SNIPPET: According to Noel KISSANE in "The Irish Famine: A Documentary History," relief received from America and other countries resulted from the coverage by the press. He contends that once publicised there was a spontaneous reaction that resulted in widespread organised and privatised efforts toward family relief. Accounts that appeared in the "Boston Evening Transcript," the (VT) "Caledonia," and the "Washington DC Daily National Intelligencer" as well as other national and international newspapers certainly support this conclusion. As expected, only sporadic reports were published during the first year of the famine. Coverage picked up by 1846, but American relief efforts were insufficient. An October 30, 1846 letter from a resident of County Roscommon, sent to a fellow Roscommon-born citizen in Washington D. C., was published in the Nov 11, 1846 "Intelligencer." The writer reported: "For the last month there was no importation of Indian meal, and the people congregate in hundreds and thousands, break into mills and bakers' shops, and force away all the meal and bread they can lay hold of; the military and police are called out to protect the property of those persons, and in many places lives were lost." .... I am astonished that the Americans, mixed with Irish as they are, never manifested the least sympathy for us in our present deplorable condition, more especially as in India the Irish there entered into the matter very cordially, and made up a considerable sum in Calcutta, say 11,000 pounds, towards the relief of the poor Irish ... and they are still adding to it their contributions monthly ." By 1847 the full horror of the famine became a reality to ! American readers with increasing frequency, graphic reports were published in the pages of newspapers. The June 26, 1847 "Caledonia" reported statistics about famine deaths in Cork. During the previous week there were 277 famine victims interred in the Matthew Cemetery, including 67 in one day; 90 deaths occurred in the workhouse. Heartrending letters from Ireland were widely published in many U. S. newspapers, including one addressed to the ladies of America by the Irish authoress Maria EDGEWORTH of Co. Longford. Of note -- Quakers began to arrive in Ireland in the mid-17th century as Cromwellian settlers, and some authorities estimate that by 1690 their numbers were somewhere between 5,000 and 9,000. They are best remembered for their relief work during the Great Famine. They collected, in today's terms, over 11 million pounds and used it to finance several carefully thought out schemes, some to bring immediate help to the starving, others with an eye to the longer term. All aid was dispensed without regard to the denomination of the recipients. To this day the people of Ireland have not forgotten that 'the Quakers fed us in the Famine.' -- Excerpts, "Irish Roots" magazine pub. Cork (1998 #2) The cover of that issue shows panel E8 of "The Great Hunger" Quaker tapestry.