Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-27
FAMISHED.
lIoHrY PERSONS IN LABRADOR rI1.
ISL OF HUNGER.
Neither Fish nor Flour corpsss Of Hen,
Women, and Children strsvn
Along the Coast.

A St. Johns IN. F.) special ssys:
The Csnadian Government will send .
steamer from Quebec to the coast OF
Newfoundland and Labrador to carry
such donations as charitably disposed
persons may desire 10 send TO the
starving people there. In Quebec alone
over 81 900 worth Of provisions have
been subscribed so far, and it is bs.
lieved Ontario will do ss much or more.
The Newfoundland Government Is not
in Q position to give the immediate aid
which the necessities Of the case de-
mand.
TERRIBLE SUFFERING.
The suffering of these starving, i'll
clad fishermen has been known for over
. month, but the above is the first step
taken to relieve their distress. Dspu-
tation after dsputation has applied for
aid in vain, and the Indian guide and
Government interpreter, who has Just
returned from Cape Chidley, the OF.
treme northwestern point Of Labrador,
reached by sledge, gives . heartrsnd-
irg account Of tho terrible destito-
ton and suffering which the Esqui-
maux and Indian farmers are en-
during along the Labrador coast. On
Cape Chidley $50 souls are distributed
over On aresr Of several miles. The
entire food supply gave out early in
March. The seal catch was very small.
As the season wore on the seals failed
to come near enough 10 shore 10 be
caught.
The cold was intense, and many Of
the older people died Of exposure and
lack of nourishment. On June liz,
when the guide left, the mercury stood
at eighteen below zero, and had been
lower.
EIGHTY PERSONS DEAD.
The ice for several hundred miles Was
solid for . depth Of from ten to one
hundred feet, and snow was piled
mountains high. At least eighty per-
sons have perished since March lst be-
tween Cape Chidley and Cape Mugford,
and only four survivors were found In
the rude shanties along the coast.
These accompanied the guide 10 Cape
Mugford. The bodies Of eighteen VIC
tins were found frozen stiff. The
clothing had been taken from them,
evidently to keep life in the bodies
of the miserable survivors who in
turn had died while out fishing or after
seals. Seventeen bodies were found
along shore. Twenty.four persons, in.
Guiding six women and three small
children, are known to have psrished ct
Cape Mugford, where on June Goth
there were only twenty barrels Of meat
and forty barrels Of contour. The
potatoes had been gone since early in
MAY. There were less than one hun
dred quintals Of fish, and no clothing in
store at all. The residents, numbering
about three hundred persons, were
worn and pinched from famine and cold.
In the outlying districts at least ono
half of the population had succumbsd
to the grim destroyer.
A GLOOMY PROSPECT.
There was no sign Of the ice break.
ing up, and tho natives had nothing to
exchange for food or clothing. Seventy
five Esquimaux from Astoria, six miles
from the cape, made sn attack on the
stores at Mugford. The men were rem.
dered desperate by their suffering aud
that Of their wives.
FURTHER PARTICULARS,
lBy telegraph TO the Dispatch.I
ST. JOHNS, n. F., July 26.-Fur-
ther particulars of the distress among
the fishermen Of Labrador have been 70.
ceived. Seventy Esquimaux, who de-
manded food from stores at Mugford,
which could not be given them, owing
to the needs Of the inhabitants and the
small supply, made rush for tho hsr-
Dor storehouse, where -four and fish
were stored. Men Of small settlements
gathered to defend their only hope ofex-
istence and desperate fight ensued, in
which four Of the marauding Esquimsux
were nearly killed and two Of the store
house defenders were seriously injured.
The Esquimaux, finding that they could
not obtain food by force, retreated, and
sent in several of their number to ask
for small quantity Of food, which,
they said, was absolutely necessary to
the continued existence of their wives
and children. Two hundred pounds Of
flour and about fifty pounds Of frozen
cod were given them.
Itwas reported that in Astoria alone,
out Of thirty.fye or forty families, or
q total Of 200 persons, over 100 had
died. In Main, had it not been for tho
seal industry, not Q soul would be liv-
ing. In Webuck and Indian hsrbors
fish is the only food beside corn-meal.
They have had no vegetables since
March lst, and the people are almost
without clothing. At Hopedsle not
over twenty-five families remain out oi
the entire former population. Eighty
persoDs-forty.iive squsws and thirty.
five children-died from starvation in
June alone.
The Okksh Indians are suffering
greatly, twelve persons having died out
Of the l25 who made up the tribe. The
whole settlement is on the verge Of
starvation. The places spoken OF do
not include the whole district where
there is to be found dcstitution aud
death. In the country lying back from
Okkah. Hopedale, Main. and Cape Mug
ford there is . large number Of fami-
lies, most Of them Indians or Esqui-
maux, among whom the suffering Is
really greater than it is in the more
thickly populated settlements.
In New Foundland along the north
coast there is great destitution. From
Cape Bauld to Hearts Content hum
dreds are in . dying condition. In
White Bay alone forty-two persons died
last month, and no one knows how many
since. Not less than 800 persons
must have perished, but tho exact
figures can never be known, owing to