The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-08-19
RUSSIA'S AWFUL FAMINE.
Scenes In One of the scurvy-striciten
Famiifes--A Once Wealthy Village
Stricken by Double Misfortune.

Two days after reaching Tschistopol,
having visited the relief stations in the
north of the district In company with
Miss Jacobsen, Russian lady doctor
from Berne University, and five other
volunteers from st. Petersburg. drove
| over to the village of Novo, Ibralkino,
about seyenty-lve vsrsts 10 the south of
| Tchlstopol, and in the very heart of the
worst partiof the famine-strioken country,
writes correspondent of the London
Chronicle This village which contains
three thousand souls, all Iartars, and had
formerly been the richest In the district,
had been stricken by double mIsfortune.
In June Of last year 1t was destroyed by
| fire, 450 houses and twenty five persons
being burnt. Since then IL had been
built, all the houses on smaller scale.
| But before the people had recovered from
this misfortune the famine came and
completed the ruin. 1t was u typical
famiEe-stricken village. "Ihe fire does
not make 1t an exeption," said the man.
ager of the relief fund at Tchistopol
EVERY Tartar village has its fire once
| year." On arriving at this village i was
met by the starosta, middle-aged, help
less-looking Tartar. who spoke bud Rus
sian. and in answer Co my questions had
no information except thar everyone was
starving. There were only three rich
men in the village. "How many are
there down with scurvy9' eight hun
dred." ''What is being done to relieve
them?" "What can you do with SO many {?
The healthy folks have gone of to Kazan
for work. The young women are all
down with scuryy. The women are all
too weak &c go outside the huts. The
Red Gross Society has Teen here since
| January. But what can ono man ana
two women do. There is no money In the
village and no food. "
| 1t was to test this information that 1
set out neSt morning on = house-to house
| investigation of the village. before start
| ing had an opportunity of talking to
| the student who had heen IN charge of
the Red Cross depot. Ihis student was
| Russian edition of the Tartar starnsta.
"Mhat can you do with so many?" he
asked. "There is no money and there is
| no help. Four days ago some ladies came
| down from st. Petersburg with money,
| and things have improved. But the
| people are starving, and there is no food +"
Here n ct the popetchitel or patron of
| the Red Cross Society. the only Tartar OF
intelligence or initiative in the whole
village. In company with this man, who
spoke both Russian and Tartar, aud
member of the first party from st. Pet
ersburg who had already succeeded in
| gaining clear idea as to the state of
things, set out on q tour of the village,
visiting the huts at random. The state
of these huts is Understandable. The first
hut which entered belonged to a group
built on the side Of a hill. ali ab-
| solutely thatohless. In this hut, on the
mari or Tartar tlatform-bed. ley young
woman and four children, all down with
| scurvy. The woman's fhce was turned
away, and she made no attumpt to turn
round when / entered. The children lay
Oh their sides with their legs bent at
right angles unable to unhend them.
These children were frightfully emacint-
| Cd, but did not show the elightest desire
TO attract attention or ask for help, EXCEPT
one. boy of six or seven, who opened
his mouth and pointed to 1t. The boys
| gums We're completely covered with pur-
pie ulcers. and the whole inside of his
mouth was raw and bleeding. His
ankles were swollen to double their nat
ural size, and covered with bright purple
| patches. In this hut there was chunk
OF hard. black bread. and the walls were
completely covered with beetles sign,
was told. OF comparative prosperity.
Where there was no food, these beetles
were not found.
The next hut had only one inhabitant,
| a good Hooking Tartar, kayum KAkimof
as he described himself. This man was
lying on the boards covered with piece
of sacking, but otherwise entirely naked,
and there was no vestige of clothes in the
but. In appearances this hut was per-
fectly clean. bus the stencil from some
hidden cause was intolerable. The win
dows were plastered round, and 1t was
impossible to open them. This man 8
body was covered with sores, his teeth
were loose, and HIS legs, with the excep-
tion of few clear spots, were bright
purple from the knees down. He was
unable to bend them, Outside this hut
| sat an old man dressed in a dirty shirt,
nursing little two-year-old skeleton.
This old man was unable to move, and
had evidently been sitting in the came
place for days. what had the child had
to eatT, Bread. The child was very
well. The mother had died two years
ago, but the child was very WELL" "Had
any one seen the chiid?" 'No, he had
seen the Russian lady passing but she
had not seen him." saHow long was it
ssnce thsschild had had foodf" "Hs had
! had bread the day bsfore yesterday. He
himself had had bread that morning.