Smyrna times., 1860-11-08
Famine in Kansas.

"SsHOyeu aIl tue crops uuu INV Wihtet ahu
Famine store the hapless pioneers in the face.
Already il is announced that greater part OF
the population are fleeing or have already fed
from their famine-smitten cabins, their parched
fields and wlthered crops. For hundred and
fifty miles west of the Missouri every highway
is crowded with wagons filled with men, wo
men and children, fleeing as if Death were in
the rear; while, for those left behind, only the
saddest prospects are before them. The bold
freemen who but four years ago cowed the red
shirted rutlians of the border, now quail before
a thin spectre round whose lean launches is
buckled no bowie-kuife or revolver, but against
whom the stoutest courage avails not in the
! fight.
The cause of this want and suffering in
! Territory whose soil is naturally rich and fer.
! tile above that of any other portion of the
Union, and which has heretofore been repre-
sened as almost deuged with milk and honey,
is to be traced to the all but entire absence of
! rain for nearly whole year, over its eastern
section. The seed-tme, summer and harvest
of 1860 passed away without moisture enough |
to give even trace of life TO wheat, corn, or
potatoes. All the streams were completely |
dry, and many even of the larger rivers were
either entirely dried up or coursed in narrow
threads through great beds OF sand. The glo-
rious prairies, whose rich luxuriance Of vege-
tation has made them the syabols of prosperity
and plenty, were denuded Of every green
thing. Cattle perished of hunger and thirst;
and so utterly parched was the soil, that over
extensive regions of country, even the grass
hoppers and oil other forms of insect life with
which the prairies are commonly vocal, were
completely annihilated. Crops of every kind,
too, suffered the same fate. The winter wheat
proved total failure, but the farmers none
discouraged, plowed their soil over again, and
sowed spring wheat; that also failed-they
pOwed again and planted corn the corn too
wlthered, and then potatoes were put in; they
| too were blasted and the despairing pioneers
, as last resort, tried buckwheat- but after
| coming up, that also perished so that hardly a
2 vestige was left behind. Thus every means
that perscvering industry could devise TO
n avert the impending calamity IVES tried, but
!. ali were vain, and with each successive failure
# failed also many hearts and hopes.
o There many American men and women
J.. now in Kansas, who must this Winter perish
; from actual starvation and CO d, if relief be MOI
If speedily afforded them. There is no money
e omong the settlers Of The western and southern
counties.
Committees are being organized in almost
every county, and are sending out agents tC
obtain assistance. From Shawnee county
{ Rev. G.. G. Hutchinson writes that there al
. hope has fed, the people are leaving by thou
&c sands, and that of those who cannot leave
u many, unless speedily helped, will StGrue.-
70 In Breckenridge county, the committee Tepor
u that the corn raised will not average one bush
&c ell to the acre. and that half of the popula
70 ton will need assistance during the coming
" Winter. The Mayor Of Lawrence has issuet
public statement, in which he says that ther
'' wi ! be general deprivation aud much individu
~ al suffering, if not starvation, throughout tn
'e Territory unless it is obviated by th noble ef
u forts now being made TO extend relief. An
F" such reports as these are now pouring upon
' from almost every section of Kansas.
H6 uioCIGpdHCy OcLWe5u tH0 hCCOuntS Ie
ne ceved from the Territory itself as TO the stat
pc of affairs there, is easily enough accounted for
Dh There are counties in the eastern section tina
o' are not in want-as Wyandott, LeavenwortI
n' Alchison, &c. narrow strip Of ten or fiftee
d" miles width, bordering on the Missouri fo
o. about seventy miles, has been blessed with oc
&C casionaI showers, and there partial crops hav
M been raised. But westward of that belt, as fa
as Fort Riley, and southwark as low as Fol
;" Scott, all crops have proved an entire failure
IT. Teams laden with provisions, we rejoice t
ng say, are already vending their way toward
d. the settlements. Chicago, which stood so nc
1t bly, by Kansas in Sc. now again outdoes he
ne self in generosity; and the overlooking granu
ries of Minnesota and Indiana and Iowa, an
the generous hearts of Western men, wi
'a' surely forbid that their brothers beyond I'll
"o Missouri should perish from hunger.
oi FROM CHINA.-Our correspondent at Shan!
ad' hal, says the N. Y. Times, furnishes US viii
ot interesting details Of Chinese news to the ls
oil of August. The Allied feet anchored a fe
- miles from the mouth of the Pei. no on the 3O
r IL. 4 al. xluL..