Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-03-30
DE LONGS PROBABLE FATE.

| and the probable fate of De Long and his
| missing comrades:
| y letter was received to-day by Mrs. Mel
vile, residing at SharoRsvillc, short dis:a" &C
outside of PhiladelE hia, from her husbaf d
Lieutenant George w Melville, of the United
| States Navy, who went out as chief engineer
OF tie exploring party, and was in comms',d
of the boat containing the survivors With
| landed on the northern coast of Siberia So D
fcmber 90. In this brief letter the hero of tie
| latest, and, as all tie accounts have shown,
.nc most perllous attempt to explore the VI
FnoWn Polar seas, speaks Of De Long and taa
others with him as having persisted, and indf'
estes that when Chief Engineer Melville Sc;
| oF1t upon the search in which he is now err
| gagged in the regions OF eternal ice and snow
II was without hope of finding his comrades
a''ve, but simply to perform the melancholy
diHy OF discovering, If possible, their dead
bsdIeS and whatever traces of their harl
SIPS and adventures they had left behind
them. In all the accounts that have been re-
ce'fed from Lieutenant John Danenhauer,
VIA was one of those saved with Melville.
there has been hopeful tone concerning tho
Pc sibility of De Longs safety; but in suca
tel grams as contained facts alone there was
nor much room for encouragement. In tbs.
Dansnhauer received at Paris February g
1foih IrkutSk, he gives entire the latest record
Of lie Long found by Melville, at one of those
Iolar milestones such all Arctic explorers
have erected along their way. On this De
Lons. wrote: Fourteen ct the officers and
men Of the Jeanette reached this hut on
Wednesday, September Is. and, having been
forced to wait for the river 20 freeze over, are
proce eding to cross to the west side this
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 hats on the east side of the river
along which we have come from the month"
After quoting this, Danenhauer SAYS: Three
other records were founl, ~ but he gives moth
ing of their contents further than to say:
''Eriksen died October - The party was in
great distress for want of food. NOros and
"indeman, two of De Longs companions,
were sent ahead for relief on October 9.
They marched south for fifteen days, and were
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
amputate1, they were in great distress for
want OF food, and then Eriksen 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 (the
thirteenth having just died) were in great
distress for want OF food, and no tidngs of
them to give ray of hope have been received
in that time. In that condition, they we're
about five thousand miles from st. Peters
burg, in region where there is scarcely any
game, just at the beginning of most rigor-
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, 1873, few 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
Guided 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 Iong-looked-for mes
sage was coming. At last, when three years had
cd Ia bob, -, l,>,,,
when he went away on dark, stormy night,
and, having kissed it and the lips that were
above it, said: ''Wife, it is possible 1 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 Up
when he changed it for his naval cap, and his
favorte cup and saucer were never stirred
from their place in the cupboard. There YVES
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 not lessened
by reading after the name Gin command"
Every telegram since signed Mel |
ville' 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 go ahead of duty to family"
the little folks could not understand why |
papa did not send some messages home.'' |
Yesterday, Maud, beautiful child about |
fifteen years of age, went, she has thou
sands of times in over three years, to the post |
office, to know if there was a letter Mrs. |
Melville was seated at home sewing listless-
", 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. I actually believe there is a
letter from papa" Maud feet did not appear
70 touch the ground. She ran through
the gate. With tears of joy streaming down
ner face, and choking with sobs, she threw
herself at her mothers feet, dropping the
etter and crying out: "Oh, mamma, at last
It is from papa! Oh, it is from papa.'' The
mother tore it open, read it at GLANCE, and
cad it several times over All the afternoon,
md up to going to bed last night, the children
we're doing nothing else but re ding over
ospa's letter. With the intelligence that it
contained OF the fate of others, and the
I