Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-08-15
HORRORS OF THE ARCTIC,
CANNlBALlSM OF GREELY's PARTY.
Rumors that the Greedy survivors sustain
ed Life by Eating the Flesh of Dead
COMPREHENSIVE Report Denied
by Commander Schi"N.

tompanionS-Thc Report Denied
by Commander Schicy.
New YORK, Aug. 19.-Thc Times
says that documents in possession
of the Naval Department add to
the record of the miserable human
suffering already published in connection
with the finding of the Greely relief eXpc
dition. For the sake of humanity and the
American people the army authorities are
cndeavoring to keep the matter hushcd up.
but in the investigation, which is almost
sure to come, the facts Will undoubtedly
come out The object of shipping the
bodies in iron caSkets was to prevent ex-
poSurc. 1t has been stated that after the
game gave out in February the members
of the party lived principally on seal skins,
lichens and shrimps. As II matter of fact
they were kept alive on human flesh.
When the rcscuing party discovered the
half->tarved survivors their first duty was
to look to two men who were insensible
from cold and privation. one of
them shrickcd as the sailors took hold of
him, Don't let them shoot as they did
poor Henry, lest be killed and eaten as
Henry was. Don't let them do it. Don't .
Don't - After Il brief investigation
Commander Schley felt that the man was
speaking the truth. and that some Of the
men who pcrishcd had been stripped of
their flesh to keep their comrades alive
Commander Schley instructed two or
three gentlemen, among them the
doctors and surgeons of the Bear
to make IL careful examination, and put
their conclusions in writing. This was
done The bodies were dug from their
graves back of the permanent camp es-
tabliShed in October \, S3 but il WAS
found that most of the blankets contained
nothing. but heaps of white bones, many
of them picked clean. Commander Schley
discovered that many of the II men who
were said To have pcrished from starva-
ton were eaten by their furnishing com
radeS. 1t is reported that the only men
who escaped the knife were three or four
who died of scurvy. Amputated limbs
of the men who afterwards perished
were eagerly devoured as food. Charles
rations When the body was found
he hands and face, though Shrunken were
intact but nearly everywhere else the skin
had been stripped from him and the flesh
picked from the bones. Even the heart
and lungs We're eaten. Fragments of hui
man flesh were also used as bait for
shrlmps. Some of the officers of the re
lief ships scout the idea of cannibalism
Others admit the bodies were shocking to
look upon, but attributed it to storm and
ice: The eating story they believe to be a
sailors yarn. Commander Schlev refuses
to say anything until an official inquiry is
made.
Commander SchIey's Statement of the
Matter.
.
Advertiser publishes an interview with
Commander Scnley in which he says :
The Times reporter called upon me on
board the Thets yesterday afternoon and
told me they had Il statement similar to
that printed this morning and asked me
for the truth concerning it. | spoke to
him kindly denying the story, but he
would not take simple denial and pre-
sumed to catechise me. | refused to say
any more, and he persisted until ordered
him off the vessel and ended the interview.
! repeat that there is not Il grain of trut h
in the story. The article in qestiOn SAYS |
telegraphed to Washington to the Secre-
tary asking that the bodies might be en-
cased in iron collins, when might have
brought them in ordinary cases, as they
~, 1,,.:. N'''' '''', '''i ~ ic'eiN
eu' lhlS statement only shows the lgnor-
ance of the persons making it. During
| the long Arctic summer the sun shines
uninterrunt.dlv and mali. H.. s,,a,,. fr,,,,,
the hills and partially thaws out the sur
lace OF the ground. OF course the bodies
were in as good n state of preservation as
upon the day they died for they were
kept thoroughly firm and cold but
they were not frozen. Their flesh
would soon have purified if not
placed at once in metal caskets. They
were not in the condition that the dead of
the Jeanette were found deny that
any secrecy was enjoined upon the men
and the story about the secret conference
between Secretary Chandler, Gen. HaZen
and myself and my refusal to give any in
| formation at Portsmouth on August I'd, is
! also Inaccurate The story that Henry
was shot is not true | believe he died as
all others died of starvation and scurvy.
II there was any foundation for the horri