The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-12-31
HUNDREDS DESTITUTE
MANY SUFFERING AND OTHERS HAVE,
DIED OF STARVATION.
Whole Counties i'm Western Nebrnska
Where the Want of Food and
Fuel Is General.

DENVER, Col, Dec 30-The Rocky
Mountain News has received several spe-
cial dispatches from western Nebraska
telling of the restitution and distress pre-
vailing among the inhabitants of the
drought-stricken districts. dispatch from
Hastings says:
Terrible restitution exists in Perkins.
Chase. Dundy. Lincoln, Hays, Hitchcock
and frontier counties, and the worst feat
ure Is the people in several localities are
afflicted with scurvy for want of whole
some food. The State relief committee
finds itself unable to relieve all the people,
so great is the demand for aid. The rail-
road men report that since the cold snap
no less than a dozen people have persisted
i'll the above counties in the past two days
for want of food and fuel
Hundreds of families are without coal,
and in the border counties, where no trees
or brush exist, the poor people had a hard
time 20 keep from freezing to death. In
Perkins county restitution is complete.
over six hundred families are appealing
for help. Near Lisbon the wife and two
children of settler Burns suffered for want
of proper nourishment and clothing to
cover them. In Hitchcock county the wife
of one of the settlers gave birth to twins
could reach the home the poor woman
pired for want of sufficient food and atten-
ton. The twins are still living, and in
charge of charitable neighbors.
Coal is most needed in the drought dis
trict, and Mr.. Ludden. of the State relief
committee. and General Manager Hold
redge, of the Burlington & Missouri River
Company are doing everything in their
power TO forward supplies to the more des-
titute localities Very few of the farmers
in the border counties have any stock left,
having let their cattle and horses roam at
large. Stock is being driven out of the
State to prevent starvation.
Corn planted in eight or ten of the West
ern counties never reached height OF over
six inches, and contains no more nourish-
ment than sage brush. People are living
In covered wagons by the hundreds rather
than face starvation and freeze TO death.
One of the first acts of the Legislature,
which convenes next Tuesday, will be TO
pass suitable appropriation for the relief
of the sufferers. More or less restitution
exists in every county from the Colorado
line east to Hall and Adams counties, and
the various relief committees are over
whelmed with appeals for aid"
North Platte reports: 1T Is ract that
there have been many cases of suffering
and hunger among the drought sufferers in
Lincoln and Logan counties. Many families
have only potatoes and milk to live on now,
with no hay or grain for their stock through
short time will be unable TO supply the in
creasing demands for the necessities of
life. The overseers of the poor state that
there are more caHs already than the
county can supply, and unless aid comes
from the outside there will be many deaths
from hunger and want OF clothing this
winter"
A dispatch from Curtis says: Great dis
tress prevails throughout this and surround
ing counties owing to crop failures the past
two seasons. Relief committees have been
solicitors sent East for aid. Several car
loads of goods have been received. This
has alone prevented suffering among the
people and stock. The outlook Is extreme
ly dark owing to the scarcity of food and
seed grain. the two. articles now most need
ed
Lincoln dispatch says: 1.-THE State re-
lief commission has fifty families on it's
the most distressing reports come in from
all over the western part of the State
lating to the woeful lack of food and cloth
ing. No deaths certainly attributable to
starvation have yet been reported. al
though it is claimed that a woman and
two children found dead in cabin near
Niobrara the morning before Christmas.
died from lack of food and care. There
thousands who could not Withstand the
r.gors of a cold spell without aid, which is
| relief committee wherever IL is known TO
|, be needed. Relief supplies are being re-
ceiyed from all over the country and
shipped directly to the needy in car lots.
Help from North Carolinn.
! RALEIGH. n. c.. Dec 30.--A call was
issued to-day for a mass meeting of the
citizens OF this place for the purpose Of Sc
curing food and supp les to be sent to the
10 fftfa a-la