Distress In Kansas

Wichita, Kan., Deo. 24.- All the settled district of Kansas have been aroused by the horrible details of death and sufïering In the west to a sense of the necessity fol lmmediate actlon in the direction of relief. Additional informatlon received characterizes the blizzard as one of the worst in the annals of the State and in lts effects probably the most fatal, the nnmber of deaths f rom a combination of hunger and cold belng placed at sixty. J. P. Hackney, of Ashland, Clark County,reached this city Thursday, and gives the details of the stonn's ■work. He saye: "When the blizzard struck us last Monday the country people were almost entirely out oí fuel, what little they had belng buftalo chips. Sunday was an autumnal day, aud nono were prepared for the storm that followed. Reports ot deaths have been coming In ever since. 01 my own knowledge I can vouch for the following: John Henry and John Colter left Ashland an hour before the snow began to fall. Next day their bodies were found some miles west of town and their team, which had drifted beiore the storm, was found dead ín harness some twenty miles south. As soon as the most violent part of the storm had passed we organized rescuing parties. The party with ■whlch I was in one sod shanty found an entire family ot flve, named Kannus, frozen Btifl. The mother was dead in bed, while two children had died on their stools. Not a partiólo of fuel was visible. The bodies were taken to Ashland and buried. B. C. Purdy, who had been out looking at a claim, was found dead within half a mile of the limits of the town, having evidently lost bis way in the blinding snow, as he was off the highway. These and two other bodies had been found up to the time of my leaving yesterday. Ashland has been turned into a hospital for, Ihe large number frozen, thougli not fatally. Amputation had been necessitated in several instances." Residente here are receiving advices from friends in the west, giving equally horrible details. The condition of the people ol Lane, Soott, Wichita and Greeley couuties is terrible. Topeka, Kan., Dec. 24.- The dispatches sent out from Wichita about suffering and death in Western Kansaa are false, according to the best evidence that can be procured in this city. There have actually been two deaths in Kansas and two in Nebraska, and these have been reported to make a scare. The crops in Western Kansas have been poor, and a great majority of the eettlers have been there but a 6hort time, and are poor. But they are not in a starving condition by any means. A large portion are comfortably housedin dug-outfi, and have laid in a supply of fuel for the winter which will keep them frSa BufferIng. The weather is moderating-, the thermometer ranging from 40 to 60 above zero.