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The South and West were the portions of the country in which the Famine
committed its earliest ravages; but before the close of 1846
considerable parts of Leinster and Ulster were invaded by it, and deaths
from starvation began to be recorded in those comparatively wealthy
provinces. In Maryborough, a man named William Fitzpatrick died of
starvation in the beginning of December. He and his family were for a
considerable time in a state of destitution. He tried to earn or obtain
food for them, but without success. At the inquest, his wife said that,
when she pressed him to eat such scanty food as they could occasionally
procure, he often said to her, "Eat it yourself and the children." A
kind neighbour, having heard how badly off this poor family was, gave an
order for some bread; but, as occurred in so many cases, this act of
Christian charity came too late. Fitzpatrick was unable to eat, and so
he died. At Enniskillen, a poor girl, who had been sent for Indian meal,
fell down near her dwelling and expired. She had not gone out more than
eight or nine minutes, when she was discovered lifeless, and clutching a
small parcel of Indian meal tied up in a piece of cloth.
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