Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-16
THE FEASTS OF FLESH.
NO MORE OF THE CORPSES SUR
MITTED To EXAMINATION.

Gardiner, father of Sergt. Gardiner,
who was the last but one of the GreeIy
expedition to die in the ArcticTegion, re-
ceived a letter to-day from the commander
Of the expedition, Lieut.. Greely, express
ing the hope that Major Gardiner will
not believe the horrible story of cannibal-
ism which has been set afioat, and de-
claring that there is not a particle of
truth in it. He said that Sergt. Gardi-
ner died of Inflammation of the bowels
and water on the heart, and was buried in
the ice at the foot of a hill because the
survivors were too weak to dig a grave in
the sand. He died June y, just ten days
before the rescue and four days before the
death of Private Bender, who was the
last Of the party TO die at Cape Sabine.
Lieut.. Greely says that the young Ser
geant never gave up hope till the last and
was always cheerful ana strong. He died
with photographs of his wife and mother
in his hands, and the last words that he
murmUred were the names Of those two
persons, dearest to him of all on earth.
CANNIBALIsM KNOWN OF on THE BEAR.
New YORK, Aug. 15.-Third Officer
Kelly, of the relief steamer Bear, to-day
was asked il he had read the reports
about the eating of Lieut.. Kislingbury
and Private Henry.
"Yes, l read the reports and they are
true"
"Did you hear the survivors tell of their
eating the flesh of their dead comrades ?"
"When they came on board they were
all but delirious, and they then told every
thing"
'What did they sayg'
"They admitted that they had to eat the
N n
own lives, but l cannot 90 into particu-
lars, as such facts must 90 through the
regular channels"
The reporter next saw one of the cooks
Of the Bear, and asked him if he had
heard any of the survivors tell about eat
ing their dead.
"Yes, they told everything and said
that they had to eat the flesh Of the dead,
as their food, all but little leather or seal
skin. had given out befOre.n
"Who told you this -
They all told it."
"Did they feel bad over the fact that
they were compelled to eat human flesh :"
''Well, l can't say they did. You see
after they got better they felt so happy
that l guess they did not think of it any
mOre.>
"Will you give particulars?"
mo, l cannot. All the men on board
hlGN Juub LuC DOuitS udl BEGu CdAEL4 Uub
were told not to speak much about it
when we came into port; but they all
knew it."
CHARITABLENEss OF KIsLINGBURY's
EXECUTOR.
DETROIT, Aug. 15-C. l.. Clark, guar.
dian Of the children OfLieut. Kisllngbury,
in an interview this morning, said: 'If
brought to such point of starvation /
think the unfortunate men would have
been thoroughly justified in doing as they
did. 1t may be that before he died Lieut..
kislingbury was forced to do likewise. 1t
is 10 say the least cruel to criticize in the
manner that has been done the unfortu-
nate party on its return from the
horrors of their exile. The friends of
Lieut.. Kislingbury made a mistake, in my
judgment, when they permitted the body
10 be eXhumed." Mr.. Clark also stated
that the relations existing between
Lieuts. Greely and Kislingbury were
most cordial, and that the stories to the
contrary were unjust and untrue. The
basis of this belief is conversations with
several of the survivors.
HAZEN's VIEWS.
WASHINGTON. Aug. 15.-Gen. Hazen,
Chief Signal officer, again said to-day
that he had no official knowledge that
there had been any cannibalism among
the condition Of Lieut.. KislingbUry's re-
mains might indicate that such was the
case, he had nothing from Lieut.. Greely,
or any of the survivors, that would lead
him to believe that il was so. He did not
doubt that there were chickering's and diff
ferences among the members of
the party. but he would not
believe that it led to violence, or
extreme measures of any kind, except in
the case of Private Henry. 1t is said that
there are no records at the War and Navy
Departments upon this subject. The
records and relics of the Greedy Arctic eX-
DeditiOn which were brought to New
York by the relief party and there turned
over to the authorities at Governors S
Island were brought to this city to-day,
and delivered to the Chief Signal Officer.
The latter directed Lieut.. Ray, of the Sig
nal Service, the officer who commanded
the Point Barrow expedition, to take
charge of them. They viii be used
by Lieut.. Greely in making his
report of the expedition and by the Chief
Signal Officer in making his report to the
Secretary.
WHAT THE COLLECTION INCLUDES.
The collection includes all the records
of the scientific work and discoveries Of
the Greely party, their instruments and
private papers and the diaries of the men,
bers. BY Gen. HaZen's orders, when the
expedition was fitted out, every member
was supplied with blank books in which
to keep their personal record of the
events Of their stay in the Arctic regions.
1t was the understanding that these re-
cords We're to be their personal property,
and were not to be subject to the super
vision of Lieut.. Greely or any one else.
Seventeen Of them are now in the custody
of the Lieutenant. Their contents will be
considered as confidential between the
government and the writers, and while
portions of them will be used as it was in
tended they should be when the provision
was made for their completion in making
a history of the expedition, nothing that
they contained will be made public until
Lieut.. Greely's report OF the expedition
has been made. Gen. Hazen says that it
may be year before Lieut.. Greely's re-
port is completed.
GREELY AND KISLINGBURY.
The Chief Signal Officer was asked to-
night if Lieut.. Greely had made any re-
port TO him which would throw any light
on the story that Lieut.. Kislingbury had
been relieved from duty at the beginning
of the Arctic work of the expedition at
Lady Franklin Bay. He replied that
Lieut.. Greely had not made any report to
him on that subject.
1t has been finally decided by the rela-
tives Of SeTgt. Cross, of the Greely expe-
ditiOn, not to open the casket containing
his remains. The widow Of the deceased
and his mother are GesirOus that the
casket should not be opened, and Cross
brothers have yielded to their wishes.
Arrangements had been made to open the
casket this evening and examine the
body, but this plan was abandoned be-
cause of the objection of the widow and
mother of the deceased.
The wife and the mother of Cross said
that the proposed examination of the re-
mains would do no good. If it was true
that he had been mutilated they did not
want to know it, and, IT not, there was no
occasion for disturbing him, and in either
event the favor of the War Department,
so useful in their attempt to get pension
from Congress, might be alienated. So
the brothers abandoned it.
EXHUAnNG wHIsTLRR's CORPSE.
LAFAYETTE, IND, Aug. ia repre-
sentative of the Associated Press yester-
day afternoon visited the cemetery in
which William Whistler Of the Greely ex-
peditiOn is buried. 1t was found that the
father and grandfather of Whistler are
preparing to eXhume the body TO learn as
to the truth of the reports of cannibalism.
The friends Of young Whistler had deter
mined to open the iron coffin at the time of
burial, but were kept off by kilograms
from Gen. HaZen.
LEIGH SMITHS VIEWS.
LONDON, Aug. 15.-The Pail Mall
Gazette this afternoon publishes an inter-
view with Leigh Smith, the famous Arctic
explorer, in regard TO the allegation that
the Greely party were guilty of cannibal-
ism. Mr.. Smith refused to express an
opinion regarding the report. He said,
however, that it was not strange that the
I'D