The Dillon tribune. [volume] (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941, 1881-05-07
The Long Search for Sir John Franklin.

riddle Of the Sphinx, costs the lives Of those
who try and fail to guess it. The icebergs
that tower in those frozen waters are but
SO many monuments to the universal death
that everyw where reigns. The news from
San Francisco that the exploring vessel
Jeanette, sent On toar q Investigation by
the New York Herald. viii never b. heard
from again, meets the report of Lieutenant
Schwatka's expedition, in search Of relics Of
Sir John Franklin, the exact fate Of that
eminent but i!l-f,ted explorer will never be
known.
II was thi'ty.five years last July since his
sn'PS were tor the last time seen in Baifin's
BAY. Three years afterwarl England sent
the first expedition in search of him and
mis- men, and since that time more than
twenty more have sailed. Little bv lit
and piece BY piece they have brought home
the relics and ,no,nentoes which tav. grad
ually told the story Of the fate that over.
took them in that land ofrxrpetual ice. For
many years there were floating about vague
beliefs that he and his men were still alive,
and might one day be found again. This
tradition was fostered BY Lady Franh,,,'s
devotion to her husbands memory. and
her heroic measures Tor dscoy eriny the Sc.
cret locked up somewhere in the dreary
Arctic wastes. Her bereavement injected
the s,ympathics Of the civilized world, and
the crusades which were preached aud led,
sometimes by English pluck, often bv
American enterprise, have at last brought
back the tidinys that nothing NOR, c.n ev.
er b.. knowa.
In 1854 skeletons Of some of the men
were discovered. IL 1889 paper found in
acairn where It had been placed l,y one of
the Franklin officers, briefly saving sir
John Franklin died on tho nth OF June,
lS44," hlotted out til. faint tiyares which
the Imagination it saw still moving in that
Northern twilight, and nearly DESTROYED
Lady franklin's gricf.strickcn mind. Then
halfa dozen spoons inwrou,ht wirh Sir
John Franklin's crest, were, III 1875, given
by na'i'c to Captain Barry. an .\ncri an
explorer, with the Statement, that he had
taken them from a cairn seven hundred
NIL 5 distant, where books and other relics
still! rcm'incd. CA tain Barry, with Lieut..
Schwatku, were, two years ago sent out v
thesenlerprisc OF Ne> York merchants,
and ID ,d-d at the head Of Rcpuis. Dav.
Thenee, going and returning, they made a
sledgs journey OF three thousand mil:s,
travelling over ice ana snow. and, what was
still more difficult, over broken and Jagged
clay stone, with marshes Intervening, Gov.
cred with patches of brown and green moss,
with purple flowers peeping through the
crcvices Of the stones. On lis journey
they lived and preserved their health, eat.
ing the food which the E~aui,naux eat and
til" game which in some places ahoundcd.
During the winte, the thermometer was
frequently from 50 to 60 degrees below r..
70, and ut one time, Ill. to lo3.
They found no ca;rn, as va, toll to Capt.
Barry, but they discovered several skelc-
tons, a ships boat, or, rather, the prev and
stern posts with few clink.r boards hold
ing together, gilt navy buttons, copper and
iron bolts, shot, cartridge, I'owdcr-cans.
BARRELS broken nnedi.ine and y inc bottles,
axes, and II few barrel st,,vs. The rigid
climate had preserved for over thirty wears,
pieces Of navy blue clotl, scattered along
the shores OF tn. inlcts. With the EXCEPT
ion OF scrap Of ,per, marked with an in.
dex finger, pointing >outi,er'v, no other
writing was found.
And SO, after enduring great lmrel>hips,
but no great stuff ring, the expedition re-
turned, leaving to the Fsquimaux and the
eternal cold the remains OF Franklin an<!
his crew. Beyond the fact that they
abandoned their vccsv.s. tbs Ercl,u, and
Terror, and attempted to drag their boats
overland in the hopes Of launching then,
in the open water again, nothing is vet,
nothing propahly ever viii be, definitely
known OF their struggles ana their end.--
Frank Le>lie'> .\gricu!turi~t
-
The Fatal E,csct.-"!t is much easier ia
yet into a quarrel than to yet ont ot it," In
the year 1905 some soldiers OF the common,
wealth, of Modcna ran away with IL bucket
from a public well belonging to tn, state OF
Bologna. This implement might b. worth
shilling, bat it produced Il quarrel whicl,
was worked into Il long AMI >ansuinary war.
Henry, the King Of Sardinia, assisted tn,
Mopcnse to keep possession o, the bucket
and in one Of the battles he was made pris.
oncr. His farther, the emperor, Offered :.
chain Of gold that would rnc:rslc Bologna
which is seven miles in compass, ior his
sons ransom, but in vain. After twenty
two years imprisonment, tic pinned away
Ills monum .;t is now cxt;.nt III the church
Of the Dominicans. This C.tai bucket i,
still exhibited in the tower OF the cathet'ra
! OF Modcna, inylos.d in an iron cage.
Decorators of IJaran..\ write, who ha
devoted some attention to the decoration
and artisans OF Japan, says the worker i,
metals is, without exception. the most "rt
istic: but that all Japanese "orknsn and
artist, discard utterly tte happy go lucky
method in thei, work. The. undergo
thorough training in ancient custom ans