Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-08-21
ALLEGED CANNIBALISM.
The Horrible Story of the Greeley
Arctic Expedition.

lhc hOiiluIO NclOi VI tiO piOOAOy
Arctic Expedition.
NEW YORK, Aug. 13.-The shocking
story of cannibaliSm and inhumanity in
the Greeley Arctic exploring party which
the Times made public, yesterday, crea'
ted genuine sensation, which has not
been lessened by the eyidant attempt OF
Secretary Chandler and Gen. Hazen to
avoid the subject. TIE reticence seems
if not to entirely cOrrohorate the story
as told, to Indicate that there are uD-
pleasant facts connected with the stay
of the Greeley party at Cape Sabine.
The Times article says: ut will be re-
membered that in Commander Schley's
first dispatch to Secretary Chandler an
nouncing the finding of the Greeley par
ty he said:
81 would urgently suggest that the
bodies now on board be placed in met
allie cases here for safer and better
transportation in a sea way. This ap-
pears to be Imperative
AS Mr. ChaudIer was in West Point
the dispatch was answered 10y Rear-Ad-
miral Nichols, Acting Secretary of the
Navy. He said:
use your own discretion about care
and transportation of bodies"
Secretary Chandler afterward tele4
graphed:
prepare them according to your
judgment and bring them home.
1t took some days to prepare the iron
caSkets, which were all bOlted and riv-
eted. 1t was remarked at the time by
experienced officers that this would
hardly have been necessary for the pre-
servation of the frozen bodies. They
could safely have been brought on,with-
out any delay, in wooden collins. The
design was obviously to prevent all pos+
sibility of friends of the dead sailors be-
ing given an opportunity to look at their
remains for the purpose of Identification
or otherwise. Even the sailors on the
relief ships, with the exception of few
men who assisted in removing the DO
dies, were not allowed to see them. The
lips of the officers were seaIed. When
Commander Schley met Secretary Chan
dler and Gen. UaZen at Portsmouth, ,Au-
gust I'd, on the arrival of the ships from
st. Johns, he was very much agitated,
and called the gentlemen into the cabin
of the vessel. Undoubtedly he then
communicated to them the facts which
have since become an open secret.
The sufferings and privations of the
men in their canvas hut during the long,
bitter winter of 1884 have not half been
told. 1t has been published that after
the game gave out early in February
they lived principally on sealskins, lich+
ems and ahrimps. AS matter of fact,
they were kept alive on human flesh.
When the rescuing party discovered tie
half-starved survivors the frSt duty
was to look to the two men who were
inSensible from cold and privation, even
to the point of death. One of them, d
German, was wild in his deliIium.
"Oh,' he shrieked, as the sailors took
hold of him tenderly. don't let them
shoot me as they did poor Henry. Must
l be killed and eaten as Henry was
Don't let them do it. Don't! DOntp
The sailors were horrlfied, but at once
reported the mans words to Commander
Schley. After a brief investigation he
felt satisfied that the poor fellow was
speaking the truth, and that some of the
men who had perished had been stripped
of their flesh to keep their surviving
comrades alive. Mr.. Schley proposed to
make thorough work of it. When the
horrible reality was brought out before
an investigating committee he did not
propose to have it rest on his oral testi+
mony. He instructed two or three gen.
tlemen, among whom was DR.. Ames, the
Surgeon of the Bear, to make a careful
examination, and put their conclusions
in writing. This was done, and the re
ports are now in the hands of the Navy
Department. Lieut.. Greeley was deci+
dedly adverse to having the bodies of
the buried dead disturbed. He thought
it wise, as they had been buried so long,
to let them remain in their Arctic
graves. Commander Schley did not
agree with him. The bodies were aug
from their graves in the little hill just
back of the permanent camp established
in October, 1888. Most of the blankets
contained nothing but heaps of white
bones, many of them picked clean. The
remains could be idedtifed only by the
marks on the blankets. BY inquiries
Commander Schley discovered that many
of the seventeen men who are said to
have pershed from starvation had been
eaton by their furnishing comrades. 1t
was the one last resort. Provided sup
plies had not arrived. death stared the
hungry and craZed men in the face, but
there was hope if life would hold out
for even few weeks. 1t is reported
that the only men who escaped the knife
were three or four who died of scurvy.
The amputated limbs of men who after
ward porished were eagerly devoured as
food.
Charles b. Henry's death was particu-
larly tragic. He was a young German,
without any relatives in the country,
and Joined Company L, Fifth Cavalry in
Cincinnati. His friends tried to dis
suade him from going with the expedi-
ton, but his spirit of adventure was