The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1884-03-15
Bringing kEome sRe .s.lcan-
nedt's'' RScnd.

1t was ON the Odd OF March, 1882, !
that chief Engineer Melville found the
bodies OF lieutenant De Long and his
handful Of men of the Jeanette expo
dition buried in the snow and ice on
the bleak shore Of Siberia, at the Lena
Delta. The details Of that melancholy
search and discovery have been told.
The searching party came upon All
old tent, the remains Of fire, and some
pieces of Arctic willow, Of which the
starving men had made substitute
for tea. A frozen hand protruding from
the snow marked the whereabouts of
De Longs body, Those Of DR.. Amber
and the Chinese cook lay close by,
while little distance off, buried in
the snow beside Il forlnrn tent were
found the remains Of Dr. Collins, Boyd
and Gartz. A temporary tomb was
built, in which the bodies were deposit
ed until arrangements could be made
for their removal. In the meantime
Lieutenant Giles B. Harder and Master
w. II. Schuetze, of the navy, were
thoroughly exploingthe Delta in search
of Lieutenant Chips boat crew, no
trace OF which was ever found. The
news of the finding of the bodies Of
De Longs party reached Lieutenant
Harder while thus engaged and in
structions were telegraphed him from
Washington to gotothe tomb at Matyeh
in order to make preparation for the
removal OF the bodies to the united
States. This was not done, however,
until every portion Of the Lena Delta
had been diligently explored in the
vain endcavor to find some trace Of
Lieutenant Chip and his unfortunate
party and it was not until the month
of August, 1882, that Lieutenant
Harder was enable to pay his first visit
to the tomb of De Long 1t was decided
to delay the removal of the bodies UNI
til the beginning of winter, travelling
being almost impossible in the summer,
owing to lack of roads Lieutenant
Harder, having assembled the river to
Yakutsk made all possible preparations
for the transfer; and then with Mr..
Schuetze and Cossack, and a train
of six sleds, started for the tomb, Just
year and five days after Chief Engin-
eer Melville had begun his journey to
search for De Long. The whole winter
WAS spent in the expedition, but after
many hardships the party returned in
: safety to Yakutsk, bringing the bodies
with them, on March 29th, 1883, just as
the thawing weather set in. The cross
erected by Melville at Matveh was
repaired and left standing. AtYakutsk
, the bodies were again placed in tenn
porary tomb, where they remained
> until the beginning of the shedding
weather last November The home
ward journey from Yakutsk WAS begun
p November 26th, 1888, and the party
, reached Hamburg on the 4th of tho
. present month, having transported
: the dead 5,761 miles by reindcc" a.r
& horse sleds, and $3.50 nils byra a,
q the time occupied in travel heinz six
, ty-three days. / Official and opu!al
i demonstrations occurred at Tomsk
! 0msk, Moscow, l'erlin, and, in fact
: every town thought which tho cesieg'
passed. And row, after lying deat
f for two years, the poor remains o
a the commander of the Jeanette an(
i his companions are brought home t.
1 receive their final honors FRO tn,
thousands who have trace their wan
. dcring course through the white North
i and listened breatlessly to the simll'
= and pathetic tale oftheir Heroic su Ter
i ings and death.