The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-12-09
DESTITUTIoN
Sad State of Affairs in Ar
kansas and Kansas. b..
Thousands of People at the
Point Of Starvation.
LEAyENwoRTH, KAN, Dec. 4.

SIR:-The newspaper accounts Of the
restitution and suffering in those sections
of the country visited by the drought and
the grasshoppers, are not cxnggeration$.
The picture
CANNOT RE PAINTED TOO DARK
to be untrue to the reality, and no pen,
| however gifted in description, can fully
/ portray the suffering and almost hopeless
condition, of thousands Of men, women
and children, in those unfortunate locali-
ties. And now, since the SHOWS of winter
have set in early, the suffering of the peo-
pie will be fcartully augmented before re-
| lief can reach them.
Having recently travelled over por-
| ton of the doomed districts" as they are
termed by the wobegone people who DC
cupy them, l am prepared to say what |
saw with my eyes and heard with my
ears"
In much of that portion Of Arkansas
watcrcd by the White River, evidences
of fearful drought are painfully preva-
lent. The corn-crib> and rickS are
empty; much of the stock has died. and
what remains is in an impoverished con-
diton; and the wolf is at the door of
many house that heretofore had plenty.
Approaching respectable looking
farmhouse that stood short distance
from the bank of the river, / was met by
the proprietor, whose care-worn, anxious
face, told of the terrible ordeal he and his
family were passing through. l address
cd him:
Are You the proprietor here"
Yes, sir; of what is left about these
premises, am the sorry proprietor!"
There seems to be much restitution
and suffering to this part of Arkansas"
God help the people! a calamity
like that which now rests upon us has
NEVER BEFORE BEEN KNOWN
in this State"
Didn't you make any corn and cot
ton this year,"
"Not any; hence our poverty and de-
spajr.' =, 49,.
Are your Sufferings caused by the
drought or by the grasShoppers?' | IN
quired.
strictly speaking, by neither" was
his reply. "You see, sill" he continued,
cup to the 10th of August last, our pros
poets for subsistence were tolcrably good.
The drought hurt tn" growing crops ins-
tcrially; but, up TO the date mentioned,
the indications were, that we would have
mt least "A halt-crop. On the morning OF
the 10th of August, IA warm, dry wind
commenced blowing from the northwest.
BY noon this wind had greatly increased
in force, and at midnight it blew vlo-
lent gale. For period Of fourteen days
and nights, and with but little or II"
abatement, did this
ENERyATING, wITHERING WIND
blow. On the third day after its COM
mcnccment, it was almost impossible to
face il from 9 o'clock in the morning
till 4 in the evening. 1t unneryrd the
STRONGEST and, To the face and hands,
That wind burned like blast from
heated furnace! Our corn ana "thcr
,rops were withcred to the ground; the
grass looked as though u fire had passed
over il: the smaller streams had complete
" dried up; many of our cattle n''"i
and hence the misfortune and the gloom
that now rests upon lis.
What do YOU think caused that wind!
| asked the gentleman.
IL don't know, sir. IL WAS an unusu-
al thing, sir: the like WAS never known
here before.
Did it create much alarm among the
. \ Great deal sir The more ignorant
CLASSES, and especially the negroes, VII"
are very superstitious, thought that some
crcat volcano had burst out to the NORTH
west; and Others supposed that the Day
of Judgment was at hand :.
This gentleman accompanied Us 10 va
rious places in his section OF the country
and pointed on, the dcStitution, and Al
most starvation, prevailing over large
portion of that region. -.
The Rev. Mr.. Womick, gentleman
we'll known in Northeastern Arkansas
has. at the earnest solicitation oil many
citizens. gone into Eastern Missouri ana
Central and Southern Illinois, to soilch
food-for the starving in the " hIte
River country. Aid must soon resch
them, or
MANY, WILL PERISH.
Passing up into the Neosho country
in Kansas, the restitution is even greater
tbon that in Arkansas. To the great
drought they had added the srasshopper
! SOURCE. The people, many OF them,
we're poor before this great caiamit! oe-
fel them; now they have absolutely
nothing to subsist upon, except what Is
mrted out to them by charitable hands. .
About As miles southwest of Fredonla;
in Kansas, is family by the name OF
Davis, formerly from Iowa. They have
no very near neighbors having. settled
ON - ;claim" in that new region. 4
.squa,ter's cabin" shelters them, it is true.
The five little children, clad in their rag
ged summer-garments, are illy-Prepared
to pass the winter, even if they had
abundant food, which they have not