St. Landry Democrat

LITERALLY STARVING.

The Terrible Condition of the Fishermen and Their Families On the Labrador Coast—The Catch a Failure and Starvation Invading Their Homes.

OTTAWA, ONT., October 6.—It has been officially announced here that the Labrador fisheries have proved a failure and that the inhabitants along that inhospitable shore are starving. The news came by way of St. Johns, N. F., a fishing schooner having put in there Thursday, bearing for the Government a petition from the inhabitants of Sandwich Bay stating that they were starving and imploring assistance before the winter sets in. The captain states that already snow has fallen on several occasions. Cod and mackerel seem to have vanished from the waters. The porgies fish have been so scarce that the oil factories have not been able to obtain sufficient to keep them running, and have consequently closed up for the season, throwing out of employment a large number of persons. These have been living on what they could beg. Articles of food have long since reached such fabulous prices as to be entirely out of the reach of the poor. The supply of flour is entirely exhausted. Scurvy has made its appearance, and many have died from it. The suffering of the women and children beggars all description, the little ones dying in the arms of mothers who have no food to give them, and cold and exposure complete the list of woes.

The news creates great excitement. The Government acted with promptness and hurried fuel and provisions on board a steamer which sailed yesterday. Several ships will be necessary to meet the demand, as the famine extends along the entire coast.