Dore, and proceeded to the house where the body lay; the scene which
presented itself will never be forgotten by me.
"The body was resting on a basket which had been turned up, the head on
an old chair, the legs on the ground. All was wretchedness around. The
wife, emaciated, was unable to move; and four children, more like
spectres than living beings, were lying near the fire-place, in which
apparently there had not been fire for some time. The doctor opened the
stomach, and repugnant as it was to my feelings, I, at his solicitation,
viewed its contents, which consisted solely of a few pieces of raw
cabbage undigested.
"Having visited several other houses on the same townland, and finding
the condition of the inmates therein little better than that of the
wretched family whom I had just left, I summoned the Committee, and had
a quantity of provisions sent there for distribution by one of the
relieving officers; and then published in the Cork and Dublin papers a
statement of what I had witnessed.
"Many subscriptions were sent to the Committee in consequence, and I
received from an anonymous correspondent a monthly sum varying from L6
to L8, for a period of more than twelve months.
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