Connecticut western news., 1884-08-27
LATEST NEWS NOTES.
Happenings of Interest to All,
 At Home and Abroad.
THE GREELY EXPEDITION.
LIEUT.. eREELY's LATEST STATEMENT;

LIEUT.. aREELY's LATEST STATEMENT,
 "In regard to the story of two factions" said Lieutenant Greedy, ''with Lieutenant Kis- lingbury in charge of the opposition, I will say that that rumor is totally false, having no Kislingbury and myself occurred in 1881, the first year of the expedition. He desired to be relieved from duty, and I, not wishing to re- tain a man against his will, although had the power 80 to do, gave him his liberty. It is my impression that he desired to return to the States. He went southward, but the Proteus was sunk and he returned to duty. treated him as though nothing had happened, and re- gently, when Lockwood died, l gave hlslng- bury the second place in the expedition. 'What do you say about the condition of | Kislingbury's body? '" asked the correspondent. 'I say that it is news and horrible news to | me. All these later disclosures and terrible l charges come upon me with awful suddenness. | I can say that have suffered more mental An- | guish these last few days than l did in all mS | sojourn at the North, when the chances were | 1C0 to 1 against me. can but repeat that if | there was any cannibalism, and there now | seems to be no doubt about it, the man-eating was done in secrecy and entirely without my knowledge and contrary to my discipline. l | can give no stronger denial Ihave demanded | an investigation, and it will come in time, but
 can say nothing more than l have already
  Lockwood's diary and in fact every scrap of | paper relating to the expedition are in charge | of the War Department at Washington. Tba crew of the Thetis can testify that the body or | the last man dead, Schneider, was not muti- | lated in any way, and the fact that we kept
 Ellison alive Tn the hopeless state we were in | ought to convince anybody that we are not can | nibals."
 Lieutenant Greedy paused 8 moment and | then continued:
 seWhen increased poor Ellison's rations, to | the detriment of all the rest of us, not man complained although knowing that it de- creased our spans of life in a terrible degree. "What do your men say about the charges, LieutenaAt?"
 "Sinc0 my return from Newburyport every man of them has called upon me. They came | in 8 body and assured me, separately, that they knew nothing about the condition of the bodies | of their fallen comrades, and each man solemnly swore that he was innocent of the \ deed. I cannot tell whether they told the | truth or not, and I doubt if an investigation will reveal who are the cannibals. Perhaps | those who died last fed upon the bodies of those who died before; but all this is supposi- tion. can but answer for myself and for my orders to the party. For days and weeks lay on my back unable to move. If in my en- | feebled condition, one or more of my men
 fed upon human flesh, it was beyond my con | trol, and certainly beyond my knowledge. "Why was the execution of Henry kept .quiet2'
 "I know that I have been criticised for not | telegraphing the fact of the shooting of HenFy | as soon as arrived at St. Johns, but you must | remember that was in wretched condition ! of body and mind. I was in quandary | whether or not should be tried for murder, as | Henry was shot on my own responsibility and not in regular court-martisl, but the exigency | of the case demanded immediate action, and | Secretary Chandler Secretary Lincoln and | Hoz havo all n have
 acted rightly and the cause justified the | means.'
 'Your party will soon be separated, will it ! not, Mir. Greely?"
 "Yes, two of my men will go home on Mon- | day, and the others will go to various points in | New England, while shall remain here in the ! hope of regaining strength before l go to | Washington. am sorry to be separated from | the men who have faithfully served me | through so many trials and hardships l can say nothing but good words for every man oi | them"
 | MORE PROOF FROM THE GRAVE. The body of Private William Whistler, of the | Greedy arctic expedition, was inferred Tn the | graveyard in Rockfield, Indiana In the presence of several surgeons and 8 number of relatives | the grave was opened. It took only 10 minutes | to loosen the B bolts and raise the lid of the casket. The body was wrapped in cotton | waste, around which was a hemp cord. Dis | placing these, blanket was found next to the | body When this blanket was removed the | ghastly sight of mere skeleton was seen. | There was nothing of the body left, save the | head and trunk. All the flesh had been cut from the limbs. The arms, legs and shoulders were bare bones.
 | Strips of flesh had also been taken from the
 breast. The left foot, which had been frozen | was not touched, and the left hand was un-
 harmed. The face was sunken, but not unlike | the ordinary corpse, and the red hair and | short beard made it easy for Whistlers friends to identify him. It was particularly notice
 able that the bones were picked entirely clean
 not vestige of flesh is left on them. The bacl
 has nothing on it. In fact, the ouly thing
 left of the man are his head, breast, intestines
 and the left hand and left foot.
 The appearance would show that an exper
 had done the cutting of the flesh. A thorougl
 examination by the physicians showed tha
 the stomach was entirely empty. The heat
 and neck were unbarmed by blows. The heat
 was incased in knitted cape, over which wa
 a sealskin. The skeleton hands wore mits-
 mitten covering half the hands, When tn
 coffin was opened there was 8 strong odor o
 alcohol, but no further very bad stench.
 The physicians made no report and will no
 unless asked by the Government officials. The
 say that they can report merely ieshless ma
 picked as clean as if his bones were to be val
 nished. The aged grandparents took look
 the body for minute only before 1t was agal fastened in the casket. They said that tn
 
 rible condition of the body they had but littl to say.
 , "Poor boy" said the old lady, Che was
 good lad, but it is better that he has been cate l by his comrades than he should have eaten 0
 them."
 Whistler died on May A. He was 27 year
 of age.
 COMMANDER soHLEY SPEAKS. The Secretary of the Navy and the Secretar of War having been in consultation at tn
 Navy Yard, Brooklyn, with Commander Schle
 concerning the Greedy relief expedition, froI
 them the following reliable statement relativ to the recent reports of the treatment Of tn
 bodies of the dead of the Greedy polar expe
 dition is derived:
 f From the revelations made by exhumin 1, some of the bodies inferences have been draw that incisons had been made in all tn bodies and that portions of th flesh had been used either for food or fo . thentic extract from Commander Schley srepol now being prepared for the Secretary of tn
 Navy, shows a portion of the remains to hay been so treated, but that those of Lieutenan
 Lockwood Sergeant Israel, Sergeant LinI , Private Schneider, Sergeant Cross and tn Esquimau, Christiansen, were absolutely who
 and untouched.
 t "In preparing the bodies of the dead fo B transportation ill alcohol to St. John it wa . found that the bodies of six of them GieuteH l ant Kislingbury, Sergeant Jewell, Privat
 Whistler, Private Henry, Private Ellis and Se
 geant Ralston) had been cut, and the fiesl parts removed co greater or less extent. A r the other bodies were intact"
 @ A Short Crop of Hay. - Reports to the Ne,o Engldnd Homestead fro + 325 points, covering the British Province
 New England, and New York, indicate tn a the hay crop just harvested is nearly 30 p a | cent. less than last year. The averape yia