The Columbus journal., 1884-07-30

Captain Ash had grasped his in greet
ing. Morris Conncll, who Is still eX-
ces>ively weak, stated in an interview
that for some days after his rescue he
had no recollection of anything that
transpired. He did not hear the
awak ening scream of the whistle.
When his comrades shook him up
from his PROSTATE position in the
camp and told him Of the succor at
hand, he wildly exclaimed: "FOr
Gods sake let me die in peace" A
teaspoontul of brandy applied to his
lips called back the fleeting life st.ark,
for Conneil could no; have survived
more than few hOurs. He was by
far the weakest of the seven survivors
and the strongest must have succumb-
ed within forty-eight hours. The
story told by Council from his rccol-
lection of their starving experience is
simply hear:rending; how they
burned the hair of their sealskin
boots and coats, cut them into strips,
| boiled them into stew, and ate
vOraciously of them till their stom-
achs rebelled and nausea and weak
ness cnsued. In some cases nature
gave no call for twelve, fifteen, and
even eighteen days, and then bloody
| hemorrhsge and consequent weak
ness ensued, prostra.ing the victim
for several days. The difficulty in
keeping heat in the body was very
great. The rule of the camp was to
permit no one to sleep longer than
two hours. He was awakened rough
ly and called upon to shake himself,
beat his hands and pound his feet and
restore circulation. This was found
absolutely necessary to prevent tor
por and possible death, the usual
accompaniments of intense cold.
Commander Schley has received in
strGctions from the secretary of the
navy to remain at st. Johns until
there are twelve iron csskets con-
structed to receive the bodies of the
deceased explorers. The survivors
are all doing we'll, but are still weak
and suffering from nervous prostra.
ton. Lieutenant Greely has improv-
ed from l2O pounds weight Oh the
22d of June to 1863 pounds to-day.
Sergeant Brainard and the others are
| w
weather here is delightful and all tina,
could be desired fer the sufferers, the
mercury ranging between 65 and Is.
Great sympathy is evinced for the
survivors and the dead, and every
token of respect is manifested for
them. The SThetis" and "Bear," as
they ride quietly at anchor in the
harbor of st. Johns, wear a sombre
and mournful appearance with the
flag of the United States at half-mast
The United States war-ship "Alcrt'
arrived at l o'clock p. m. Her deten.
ton was caused by fog and search
for the other ships of the squadron
All on board are well. Sergeant
Julius are Frederick relates mourn.
fully the tragic story of the sad death
of George Rice, the artist Of the ex.
pedition, on April 9th. Rice and
Frederick volunteered to leave camp
to proceed a distance of twenty-five
miles to secure some meat that was
cached near Cape Isabella. They had
a sled, rifle, Ratchet and provisions
for five days. They travelad three
days, but failed to find the cache. Or
the way toward camp Rice became
weak and finally gave up. He wat
attacked by bloody flux that gradu
ally wore him down. He succumbed
and wss inferred in an ice grave by
his companion. Frederick camped
out that night under the fragment Of
boat and the next day revisited hi:
companion to pay the last tribute tC
his remains. Frederick retained suf
ficient strength to drag back the sled
with the hatchet, rifle and cooking
utensils to camp, where he encoun
tered more woe in the form of thu
death of Lieutenant Lockwood and
another of the party. The cached
meat that Frederick and Rice were in
search of was brought by them Apri
9th from Cape Isabella, and abandon
ed the next day in order to DRAG
Ellison, one of the party, who had
been frozen, into camp. Rice was tht
life of the Greedy party, being full o.
hope, buoyancy and energy, and his
death was terrible blow to them
He died in brave struggle to pro
long their existence.