struck,
nearly half of all rural families lived in windowless,
one room, mud cabins. Many landlords were harsh. Some
landlords were nearly as impoverished as their
tenants, but it is not recorded that any landlords
died of starvation. Irish landlords were much like
"slave holders with white slaves." (Taylor, 1962, p.
174). Unable to pay rent to the landlord, thousands of
starving peasants were thrown out. Thousands more were
threatened to be thrown out of their home to perish on
the roadside. A few landlords were even shot.
Death and Disease
People died of starvation in their houses, in the
fields, and on the roads. Disease became epidemic.
More died of disease than of starvation. About one
million perished. Most were deliberated from long
starvation when they finally succumbed to typhus,
cholera, dysentery, and scurvy. There was even an
increase in the number of certified lunatics in
Ireland (Costigan, 1969). During the worst of the
famine, peasants were perishing in the night and their
bodies would be found in the morning partially
devoured by rats. At the worst in 1847 the uncoffined
dead were being buried in trenches. Starving dogs
waited for the moment when the graves were unguarded.
One million emigrated and |