Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1878 — Horrors of the Famine in China. [ARTICLE]

Horrors of the Famine in China.

A correspondent engaged in the relief work in the Northeast of China writes, “ People of all ages die of actual starvation by thousands. The famine extends over a district which includes, at least, 5,000 villages, and in these latter together I am certainly within the mark in saying that 500 die daily, perhaps 1,000 may bo within it. A few days ago I traversed the worst part. Thousands upon thousands have perished already. Houses are pulled down in every village to sell the timber and thatch in order to get food. Those who can get husks and dry leaves, ordinarly used for fuel, are considered well off. Most ol.thQ. noor young girls had been s old ; old men, middle-aged, young men, and children die daily of sheer starvation, and others freeze. The dead cannot get a burial; thfey sfte td& many, and none can afford tbe expense ; so they are cast daily into large pits.” This is a description of what happened last year. This year even worse horrors are reported. The people at Shansi sere said to be living on the corpses of tfieir fellow beings who die of starvation I And the strong are killing the weak for the sake of obtaining their flesh for food! Up to the present time the principal relief has come from the Christian missionaries, Protestant and Boman Catholic, who have distributed among the sufferers the funds subscribed by their communities in the open ports.