The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-03-04
.EUROPE'S STARVING.
Further Details Of the Suffering
ia Russia and Elsewhere.
THE DESPERATION OF DESPAIR

The Famine Changing peasants OF
the Cars Dominions Into Wild
Beasts-vilIages Becoming Depop-
uiated-Disease Adds to the Dis
tress Prevailing in Hungary.
LONDON, March Am English special
correspondent, who is travelling in the
| famine district of Russia, writes from
5aratoff that crimes of violence in the
yalley of the Volga are of frequent oe
:urrence. Clergymen's houses nave
been robbed, and the bodies of murdered
men are found on the highways. The
correspondent was warned of the dangers
Vt travelling about the country, and he
seldom drove at night. Caravans of
merchandise are escorted by an armed
force.
The correspondent says that while he
was sleighing on the Volga one evening
he was tracked for half an hour by a
ragged, i'll looking peasant, armed with
musket and cudgel. 1t was his inten-
ton to signal the approach of the CORE
spondent to an ambush prepared by rob-
| bers who infest both sides of the Volga.
| The correspondent showed his revolver
and the peasant retreated.
Villages Depopulated.
The writer adds that the villages in
the government eof Samara, which
were prosperous in 1885, are now plunged
into the deepest misery, and the popula-
ton has been decimated. In one village
3,765 of its 1856 inhabitants have emf
grated. Of these remaining 1880 are
dependent upon charity. In three
months the people of this village have
lost 4,038 head of live stock. They are
indebted to the state in the sum of 49,
$50 rubles.
Similar conditions prevail in other vii
lagos Forty thousand acres of land are
idle in the province of Samara, owing
to a lack of seed wherewith to plant this
area. A large number of the German
colonists live in holes in the earth for
warmth. They eat bread made of wild
hemp and the carcasses of horses. This
diet causes severe and often fatal nausea.
The Desperation of Despair. Sxa
The famine is changing the peasants
into wild beasts. In one case a man at
tempted to hang his daughter because
she had not been successful in begging
- ACtiA ~ VI Net1 uO sSlNCll W Il DCdSiuu,
who began to devour it with the avidity
of famished wolf. While he was in
the act of gulping down the bread he
fell into fit.
Speaking of the resources of the coun-
try the correspondent says that the land
in the basin of the Volga is exhausted,
and the climate is changing. He sug-
gests that 100000 of the German colo
nists be assisted to emigrate to Canada
and the United States. They are fine
race, he says, and would make success
full colonists in those countries.
The Distress Elsewhere.
ST. PETERSBURG, March "A meet
ing has been held at the residence of
Charles Emory Smith, the United States
minister, of persons interested in the
establishment of system of relief for
lepers in Siberia. 1t was decided to open
subscriptions to establish leper colonies.
Twenty thousand rubles have already
been collected for this purpose.
BUDAPEST, March 2.-The inhabitants
of Arva, the northermost county of Hun
gary, are suffering from epidemics of
typhus and other deadly diseases, in ad-
dition to the famine which is prevailing
there. The people are reduced to such
straits for food that they are compelled
to eat the barks of trees and pine cones.
VIENNA, March 2.-The list of sub
scribers to the burgonaster's fund for
the relief of the unemployed is headed
by the emperor with contribution of
S2,500 The Springer Bros. give SIS 900.
There was another free distribution of
bread and meat to the needy poor yes
terday..
Half a Hundred Prisoners Escape.
INDIANAPOLIS, March Indianapolis
was visited by another startling fire last
night, and it was feared for while that