The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-03-25
DE LONGS PROBABLE IA


missing comrades: III .|E.
A letter was received to-day by Mrs Mel.
VILE residing at Sharonsville, short distance
outside of Phihdelr hia, from her husband,
Lieutenant George W. Melville, of the United
States Navy, who went out as chief engineer
OF the exploring party, and was in command
Of the boat containing the survivors which
landed ON the northern coast of Siberia Sep
TENDER 90. In this brief letter the hero of the
latest, and, as all t. accounts have shown,
the most perilous attempt to explore the I'M
known Polar seas, speaks of De Long and the
Others with him as having persisted, and indi-
Gates that when Chief Engineer Melville set
out upon the search in which he is now en-
gagged in the regions OF eternal ice and snow
it was without hope of finding his comrades
alive, but simply TO perform the melancholy
duty of discovering, If possible, their dead
bodies and whatever traces Of their hard
ships and adventures they had lett behind
them. In all the accounts that have been re-
ceived from Lieutenant John Danenhauer,
who was one of those saved with Melville,
there has been hopeful tone concerning the
possibility of De Longs safety; but in such
telegrams as contained facts alone there was
not much room for encouragement. In the
Danenhaucr, received at Paris February ,,
from lrkutsk, he gives entire the latest record
of De Long found by Melville, at one of those
polar milestones, such as all Arctic explorers
have erected along their way On this De
Long wrote Fourteen Of the officers and
men of the Jeanette reached this hut on
Wednesday, September %, and, having been
forced to wait for the river to freeze over, are
4 4.
morning, on their journey to reach some
settlement on the Lena River. l have two
days provisions, but, having been fortunate
enough thus far to get game In our pressing
needs, we had no fear for the future. Our
party are all well except Hans Eriksen, whose
toes have BEEN amputated in consequence
of frost-bite. Other records will be found
in several huts on the east side of the river
along which we have come from the mouth"
After quoting this, Danenhauer says: Three
other records were found" but he gives moth
ing of their contents further than to say:
'Eriksen died October T." The party was in
great distress for want of food. Noros and
Wiudeman, two of De Longs companions,
were sent ahead for relief on October 9.
They marched south for fifteen days, and we're
found in a starving condition on October "A,
by three natives, who took them to settle
ment.
Evidently there was some reason for not
| giving the other records entire. Nine days
after, the party of fourteen had lost two days.
provisions, and after Eriksen's toes had been
amputatei, they were in great distress for
want of food and then Erikscn and two men,
| probably the only two who were able to walk,
went ahead and reached a settlement in a
starving condition. Exactly five months have
passed since De Long and twelve men tthe
thirteenth having just died) were in great
distress for want OF food, and no tidings of
them to give ray OF hope have been received
in that time. In that condition, they were
about five thousand miles from st. Peters
| burg, in region where there is scarcely any
game, just at the beginning of a most rlgor-
Gus winter, when everyone even the hardest
| natives, flee hundreds of miles inland and do
not return until March or April. Under such
| circumstances Melville's letter to his wife is
consistent with all the known facts. Since he
WAS chosen by the authorities at Washington,
| out OF all the competent men in the navy, to
accompany the Jeanette expedition Just four
| years ago, and set sail from San Francisco in
July, lSIs; a lew months after receiving his
| order, Melville has had no opportunity to
| communicate with his family. The anxious
| mother and the three little girls have been
| awaiting "a letter from papa" In their Sc
cluded little cottage at Sharon Hill, in Della
! ware County, the fond mother and childish
trio have looked out daily from the window
| adorned with an anchor as an emblem of hope
| OF the fathers safe return, and wondered
| again and again, with the smoke and whistle of
every mail train, if their long-looked-for mes
sage was coming. Atlast, when three years had
| passed, little Meta-who was babe lust born
| when he went away on dark stormy night,
and, having kissed it and the lips that were
above it, said: "Wife, it is possible | will
| never know these JOYS again'-was able tc
talk, and she expressed the thoughts OF all -four
| when one day she said: Mamma / think
| papa must be dead;' but they never took
| down from the nail the hat which he hung IN
| when he changed it for his naval cap, and his
| favorite cup and saucer were never stirred
| from their place in the cupboard. There was
| JOY In the household when some friend sent
the newspaper containing the telegram signed
! with her husbands name, giving the
| first news OF the safe arrival of himself
and crew, and the JOY was not lessened
| by reading after the name sin commando
| Every telegram since signed "Mel-
| vile" has been meat and drink to the news
| famished little household, and although the
| mother kept telling the children continually
that it was duty, and duty to God and coun.
| try must always 60 ahead of duty 20 familv,n
the little folks could not understand why
! papa did not send some messages home.h
| Yesterday, Maud, beautiful child about
| ntteen years OF age, went, as she has thou
sands of times in over three years, to the post
| Office, to know II there was a letter. Mrs
| Melville was seated at home sewing listless-
| ly, and the other two little girls were
playing with their dolls Suddenly one of the
! little ones said: Why, ma, something's the
matter with Maud. actually believe there is a
letter from papa" Maud's feet did not appear
| to touch the ground. She ran through
the gate. With tears of joy streaming down
her lace, and choking with sobs, she threw
herself at her mothers feet dropping the
| letter and crying ont: "Oh, mamma at last
1t is from papal Oh, it is from papar The
mother tore it open, read it at a glance and
real 1t several times over All the afternoon,
and up to going to bed last night, the children
/ KhrP doing nnthinn nlsn hun r.