The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-14
THE STORY OF CANNIBALISM.
Its Publication Denounced in Severe
Terms by Commander SchIey.
A General Impression Among the Sailors
th2t the Statements Made Have Some
Foundation in Fact
New York sDeoial.

Dozens of his friends, mon and women, visited
him. He refused at ore time to speak at all
about the published story quoted above. At an
other time he said
Its shame to publish such disgusting &C
count. It's shame and an outrage, and even
were there any possibility of its being true there
would be no excuse for raking up the horrible
details to disgust the public and fasten lasting
stigma to the names Of the brave men who rislzed
their lives in the cause Of science.
What an outrage to insinuate that man like
Lieutenant Greedy would have been party to
caunibalism and eaten the bodies of the men
who worked for him so faithfully What dread
most is the effect that tins publication may have
upon him. With his excitable temperament
and in his present enfeebled condition, fear
that the shock may prove fatal Whatever may
have occurred. nothing will ever convince me
that that man had part in any criminal or I'M
manly act
4 sincerely hope that these statements may
be kept from him until their falsity shall have
received thesame publicity which they received
Commander Schley repeated this in substance
to all who questioned him, but in no instance
did he deny point plank that some Of the sur
ylvors had subsisted partially on the dead bodies
of their comrades, or that the bodies were found
mutilated
The other officers. without exception, refused
to speak on the subject at all Some of them
acknowledged in several instances that they be-
heyed there was substanceof truth in the facts
related but they said they were not authorized
to speak
The sailors on board the Thetis, the Bear. and
the Alert talked of nothing to day but the res
cue OF the Greedy party, and the condition of the
dead bodies 1t was the general impression
among the men that some Of the Greedy party
had eaten of the flesh of their dead companions.
1t had been the talk of the forecaste all the way
home, and, from fear of their superior officers,
the men had concluded to say nothing about the
matter. Only few of the sailors had seen the
bodies at all, for Immediately after they had
been found the officers had ordered that they
should be wrapped in blankets and the bodies
were taken on board the Thetis and the Bear
thus covered The Alert met the other vessels
five days after the bodies had been picked up
but the sailors on her soon learned what all the
rest knew or guessed
Some Of the men on the Bear one of them
said yesterday, told me that knife had been
used on some Of the bodies. Whether the flesh was
cut of for bait or food nobody can tell but at
any rate VINO could blame them if they were
starving2p
According to the stories Of those sailors who
saw the dead bodies, and who were present when
they were picked up, the flesh had been cut
from Il number of them.
In several instances one Of the sailors said
the flesh had been cut from the legs and thighs.
There can be no boubt about that. The Fact
may be verified by opening the metal cases.
The flesh may have been used as bait for
shrimps which the destitute men used for food
They caught the shrimps by putting the bait in
wide mouthed bag and sinking it in the water
w hen the shriinps went into the bag the men
pulled it up The shri1nps were very small and
it took many on them to make a meal
Some of the sailors insist that DR. Octave
Payy who is said to have died on June l6,
committed suicide by taking ergot. The reports
of cannibalism were denied by man who said
he was boiler-maker and machinist on board the
Thetis, and who said that he had packed the
dead bodies in the iron tanks used for melting
snow and ice, which he had first prepared for
that purpose. He exhibited his hands, which
were somewhat swollen, and said that the swell
ing resulted from having his hands plunged in
strong alcohol for several consecutive hours
That story is all false he said. II should
know as well as anybody, for / worked for
twenty-four hours in snow-storm digging up
the bodies and packing them away. | saw all
the bodies taken up and know just what condi-
ton they were in They were not mutiated in
any way, but were fearfully einaciated. Some
of the men had on as many as four or five pairs Of
trousers with strips of heavy flannel wrapped all
around their limbs to keep them warm.
stripped the mems bodies with my own hands. /
should know Il there was anything wrong about
theIn.n
This witness said fuently that he lifted the
body Of DR.. Pavy over the bulwarks Dr.
PAWS body was not recovered. The narrator
added, however, that it was frozen stiff, and in
few minutes later said that all the bodies
were SO advanced in decay that it was abso
lutely necessary to put them in iron caskets and
rlyet them up out of sight. One of the steam
launch party who discovered Greedy said that
the men had been talking the matter over
among themselves, and all supposed it was true
that the dead bodies had been partially eaten
They understood that they were expected not to
talk about it outside.
Il,,+t -, g. 80 $50 q
thought we really didn't know anything about
it except little stray talk, and they thought if
they told us to keep quiet it would only interest
US the more went ashore with the first
Two or three of the bodies were lying
uDburied on the ice The survivors said
that they had not had the strength to bury
them. Those were the ones that we all saw
and they We're all cut and mangled. The bones
were not picked by any means, but thick slices
had been cut from all the feshy parts of the
bodies. The officers covered tae bodies over
We men were not allowed to see the bodies that
We're dug up Only two or three men were al
lowed 10 see thein and the same men who dug
them up we're employed to strip them and pack
them away IN alcohol.
i don't think that anybody imagined that
these poor fellows set deliberately to work to do
what they did. None Of the boys on the ships
blamed the poor fellows and although every
body knew it they. were treated all the way
over as well as they could be. To starye to
death IS terrible thing and you can blame
man for doinga thing that he is starved into.
Lieutenant Greedy didn't know anything about
it. That's very likely, and maybe halt of the
survivors didn't. Perhaps only two or three
did this without the others knowing it,
The Story Told by Half Drunken Sailor.
New York Special.
An honest-looking German was pointed ont on
the Thetis as the seaman who had accompanied
the officers to the graves. His name was said to
be Rujjessen. Not knowing that he was being
interviewed, tho sailor said:
1T was Second lieutenant Colville who stood
over as dug up the bodies. He and one other
officer and myself were the only ones that left
the boat to go to the graves. You know how we
found live men lying under sheet Of cold can
vas, too weak to lift up the flaps They could
only crawl on their hands and knees. Well,