Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-08
STORM KINGS
ICY HAND GRIPS
MANY STATES
Scores Perish in Cold and
Snow of the East
and North
CITIES LACKING FUEL
Train Service DemOraliZed
and Railroads Unable
to Haul Coal
CITIES LACKING FUEL
Especial to The Herald.l

ever Known IN tennessee ana
Kentucky, terrific blizzards attended
by heavy death tolls in Pennsylvania,
Michigan and middle west states, and
the Mississippi river frozen from three
| miles are features of the third day
of the general storm extending prac-
tically over every state east of the
Rocky mountains.
From twenty-five to forty persons
believed to have been frozen to death
in various sections of the northwest;
ten reported dead in Canada many
killed or seriously injured by accidents
resulting from the icy conditions, and
thousands of sheep and cattle lying
dead among the snowdrifts of the
southwest and central states, the ap-
palling conditions resulting from low
| temperatures and devastating storms
| tonight can hardly be estimated, as
every hour brings in reports of addi-
tional loss of life and property damage.
Over seventy trains were stalled in
various sections of the east tonight,
and many passengers are reported suf-
| 1eT1nS from lack Oh WdTIIIL, uue W lue
| inability of the trains to get fuel for
the engines. Mails everywhere are
| piled up indefinitely.
| Telegraph and telephone wires are
seriously crippled, hundreds of smaller
towns being practically isolated.
Fuel Famine Severe
The fuel famine in Chicago, st. Louis
and elsewhere, including many Pacific
northwestern towns out OF the storm
zone. is hourly becoming worse, and
| serious loss of life is threatening in
consequence.
/ The price of coal, where it can be
| had at all, has exceeded the ability
of many poor persons to purchase it,
and thousands tonight are. shivering
over cold stoves and hearthstones.
Much pneumonia and serious Illness
was reported yesterday and today in
Chicago and Milwaukee as a result of
the lack of fuel, and general alarm is
felt at present prospects.
| Twenty-Five trainloads of coal, billed
for various cities sorely in need of it,
are reported tonight stalled indefinitely
| by snow and ice blockades
| In Colorado snowslides today were
plentiful, and conditions throughout
the state are said to be desperate.
In the Dakotas binding blizzard,
marked by a terrific drop in tempera-
ture, is still raging.
Some of Fatalities
The sleet and rain storm which lasted
| forty-eight hours was indirectly re-
sponsible for four fatalities and the Sc
rious injury of scores of persons.
-Four men met death, two being cleo
trocuted by crossed wires, one dying
from exposure, and the fourth, a brake
man, slipped from an ice-covered
| freight car.
Thousands of sheep have been killed
during the last few days by the cold,
according to reports from various sec
| tions of the northwest received at
Deadwood. S. D., today. Some owners
have sold their large focks for 80 cents
| a head. One man bought 5000 sheep
| for 81 each but got only 300 of them to
/ safety.
The loss is most severe in the vicin-
| ity of Lander, Wyo.
| The coldest section of the United
! States today, according to the weather
| bureau, lies in the territory south of
the southern boundary of Tennessee
to the country bordering on Lake Su-
perior.
Freezing in Florida
Freezing temperature prevails as far
south as the Gulf of Mexico and as far
| east in the southern country as the
| Appalachicola river in Florida. Pa
| ducah, KY, reports below zero, the
coolest since 1886.
| with the exception of a few places,
the Mississippi river was frozen over
today from st. Paul, Mimi, to Grand
Tower, ILL.,, for the first time in ten
| years.
The ice in the ST. Louis harbor is
from one to five feet thick and all river
| craft is ice locked.
The steamer Puritan, which sailed
| from here for Benton Harbor, Mich,
yesterday, is fast in the ice. She was
| due at Benton Harbor yesterday after
noon. Communication was established
by wireless telegraph today
The Puritan carried no passengers
and a crew of about twenty men.
Chicago experienced it's coolest
weather in several years early today
when the weather bureau thermometer
registered 5 below zero. Street ther-
mometers recorded temperatures as low
as 10 below.
Passengers ShiVering .
There was a decided rise in tempera-
ture in Kansas City, however, in the
twenty-feur hours ended today, the
mercury climbing upward from to IL
degrees, with the wind from the south.
The shortage of natural gas in Western
Missouri and Eastern Kansas appears
to be over.
Fifty passengers on two Chicago &
Northwestern local trains spent last
night sitting up. hungry, in chilly day
coaches at Crystal Lake, ILL., The trains
were blockaded by snow.
The passengers were held at the sta
ton for twenty hours while attempts
were being made to break through the
snow. Both trains reached Crystal
Lake, south bound. on the branch run
ming to Elgin, on Wednesday.
The town is a summer resort, has
only a small winter population, and is
without means of providing food or
lodging for any large number of guests
The hungry passengers made a short
forage for food, but were driven back
| to the cars by the extreme cold. The
cars were too crowded to permit Sleep
| ing.
Daylight brought no relief, and it was
noon before the road was cleared to
! permit the trains to proceed to Elgin.