St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-17
BRAINERD's STORY.
4 Talk Wt,hthe Man WI, Has Been Far
fhest North.
Tst, Louis Republican.


evening and requested that the announce
ment in the advertisement of ''storm
Beaten,'' the play which is now being per-
formed at the National. that the survivors of
the Greedy expedition would appear, be de-
MED. The sergeant said that Sergeant Bel
derbeck was the only one of the survivors
vino had appeared in this play and that was
in New York City, and since that time nei-
ther be nor any one else Of the party has had
any connection with il.
Sergeant Brsinerd came TO this CITY on
Friday, and he is the first one of the s1ryiy-
orr TO arrive here. He is fine-lookiug man
OF about 20 years Of age, compactiy built.
with clear cut features, dark brown hair and
mustacne, and hazel eyes. 1t will be re-
membered That he accompanied the lament
cd LOCKWOOD on his memorable sledge Jour
ney, ana is now the only person living OF
that party which reached the furthest point
north in the Arctic zone.
The conversation drifted to his experience
In the frozen regions, and be gave graphic
description OF some Of the incidents which
occurred during the three years the expedi-
uon remained in that region. He said that
al Fort Conger their life WIS pleasant enough
as they had plenty to read and eat and album
dance of fuel TO keep them warm.
The sergeant said that there was little
flower grew there, the buds of which were
very sweet. The plant grew In little cumps
and man would lie down and pick and eat
all he could find in one place, then roll to the
next clump. 1t did not take so much strength
to roll as TO walk. When the first death oc-
cured it cast gloom over the whole party,
bat as one after the other dropped off they
became Indifferent to it, and only wondered
Vba o. NOT mi ha ia
The sergeant spoke Of the heroism by Cor
poral Ellison, even after his feet and hands
had been frozen off and be was lying help
less in the tent. Ellison was frozen in De-
cember, but was kept alive until the next
July. His condition was horrible. His feet
gnd hands were not amputated. but dropped
oil, and the stumps were bandaged up. A
spoon was tied TO his right arm and a cup of
water placed near him. He knew that his
hands were gone, but did not know that his
feet had dropped Off. A month after hfs feet
were gone some one asked him how he felt.
He answered he was feeling all right but the
bottom Of bis right foot itched. TWAS feared
that if informed Of the loss Of his feet the
shock would have killed him. Every time
the stumps of his legs were dressed screen
was placed so that he could not sec their con-
dition. Sergt. Brainerd said that Ellison
plant was made by others his simple re-
mark: Boys don't see what you have TO
complrin of; l don't complain That re-
mark was always sufficient to stop the grum-
bling.
sergt. Brainerd described their disappoint-
meut on their arrival at Cape Sabine, and
said that after recovering from it they treated
the matter philosophcaly and made prepare
tons for the winter
'We had no fuel" said the seargant, "and
heated our tea by an achoholic lamp, which
was exlinguished almost before the water was
boiled so as not to waste any of the alcoholic
You must have become pretty well ac-
quainted during the winter at Cape SabineP'
''We did. 1t was place where the charac-
ter of man came out. We tried to talk
most Of the time to keep our spirits up, and
before spring guess every man knew as
much about the families of all the others as
he did about their own. Upat Fort Conger ev-
eryone had been reticent about his family af-
fairs, but that didn't last long at Cape Sabine.
We never knew that Gardiner was married
man until the last winter''
''Did you ever talk about good things to
eats''
Eyes; that was one Of the way we had of
amusing ourselves. We got up elaborate
bills of fare and ordered what we wanted,
and we all wanted everything on the bill"
'Did you ever really make up your mind
that you must die!'
Eyes; always towards the last we conelud-
ed that we could not live many more days,
but death had no terror for US. We thought
of it rather as a welcome relief from our suf-
feriugs.n
"Was there much talk of religion there's"
"Not much. i think we would have been
good subjects for Il band of missionaries even
on the day we were rescued. l don't mean
that we were irrelgious. Any profanity of
obscenity was discountenanced, and don't
remember but little of either all that winter
But we didn't talk much about religion. |
see it reported that Lieut.. Greedy was read
ing prayer when the rescuing party came, but
that is mistake. Greedy was digging in a
pemmican can when the rescuing party ar
rived.''
Speaking Of the retreat from Fort Conger.
Sergt. Brainerd said the greatest care was
exercised to carry nothing but what was alb
solutely necessary, and even that carried
WAS reduced to It's minimum weight; tent
poles were Whitfield down until they had
barely strength enough remaining to sup
port the tent, and even the edges of the
sleeping bags were cut off In order that they
would not only have less weight, but also
take up less space. He said that the state
ment which had been published that Greedy
loaded more coal on the steam launch than
was necessary, and neglected TO cary pro-
vision instead, and that there were several
tons of coal left in the launch when it was
abandoned, was not true; that everything
put in the LAUNCH was weighed with the
greatest nicely, taking into consideration the
length of time it would take them to reach
Cape Sabine. So exact was the calculation
that when they abandoned the launch there
was only one or two shovels-full of coal re-
naming. In leaving Fort Conger there was
not the slightest doubt but that they would
find at Cape Sabine abundance OF provisions
if not a vessel waiting for them, but they
also thought it probable that the launch
would be crushed in the ice and the party
compelled to return to Fort Conger for the
winter. In such an event they would have
started the following spring and retreated
overland There were enough provisions at
Fort Conger to have kept them during the
winter, but the supply of fuel had been ex-
hausted, and more would have had to be
mined from coal mine in the vicinity The
dogs had been used fer hauling the sleds.
and instead of killing them, as had been
suggested when they were about to leave the
station, decided to let them live, and to
leave open for them three months provi-
sions, as in case the party returned the dogs
would have been invaluable.
Being asked if the men grew respondent
during the long winters nights. he said that
at first it was novelty, and they rather
enjoyed it. but toward the end of the winter
season it was seldom one would hear a
laugh or joke. The depressing influence
was removed when the sun made its appear
ance in the spring and they all regained
their good spirits. Referring to this trip to
the t'farthest NORTH - he said that although