Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-03-13
suffering at the south-An Appeal.
sdf MARYsvILLE, S. c., March y, 1867.
GEORGE II. GILL. ESQ.,. baltimore. Md. ~

/
,df MARYsvILLE, S. c., March %, 1867.
George n. GIL. Esq, Baltimore, Md: -
My DEAR SIR have just got back in
safety to my home and family, aud do not
allow myself the ordinary and necessary
Erepose, after long journey, before writing g
ITO you in behalf of my afflicted and dis
treSsed countrymen. -
Iu one of our recent interviews in Balti-
more, you suggested that the City Council
and the Legislature of Maryland might
each make an appropriation for the relief
of the suffering people of the Southern
states. AT that time could not speak con-
tidently of the actual or prospective suffer
| ings of the country, but since making q
tour of two hundred miles through the
heart of this State, with eyes and ears open,
have come to the conclusion that the dis
tress of the people is unprecedentedly great,
and must become even more SOif our friends
in otner parts of the country do not come
to our relief. Many of our people are not
only destitute and without credit by which
! to get the means of subsistence, but will be
without the means of cutivating their
farms, and Of consequences must even be
worse off the next year. This, distress is
not confined to any one section of the State,
but prevails to a less or greater extent in
every portion of it. A goOdly number have
raised cotton enough to, purchase food, but
the greater mass OF the people have neither
cotton, money, nor credit to buy the food
necessary to, prevent their families from
actual starvation. .,.- -f.s-s.
In Abbeville, and several of the adjoin-
ing districts, Ilearn, from good authority,
the distress is very great, and becomes ev-
cry day more so. In Columbia, as learned
from DR.. Adger, one gentleman aoaS serUi1lg
ont corn meal by the peck TO more than four
hundred families. From Judge Allich, with
whom l. Travelled some distance yesterday,
and who has been travelling extensively in
the State, j learned that tue distress was
quite as great in the southwestern part
of the State as anywhere else; and, indeed,
he expressed the serious apprehension that
wewere approaching general famine, such
as had neUer been knosoa in this country.
Our merchants, in the present political
gloom Overhanging the country, are with
out credit abroad, and Of consequence are
unable to do anything for the relief of the
people. The $500,Q00 appropriated by the
Legislature of South Carolina to supply
corn, to which reference was made in our
last interview, proved an entire failure,
owing to the fact, L believe, that our State
boHds are worth very little in the present
state of the country. i,JuI se 1850
LIDO not suppose that matters are any
better, in the, State of Georgia. Perhaps
the general destitution is greater in these
two States than in any other. ali .,
The wants OF the country can be better
met by the shipment OF corn and meal than
in any other way. These might be sent to
depots along the. railroads and, be placed
ander the care of judicious committees,
who could either sell them at moderate
prices or distribute them gratuitously
among the poor, as might seem necessary.
1t will require, as l learned from a number
of judici0us and Observant men, several
hundred thousand bushels of corn to relieve
the distre s Of this State alone; but whatever
may be given will go just SO far to relieve
existing Distress = llasIs3- }-ffg.si. 81 <.
In concluding this hastily written letter,
would simply add that whatever may be
done should be done As speedily as possible.
Onr Christian people are greatly comfort
ed and cheered by what is being done in
Baltimore for the relief of our afflicted
church. .,e9g 4ari. z. l,,a a.5 / Z. 1H
Yours, with Christian and fraternal re-
gard, ar e.gsls. j. LEIGHTON WILSON.
Extracts from a letter dated Columbia,
South Carolina, March 1, 1867, written at
the request of the Rev. William Martin, a.
Methodist minister at Columbia, by one of
his children and addressed to DR.. j. Leigh
ton Wilson, who sent it to George M. Gill,
of Baltimore. DR.. Wilson fully indorses
the standing and character of the Rev. Will,
liam Martin: I
EARLY in the winter contributions for
the poor of South Carolina We're sent by
Governor Orr, who requested my father to
undeFealSe the distribution of Them and in
order to do this impartially, requested him
to ascertain, as far as possible, the condition
of the poor throughout the State. Acting
on this request, my father has for months
past been in correspondence with respon-
sible men in all parts of the State and has
learned the following painful facts: .,
THAT at least one hundred and yffty hOus-
and Bushels of corn must be brought into the
State {South Carolina1 for gratuitous dis
tribution to preueat actual famine; that there
are now IN many places NUN bers of per-
sons who are suffering for bread, who must
perish unless help comes speedily, and that
the suffering is by no means confined to
that class OF people who will beg, but that
the greatest suffering is among those who
are suffering from the reverse of fortune
brought about by the war, to whom beg
ging would be worse than death. -i
"Within sound of Columbia know of
tao deaths from actudL aoGnt, and from the in
telligence my father has received, we have
every reason to fear that these are not iso-
lated cases.
s.On my fathers pension list are the
names OF nearly tour hundred persons,
representing nearly fifteen hundred per-
sons, nearly all of whom are widows and
orphans. or disabled soldiers. These per-
sons are almost entirely dependent on the
help he (my father) receives from abroad
for subsistence. Richland, as you know,
is by no means the largest or most desti-
tnte district, and when 1 tell you that this
district includes RIchland alone, you may
Judge for yourself the state of the case. r
K have seen, sir, on many Of the bitterest
days of our severe winter just past, feeble
wan with starvation, walk ten, tif-
teen and twenty miles, scantily covered
with rags, with their babies in their arms,
20 receive a half bushel of corn, which they
are thankful to be able to carry home TO
heir starving children.
''Allow me to give you an extract from
J note just sent to my father from one of
,he commissioners of the poor 'Among
bur most needy are Mr.. Young, aged So;
Mrs. Cornelius, a soldiers widow, naked,
starving, with seven children, three idiotic,
md also her mother, aged so; Mrs. w.
Marsh, soldiers widow, five children; Mrs.
Cook, widow, having care of her sons.
'hildren, he being killed in the army And
70 the sorrowful list goes on"