Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-08-16
THE ARCTIC HORROR.
EXAMINATION OF LIEUTENANT
KISLINGBURY'S BODY.
Report of the Physicians-Interv
with Naval Ofiicer-Private
Henry's Remains.
ESPECIAL DISPATCHES To THE REconD-uNIoN I


ESPECIAL DISPATCHES TO THE RECoRD-UNIoN
ROCHESTER, August 15th.-On returning
TO the city, after disnterIing the body of
Lieutenant Kislingbury, the physicians
who examined it made the following re-
port The body in weight approximated,
in our opinion, about fifty pounds. On
examination of the head no signs OF wounds
or injuries were visible. The skin was not
broken. The ears and nose were intact.
The skin and muscles of the interior por
ton of the face and neck were intact.
From the upper portion of the sternum
and clavicle to the lower portion of the
fifth rib on the left side the skin and mus
cles had all been removed down to the ribs.
On the right side the skin and muscles
down to the lower border of the last rib
were gone, and there were two openings
between the fourth and fifth intercostal
spaces into the thoraic cavity. The skin
and muscles on the anterior portion of the
abdomen were intact to the crest of the
iltium, or the pelvic bones. The muscles
and skin of the left leg were removed to
within three inches of the ankle joint. On
the right leg the skin and muscles were re-
moved to within five inches of the ankle
were all present. There was no vestige of
integumcnt or muscles on either arm. in
Guiding the muscles of the shoulder blades,
to the wrist Joints, except on the right fore
arm The flesh and muscles of both hands
were intact. The examination of the pos
terror portion of the body showed that the
skin and muscles of the back from the
seventh cervical yertebra had been
dissected or cut completely away
down to the bones, with the exception of
pieces of skin from two to three inches
square on each side of the upper portion of
the sacrum. The pelyis bones were com
pletely denuded. All the extremities were
attached to the body by ligaments only
No fracture of the bones was discovered.
We found all the organs of the thorax and
abdomen. There was evidence of recent
inflammation of the stomach and bowels.
In our opinion the flesh removed was cut
away with some sharp instrument That
remaining on the feet and hands and face
showed no signs of decomposition"
STATEMENT OF KIsLINGBURYs BROTHER.
In an interview with the Times represen-
tative this evening.W II. kislingburv, elder
brother of the deceased, outlined the condi-
ton of things, which would lead to the be-
lief that the Greedy expedition was divided
into parties or factions, and that one per-
ished because the others had gained possess
sion, by force, of the food supply. In this
oStracized party were Lieutenant kising-
bury and DR.. Payy. The condition of Lieu
tenant Kislingburys body showed that he
died of starvation at Il time when others
had some food supply. w. II. Kisling-
bury opposed the eXhUming of the re-
mains of his brother up to Wednes-
day night, believing his brother
could not have been preyed upon
by the survivors, because it was reported
he had helped to kill a polar bear three
days before he died. The party was res
Cued three weeks after he died, and ks
linghurv held that the bear would have
lasted the remaining survivors that length
of time, fairly distributed and husbanded,
but Kislingbury shows no evidence of hay
ing partaken of the bear, and the fact that
the tieshy parts Of his body were cut off in
a careful and scientific manner shows that
the bear story might have been invented
by some one to conceal the fact Of canni-
balism. Instead Of eating bear. the sur
yivorS subsisted on the bodies Of their dead
companions. In the opinion of kiSling-
bury, DR.. Payy died in advance of the out
come of the desperate struggle for subSiSt-
ence and ended his life or fell victim to
the desperation Of the immediate adherents
Of Greedy In other words, il was case in
which those not in favor with the COM
mandcr were compelled to die that the
Others might live. kislingbury takes the
gloomy New that there was a struggle
among the starving and desperate men,
and that the strongest, by virtue Of author
ity and possession of the little food on
hand, survived. Lieutenant Kislingbury,
1t seems, was under Greely's diSplcasure
from the beginning.
4 NAVAL OFFICER INTERVIEWED.
New YORK, August 15th.-The World
prints an interview with naval officer. in
which he says Here, on this very spot,
one of the survivors held Us one whole
night telling US of his first taste of human
flesh. He would give years from his life
10 forget it. But he said the sensation of
that first taste, of having between his teeth
the flesh of one who had been his friend,
was with him always, waking or sleeping
he seemed to feel his lips pressing the
smooth tlabby meat that must be choked
down somehow if he would live And
then the inhuman, savage way Of getting
each feeder upon such food 10 cut his own
shreds OF flesh! No friend could be found
to perform this horrible Office. Every man.
if he would eat, must of necessity be his
own butcher amid these cannibalistic
orgies
iieyed. there Is not a single body from the
north in the metallic collins but would re-
veal traces of the knives Of their living
companions. The locality in which ihry
lived ought to bc enough 10 prove tic
worst fears. Shrimps could not be caught.
and obtaining game was almost out Of The
question. The camp scene had been
the same, the sailors thought, as hun
dreds Of others they had heard of
and the stories they told did not
seem To be the fiOtsam and jetsam Of the
forccastle. That some Of the living had 10
die for their companions sake had been a
f1-egouc conclusion, and when the ill-fatcd
Henry was shot II was urged that il was not
SO much for breach of military discipline
as 80 fill the empty St0machs The sailors
laughed when spoken to Of Hcury's body
They never saw his body or heard Of it.
They had seen and heard Of a little pile of
bones which were as clean as turkeys lcgs
n q poor mans Christmas dinner. TEc
bones had been laid out on a board on the
snow, and the parts placed in what seemed
20 be their relative positions Upon them
were seen the iudcutatiuu OF sheath knives.
and long scratches that looked as though
they had been made by teeth. and. if So, not
from the teeth of wild animals. for there
are none AT Cape Sabine, but from the teeth
OF ihe starving men who fell upon him be-
fore The blood had left his body. Then the
body WAS buried, and the days grew dark
again, and more futile attempts were made
to catch slTmps. 1t was useless, and the
different frozen impressions around the uu-
marked grave of Henry proved that more
than one meal had been made of the
body. Again and again il was dug uu
and put back into lis icy coffin, but
only for The same reason that beet
is put into am icc-blN. Hence il
was when the body was taken NJ for the
last time the flesh, which neither rotted in
such climate nor had been deyourcd hy
wild ANIMALS, was gone The graveyard o.
the starving men became their dining-rooln.
rs one of the Thetis men expressed II. and
thIthcr they went regularly That iicl..o-
ant Greeley was unaware that the rourh
hands of the sailors which were toiliug ,o
hard in the voyage across the icy seas were
engaged IN tearing away the flesh of their
dead companions IS probably true Lieu
tenant Greedy 10y his position and natural
character was, perhaps, ont Of respect kept
in ignorance of the clunibalistic life ia,
men were leading for long time-for alI
time. perhapS-and Yet when such q suppo
sition WAS laid before one of the Theft,
men he smiled and turned away.
PRIVATE HENRY's RENAISs
New York, August 18th Coroner Rob
inSon, Of Long Island City, has written to
Miss Dora Buck at Lincoln, Ncbraka, the
sister of private Henry. asking if She de
cfras Iis -.rta1ttl c,.,,,tr,,y