The Cork Examiner

(150 Years Ago Today)

May 3, 1847
THE NEW POTATO CROP-- APPEARANCE OF THE DISEASE.

We take the following extract fro ma letter this morning received from F. A. Jackson, Esq., of Inane, Roscrea:--

"It may be in your recreation that I sent you a statement last May, which you published in your newspaper, of my early potatoes being diseased. It was the first public notice of the appearance of the disease in this district, and many of our neighbours were incredulous on the subject, and disregarded the warning. I am sorry to be obliged to have the same story to tell again this year.

"The fatal spots have again appeared within the last few days on my early crop, which have now attained their full height, and are nearly fit to dig. They are unmistakenly infected with the potato murrain of the two last years, and about a fortnight earlier than they were last year. Whether the same is to be the fate of the general crop, sown and sowing this year, no man can say, but it looks bad." --King's County Chronicle.

May 5, 1847
CLEARING THE STREETS.

THE unfortunate creatures, who were lately stated to have been found huddled under the old guard house in Shandon Street, and to have been subsequently removed to the Workhouse, it appears were from the rural parish of Donoughmore. The men were employed upon the public works, but not receiving their pay regularly, their families were maintained by the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Lane, the parish priest, who, in compassion for their distress, lent them small sums for the purpose.

After the last reduction of the labourers, when they were paid up and dismissed, having no other resource, and also to avoid the shame of not paying their debts, they left the place, and came into the city. The poor of the district are now deprived of an active friend in the same clergyman, who lies in fever caught in the discharge of this clerical duties.

May 10, 1847
HORRIBLE DESTITUTIONS.

DONERAILE, MAY 5.-- A man named Galway was arrested by the Police, within two miles of this town for stealing a horse and killing him; he and his wretched family were actually partaking of soup made of the carcass when he was taken. He says he was without food for three days, and that he was on the look out for a sheep, a pig, or cow; but was disappointed, as those animals are all secured by night, and watched by day-- so he had no recourse but horse flesh, to satisfay the cravings of his appetite, and the hunger of his starving children.

He is one of the small farmer class, a class which has suffered more than any other during the present awful visitation, as holding a few acres of ground disqualified it from receiving any aid from a Relief Committee, or employment under the Board of Works. Poor Galway held about twelve acres of healthy land, called a "reagh," from George Crofts, Esq., Streamhill; and though never in good circumstances, used always to pay his rent, and has, I understand, even now some crops in the ground.

The Rev. Mr. Somerville, whose exertions in the cause of charity have been beyond any praise which the writer can bestow, but which have been duly appreciated by those who have benefitted by them, on hearing of the distress of Galway's family, immediately sent a supply of provisions, and will take care that they shall not be driven to the same necessity again.

The unfortunate man whose horse was killed, is of the same class as Galway, and his principal means of support, this time back was ploughing for hire.

Both parties live in the Manor of Donoraile; but in justice to Lord Donoraile, it is fair to state, that he is paid for the whole Townland of Streamhill, comprising (mountain included) about 1,800 acres, only £14 per annum.

Galway has been sent to Gaol.

May 14, 1847
CITY OPPOSITION TO OUT-DOOR RELIEF.

WE perceive, by the report of the meeting of the Local Board of Health held yesterday, that the MAYOR expressed his intention of calling a Public Meeting, in compliance with a requisition signed by some of the citizens, to petition against Out-door Relief. We know not the names attached to the requisition, nor any more of the matter than what we have seen in the report alluded to; but we have no hesitation in adopting the emphatic denunciation of Dr. LYONS against an intended opposition so inhuman and so cruel.

The Workhouse is filled beyond what prudence would suggest as safe to the health of the inmate, or that of the city. At most, it can shelter but a few hundreds more-- while every lane in the city has its hundreds of starving poor-- while every parish in the city swarms with THOUSANDS of destitute men, women, and children.

What, then, is to be done? Are the citizens of Cork, who can appear at a public meeting, to protest against giving relief to their fellow-citizens, because they are poor-- because they are wasting away-- because they are helpless, and at the mercy of the rich? Can it be possible that any man will publicly come forward, and oppose the only species of relief that can save thousands from death by starvation? Or; if they oppose Out-door Relief, what relief are they to substitute for it?-- What is their plan?-- who is to put it forth?

We write in haste; and shall, in the absence of fuller information as to the intended opposition, refer the reader to the emphatic observations of Dr. LYONS at yesterday's meeting of the Health Committee.

May 19, 1847
SUFFERINGS OF EMIGRANTS IN NEW YORK.

The paupers who have recently arrived from Europe give a most melancholy account of their sufferings. Upwards of eighty individuals, almost dead with the ship fever, were landed from one ship alone, while twenty-seven of the cargo died on the passage, and were thrown into the sea. They were one hundred days tossing to and fro upon the ocean, and for the last twenty days their only food consisted of a few ounces of meal per day, and their only water was obtained fro mthe clouds.

The miseries which these people suffer are brought upon themselves, for they have no business to leave their country without at least a sufficient quantity of food to feed them while making the passage. --New York Sun

May 24, 1847
TO AVERT FAMINE IN 1848.

The Agricultural Committees of Ireland recommend to all persons who have planted potatoes to guard against a loss, to ensure success by dibbling between the stalks, on the first day of June or so, parsnip or White Silesian sugar beet. If the potatoes take the disease in July, as last year, the stalks will whither away, and the other crop will take its place: and, instead of a loss, there will be a double crop of better food.

Stupid carelessness seems to pervade many small farmers, or culpable apathy, expecting their more intelligent neighbours, or the government to assist them, and make up for their want of energy. This will not do-- God expects every man to do his duty.

May 26, 1847
O'CONNELL IS DEAD!

THIS is the sad proclamation which it is our painful duty to make this day. O'CONNELL, the veteran leader of Ireland, the advocate of universal freedom, is no more! He breathed his last, at Genoa, on the 15th of this month, in the 72d year of his age. Full of years, full of honours, and full of woes, the Illustrious LIBERATOR of Ireland yielded up his soul to his CREATOR, by whom he was endowed with great intellectual powers and exalted attributes, to carry out the wise and merciful intentions of PROVIDENCE in favour of a stricken land and an enslaved race.

It was his anxious hope that he might be allowed to reach Rome, the centre of the Catholic World, and kneel at the feet of the PONTIFF who now fills the Chair of PETER. But that hope was frustrated by fate; and in the city of Genoa-- far, far away from the home of his affections, and the theatre of his glory, the LIBERATOR expired.

This is a sad and terrible announcement for this afflicted country, torn as it is by dissension, and decimated by famine and pestilence. O'CONNELL dead! --the only man to whom all turned with a feeling approaching hope, in the midst of national distress and national despair. He dead! --the only man who could right the sadly-tossed vessel, or infuse life and energy into the despairing crew. . .

May 28, 1847
STATE OF FEVER IN THE CITY.

NUMBER IN HOSPITAL THIS MORNING.

Fever Hospital	208	Vacancies	37
North Infirmary	120	Do.	0
Cat's Fort	111	Do.	3
Total in Hospital	568	Total Vacancies	44

Number of Patients admitted on Books of Cork Dispensary, 200; of which number there were recommended to Fever Hospital, 79.

The additional Fever Sheds, now being erected in the Barrack Street and Cork Fever hospitals, will be completed this day or to-morrow, by which further accomodation will be given to nearly 150 patients.

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