The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1867-04-23
Distribution IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Distribution IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The writer of the following letter, (says the
Charleston Courier,) Colonel John B. Palmer,
was selected by GeneralE X Scott to distribute
the supplies sent by the Southern Famine Re-
/ lief Commission of New York city, in Lexington
! District, South Carolina. His statements may,
therefore, be received as trustworthy:
Il have received your note of the Goth ultimo,
statiog that your Commission hoped to send
other shipments soon, and that you would be
glad to know from me the present state Of desti
tuition in my district, and how far the corn
already received will supply it. Before en-
deavoring to reply to your inquiries, permit me,
in behalf of the destitute widows and orphans
of :his district, to thank you for what you have
already done. Your noble charity has brought
comfort and comparative happiness to many
desoated homes. $50 f-r' -
'.Tbe corn have received q commenced
issuing last week. cannot last more thar two
weeks longer, even with the very greatest care
exercised in the distribution. So DESTROYS am
that it should only reach the cases of real and
aggravated want, that l refuse many applications
that are undoubted really mertorious, and which
would, in your land of plenty, be considered i'm
perative. -...
Il have issued this morning, to about eighty
families, comprising, perhaps, four hundred
persons. omorrow [ shall issue, probably, to
nearly as many more. This shows restitution
of the most appalling character Some of these
poor creatures have come twenty miles, and have
| been two days dragging themselves to where
they mi ght receive the benefit of your bounty.
Many, however, live in my immediate neigh
borhood. .-..-. st..
Our stricken people are struggling faithfully
to ensure future subsistence. Instances have
come to my ledge of farmers, who having
lost their horses and mules, and being unable to
buy or hire others, are actually trying to break
up their old fields with hoes, in their desperate
efforts to raise scanty support for their families
during the coming winter. ... ...-.
1.-TWO cases of actual starvation have come
under my personal observation. was informed
of the serious illness of an aged widow and two
daughters, and, upon visiting them, found the
mother and one of the daughters in the agonies
of death, and was credhly informed that, for
some time, their sole subsistence had been the
refuse thrown into the streets and roads. l en-
couraged the second daughter by promising as
sistance, and she recovered, and was supported
by me till [ procured her employment. God
only knows how many similar cases might be
searched out In our famished land ..a.~
| 81 have before me letter from widow lady,
recently in ahluence, and whose family name
has been associated with one of the very highest
positions in our country, in which she makes
application for loan, to enable her to open
thread and needle store in which to employ her
daughters. She writes 81 have one small loaf
of bread in my house upon which my entire
family must dine. We have nothing for supper
and our Heavenly Father only knows where we
will procure our breakfast tomorrow" [ have
been shown a letter from lady, also reduced
from wealth to abject poverty, asking il there is
any corn for distribution to Of her class,
and stating that since the war she and her
daughter have barely supported themselves by
taking in needle work; but that now, SO great is
the restitution around them, she can procure no
employment of any kind, and that she is CON-
pellea most reluctantly, to seek relief from public
charity
"The great want will be experienced within
the next two or three months. The wheat crop,
when husbanded, will relieve many, but large
number must continue to suffer till corn, which
is the staple, is gathered" ~
The Sumter imam, of the 18th instant,
learns from source which it regards reliable,
that one or two burials of female whites have
recently occurred, near the line OF Kershaw and
Sumter Districts, in which the cause of death
was stated by the officiating minister to have
!, been want Of food sufficient to sustain life.
} RELEAsED.-Col. Scott one of the prisoners
: sent to the Dry Tortugas during the war, under
the charge of being SPY, passed through Holly
Springs last week, having, by the intercession OF
the COMMANDMENTS daughter, obtained his release.
1t is quite common, COL S. reports, for the pris-
oners to be severely dashed on their bare backs,
for the least imprudence indscretion. For
accidentally spilng a cup of paint, the Colonel
was severely punished. Among the prisoners
still in that horrible bastiIe are Col. St. Leger
Grenfel, Inspector General on Gen. Braggs staff,
} afterwards Inspector General fthc Cavalry of the
Army of the Tennessee, who has been severely
fogged number of times; and Mr. Alexander B.
Stewart, of Bolivar county, Mss. Mr. Stewart
was tried for arson, convicted, and sent to the
Dry Tortugas for life. The real offense was that
MIR S., in company with several gallant Confed-
crates, in 1868, made an attack upon the steamer
Ruth, between Memphis and Randolph, cap
tured and burnt the boat, taking and destroying
ahou: 81 900 900 in green backs.-Ho1ly Springs
Reporter.
WEALTH AND Poverty OF OUR PRESIDENTS
Jefferson died comparatively poor. Indeed il
Congress had not purchased his library, giving