The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-12
[Fyon, the Baltimore Ganette.1 Z
SUFFERING IN SOUTH CAROLINA

[FJon. the Baltimore Ga.ette1 y
SUFFERING IN SOUTH CAROLINA
We print elsewhere letter addressed to GEORGE
NJ. GILL, Esq, of this city, from Mayesville, South
Carolina. It is from the pen of DR.. r. LE1oHrot
WILSON, and depicts in simple and unaffected Ian.
guage the destitution of which he has been IN eve
witness. Extracts from another letter, written b,
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. are
also given. The statement of the Rev. W111Aa,
MARTIN is even more touching than that Of DR..
LEIGHTON, and of the truthfulness Of both there
cannot be q shadow of doubt. This CRY which now
reaches us from South Carolina has been repress.
ca until tho destitution has become 90
great that relief must be had from some
quarter or many moro deaths will in all proba-
biity, be added to the two which the writer re-
cords as Of his own knowledge occurring ssfrom
actual want" In this most pressing e1igency
tnese starving people seem to look once more to
Maryland for that assistance they cannot get ut
home and have nochope Of receiving elsewhere.
Our citizens have already been overtaxed by re-
spending to the many appeals which have been
made to them from different parts Of the South :
but with that confidence in their profound sympa-
thy and practical benevolence which their past
record Of good deeds inspires, it has been thought
on this occasion IN appeal to the Legislature might
not be in vain. To this end petitions have been
drawn up asking for assistance. Copies of tho
petition will be circulated among our citizens on
Monday and we sure, from the nature Of the case
and especially from its urgency, will be promptly
and numerously signed. A copy will alse De found
at the Office Of the Gazette, where signatures will
be received
Tho Suffering at the south-An Appeal.
MAYEsvn1E, 8. c., March %, 1867.
George M. G.a, Esq, Baltimore, Md.
My Dear ST. have just got back in safety to
my homo and family, and do not allow myself the
ordinary and necessary repose after long journey
distressed countrynen. re 5q.-s - ,y.s. {.
In one of our recent interviews in Baltimore, you
suggested that the City Council and the Legisla-
tion for the relief Of the suffering people Of the
Southern States: st that time 7 could not speak
confidently Of the actual or prospective sufferings
hundred miles through the heart of this State
with eyes and ears open, have come TO the con-
clusion that the distress Of the people is unprece
our friends IN other parts Of the country do not
come to our relief. Many Of our people are not
only destitute It, and x5heut credit which
means of cu1tivating their farms, and Of conse-
aqCpee Cp! must be even worse of the next year.
This distress is not confined to any one section
of the State, but prevails less or greater
tent in every portlon Of it,
A goodly number have raised cotton enough to
Parchase food, but the greater mass Of the people
have neither cotton, money, nor credit to buy the
food necessary to prevent their families from actu-
al starvation. ff-& i{ts. H.
tricts learn from good authority, the distress is
very great, and becomes every day more so In
Columbia, as learned from DR.. Adger, one gem
moro than four hundred families. From Judge
A1drich, with whom travelled some distance yes
terday and who has been travelling extensively in
great in the southwestern part Of the State as any
whore else, and indeed he expressed the serious
apprehension that we we're approaching o general
famine, such as had never been known in this
country. 71I74
0"r m. merchants, in the present political gloom
5zasa ~ y sss Tsthout credit
thing for the reiefof the people. The s5O0, ,ow
appropriated by tho Legislature OF South Carolina
TO supply corn, to which reference was made in
to tho fact, I believe, that our State bonds are
worth very little in the present state Of the coun-
try. HI
the State Of Georgia. Perhaps the general desti-
tuition is greater in these two States than in any
other. 458l 1sa. @..'
The wants Of the country can DO better met by
81 s. e aepots along e
committees, who could either sell them n 1t ~ moders
ate prices or distribute them gratuitousy among
the poor as might seem necessary. It will require,
servant men, several hundred thousand bushels Of
to relieve the distress of the State alone; but
whatever may be given will go just so far to re-
In concluding this hastily written letter, would
simply add that whatever may be done should be
done as speedily as possible. Nj
cheered BY what is being done in baltimore fSr the
{ Gsf of our afflicted church. % a ~, ae aH.s- rs
sours, with Christian and fEaternal regards,
q; ). LEIGHTON wilson.
Extracts from letter dated Columbia. & C..
March l, 1857, written at the request OF the Rev
William Martin; q Methodist minister at Columbia,
Leighton Wilson, who sent it to George NJ. Gill, Of
Dr.. Wilson fully endorses the etandine
and character of the Rev. William Marian
Of South Carolina were sent by Gov. or, who re-
quested my father to undertake the distribution Of
them and in order to DO this inpaEtaly, request
tion Of the poor throughout the State. Acting on
this request, my father has for months rasI been
corresponding with responsible men in an parts of
the State and has learned the following painful
THAT at least one hundred and ffty thousand
bushels Of corn must be brought into the State
vent actual famine, Tint there are now own IN many
places numbers Of persons who are suffering for
bread, who must perish unless help come speedily,
that class Of persons Who viii Beg. but that the be
greatest suffering is among those who are suffer-
ing from the reverse of fortune brought about by
the war, to whom begging would be worse than
death. ,,ss 81. e. ,... ,S i
. ''within sound Of Columbia I know Of two deaths
from actual want, and from the intelligence my
fnther has received I'VE have every reason to fear
that these are not isolated cases. 3S 'Sig 4
Son my fathers pension list are the names Of
nearly four hundred persons, representing nearly
fifteen hundred parsons, nearly all Of whom
are widows and orphans sor9 disabled soldiers.
These persous are almost entirely dependent on
the help he tnay father) receives hom abroad, for
subsistence. Richland, as you know, is BY no
means our largest or most destitute district, and
when tell you that this district includes Rioaland
alone, you may judge for yourself tho state Of the
case. sf$ i =i@T5s5a: N
st have seen, sir, on many Of the bitterest days
Of our severe winter just past, feeble women wan
with starvation walk 4 len, fifteen and twenty miles,
scanhly covered with rags, with their babies in
their arms, to receive half busheI ef corn, which
they are thankful to be able to carry horne to their
starving children. a. Il n
ALLOW. me to give you an extract from note
just: sent to my father from one Of the Commits
lsioners of the Poor Among err. .-scat needy ars
MI: Young, aged IS; Mira. Cornelius, . soldiers
widow, naked, starving, with seven Children three
al