The San Francisco call., 1898-12-10
BILLIARDS IN
 MIDDLE WEST
 AND SOUTH Cold Weather and Very High Winds. MUCH DAMAGE REPORTED BUILDINGS WRECKED BY THE STORM AT OGDEN. In Colorado and Nebraska the Tenn perature Is Very Low-Cattle Will Suffer Greatly in
 Texas.
MUCH DAMAGE REPORTED
BUILDINGS WRECKED BY THE
 STORM AT OGDEN.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


 OGDEN, Dec. 9.-Ogden has been for the past twenty-four hours in the throes of the widest windstorm which has ever swept over the city. It extends from Collinston, forty miles north, to Salt Lake on the south, and has been the means of causing thousands of dol lars of damage during the time it has been raging. From l o'clock last night until 10 o'clock this morning the greater part of the damage was done, and there Is no part of the valley which is eX- empt The storm began at about 6 o'clock last night, but did not assume serious proportions until about mid night, when the wind became a gale. Toward l o'clock it reached a velocity estimated at from fifty to sixty miles an hour and among the buildings dam aged were the plant of the Union Light and Power Company, which is damaged about $3000, and the Sacred Heart Acad- emy, which was damaged by the blow ing in of the east end to the amount of $2000.
 The end of the Chapman House, a big hotel. was blown out. The entire service of the electric light company was blown out; the telephone system was destroyed by contact with the electric light wires, as was the fire alarm system. For twenty hours the city was at the mercy of the fire fiend, because there was neither telephone nor city fire alarm. This morning after 2 o'clock the city was in utter dark ness, and though the power was still on the wires of the Union Light and Power Company were so badly broken that after daylight the works were closed down because of the danger to the public from the loose live wires, which carried power of 2500 volts. To- night things are in a little better shape, but the city is still practically without lights and the gale is again strengthen ing. It has been bitterly cold during the whole time. Plate glass, windows were blown out and houses bIown down. The damage to the city property will reach $25, 600.
 DALLAS, Tex, Dec 9.I-Texas was blizzard-swept last night and to-day All kinds of weather, rainx hail. sleet and a driving wind, have prevailed. The snowfall in Western Texas and the Panhandle district is yery' heavy. and traffic has been delayed or stopped. Fourteen inches are reported from some places in the Panhandle. while in Northern, Eastern and Central Texas the fall is about four inches.
 All unpicked cotton will suffer great ly, but the snow almost assures a fine wheat crop of which cereal there is a largely increased acreage.
 Tonight it is clear and cold. the tenn perature having fallen several degrees since morning. It is the earliest bliz- gard in Texas for a number of years No losses of live stock have yet been reported.
 Reports from the Indian Territory say the storm in that section was very severe.
 NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 9.-The weather throughout this State. Missis- sippi and North and Central Texas during the past tWenty-four hours is the worst experienced in December for many years. Specials from the terri tory named report rain, sleet and snow and high winds, followed by freezing weather. The cattle ranges in South west Texas are in bad condition be- cause of a drought during the summer and the losses to stockmen will be quite heavy.
 DENVER, Colo, Dec. 9.-With a tenn perature of 19 degrees below zero Den yer was the coldest place in the United States this morning, with the single exception of Valentine. Neb.. which re- ported a record of 20 below. At Chey- enne, Wyo., it was one degree warmer than in Denver. The weather is fair. but the indications are that it will not he much warmer for dav or two