in every direction.”
  • “Harry Morris, a former Lawrence boy, is accused of the burglary of the A. D. Weaver Dry Goods Store on the night of January 15. The young man was arrested in Kansas City yesterday on a charge of forgery alleged to have been committed in that city. The police who made the arrest found the goods stolen from Weaver’s in Morris’ possession. Harry Morris lived in Lawrence for a number of years. Once he was sent from this city to serve a term in the Hutchinson reformatory, following a conviction on a burglary charge. At that time he was driving a delivery wagon for the Weaver store. Mr. Weaver appeared in his behalf and secured a pardon for the boy. Later Morris went to Kansas City where he got into further difficulty. In a statement made to the police of that city last summer following his arrest on a robbery charge the young man declared that when a small boy living in Lawrence a playmate had struck him on the head with a rock. He stated that he believed that a growth had formed as a result of this and that this caused a mania for stealing. He asked for an operation on his head as he believed that this would cure him. He was not taken seriously in this request.”