The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1884-08-21
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9201IY u oA 1111DAk.
3embers Of the 0resly Garty Changed
80 with Killing and Eating the Dodiss
r.. of Their Comrades.


The New York Times Of: Tuesday morning
says: Written documsnts now in the posses
sion of the navy department at Washington
add til the record of miserable human suffer
ings already published in connection with the
finding of the Greedy relief expedition, the
most shocking stories of inhumanity and can
nibalism. All the facts have been in the pos
session of Secretary Chandler for nearly three.
weeks, but so closely have they been guarded,
and 80 strictly have the naval officers and
sailors maintained the silence imposed upon
them, that. not even an mixing Of the true aud
horrible condition of affairs has yet reached the
public car The sufferings andprivations Of
The men in their canvas hut, during the long,
bitter winter of 1884, have not half been told
1t has been published that after game gave out
early in February they lived principally on
seal skins, lichens and shrimps.
AS a matter of fact they. were kept alive on
human flesh. When the rescuing party dis,
covered the haf=starved survivors, their first
duty was to look to the men whowere nsen,
sible from coldand privation even 10 the point
OF death. One of them, German, was wild
In his delirum he shrieked, :tOhp' as the sail
sDon't let them shoot me as they did poor
Henry. Must be killed and eaten as Henry
was? Don't let them do it, don't" Tho sailors
were Mortified, bnt at once reported the mans
words to Commander Schley. !;
:. When the horrible reality was brought out
before an investigating committee, Commander
Schley intrusted two or three gentlemen,
among. whom was DR.. Ames, the surgeon of
the Bear, to make careful examinations and
put their conclusions in writing. This was
tho navy department Lieut.. Greeley was de-
cidedly averse to having the bodies Of the
buried dead disturbed, bqtthe bodies veg dig
from their graves Most sof the blankets
contained nothing but heaps of white bones,
many of them picked clean; BY inquiries
seventeen men who are said to have persisted
from starvation had been eaten by their fam
ishng comrades. It was the one last resort !
It is reported that the only mon who escaped;
the knife we're three or four who died Of scurvy.
The amputated limbs Of men who afterward
persisted, were eagerly devoured as food
Whether the four bodies which were swept out
to'sea and never, recovered would have added
further evidence to this. story Of horrible
cannibahsm, cannot be learned now,
eaoqf be 'ns a give al the
Charles ?. Henry's death was particularly
tragic. Driven to despair by his frightful hun
ger, Henry saw all opportunity to steal little
more than his share Of rations, and he made
tho attempt He was found and shot for his
crime In the published official report the
death of this man is set down as having oc-
Cured June 5. When the body was found his
hands and face, Though shrunke15, %'sre intact
and recognizable; but nearly everywhere else
the skin had been stripped from him and the
flesh picked from the bones. Even his heart and
lungs were eaten by his comrades. The body
was in this condition when it was inferred last
Saturday. Tho letter from his friend Robert
s. Oberfelder, of Sidney, Neb., which is daily
looked for, will probably never como to light