Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1894 — STARVING IN TEXAS. [ARTICLE]

STARVING IN TEXAS.

TALES OF HUNGER, DEATH, AND DESOLATION. ▲ Once Proeperoua. Regloi, on Which Nature Bestowed Her Choicest Gitte, Now a Vast Desert, Strewn with the Bones of Cattle—Untold Suffering Along the Bio Grande. The Rio Grande Valley might be likened unto the valley of the shadow of death. Where a few years ago thousands of head of cattle, horses, sheep and goats grazed on luxuriant and nutritious grasses is now a floor of sand and alkali. Buzzards and wolves are all that is left in animal like, except a few destitute and starving families. In vegetation nothing is se?n except the great green cactus, with its forbidding thorns, which secure it against an attack of even sheep and goats. In Starr, Zapata and portions of Encinal, Hidalgo, Cameron, Dimmet, Maverick and Duval Counties in the extreme southwestern portion of the State the direst want prevails. In Starr County the situation is more deplorable and the ruin and desolation more widespread than in the adjoining counties, but in sections of each the same awful and gruesome state of affairs is manifest. Until four years ago this section was one apparently most favored by nature. Vegetation was rank in growth. The mild, salubrious climate lent a charm to life, and all was prosperity and happiness. Cattle and sheep thrived and fattened on the wild grasses, and with little effort in tne way of cultivation the husbandman garnered enough to supply all needs. In the more favored localities, where springs were numerous, little villages had been established and a large population was contentedly living, deriving its income from the vast stock and sheep industries. All this has been transformed. The scene shifted and the white, bleaching bones of animals covering the ground for miles and miles is all the eye now meets. No crops have been raised or harvested for four consecutive years. Even the springs have dried up. The scene presented is that of a vast desert, with nothing to relieve the monotony. A Sad State of Affairs,

To increase the want and misery, hunger has attacked mankind as well as the dumb animals, and many have died praying for bread. For a time the poor subsisted on roots and prickly pears, adding half putrid flesh stripped from dead animals which the buzzards had not completely devoured. The little Mexican children are naked, and the older ones without clothes t> cover their bodies. Taking Starr County as an example, fully 90 per cent, of all live stock has perished. A year ago there were in that county 22,000 horses, 55,000 cattle, 125,00) sheep, and 25.000 goats. To-day there are not all told in the county more than 10,0)0 head of four footed animals. Wealthy men are bankrupt and absolutely starving. What is true of Starr County applies to portions of other counties. The better to give some idea of the distressing state of affairs, some of the losses sustained by ranchmen are: F. Garza last August owned 2,500 sheep, 160 cattle and 80 horses; he has 2 horses, 10 sheep and 1 cow left. E. Gonzales, 1,20) sheep; has 25 left, all other stock dead. C. Gomez, 2,50) sheep, 600 cattle, 1)0 horses; 60 sheep left, cattle and horses all dead. C. and P. ranch, 4,000 sheep; 300 left. E. P. ranch, 1,500 sheep; all dead. Peterson Brothers, 2,000 cattle and horses; about 150 left. This list might be extended indefinitely, but this will suffice to show the condition of the country. So grave has the situation become that all hopes have been abandoned. The gnawing pangs of hunger are being felt by all alive, and scores are falling victims to starvation. The drain upon the more f ortunate has been so steady that they cannot longer help one another, and they have appealed to the charity of the world for contributions of money, clothing, or provisions of any kind. As far as the live-stock industry is concerned, the agony is over, as the animals’ bones now strew the once green pastures. It bee o nes necessary to feed the living, and remove them to other localities where they can begin the-battle of life anew. Mass meetings have been held at some of the near-by towns, and preparations are now going on to relieve the suTerers.