New Orleans daily crescent., 1860-12-22
The kansas Ra,n,ne--I1sar.rs., s.,Ilas Ds.a,I.

The Kansns Fasnfue--Efeartres,sirsss pesaaIs
Z A correspondents of the Chicago Tribune writes
from Atchison, Kansas, under date Of December q.
reached this city yesterday moTning. on iaas
ing at the levee from the railroad ferry boat the
first objects to be seen were long string Of Hag
ons, with numbers of gaunt and stand
ing near. / was told they were from The interior
driven here to be leaded with the provisions sent
for the relief OF the people, The fiFsss nen T saw
were Mt. Pomeroy, the general disbHrsiBg agent Of
the Relief Committee; DR.. Ayres, of Linn county;
g. B. Lines, of Waabonsa county, and Hs. Graham,
of Doniphan county. Twas immediately piled with
questions to know how the people East were sas-
tanning the Efforts made to relieve the destitufieu
Lgave all the information of which Iwgs possessed
and in return told that the dessituton had been
underrated entirely The Rev. Mr.. Gyaham said
that there were $4,000 who must be sustained for
some months. DIR. Ayres. one Of the most inteili-
gent and well esteemed citizens of linn county
said that at least forty thousand must be kept from
starving for six months to come. These gentlemen
hkRow, and have every confidence in.
walked up to the office wherein Is transacted
the business OF the relief. II was crowded with the
men in charge of the teams standing in the streets
and on the leHee. AS I came along ] counted
twentythree, and told that at iaast fifty Wers
! in town. Such scene! Great, ssalwart men,
gaunt lean, hungry, looking weary sad, tired and
dspirited, poorly clad, and in all respects filing
one with the conviction of suffering borne
and long repressed-men, some OF whom recoG-
nized, and all of whom bore the unmistakeabIe
character Of sturdy industry ana independence
common IOt0uf western pfoncefS.s 10 fooE uD1u
those faces and read the sad tale Of suffering Within
told the story far more forcibly than my feeble
words can.
Mingling among them, ! took down in my note
| book the statements made by some dozen Of them
give yon few, that your readers may see this ID
\ no fiction.
The FIRST spoke to was O. poorly but deeently
| clad riddleaged niau-a respectabIe-Ianking
1 farmer. This is the substance of his story:
my name is Walter Cain; live in JEFFERSON
township, north part of Jackson county, about 40
miles west Of Atchison. j have been here four
| times without obtaining any aid. My orde1s from
| the Local Committee represent about three hun.
| dred voters (about twelve hundred peasons.l
There has been literally nothing grown Ia our sec.
tion, and many must suffer. planted Is acres in
corn, wheat and potatoes have no corn, no
potatoes, and only about 80 bushels of wheat as
the harvest. My sen.in-law had IA acras planted
in corn, but did not harvest q single ear.H
By this time many had gathered around me and
were disposed to tell their stories. clicked eut
small, keen.eysd, intelligent appearing man, and
asked him what part Of the interior he came from
i He said:
'sAIy name is A. v. Saunders; asn from white
/ water Creek, Otoe county. Whitewater is in the
extreme southwest OF Kansas, and is at least 200
| miles from Atehson Our country is somewhat
4 new. Judge Norton took the census. He reports
about 400 persons in the county. Our settlement
is about specimen of all. OF eighty three acres
planted in corn by six Of my naighhors, (the mar
rator at the same time telling the proportions
planted by each Of that amount) we have not
harvested a single bushel. We have no bread
\ stuffs We have some buffalo meat, no potatoes,
no vegetables. Have been here ten days; it is
two hundred miles from our place, and only get
for my wagons (two think he saidl twelve sacks
of meal and eight of potatoes
A grave, earnest looking middle.aged man said
, in reply to my questions, that:
.His name was W. x. Beech; lived on Mission
Creek, Waubansia county, about one hundred rallies
from this place, The settlement contained about
l50 persons last summer, half Of whom had left
Of the rest, only three farmers had any old corn
y There was nothing raised there. I know of 81,
families perfectly destitute. These families viii
J average six each--about thirty six in all. Then
haue nothing, sir, bnt what the neighbors give d
3 their little supply
This was said in very earnest tone, in responst
to my startled look.
/" One family consists of a sick widow and five
children. They have nothing but what we give
them. Have been hero with two teams waiting ten
9 days, and Mr. Pomeroy can give u no more Of q
loan than ten sacks OF meal, and twenty sacks oi
! potatoes. We are afraid Of these freezing.s'
"Wll yon please read what you have written
sir % said Mr.. Beech, as closed my notebook.
did so, and he corrected one or two immaterial
errors had made No mans story impressed me
as did this old gentlemans. He was SO earnest and
conscientious in his statement, that felt the un-
said to be worse than what was said