Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1846-06-09


IRISH DlsTREss The English papers
are full OF accounts Of the distress which
pervades Ireland, in consequence of the
scarcity OF IL cd. In some places subscrip-
lions have been got up for the starving poor
but the relief is altogether inadequate to
their wants.
A letter in one of them from Limerick.
April %. gives detailed description oflhe
wreiched condition ofihe peasantry on the
) estate Of the Earl Of Dunraven. This no.
bic lord owns the principal part of the parish
OF Adne, which contains $500 inhabitants
l-3sO 90 OF whom are Catholics and 1000
Pc. esians. The Ealt's fortune is he.
tween 10000 and 10000 pounds year;
yet within few yards of his park gate ex-
Isl scenes Of misery, which the writer des-
cribes as beyond all precedent Within a
stones throw of The gate, he says
entered the hut Of one Michael GIenny
| was attracted TO the spot by groaning
from within, and there found man lying
alone on miserable bed, with scarcely any
covering, in the last stage OF that which |
believe was dropsy, as far as | could make
out the symptoms. He had been some
weeks IN the hospital, and it was now four
weeks that he had returned to his own hut.
He had wife and daughter, who had gone
tout to seek for food where best they might
find it, and one son in Lord Duuraven's
employment. No relief did he receive from
any quarter in his pitable condition. He
held the hut in which found him stretch
ed. o, al annual rent Of FL l9s., from one
Andrew Coghlm, head gardner to Lord
Dunraven. Coghlin held the hut "a, El Os
and then lie, it 10 GIenny at an advance of
Us, per anEum. did not seem to me that
The unfortunate man was long for this world ;
he will probably die in the coulse of few
days wiihou, relieffrom any charitable hand.
Many other scenes equally appalling, are
described, few Of which follow:
Icrossed the bridge, and walked to an.
; other part of the village, few minutes
walk from the park gate. In one hut
found fourteen persons established; that is
; 20 say, Mary Holloran and one little girl
Katherine Halloran and her husband,
child, and an orphan whom they had adop
ted Thomas Carney, his wife, and ST,
children. The only wonder was to me
how fourteen persons could stand uprigh
, in this filthy howell. Some slept on straw
on the wet floor some on couple of dirty
boards, with few rags on them, which
: hey called beds. Two Of the childrer
were lying veryill, without assistance of an,
kind. They were paying Sd stone 70
diseased potatoes when they could scrape
together few pence; but as they had ~
work, this was OF rare occurrence, and the
whole family ight be said to be living OF
2 casual charity.
: thought this was the extreme of human
e misery; but found that | had vet some
: thing TO learn inlhis respect; for in hove
y still smaller. and still more filthy, close al
= hand. | found seventeen human beings
y picked togelt n; that is. Maurice Neil
! (Jusi come from hospital, aud still in bad
healthy his wife, and four children; Padd,
: Donne!l, his wife and four children; Con
/ nor keatng, his vile, and three Children
:, One of the number occasionally earned Sd
J per lem by acting as tuIlinan.
d went up to dirty lane called Broad st
a held by tenants of Lord Dunraven's.
shall not trouble you with many specimen.
! one or Two may stand for all. There i.
k the howell Of Michael Fitzgerald, wife and
three children; he earns l. as wages
+ from Lord Dunraven. In an adloir inc
l. room live bis mother, father. sister, anc
e sisters child the child sometimes earns &c
s per diem; thVt is occasionally 13 IL pc
t. diem is the income Of The family, They
n pay to Lord Dunraven fl lis Cd per an
!, nun as ground rent for the hut which they
T have bull, themselves, the roof open to the
d sky. | must here remark that Lord Dun
= ravens steward stops the rent on, of weekly
e wages oflhe laborer's in his employment.
e entered The howell of Michael KeneIly,
: and questioned his wife to the condition Of
the family. They are six in number -hus
+ band, wife, and four children. He earn:
Il ID fom Lord Dunraven; he had not
tasted food that day.
: Opposite 10 this howell was that Of James
n Barry, his wife and Two children. He was
e out Of wo'k. and had no means of liyeli.
hood. The howell in which they lived was
d about the size ofthe kennel ola Newfound-
land dog; ii was will difficulty | could
. crawl into II, and it was as filthy as could
d be.
Going up another road, entered the hut
n of The widow Malqueon, aged 10; she works
: all day long, from morning TO night, every
D day in the week, 10 spin her pound of fax.
q which Lady Dunraven purchases weekly
! for Sd
h Further up the road is the howell of John
Swiizer, a man so old, that on attempting
8 % r.se when in entered, he staggered and
z tell back in his chair. ! found him gnaw.
n ing at a bone which he bad picked up
!, somewhere, with a few black potatoes bv
4 his side, which he had begged from the
Y nelghboTs In the same howell lived James
d Fitzgerald, bis wife, and FIVE children.