e amongst the earliest, if not the very earliest,
of the famine-scourged districts; and their story was well and feelingly
told by special correspondents, and, above all, by Dr. Donovan, the
principal local physician, whose duties placed him in the midst of the
sufferers. There can be no doubt that even at this comparatively early
period of the famine, parts of Connaught, especially Mayo, suffered as
much as Skibbereen, but the results were commonly told in briefer terms
than in parts of the South. "More deaths from starvation in Mayo;"
"Dreadful destitution in Mayo;" "Coroners' inquests in Mayo." Such are
the headings of brief but suggestive paragraphs, during the latter part
of November, and all through December. Many of the Mayo inquests may
have been the occasion of more dreadful revelations than even those of
Skibbereen, but they did not receive the same extensive and detailed
publicity. Here are two or three starvation cases from that county.
Patrick M'Loughlin, in the parish of Islandeady, was ordered by the
Relief Committee a labour-ticket, in consequence of earnest
representations as to his starving condition. He did not get the ticket
for five days, he, his wife and five children not having a morsel of
food in the interval. Having at length obtained the ticket, he produced
it, and went to labour on the Public Works. He got no pay for the first
three days, and in the meantime his wife died from actual starvation.
Being unable to purchase the timber for a coffin in which to bury her,
poor M'Loughlin held over the remains for upwards of forty-eight hours;
but yet anxious to earn what would give her decent sepulture, and at the
same time procure food for his children, he went each of the two days
her remains were in his cabin to labour, and spent the night in
sorrowing over his departed wife. At length the story came to the ears
of the parochial clergy, one of whom immediately furnished the means of
interment, and she was consigned to the grave _at night_, in order that
the survivors might not lose the benefit of M'Loughlin's toil on the
following day.[188] Bridget Joyce, a widow with four children, was found
dead in a little temporary building, which had been erected in a field
to shelter sheep. One of the children was grown enough to give some
attention to her dying mother, but had nothing to moisten her parched
lips but a drop of water or a piece of snow. The woman died, and so poor
were the people of the localit