Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-02-11

|
kill their little ones rather than listen
to their cries of distress and see their
sufferings.
One letter received here SAYS; ia
the towns men have become like raw
enous dogs They snatch from your
hand whatever You may be eating.
Besides those who are every day
thrown into the common pit | OBJ
serve In the crowds invading the town
many of those whose days are mum
bered already. The complexion of the
people has turned dark Blood no
longer animates their yellow skins,
Children, ordinarily round and plump,
resembling stuffed dolls, display their
under structure of bones. have seen
such skeletons that | wondered how
breath still fingered in them. Their
feet dangle and turn in any direction,
SO loose have become the tendons and
muscles. With the best of care 1t
would only be possible to fan for a
time the spark of life to see 1t finally
extinguished Women and children
are being sold or given away. In.
fantcide is increasing on terrible
| o'oiSs iiiN plbihiiy ibOu Ol tHt
wolves will be living babies. which
as in the last famine, will turn them
| into fierce maneaters.'
| The same writer says that the pa
gans at the present moment are de
yeloping their worst traits 1t is Il
common thing to hear such appeals
as buy my land or | will kill my
SELF give me a morsel of bread oi
| will destroy myself at your door"
"Appease my hunger" says a famine
voice, ''and l will follow YOU" A
mother says: Take my child for
paltry aims or husband will say
My wife is yours forever for a few
strings of copper"
| These statements are corroborateu
by other writer's. Men and women
| hunt for food in savage bands. Moth
| ing that might appease their appe-
tites escapes them. Fierce fights
among themselves frequently follow
when they overtake prey.
| While the famine is said to be worst
in Shansi, it is almost as bad in Shen-
81, which is particularly interesting
now because it is in that province
that the court has taken refuge. The
court is literally surrounded by these
| horrors. 1t is little wonder that the
emperor and dowager empress are
ready to sacrifice almost anything to
| bring about conditions that viii en-
able them to return to Pekin. The
| presence of the court in Shensi aggra
| Yates matters.
This is owing to the fact that, at
a conservative estimate, %, 900 extra
mouths have to be filed. There are
| 10000 soldiers alone in the neighbor
hood of Singan Flu, and 5000 is a small
| estimate of the number Of Official re
tainers who are with the court. OF
| course, great quantities of provisions
have been sent from other provinces
| for the use of the court but these
have been insufficient for $4,000 per
| sons, all of whom get full rations AZ
| the expense of the starving people.
! The government has been dong what
it could to relieve the sufrerings, but
| its efforts have been marked by very
| little success. because food in sufli-
cient quantities for distribution can
not be obtained.
The population Shansi is $4,000, 900
and of Shensi 100000
In connection with the famine mis-
cry it is interesting to know that the
| dowager empress, the emperor aud
high state officials are living in Chi
nese houses, which at the best are
miserable apologies for residences for
| the royal family. The yameu OF the
1 <,f = he. H..
moved to Kansu where it will be fit,
ted up for the court. This, however.
| will be but miserable substitute for
the buildings in the Forbidden City,
BAKU, Russia, Feb. lit is now
reported that five hundred people are
dead as the result of the great fire
yesterday which destroyed twelve
million gallons of naphtha. The de-
struction of property WAS grcat. The
loss is tremendous.
GREENVILLE. Pa, Feb. IA rail
road wreck occurred near here this
morning. Fifteen people are report
ed killed and fifty injured.
CLEVELAND. o., Feb THE
train wreck on the Erie road, in which
IL was reported that twenty persons
were killed, proves not to have been
quite SO disastrous The fatalities
so far number seven, and fifteen are
seriously injured.
Among the latter is Edward Strauss
conductor Of the Strauss orchestra
which was to appear Ia Philadeiphip
tonight. Strauss is in delicate health
and the shock of the accident it Ii
thought probable will have a fatal
result.
WEST POINT, N. Y, Feb. 7.-or
ders were received here yesterday
from Washington directing the super
intendent of the military academy to
take the necessary steps to graduate
the first class OF cadets February IS
The class is composed OF scveaty
four men. Cadet Fred l.. Dean, ol
Texas, is the only man who &c
knowledged during the recent inyes
tigation the hazine of the late Cadei