Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-17
GREELY'S CANNIBALISM.
HUMAN FLESH FED HIM WITH
OUT HIS KNOWLEDGE.

OUT HIS KNOWLEDGE.
Lieut.. Powell Throws Some New Light
on the Terrible Experiences of the
Arctic SurYivOrs-The True Story of
GreeIy's Pathetic Meeting With His
Wife-Lieut. Rays Views on Polar
Man Eating.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16.-The Star to-
night publishes the following: Lieut..
Powell, an officer of the Signal Service,
who was present at the Greely reception
/ at Portsmouth and also the funeral of the
dead at New York, and who talked with
all the survivors, said in conversation
with Star reporter to-day that the
journals which were kept by the indi-
vidual members of the party were dis
continued upon leaving Fort Conger, at
Lady Franklin Bay. After reaching
Camp Clay one or two diaries were kept,
one by Sergeant Brainerd.
'EDO they make any allusion to the can
nibalism among the party" ?" asked the re-
/ porter.
"No, think not. You see the men
I were too far gone to keep any note of
/ events when they were reduced to such
/ straits as to eat human flesh, but then
| there is no doubt of the canniballsm.
/ There was no chance either of keeping
] the fact secret. Too many men
/ knew it. 1t was only hoped that
/ it could be kept quiet until Lieut.. Greely
/ could make an official report, when mat
/ ters we've more quiet, and the public could
reason better regarding the eXigencies of
/ the case.
NORMAN LET OUT THE SECRET.
"WhO let the cat outOf the bag?" asked
/ the reporter.
|'Weu, L suppose that it was Norman.
| He is apt to get on a spree and talk
too much, but the matter would
| have become known any how, be-
cause, as l said, too many people
/ knew it. The survivors talked about
it when they were rescued in a half craZed
! condition. New have talked with Lieut..
/ Greely and the rest of the survivors and
with the officers of the rescuing party,
and I'll tell you my opinion regarding
| that story. There is no doubt about its
! truth, and there is no doubt about Lieut..
| Greely's honesty when he says that if
there was cannibalism he did not know it.
| When these men were rescued they were
/ not responsible beings. They had un-
1 dOubtedly subsisted on human flesh for
/ some time. / have no doubt that, driven
to despair by hunger, they would go out
and cut some flesh off the bodies of their
dead comrades and partake of it.
GkEEL1 Ale ONhNOM 1NGL1.
"Greely was in mighty bad condition.
He was confined to the tent by extreme
weakness. He was mighty popular with
the majority of the party, and when the
men obtained something to eat it was
their natural impulse to share it with
their commander. He partOok of human
flesh without knowing what he was eat
ing. His mental and bodily strength was
too far gone to know or care. There is
.sv,1 l,rrN -I,,N
of those who died also partoOk
of human flesh. / tell you that it will
be a long time before the horrors of Camp
Clay are known thoroughly. The story
of the joy of the survivors when they
were found is ridiculous. Lieut.. COlwell,
who was the first man to enter the tent,
told me that when they met Sergt. Long
who, you know, came part of the way tC
meet them, he was completely played out
4 When asked how many were living, he
gaspingly replied: Seven Where are
theyP asked Lieut.. COlwel. oyer there, ,
he said, family, pointing to the hill. OF
/ course, they hurried over the hill anC
found the tent. 1t was closed, and either
Chief Engineer Lowe or Norman cut il
GREELY sPEECHEEss.
Lieut.. COlweil stuck his head in, auC
Lieut.. Greely, who was but the semblance
of a man, raised himself on his hands and
knees and gaZed in a perfectly dazed
manner. Lieut.. Colwell did rot know
HIM and asked him three times who ht
was but he could not reply. BrainerC
then said, It's Capt. Greely.' Lieut.. Col
well then gave them all small amOun
them too much and sent for the surgeon
to come ashore. The men then be
gan to curse him for no
! giving them food. Lieut.. Greely sale
i piteOusly, Il think after all that Tve gone
through you might give me something Il
eat.' You see those men were in a terri
BILE condition. AS l said, they ate human
flesh and Lieut.. Greedy ate it too, but
don't believe that he knew it. Private
COnneH told me about the close call ht
had, said Lieut.. Powell, musingly. YOU
know he was just about at the point o.
death when they found him.
CONNELL's NARROW ESCAPE.
''Said he: My mind was perfectly
clear when the rescuers arrived, bu
was so near gone that they
thought l was dead. They felt tha
me and moved me- and finally decided il
was no use. All this time had not been
able TO tell them that l was alive. They
were Just about to carry out my remains
when, realizing the situation, l made
superhuman effort, bound to speak if i
killed me, and succeeded in muttering
No, damn you, Pm not dead yet. o
L was fortunately brought around al
right"
at was Brainerd you say who kept tht
most complete diaryT' asked the reporter
"Yes, l think So" was the reply. "Ht
is a noble man, that Brainerd. Lieut.
Greedy gave me an instance of his un
selfish disposition, which was in fac
herOism. Greely said: When we weighed
our provisions at Camp Clay in the fal
we allotted so much per man to las
through the winter, and put Brainerd il
charge of the supplies to distribute then
pro rata.
BRAINERD's HERoIsM.
''WelI in the spring when we weighed
the stores agaiMI found that there was {
small percentage over what should have
been left. That man Brainerd had ac
tually stinted himself, and had not eater
his full allowance, IN order that we nigh
be little better off than we expected
and that he would not be open to the i'm
putatiOn of taking more than his share.'
'Was that affecting story about the
meeting of Greely and his wife correctP
asked the reporter.
'sNO; it was made out of whole cloth
The meeting no doubt was an affecting
one, but it did not occur in the way
/ described. Mrs. Greely travelled might
and day from San Diego, but she did not
break down but once, and that was only
GOr a moment when she was in the barge
which was taking her to the Thetis. The
two Nesmiths, her brothers, were with
her, and General aud Mrs. Hazen.' Lieut.
Greely was on the deck when the barge
| approached, and seeing his wife in it he
climbed over the rRIl of the vessel and
was about to jump into the barge
One of the Nesmith boys, who
had reached the deck, caught him by the
arm and said that his wife wanted to see
him below. He went down into the Cap
tain's cabin and his whe followed. They
met In the Captains staterOOm, and no
one saw them, and / don't believe word
passed between them for some minutes.
The Nesmith boys remained in the ward
room, and, instead of hugging, laughing
and crying, they were quietly enjoying
some beer and crackers that one of the
| officers brought them"
LIEUT.. RAYS VIEWS ON CAENIBALISM.
Lieut.. Ray, commander Of the Point
Barrow expedition, said to-day: "Mr.
| Leigh Smith is mistaken in his interview
that was cabled across the ocean in the
| CT haf fhara ro0nrd Of