Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1882-10-14
A Chat With Lieut.. Melville.
The ARCTIC EXPLORERS NARRATIVE OF
HIS SEARCH FOR De LoNG-THE
HARDSHIPS.


HIS SEARCH FOR DE LONGTIME
HARDSHIPs.
From the Baltimore American
Lieutenant George Melville, Of Arctic
exploration fame, is in this city, as guest
of Paymaster VIM. j. Thompson, of the
United States navy. Mr.. Melville is ap-
parently enjoying good health, and is in
excellent spirits. lie is warm-hearted
gentleman and 4 genial companion. lie
gives Il very vivid description of his
search, the nature OF the country and the
conditions under which the search was
conducted, and. after great sutferiEgs
brought to successful issue. His nara
| tive of the journey to their landing place
on the Lena delta was very graphic, show.
ing the great heroism of those who UNI
| dertoOk it, and the vast endurance OF
| which human nature is capable. The
| Journey was one Of five hundred miles,
| of which about three hundred was by land
and two hundred by sea. The journey
occupied over ninety days. The men
| night. Their clothes were never dry.
They would have TO wade through water,
| slush and ice. At night they would take
off their clothes, wiring them out, and
| hang them up to dry, or rather freeze.
i =
! sleep OH the ice. In the morning when
| they awoke they would find that the heat
from their bodies had melted the ice
round about them, and they would have
| sunk down several inches in the slush.
! How careful they were TOT to carry any
unnecessary luggage with them is indl-
| Gated by several anecdotes which MI.
Melville relates. One man had jack
| knife and sheath-knite. He weighed
the two very carefully for some time, and
! then finally put the sheath knife in his
| belt and threw the other away. An eX-
ira shirt, or even an extra pair of socks,
would be cast off as being too burden
some. Starting off as they did, with well
| filled knapsacks, they arrived at their des-
tinaton destitute. They finally arrived
at the sea after accomplishing the great
est land march in The Arctic regions on
record. and it was in their sea voyage
that they endured the greatest hardships.
! 1t had been deemed inadvsable to take
! the larger boat, so Il smaller one with Il
capacity for Z persons had to carry ii,
! together with tents, provisions and other
neccssaries for camp life. Mr.. Melville
steercd the boat, or otherwise participated
in its management, and by the time shore
| was reached his feet and legs had become
! frozen up TO the knees, so that he was UNI
able to walk, and was obliged to crawl on
! hands and knees.
Those who were not working, kept
| from freezing by continually rubbing
! their legs and feet with towels. Finally
| they reached the Lena delta, with its
! mvriads of rivers which form the delta,
from which they had to find the one that
| De Long took. \ camp and base of sup
| plies were selected from which exploring
| expeditions went out. Mr.. Melville gave
| an animated description of the manner in
which these search expeditions were con-
! ductcd-hoW on account OF the severe
J gales they were unable to make the con-
| ncctions they had intended to make.
! Wherever hut was come upon, memo
randum was stuck up of the date that it
was reached, and the direction thence Ia
ken for the information of the party reach
ing the same later, 50 that they might fol-
! low up.
For the better mplishment of their
purposes the number on each sled had to
be reduced to one explorer and the dog
! driver The rations which were carried
were one fish for each aid one for each
! dog. In this instance the dog was the
equal of the man and sometimes came out
/ the better man. Ninderman, having been
unable, when there, to make observations
did not know which was the river, but re-
mcmbcrcd that the current was swift, and
| the ice rushed down the stream rapidly.
| Finally Mr.. Melville discovered the REM
nants Of large fire. Having inquired of
| the natives he found thai they used only
small fires, and he was now certain that
he was on the track. Nindcrman was
anXions to find the 1lat-bOat which he re-
| mcmbercd being left, from which he eX-
pcctcd to discover traces of the lost party.
! Mr. Melville went soon after, keeping his
attention on tie bank. Soon he caught
! SIGHT of four sticks crossing each other,
/ against which was leaning gun, its
! muTZc several inches above the snow. lie
ordered the men the men to begin work
| here. After digging in the snow to the
depth OF six or eight feet, they came to
some cases of books, and other things.
| In the meanwhile his attention was at
tracted by Il kettle that he saw Il little
further off. In going towards it he al
most stumbled upon the bodies ofDc Long
and two of his companions, together with
other books and De Longs carefully writ
ten diary. De Long was lying on his
right side, with his left arm raised and
frozen in that position, while the diary
lay behind him.
The diary furnished data which led to
the discovery of the rest. The bodies of
De Long and the two were not frozen
! over, as has been stated. They had man
aged to bring themselves to the highest
! bank thereabouts, which is never over
flowed, and the snow driven by the gale
had banked itself up on one side of them,
but when found they were almost naked.
The flat-boat was finally found, and was
employed for coffin. The tomb occupied
fourteen days in the building, and was,
according to Mr.. Mclvillc'S glowing de-
scription, Il grand monument. The cross
which marked the resting place of the he
roes could be seen III either direction for
distance of twenty miles.
The terrible ordeal through which Mr..
Melville has passed and the wrctched
scenes he has witnessed, would not, he
says, deter him from engaging again in
an Arctic exploration. Mr.. Thompson
who has also been on the Siberian coast,
says he will take no "Arctic in his" Mr..
Melville and Mr.. Thompson were former
" messmates. The latter while on an Of
fetal visit to Washington, prevailed upon
Mr.. Melville to come to Baltimore, where
he will remain several days as the guest
of his old friend and companion.
MURDER NEAR CLARKsBURG, w. Va.
The usual quiet town of Clarksburg
was startled Oct. 1st by the announce
ment of q dual murder having been
committed in Rock Camp, a hamlet
about thirteen miles northwest of
Clarksburg. The facts are as follows:
About one o'clock this morning John
II. Borgess., Jr., wel-todo farmer,
residing at Rock Camp, aroused his
wife from her bed aud commenced