Sentence:  “... with bandits and robbers roving over the land in these <WSD>evil</WSD> times of famine and war, how can it be said that this one or that stole anything? Hunger makes thief of any man.” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.