The Mankato free press., 1921-10-07
DYING FROM HUNGER
"a = - - Z
Famine Situation At the
Astrakhan Told
GREAT CHANGE IN CITY
Black Typhus Has Taken Terri
BILE Toll; Medicine Is
Lacking
rAssociatsd Press Dispatch !

Il
Astrakhan, Russia, October 81.
Hopeless groups of famine refugees
crowd the wharves of Astraknan,
which In happier times were filled
with tides of commerce Bitter rains
of autumn are falling almost contin
ually, and the first snow of the Russ
sian winter has whitened the roofs of.
the buildings. but the throngs of inn
migrants have no, shelter while they
wait, perhaps vainly, day and night
for transportation to the KAban and
Don regions, where they can obtain
food.
The traveller who has seen Russia
in times Of plenty may expect to meet
with a rosy. round faced people. Dis
ilusionment Is in store for HIN, how
ever. for everywhere he sees thin
ly stretched tight across the cheek
bones. He remembers as Trakhans
az q city filed with Industries and
commerce, but he finds it but a shad-
ow OF its former SELF Its, caviar and
fishing Industries are estimated to
have dwindled nearly 20 per cent.
Where once 1000 ships daily sailed
up and down "Mothre Volga" there
are now barely one hundred.
Bread Proves Fatal
Death seems to dog the footsteps
from starvation, but many hungry
children and adults die from the frst
food they eat, the very bread they
have striven for proving fatal to them
in their weakened condition.
Disease has played its part in the
ruin of Astrakha,n. Black typhus
tooka terrible toll during the winter
Of 1919 1920. not only i'm districts
further north, but in this city, Forty
out Of every hundred physicians died
during the scourge. During the past
summer Asiatic cholera and malaria
have carried off thousands Of victims
When one asks the people the cause
OF the present terrible condition, the
inevitable answer is: There has
been no rain" The only ray in the
gloom is the fact that the potato crop
was slightly larger than usual, and
for the moment this crop is helping
in the solution of the direct develop
ment.
Medicine is Lacking
Medicine cannot be found here. In
the entire province OF Astrakhan.
which measures 5000 square miles.
there are only 500 grains of quinine,
is Is declared The correspondent OF
The Associated Press has visited sew
eral homes where malaria patients
are lying. In each he has found the
mothers or wives of sufferers sitting
in blank despair saying: I'VE have
no quinine; we can do nothing"
A floating hospital Is maintained at
one point in the Delta of the Volga,
where sick sailors are taken from
Caspian sea vessels, and one hundred
deaths from undernourishment and
and lack of medicines occurred there
in August. DR.. Novanoff, in charge
Of this hospital, wept for joy when
given supply Of quinine and castor
oil.
Grim Famine Tragedy
Along the western coast Of the Cas-
plan, stands the island of Shiloh,
where one of the grimmest tragedies
Of the famine was recently enacted.
Mariners noticed the lighthouse on
the island was darkened and, landed
to investigate. They found in the
light house the twelve keepers all
dead from starvation
They bad eaten their shoes and had
boiled fur skins to maintain life, and
one had succumbed, the light, going
out when the last Of the twelve sank
In death.