Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-08-22
THE CANNIBALISM RUMOR.
MELVILLE CONFIRMS THE SAD TALE.
What Others of the Relief Expedition
sny--MariIs of the Knife and Bullets on
some of the Bodics--Dr. PaNN sal"
~ hnNe been Driven IT, SuiCiuc.

Some of the BOdics--Dr. faNN SAY"
10 have been Driven to suicide.
Nry SoHIi. Aug. l5.-To-nght's Brook
lvn -nion prints an interview with Chief
Enotnror Melville of the Thctis, in which
tho latter expresses his regret that the
hody of ki,linghury was disiutcrred and
saws that the relatives might have known,
ofter. what has been said and written OF
late. that they would find mutilatrd
body. Greedy and hi, companions could
NOT ln,, lived as long as they did unless
tbc> ,t,. fine flesh af the men that died.
II W.. oa,, natural that they should Il"
this. They did not Kill their companions
in order to eat them they only ate them
nfter. tho were dead. 1t has been said hN
some people who do not know what they
are talking about, that bccHls" De Long
and his COMPANIONS preferred death rather
than eat each other. that Greedy ana ms
men should have done the same; bui 'he
two cases are entirely different he Long
and his men frOZp and starved to death III
- fr,y d1vs while these poor wretches had
to 20 through slow starvation. RINK
of il and realize ii if YOU can. Alttr
time they lost their heads and became, for
the lime being mad. There have been all
kinds of stories written about this thing.
but when the official investigation comes
only about One-tenth of them will he
found To he true. Mr.. Norman was the
first man to reach the Greedy party. He
took his knife and cut the tent i'll which
they were hidden The sailors knew moth
ing about this matter for we took care
that they should not. Allther talk about
finding pieces of flesh is bosh Nosuch
thing happened. Then again, it is said
the dead do not decay in the Arctic.
This is Il mistake. They do; and the flesh
on some of these men was so soft, when
we found them, that il dropped off by sim
ply touching il. We found that the nose,
ewes and hands had rottcd and dropped
off from the dead, and ! saw worms at
their fell work of destruction Just rs in /;
warmer climate.
The Officers of tine relief fleet have re
fused all along to make any statement re-
garding the eating of the dead because it
was none of the public's business. 1t has
been said that we were ordered to keep
our mouths shut. We received no such
order We did not talk brCHlsr we
thought best to keep still. These things
should always 90 through the regular
official channel The public have no bust
ness 10 know things before they come ont
in this way. We are under orders To SIT
peror officers and not to it,
The other officers of the relief fleet re-
fused to make any new statements regard
ing the eating of the dead ny Greedy and
his companions.
Wha, the Members OF the Relief E>prdi
ton Heard.
NEW YORK. Aug. IA Mail and EN
press reporter to-day accosted Third of
hcer Kelly of the Greedy relief steamer
Bear and asked him if he had read the re
ports about the eating of the flesh %
Lieut.. kiSlingbury and private Henry.
Yes" he replied, 81 read the reports
and they are true
sd 1t You hear the survivors tell of eat
ing the flesh of their dead comrades ~
''W hen they hoard they
all but delirious and they then told every
thing
what did they say ~
"They admitted that they had To ea
the dead bodies in order to preserve
their own lives; but can not 90 into tn,
particulars, rs such facts must go through
the regular channels
The reporter next saw one of the cook,
of the Bear and asked him if he had hear,
any of the survivors tell about eat n!
their dead comrades flesh.
YES he answered, they told every
thing and said they had to eat the flesh q
the dead, as their food, all but littl
leather or sealskin had given out"
"Who told you this ~
''They all told it."
will you give the particulars ="
NO, can not All the men on boa,,
knew that the bodies had been eaten. bU
were told not to speak much about il
when We came into port; but they al
KIM II.
DIR. Pay Alleged to Have Committc,
suicide.
NEW YORK. Aug. l5.-'rhe Brooklyn
Eagle has made Il statement alleged Il
have been made by one of the crew ., IN
Bear which is substantially rs follows
DR.. pavy did not starve to death He Wa
court -martalled three times, and at las
committed suicide There were marks o
I. Ia.