Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-11-09
MIXTURE FOR MELVILLE.
Brother Of the Scientist Lost ON the Jeanette
Polar Exploring Expedition Makes Ii Warm
for the Engineer.

| MINNEAPOLIS, MIMI, Nov. 3.-Ihe
Tribune to-day prints an interview
with DR.. ID. +. Collins, of this CITY,
brother of the late jerome j. Collins.
scientist of the Jeanette expedition. Dir.
| Collins says: 1--WE have evidence that
Capt. De Long used his official position
as commander of the expedition to per-
| secute, in every conceivable way, some
of the members of the commission. NV
| brother was placed under arrest for no
reason whatever. This Lieut.. Danen-
| hover admitted to me when | saw him
in New York. Capt. De Long refused
to allow my brother, at certain times.
to do any kind of work, and purposely
allowed all notes, photographs, and rec
| ords of the expedition prepared by my
brother to sink. We have evidence that
the Captain forced him to remain behind
when he volunteered to 90 ahead with
Ninderman and Neros in search of relief
my brother being in the best condition
of any member of the party to do So
There is evidence that Bartlett, who
is now in Siberia, one of the seamen. is
in possession of valuable facts. but we
believe he has been kept in Siberia pur-
| posely by the officers of the expedition.
! so that his testimony may not get before
the board. We are also in possession
of full information that. on Melville
| finding the bodies of the De Long party
| he used the most blasphemous and sean
dalous language conce7Ding my broth
er's body. We also h. eason for be-
lieving that the repsr..,- made by Mel
lie as to the condition of the weather,
which he alleged prevented him from
going to the relief of the De Long party
were false, for the dates on which he
| declared the weather was bad are shown
to have been good by the records
Collins further asserts that jealousy
existed between certain officers of the
expedition, the trouble first beginning,
as he learns, over an order to the effect
| that all men should undergo physical
examination monthly. Collins and
Danenhower were neither permitted to
assist in the retreat, and Collins adds:
1--WE happen to know that Kusmah re-
quested Melville to go to De Long re-
lief himself, or to send some one, and
that Melville would do neither. He first
gave the order to Danenhower to 90,
and then countermanded it. Kusmah
and Shagra were fifteen days in making
the trip to Belum from the spot at which
Melville's party was. Two days lime
each way was ample for the Journey
During the trip these men got drank,
and Melville knew it.
While they had gone in search of DE
Long, Melville and those with him made
chessman and checkerboards, and
amused themselves, leaving the work of
searching for their companions to two
ignorant and drunken natives.
We have reasonable grounds for be-
lieving certain that there was consid-
cradle amount of intoxicants drunk dur
ing the fifteen days they waited the re-
turn of the two natives We know
from conversations with surviving men,
bers of the expedition that certain let
tiers or papers which we believe were
on my brothers person have never been
produced. We want to know what has
been done with these papers if Melville
had gone with the natives, as he ought
to have done, there is no doubt that De
Long and his patty would have been
saved. He would have seen the beacon
fires that had been lighted on the bluffs,
as stated in De Longs journal which
was found even if he started out when
Kusmah and Shagra were overdue.
We therefore make the charge that,
had Melville done his duty, instead of
spending his time in PLAYING chess and
checkers, De Long and his party would
not have died. Melville left them to die,
and he is responsible for their death. "
Collins will print his statement in
pamphlet form, with documentary evil
dence, and lay it before Congress.
Washington Correspondence: A rep
resentatiye of the associated press this
morning called upon Melville and asked
hin. what he had to say about the
charges contained in the interview with
DR.. Collins of Minneapolis respecting
the charges against belong of the Jean
nette expedition and more especially
that part of the interview which charged
him (Melville) with the responsibility
of the deaths of belong and his com
rades. Melville said he had read the in
terview as published in the morning
papers, but did not care to discuss the
matter at this time, especially through
the newspapers; that such discussions
were apt to make matters liable to mis-
representation. In response to a sug-
gestion that anything he would write
on the subject would be laid before the
public. Melville replied that he would
not write anything at present; that he
would soon appear before the board,
when the whole matter would / G inges-
tigated Upon being pressed for an
answer respecting the foundation for
the charges, he said that he knew moth
ing about them. and could not consist
emily discuss the matter. The interview
has caused much comment, aud is the
topic of the day.