The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-08-21
A HORRIBLE STORY.
The Suferings of the Greedy Party
in the Frozen North but
Half Told.
The Flesh OF the Dead Eagerly De-
vOured by the furnishing
Survivors.
New York special


Written documents now in possession OF
the Navy Department at Washington add
TO the record of miserable human suffer-
ing, already published in connection with
the finding of the Greedy relief expedition,
the most shocking stories of inhumanity
and cannibalism. All the facts ha We been
in the possession of Secretary Chandler
for nearly three weeks, but SO closely have
they been guarded, and so strictly have
the naval officers and sailors maintained
the silence imposed on them, that not even
an inkling of the true and horri-
BILE condition of affairs has yet
reached the public ear The sufferings
and privations of the men in their hut dur
ing the long bitter winter of 1884 have not
half been told. 1t has been published that
after game gave out early in February they
lived principally on seal skins, lichens and
shrimps. As matter of fact they were
kept alive on human flesh When the res
cuing party discovered the survivors, the
first duty was to look to the two men who
were insensible from cold and privation
even to the point of death. One of them, a
German, was wild and delirious. oh" he
shrieked, as the sailors took hold of him to
lift him tenderly, don't let them shoot me,
as they did poor Henry. Must be killed
and eaten, as Henry was? Don't let them
do it. Don't do it.
The sailors were Mortified, but Mt once
reported the mans words to Commander
Schley, when the horrible reality was
brought out before an investigating COM
mittee. Commander Schley instructed two
or three gentlemen, among whom was DR..
Ames, the surgeon of the Bear, to make q
careful examination and put their conclu-
sions in writing. This was done, and the
reports aressnow in the hands of the Navy
Department.
Lieut. Greedy was decidedly averse to
having the bodies of the buried dead dis
turbed, but the bodies were dug from their
graves. Most of the blankets contained
nothing but heaps of white bones, many Of
them picked clean. BY inquiries Com
mander Schley discovered many of the sew
enteen men, who are said to have per-
ished from starvation, had been eaten by
their furnishing comrades. 1t was the
one last resort. 1t is reported that the only
men who escaped the knife were three or
four who died of scurvy. The amputated
limbs of the men who afterward persisted
were eagerly devoured as food. Whether
the four bodies that were swept out to sea
and never recovered would have added fur
cannibalism cannot be learned now,
though the papers in the possession of
the Navy Department give all the particulars
as told by the survivors.
Charles B. Henry's death was particu-
larly tragic. Driven to despair by his
frightful hunger, Henry saw an opportunity
to steal little more than his share of ra-
tons, and he made the attempt. He was
found out and shot for his crime. In the
published official report, the death of this
man is set down as having occurred on
June 6. When the body was found his
hands and face, though shrunken, were in
tact and recognizable, but nearly every
where else the skin had been stripped from
him, and the flesh picked from the bones.
Even his heart and lungs were eaten by his
comrades. The body was in this condition
when it was inferred last Saturday. The
letter his friend, Mr.. Robert S. Oberfelder.
of Sidney, Neb., is daily looking for, will
probably never come to hight