The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-03-09
EATING BARK OF TREES.
Pitiful Efforts Of Starving Chinese to
Sustain Life-Graphic Descrip.
ton of Conditions by An Ameri.
can Traveller.

Earl II. Cressy, an American, who
mas recently returned from tour of
inspection of the famine districts of
CHINA, relates many instances illus.
trat1ve of the fi'ightful conditions Of
starvation which prevailed early in
February. He made a minute exami-
natlon of many Chinese homes. De-
scr1Dlng an inspection of fifty-fiye
houses, large and small, in several
groups, Mr. Cressy. makes the fol-
lowing statement
aeAk1 iaatasa !
four yards. was fofiI ii oiiI
Seven houses out of the ffEEy-fiye.
and IN nc. place over a. peck of It.
Inc food in process Of preparation
was Invariably greens-sWeats potato
leaves. or carrot tops-a thin. acfid
smelling mass Of the appearance of
seagnant water and about as appetiz-
ing, only once in a while containing
a bit of vegetable or grain. About
one out of every three was eating
elm bark, which they prepare by re-
duclng it to a fine saWdust and then
making it into cakes. Whole rows
of trees have thus been stripped of
their bark. Of even such sorry food
as this only few have any great
amount on hand. After it is gone
they will eat the bark of the willow
and mulberry, which cause swelling
and hasten death. Except for these
the countryside is absolutely bare.
To look back upon it. the whole
seems like bad dream. The gloom
of the Wretched homes. the whirling
snow, driven by the bitter wind, the
hungry garrulousness of the old
women, the modest shyness of young
matrons at suddenly finding them.
solves in the presence of a foreign
man, little children crying over their
pitiful food, the dumb agony on the
face of the woman whom we had to-
tell that her husband had just
breathed his last, the dead with mum.
my faces and claW-like fetal this
is only a small part of the grim
tragedy of the famine where two and
a half millions are facing conditions
like these"
AS rapidly as contributions are res
ceived by the American Red Cross
they are hurried by cable to the re.
lief committee in Shanghai. Up to
the first of March $4,000 had been
Millions are needed, be.
cause the new grain crop in China
cannot be harvested for three months.
The New York relief committee, CO.
operating closely with . the Red
Cross, is urging every pastor in the
United States to speak to his con-
sregation on the famine on Sunday.
March 10, and to take a collection
sor the starving. The Red Cross ap-
proves this request and urges uni.
Fersal compliance with it. The
money thus collected may be sent to
he New York China Famine Relief
Committee, / Madison Avenue, New
York, or to the American Red Cross.
Washington. In either case the
amounts" received will be acknowl-
edged and promptly cabled to China.
Lewis Andrews, one Of two negroes
Vho murdered and robbed j. Keyes
0al1es at Talllnah, La, the night OF
Feb. IL, was taken from Jail at Ray.
Tille by few determined men, con-
Keyed to the scene of his crime and
hanged to a telephone pole the eve
1ing Of Feb. 25 The other negro
1as not been captured
Houston, Texas, had fire on the
Goth of February that destroyed prop
erty worth S6,500,000 on which there
vas insurance of S4,500,000. The
argest single item in the loss ac.
count was $4,000 bales of cotton.
7alued at about s2,000,o00.
A very interesting and successful