Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-07-03
THE STARVING POOR OF NORTH
ALABAMA.

Orleans county, Union Of 22d Uh.
-.sss,-
THE STARVING POOR OF NORTH
ALABAMA.
FRIGHTFUL SCENES AMONG THE SUFFERERS.
A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune
writes from Bellefonte, Ala, under date of
June o.
passed number of cabins, around which
were half dozen nearly naked children,
but did not stop at any of them till had
reached point about three miles from the
edge of the Coosa valley. Here, within ten
feet of the road, was one of those huts in
which the banished poor of the South, who
have been driven from the fertile valleys and
plains by the exclusiveness and grasping Of
the wealthy landowners, have for years
taken refuge. Several children, ranging in
age from four to twelve years, and clothed
only in WHAT'S an excuse for an under-gar-
ment, were sitting around, while two females
were, with emaciated countenances, picking
some wild vegetables in the vicinity, from
which to make a meal for themselves and
suffering children. could not mistake their
condition of destitution, even at glance;
but determined to hear their story from
their own lips, and accordingly halted my
horse, and asked one of the females;
MADAM, could you accommodate me with
dinner to-day?"
She paused moment, and repeated the
question.
"God knows, said she, and tears began
to trickle down her cheeks, "that would
not turn a stranger and traveller away,
but there has not been an ounce Of meal or
meat in the house for five days; we and our
children have lived entirely during that
period, upon boiled greens, with neither salt
nor pepper"
"How many children have You?" asked.
"Tnree, and this lady two more-all small,
as you see. We have no way to live; we
cannot even get seed to plant our gardens.
How we are to live God only knows"
Are your husbands dead?"
Eyes, both were killed in the army"
why did they go into the service?"
"Ahp' she said, "ahl they staid out as
long as they could. They lived for two
years in the mountains, hut they were finally
taken and carried away in irons, and both
were killed, Just to save some of those rich
men,"
WOMAN OF SEVENTY
was the next person | addressed. l had
passed all the huts for three miles, not de-
string to give my nerves a second shock that
day; but on the road met an old, decrepid
female, clothed in a worn wrapper of coarse
domestic, carrying on her back sack, in
which was half bushel of meal
''Madam, " said !, ''you are wearied, are
you not? you are too old to carry such a
| load.n
81 have toted it eighteen miles; clear from
Guntersville," said she.
"How far do you live from here2" asked.
"aalf a mile "
"And you have carried this all the way
from Guntersville; had you no one to sendP''
mo, sir" said she; 81 had two sons who
lived with me, and two more. who had
families, living near. They were all killed
in the war, and the wife of one of them
is dead and had to take care of his four
children, the oldest of whom is eight years
of age; I.had to carry this clear from Gun.
tersville or starve."
NO MEAT SINCE AUGUST.
met boy about thirteen years of age
carrying peck of meal, and asked;
"How far do you live from the cityG"
"Five miles"
Are the people bad off there?"
"Yes; we have had TO live on the corn
meal given us. We have had no meat in
our house since August last, and the Lord
knows when we shall have any more"
''Do you get corn meal enough9"
'No, sir, we don't average more than a
peck week, and there are four of us in the
family"
"Where is your father5'
He was killed at Mission Ridge.''
''Are the people around you as bad off as
you are?"
"l es, sir, some are worse off, and only q
few are better off; we expect to all starve,
unless the Yankees help us"
could fill columns with particulars as
heart-rending as these. conversed with al
least hundred persons during my stay
which lasted till the morning-o of the 4th 9
June, and all of them gave accounts as dole
ful as these narrated.
made inquiries of different parties, wei
informed on the condition of affairs, ant
they estimated that in five counties south o
the Tennessee river, there were at leas
twenty thousand persons bordering on