 But she breaks the mold once again, and she becomes a choir leader for the Second Congregational Church over on Second Avenue, quite a long walk from where she lives. That all leads up to the incident on July 16, 1854. During that time, the city was in the middle of a week-long heat wave. The shipyards were shut down. People were collapsing from what they call brain fever at the time. Horses were dying in the streets. Temperatures were flaring.