The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-24
DROUGHT BLICHTED LAND.
Great Suffering Among the Residents
Of Desolate Nebraska.
MOTHER AND CHILDREN STARvE
The Sufferers Unable TO Obtain Employ
ment and Merchants Cannot Longer
Supply the Necessities of Life With.
out Compensation A Desert.
BY the United Press.

BY the United Press.
Niobrara, Neb., Dec. 23.-The suffer-
ing among the inhabitants Of the
drought blasted parts of Nebraska, in
cluding three fourths of the residents
of five counties, is becoming more IL
tense by starvation. Three years ago
the farmers of these draught-blighted
counties raised a very light crop, and
the past two years the crops have been
almost total failures. Many families
have not enough provisions in their
homes for one weeks sustenance and
no money to purchase the necessities Of
life.
Many merchants here feel that they
have aided these poor farmers to the
extent of their ability, and are un-
able to do any more for them or sell
them goods on credit. The sufferers
cannot obtain employment and, un-
less they receive aid very soon, 1t Is the
general opinion that many will starve
to death, and should the weather turn
very cold many will freeze to death,
as 1t is a fact that many are barefooted
and have scarcely sufficient clothing to
cover their nakedness.
A mother and her two children were
found dead in their little cabin this
week. 1t Is supposed the mother had
been confined to her bed by sickness
and she and her two little ones starved
to death. The stomachs of the children
were opened and not trace Of food
could be detected.
There Is not a stream of water In
Perkins county nor living spring. The
roads and much of the prairies resem-
BILE asphalt, so hard packed and smooth
are they. Well diggers say that the
soil is solid mass $50 feet down, so
hard that picks have TO be used to
loosen It, over this smooth surface
the never ceasing winds blow from
every direction. They are filled with
minute sand particles and are almost
Tesistless.
They Eat Prairie Dogs.
Grant, Neb., Dec. 23.-President
Mason. of the Nebraska State Relief
commission, has been forwarded a
carefully prepared report of the num-
Der of destitute families in the differ
ent counties in this state where there
was a crop failure. The list is from
twenty-one counties and contains the
names of 1880 families, and 1t will re-
quire all the assistance that can be
procured to keep the people in the most
mt of necessities during the cold
VI months. In many instances peo-
.. he districts remote from railroad
fac. are said to be eating prairie
dogs.
A newspaper man made a trip the
early part of the week through the
most destitute part Of this county. A
few deserted sod huts and frame houses
were seen and there We're signs here
and there that some habitatlons had
been torn down and removed with the
other goods Of the owners when they
left 1t. In some cases farm implements
We're seen In the fields, and at dis
tance substantial granaries stood just
as their owners had left them.
The people of the drought-cursed sec
tions hope to have the legislature pass
measures of relief the first day the
body convenes. This may be done, but
all organized relief measures are abso-
lutely necessary to prevent many
deaths from starvation.