Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-09
Weather Man Sees No Relief in Sight
for This Section.
NATURAL GAS SUPPLY SHORT
Topeka Stores Close and Kansas City
People Are Using Coal.
TWO MEN FROZEN TO DEATH
stage Driver and Passenger Found
Dead on Road Near Hanna, wyO.
Cold Breaks Wires In
Illinois and Indiana.

KANSAS CITY, Dec S-After two days
of temperature ranging as low as zero and
no higher than 10 degrees above, the south
west has no promise Of relief from the
government forecaster tonight
Official records show this December to
be the coolest on record throughout Kan
sas, Oklahoma and western Missouri.
Locally there is much suffering on ac-
count Of the failure of the gas supply
Scores Of people are removing their gas
fixtures and returning to the use of soft
coal furnaces. Plumbers are working into
the night to relieve the suffering.
Governor Stubbs Of Kansas, today
ordered Attorney General jackson TO begin
injunction proceedings against the Kansas
Natural Gas company, to prevent It from
piping gas into st. Joseph, Mo-, and Kan
sae City, II he deemed such action neces-
sary to protect Kansas towns. Many
stores are closed in Topeka on account of
the cold. George King, a negro, was frozen
to death near Bonner Springs, Kan, today.
Cattle are now suffering as snow is
falling An average Of four inches of
snow covers the ground.
This portion Of the southwest expert
eneed still colder weather today, tenn
peratures being generally . degrees lower
than yesterday and ranging from zero at
Kansas City to degrees below at Con-
cordia, Kan.
Other temperatures reported to the local
weather bureau this morning.
Oklahoma City. 10 degrees above; Fort
Smith, Ark, "A above; Amarillo. Tex. 1s
above, and Abiline, Tex, "A above.
KahAas Wants to Keep Gas.
TOPEKA, Dec. S.-Governor Stuobs to.
day instructed Attorney General Jackson
to make an investigation Of the natural gas
situation with view of commencing in
junction proceedings against the Kansas
| Natural Gas company to prevent the com
pany from supplying Kansas City and st
Joseph. Mo-. with gas. The attorney gem
eral proposes to ask for an Injunction .on
the ground that the Missouri towns are
supplied with sufficient gas, while Kansas
towns are suffering from a shortage
The Topeka situation grew more serious
this afternoon. Hospitals are without fuel
gas aand clerks in stores are being dis
missed because the stores cannot be heated.
Farmer Frozen to Death.
1 HANNA, Wyo., Dec. s.-The driver of a
stage between Hanna and Leo, and his
only passenger were found frozen to death
on the road yesterday. They left Hanna
for Leo and were lost on the prairie in
one OF the worst storms ever experienced
in that section. Hanna is seventy-six miles
west Of Laramie.
Thirteen Below at Norfolk.
NORFOLK, Neb Dec. S.-North Ne
braska, southern and western South Da-
kota and northern Wyoming today suffered
from the coldest weather of the winter
The temperature in Norfolk dropped TO L
below zero. at Deadwood it was II below
zero and at Lander, Wyo., it was 20 below
SIOUX CITY, Ia, Dec s.-The cold wave
continues in this section today 1t was
below at o'clock this morning.
DES MONIES, Ia, Dec. s.-The govern,
ment Thermometer registered below zero
in Des Moines this morning, easily the
coldest Of the year
Many Wires Broken.
CHICAGO. Dec. S-With the tempera,
ture near the zero point over practically
all of the middle west, telegraph compauie!
here today found themselves severely
handicapped in transmitting messages Th,
intense cold following the snow storm con
tracted the wires and snapped them a
many points
, The breaks are not confined to any or,
direction but have disturbed every line ou
, of Chicago.
Telegraph officials declared that tn
, present conditions are as bad as at an!
time in years.
INDIANAPOLIS, Dec, S.-Today the tenn
perature nearly all over the state mad
a long drop to zero, Telegraph and tele
phone wires snapped and high winds threw
down poles in many directions. Inter
urban railroads were impeded by heav.
drifts Of snow IN the northern part Of tn
state,
At o'clock last night the temperatur
, at Omaha was degrees below zero an
still dropping. Yesterday morning