The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-03-01
TALE OF SUFFERING
SIX THOUSAND PEOPLE IN ONE NE
BRASKA COUNTY ON CHARITY.
F. NJ. Currier, Secretary of the Blue
Earth County Relief Committee
for the Nebraska Sufferers, has Re-
ceived the Following Letter Which
Will Explain Itself.
+. M. CURRIER,
MankatO. MINI.

My DEAR SIR am just in receipt
of your letter bearing date of the I'D
inst, inquiring as to the wants OF our
destitute, and | hasten to answer.
Have Just written out a message to
send you by telegraph, which will be
CSent from Gothanburg tomorrow even
ing. Our people are certainly in de-
plorable condition, there being now
about six thousand in our county
alone, who are wholly dependent up
on charity. We have recently bee n
abundantly supplied with clothing,
and any more would really be burden
for US to handle, as it is not needed.
But the outlook for provisions, such as
flour, potatoes, meat, beans, homlny,
etc., is certainly alarming.
So far we have been able to secure,
through donations from the east, hour
in sufficient quantity to supply our
needy, and that has been the chief
article of diet of most of our destitute.
There has not been enough other pro-
visions sent in, such as L mentioned
above, to make one square meal Tor
the sufferers of our township.
The way our people have been living
during the winter makes one shudder
to think Of it. Some localities have
Jared much better than we have
owing to their being near the railroad;
we being twenty miles from it makes
a great difference, and in fact we have
been overlooked, neglected, or at least
we do not get the same allotment that
the railroad points are getting. LII is
now almost seed time, and our needy,
which are many in this township, have
neither seed nor feed for teams while
putting in crops. Anything that your
people can send us in the way of prOvis-
ions, seed and feed for horses, will be
a boon to our people, for now is the
critical time.
We have but three sacks of flour now
on hand for all those hungry people
and not particle of anything else,
and nothing else in sight now, "a though
[ am in hopes that we will hear OF
something tomorrow. Our state relief
committee does us no good, and should
you ship anything to them intended
for us, ten chances to one that we will
never hear of it, at least that has been
our experience so far. OF course, if it
were sent to our county relief COM
mittee we would get part Of it, but
it would be indeed very little, as there
are tWenty-fOur townships in our
county, and we are forty miles from
our county seat, Broken Bow, which is
the committees headquarters.
| hope you will be able to do some
thing for us, and | assure you If you
see fit to send it to me that it will be
used among the needy.
| have had a great deal or clothing
sent to me for distribution, and have
handled so much of it with my Wife'S
assistance) that [ can't think about
anything else but old clothes, where
they go, and what great good it has
done our people to get them.
We have regular relief committee,
but under our present. state law, I'M
der which we are acting, no one, be
he ever SO poor and needy, can get
anything from this committee with
out an ironclad oath, and has two OF
his neighborS sworn to the statement,
and then these two atfidavitS
have to be acknowledged before a
notary public in town, and it is bur-
densome affair.
There are many of our needy who
will not sign or take this oath OW-
ing to their timidity and Of course
they must be reached in some way.
| have had money sent me from
three different points and have seen
that these backward ones have been
cared for as best | could with the
limited means, but now l have but a
few dollars left.
Now, in regard to the freight-we
have no money with which to pay
freight, except about $40 which have
on hand, sent me for charity, but Of
course [ could use that. [ am sure, at
least feel that way, that you will be
unable to get free transportation,
however you will no doubt be able to
get lower rate than the tariff.
Should you be so fortunate as to Sc
cure anything for us, ship it to Gala
way, Neb., Cush Co., as that is our
nearest railroad point, it being 20
miles
Hoping to receive favorable reply
from you soon, and thanking you for
the interest you have taken in our
Very truly yours,
A. G. HOFFMAN.
p. S. Send wheat and seed potatoes
and garden seeds are three things
which our people must have if they
stay here, and if they leave they must
go as paupers.