West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1884-07-23
WESTVIRGINIAFR FREEMAN.
In THEEROZEN SEAS.
Terrible Sufferings OF the Greel y
Explorers.


try are lust now filled with the
narrowing and exciting particulars
of the perils and sufferings Of the
.long-lost Northern explorers under
Lieutenant Greedy. That our
readers may get some faint idea of
the perils and tortures ofPelar ex-
.peditions, we give below an ex-
tract from the many accounts with
which the papers are filled:
CORPORAL ELIsoN's sUFFERINGs.
The case of Corporal Joseph Eli
son was the most serious. His
hands and feet were gone, and his
greatly weakened condition could
not withstand the shock. He be-
came insane a few days after his
rescue, and died seventeen days af-
ter, on July s, of mental and ph VS.
ical exhaustion. His history is
remarkable. On November the
2nd he was detailed with three
others to attempt the recovery of
the English beef cached by Fares at
Cape Isabella in 1879. The wealth
er at the time was terrible, but the
threatened starvation made it alb
solutely necessary to obtain the
food it possible. Sergeants Rice
and Linn and Privates Frederick
and Ellison, started with a daily
ration of four ounces Of meat, eight
ounces of bread, little tea, and
five ounces of alcohol for cooking
purposes. With the temperature
So below zero, the wind strong,
the snow soft, and the ice hum
mocky, they had sixty mics to
march TO the meat and return. In
four days they had reached the
cached meat and were on their re-
turn journey on the morning of
Novem ber6. They had left their
rations and sleeping bags about 2
miles from Cape Isabella, where
they had encamped on the ice and
started with only cup of tea, in
tending TO finish their meal after
reaching the meat, and to save the
extra weight of sleeping bags, pro-
visions and cooking gear. They
intended to use the wooden barrels
for fuel and thus save their alcohol
and return to the ice camp for
their dinner.
On their return Ellison suffered
with thirst and began to eat snow
against the order and advice of the
others. His hands and mits be-
came wet, and as northwest gale
was blowing his hands were soon
frozen. The snow had also caused
his mouth and tongue to blister
and he rapidly became weak. The
men hurried into camp and then
discovered that Ellison had also
had his feet frozen.
They cut his boots off and put
him into his sleeping bag and re-
stored the circulation in his hands
and feet by friction and by plac-
ing the frozen limbs next to the
bare skin. After terrible night
they continued on their journey
with the temperature 250 below
zero. Ellison was unable to help
haul the load which had been in
creased by their sleeping bags and
camp gear. His hands and feet
were soon frozen, and Frederick was
obliged to help him along. Rice
and Linn struggled manfully with
the sled, but the whole party was
soon forced by exhaustion to go
into camp. The men passed an
other horrible night. They had
no tent, and their sleeping bags
were frozen so stiff that it required
an hours work to unroll them. The
men gradually worked themselves
into their bags as the heat Of their
bodies thawed them out. A strong
wind, drifting snow and their ex-
haustion prevented them from re-
storing the circulation in their fro
zen companion. Words cannot
describe the horrors of that night,
When they broke camp they
were obliged to abandon their meat
or their companion, and they chose
the former. Ellison, noble fellow,
begged them to leave him to die
and to save the meat and his starry
ing companions.
They left the meat on the ice and