Ottumwa weekly courier., 1878-05-15
SUFFERING In CHINA,

Morning Herald.
The piteous tales Of woe from the
famine stricken districts of China
which have just reached me, describe
the desolation caused by the want OF
food there in such moving terms that
I am led to send you an abstract in
the hope of moving charitable people
in this land to help. The portions OF
Shansi territory, described in the let.
ter received, are now probably beyond
our reach, for such destitution must
soon depopulate the land; but on
their borders. nearer the seashore,
there are myriads that can be reached
and their lives saved by timely re-
lief. The total yet sent in from all
the eastern states can not much ex.
ceed 5000, and from Great Britain
about fl4,OO0, has gone.
The writer is T. Richards, an En-.
glish missionary, living in the capital
Taluen, who made a journey abou,
the first of February to see for him
self what was the state of the distric,
south of that city. abridge the re.
port, which bears the marks of care.
full exactness and good sense in deal.
ing with the misery around him.
January 29.-There was fall OF
one inch of snow in the night. Saw
four dead on the road and one NOV.
ing on his hands and knees. One OF
the dead was a boy about 10 years old
carried by his mother she laid him
on the snoW.
"January 80. One of the two bod.
les just passed was well dressed and
could not have been poor man; just
beyond them I met one staggering
along the road, like drunken man,
and as l looked puff of wind blew
him over to rise no more.
"January 3l.-Passed IA dead, some
of them stripped of their Clothes
One corpse was 80 light that middle
sized dog dragged it about. Some
were lying face downward, and one
still had it's winding sheet of snow
on, showing that there were no foxes
or wolves about. talked with an
old man while climbing a hill togeth.
er, after we had just passed q youth
lying dead, and he said in the most
touching manner, Our mules and
donkeys are all eaten up, our labor
ers are all dead how is it that Heav-
en- lets US people die like this?' In
one place notice declared that those
who rob and steal shall be put to
death without mercy.
"February l.-Besides four women
and two men seen unburied near the
road, l met two youths, apparently
brothers, Is to Is years old, moving
along like men Of 80, on their slaves
then young man carrying his moth.
er on his back, just ready to breathe
her last. Saw two heads put up in
cages, . warning to those who rob OF
steal, and many hats aud shoes along
the roadside, but no bodies,
February Saw q group of 3 ly.
ing together, who appeared to be q
father, son and grandson. On the
snow were marks of . struggle and
blood, but no body near. Two more
heads hung from the trees in cages
For miles many of the trees were
stripped of their bark five, ten and
twenty feet above the ground fol
food. Several houses were passed
with doors and windows open, jar
and other utensils inside; nobody
was left, and nothing had been touch
ed, for they could not be turned int
money nor food.
Beyond this I was gladened by tn,
sight Of wheat appearing from under
the snow for q distance of ten miles
where the springs had furnished wa
ter for irrigation. The people told
me that last season the crop was yer.
promising up to the time Of blowing
then q sudden flood and mildev
blasted their hopes, and left then
nothing but straw.
"February 5.-This afternoon, a
Hungtung, we saw the dead actuall,
heapeG on each other. On the mai
street was man lying dead with tn
edge of big stone between his teet
l-he expired biting stone. Say
two men grinding something YER
dark, and on going near learned tha
IL was the husks of millet mixed wit
old cotton wadding. Peoples are no,
Ipulling down their houses for fue
for coal is too dear for them.
February I'll bought three ston
cakes, which l saw men eating. ]
was the same stone as our soft ston
pencils (probably talcose slate), an
is pounded to dust and mixed wit
millet husks and baked. 1t does nc
look bad, but tastes like what it is
. dust. This was the worst day of th
Journey. There were more dead bod
les on the roadside than before whe
we went by; we counted 80 in dis
tance of Is miles. Some Of theI
seemed to have been robbed and lei
to die; one still moved, though uI
conscious of any one passing by
Another headless trunk proved tn.
; some murdered as well as robbed.
WAS away from my house fourtee
] 'dsys, and send an account Of only