The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-04-01
Saturday, Feb. 10, 1917,

STARVATION, PUNISHMENT, SC. In the
Pioneer and Herald of Freedom of 4th inst,
is a communication from the editor, dated at
Glasgow, Scotland, Feb 2, 1847, which gives
painful description of suffering in Europe
and details some facts not mentioned in other
papers. The following are extracts from the
communication:
"Whatever theme touch upon soon come
to " Famine and Starvation" which are writ
ten in fearful letters on every paper which |
see, and alas, upon too many OF the counte-
nances 1t is not Ireland alone, but England,
Scotland and France, and many other parts
of Europe. | could tell you scenes connected
with this state of things which would staTt!e
and try the faith Of the most credulous. For
instance, on Saturday the 10th ultimo, two lit
tie children, of the ages Of SIX and seven, son
and daughter of poor working man by the
name of Lee Giving in Chingford; Essex, and
having ten children to supporD were found
in the act of eating some turnlps, having pick
ed up six; overland on which cattle had been
feeding for weeks The stomachs of the
beasts had revolted so much at these turnips
from their frozen and rotten state, that the
farmer resolved to plough them III the land,
and did on the Monday following actually do
So Not one of the six turnipS exceeded the
size of goose's egg. The little starving in
nocents we're bounced upon by the foreman
to the farmer; first taken to Chingford-grccn
to the lookup station to look for an oliter Of
police, distance of one mile then conveyed
by the officer and foreman to Waltham Alb
bey, further distance of five miles, to look
for magistrate, but, not finding one, brought
back to Mr. Preston, representative OF our
sovereign lady the Queen, in Sewardstone
parish, another distance of three miles, before
whom the foreman swore the six turnips were
worth 3D., and that he detected the children
stealing them, GOOD turnips are selling at
4d. per bushel in the parish)
The defence set up was, They were hun
CRY, and had not anything to eat, and the cat
tie had left them" Upon which evidence as
to the act and value, the representative of
sovereignty fined the children, with debt and
costs, L. Os Cd. or in default, il days impris-
onment in Illford Gaol, a further distance of
i miles from Mr. Preston's private residence
in all 20 for police officer to travel with
two little children, for being detected pacify-
ing their hunger with six small diseased tur-
nips, in value the smallest possible fraction of
q tarthng.
In Roscommon County (Ireland) whole
villages are depopulated, either by death Or
by the flight Of such as have the means of
transport to England, Scotland, or America.
In one village ten houses abandoned by their
owners, the doors torn off their hinges, the
window-sills taken out, the raiters burned for
firing, and the very Aagstonc at the entrance
taken up and sold for q mouthful Of food. An
Il I - >
transportation for sheep stealing at the quar-
ter sessions; his appearance in the dock was
that of a man reduced to the last agonies of
hunger. He died in an hour after he recev-
ed his sentence. Numbers Of young men,
mere boys, with wan cheeks, relieved by a
hectic flush, were indicted for similar offences
and eagerly pleaded gully, in the hope of
Transportation or Imprisonment, or any pun
ishment rather than the lingering death they
were daily undergoing. The forttude of the
people almost surpasses belief; they endure
their sufferings without a murmur or COM
plant, and it is not until famine we'll nigh
DESTROYS reason itself, that they are driven to
the commission of crime.
A coroner's inquest was held on Thursday
last. in the workhouse of Galway, upon the
body of poor woman, named Mary Com
mons, who. it is said, died Of starvation.
will not pain you with but one more Of
these painful stories.
The last number of the Mayo Constitution
supplies the following fearful narrative -
:" On Tuesday last Mr. Atkinson, coroner
held inquests at Ballina, on Ellen and John
Clarke, children. After the examination Of
DR. Whitaker and other witnesses, the jury
returned verdicts Of Death from stayvationt
On the same day the same coroner held an
-. Al, I'D, e \ IT, I