Evening star., 1898-10-17
SNOW COMES EARLY
Heavy Fall in Country West of Kan
sas City.
WILL CAUSE MUCH SUFFERING
Cattle on the Ranges Unprepared
for an Early Winter.
TELEGRAPH LINES DOWN

KANSAS CITY. Mo. October IA gem
uine blizzard prevails in the southwest and
west today. A heavy wet snow has fallen
since 3 o'clock this morning. and wa.
driven by strong wind. has prostrated
wires I'm all directions and caused DELAY tc
railway traffic. The snow followed twenty
four hours OF steady rain. The sidewalks
are covered three inches deep with slush
There has been a decided fall In temper
ature. and the suddenness of the storm
coming as IT has, upon the track OF Indian
summer weather will undoubtedly cause
great suffering. especially on the ranges
covered with cattle. Kansas City is prac-
tically cut off from the west as far as tel
e2raph communication is concerned with
no immediate prospects Of relief.
The brunt OF the storm seems to have
been felt by the telegraph companies the
heavy wet snow weighing down the wires
Up to IL O'Clock today II had been abso-
lutely impossible to communicate west of
Kansas City, not a word having been
passed with Topeka, Wichita and the points
between here and Denver At that hour
the conditions, while clearing up slowly To-
cally, appeared 10 be getting worse west of
Kansas CITY.
No serious Trouble on Roads.
While the railroads report trains in some
tracks. no serious interruption to railroad
traffic has been experienced. The Union
Pacific. the Santa Fe, the Burlington ana
the Missouri Pacific officials all report in
coming trains practically on time Because
of lack Of telegraphic communication how
ever, the Missouri Pacific is unable to re-
port the condition Of their eastbound Coll
orado express. And the same is true OF al
information from the storm ridden part of
the southwest, and until wires have been
restored the real extent of the storm can
not be known.
The following was issued by Observer
Connor Of the local weather bureau:
A storm of great force is central ia the
Mississippi valley. which during the next
twenty-four hours will have a northeast
course, carrying IL over the great lakes
causing heaVy precipitation and gales
since Sunday morning heavy rain fel in
Iowa, Missouri and eastern Kansas the
heaviest being in northwest Missouri where
IT amounted to "a inches.
Rain in Mississippi Valley.
AT O'clock am. rain was failing In the
Mississippi valley from ST. Paul to Mem
phis. In the western states the tempera-
ture has fallen to the freezing point and
the rain changed to snow I'm western Iowa,
eastern Nebraska. northeast Kansas und
northwest Missouri. The snow will ROT re-
main on the ground long Clearing condf-
uons are expected in this section this even
ing. admitting of heavy frost tonight. fol-
lowed on Tuesday by fair and warmer.
A heavy wind prevailed at some points
and dozens of telegraph poles are reported
qoWn, especially between Kansas City and
Lawrence Kan. and between St Joseph
and Omaha. The conditions beyond those
points can only be surmtsed. Local tele-
phone and street car service has NOT beer
affected to any extent.
Storm at Other Points.
SEDALIA, Mo. October 17.-Snow began
falling today and soon a regular blizzard
v as raging. 1t rained all last night but
turned colder today. Many telegraph and
telephone wires are down.
ST. JOSEPH. Mo, October IA wet,
bnnding snow began falling here last mid
night. high wind ragged until nearly
noon. when II subsided and the snow ceas-
90. Telegraphic ard telephone communi-
cation has been considerably affected but
the movement of railroad trains has not
been seriously interfered with. The storm
caught many poor people without fuel, and
much suffering is reported to the charity
superintendent.
LEAvENWoRTH. Kan. October IL
The storm that set in today came near
wreckfng the camp of the nd Kansas Vol
unteers. Nearly all the tents We're blown
down and the soldiers were permitted TO
come to the city to seek shelter from the
snow and wind. The ground was soft from
the rain of Sunday. and when todayis
storm came up tents toppled over in every
direction. The cook and provision tents
were among the first to go. and all The
rations were soaked. 1t was impossible TO
prepare meals and arrangements to feed
the men in town will be made. Most of the
soIdlers are without money to buy meals