The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-05-04
ARCTIC ADvIcEs.
sT Tale of a Terrible "Trip

3osTo. April ga letter havins
rece we'd here by Mr. Norris, thu
Vt ran ut ys-deaier, from his son, one O
III surviv rs of the Jeanette, he ha:
furnished copy for publication. Tn.
, letter Is IN ,nswcr Ia one sent as soon as
news of the disaster reached here and
was torwar' ed by Jackson, II. Y, cor.
respondent , Mr. Norris
. 1t will be cen that it was written just
NO months 80, and has come nearly
10000 miles nee then. Norris will be
easily remem ,ered as being with MIN
derman, who made the terrible march
Tor relief over the ice fields. The letter
Is AS FOLLOWS:
lRKUTsK, SIBERIA, I
February "a, 1882.
DEAR FATHER: Your letter of De
cember 30 is at hand, and am very glad
| 10 hear from you.
| We left San Francisco July 8, 1879,
and arrived on the edge OF he ice Sep
tember :, touching at several small ports
| on the way north. On the 4th of Sep
| 'ember, We were frozen fast in pack ice,
/ where We remained drifting north and
west, until the ship was crushed, June
IL, 1881.
While being held fast in our icy
| raddle We had time for hunting bears,
| seals, walrus and other game. We ire
quently had faces, noses, and ears frozen,
but thought nothing OF it, as we had
got used TO the climate.
After the ship went down we had
two days of hard dragging and sailing
in open boats. On the night of Septem-
Der 18th, We had gale of wind and the
boat got separated. We had fourteen
men and dogs, and were loaded quite
deep. When we
REACHED THE SIBERIAN COAST
we could not land ON the beach in boats,
SO we had to wade through the ice and
water up to our waists. We were
nearly all day carrying our things ashore
and it was dark before we got through.
This was September nth. On the 9th
We commenced our march. We
Travelled until October 10th, when one
of our men died from frozen limbs, and
we had killed and eaten our dog that
day. On the 9th the captain sent Min
derman and myself ahead 10 look for
assis lnce and food, none of our party
havil g had anything to eat for two days.
We tarted without particle of food.
l haG a pair of seal skin trousers and
we ut pieces from the seal skin
and chewed them until we We're
foun' by natives. We were SO
weak that We could hardly stand.
l believe if we had to endure our suffer-
ings for two days longer we would have
shot ourselves The natives took US to
their camp and gave US plenty to eat
and drink. The result was that We were
both sick for some time. We were then
taken to their village and from there TO
Bulun.
AT BULUN
we tried to get telegram sent, but
could not make them understand.
We supposed that we were the only
| two men alive out of the whole expedi-
ton. Then we heard of boats landing
at one of the mouths OF the Lena. The
| boat proved to be Melville's, and as
soon as they heard of our arrival at Blu
lun they found us at that place, so there
are thirteen of US alive.
| Jackson, the Herald correspondent,
arrived here last night and states that
group of men that are alive were taken
in costume as we had been fitted out by
the natives, copy of which L send you.
| .lsO send you a photograph of myself
tax at this place. We have had orders
| fir" the secretary of the navy to come
no le. but have telegraphed back ask
int tn remain and search for our COM
rades. We have had no answer yet, but
expect one in a day or two
Hoping to he with YOU soon, l re-
main, LOUIS p NORRIS
The photographs sent were most ex-
cellent ones, finished in a style not ex-
celled here.