The Horrors of Famine

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 118, 2 April 1892, Page 4

The Horrors of Famine

Late letters from St. Petersburg show that the telegrams which pass | the censorship <to not depict half the horrors of the fami n e in the province of Samara. The Government officials who went to carry relief to one village found it deserted, bui nearly every house contained a corpse, and in some of them were found several. In Penrea people could be seen praying for death. Suicide, however, is infrequent, no matter how terribla the situation. The Government is already finding it difficult, on account of the enormous drain of the famine, to meet other expenses ; and some official salaries are already in arrear. Work, however is being pushed by the navy yards, and on military roads the starving peasantay are being employed to a large extent for the latter purpose. On the 13th of February 16,000 more persons from the famine-stricken districts had taken refuge in St Petersburg and were quartered on the various householders. An English correspondent writes from Saratov on Ist March that crimes of violence in the valley of the Volga are of frequent occurrence. Clergymen's house, have been robbed, and fhe bodies of murdered men are found on the high road. The caravans of merchants are escorted by armed forces. Villages in the Government of Samara that weTe prosperous in 1886 are now plunged in in deepest misery, and the population has been decimated. In one village 2765 out of 7356 inhabitants have migrated. Of these 1250 are dependent on charity. In three months the people of this village lost 4038 head of live stock, and they are indebted to the State in the sum of 72,380 roubles. Simitar conditions prevail in other villages. In tne province of Samara 40.000 acres of land are idle owing to the want of seed. A large number of German colonists live in holes in the earth for warmth. They eat bread made of wild hemp seed, and the carcases of horses, causing severe nausea. The famine is changing the peasantry into wild