The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1884-08-23
A TALE OF HORROR.
Greedy and His Starving Comrades said
To Have Eaten the Bodies of the Dead
On of the Party Shot for Stealing

Food.
NEW YORK, Aug. 1.-THE Times will
tomorrow print a startling story that
the survivors of the Greely expedition
ate the remains of their dead comrades.
1t says all the facts have been in the
possession of Secretary Chandler for
nearly three weeks, but so closely have
they been guarded, and so strictly have
the naval officers and sailors maintained
the silence imposed upon them, that not
even an inkhng of the true and horri
ble condition of affairs has as yet
reached the public ear. For the sake
of humanity and the American people,
the army authorities are endeavoring to
keep the matter hushed, but in the
official investigation, which is almost
sure to come, the facts in all will un-
doubtedly come out. Every effort
will presumably be taken to
prevent it, but the truth must be
known in time. Commander Schley's
first dispatch to Secretary Chandler ur-
gently suggested that the bodies be
placed IN metallic caskets Immediately
''for safer and better transportation in
seaway." Both Secretary Chandler
and Rear Admiral Nicholson instructed
him to do as he thought best. 1t took
some days to prepare the iron caskets,
which were all bolted and riveted. 1t
was remarked at the time by expert
enced officers that this would hardly
have been necessary for the preserva-
ton of the frozen bodies. They could
have been safely brought on without
any delay IN wooden collins. Even the
sailors on the relief ships, with the ex
ception of a few men who assisted in
removing the bodies, were not allowed
to see them. The lips of the officers
were sealed. When Commander Schley
met Secretary Chandler and Gen Ha-
zen at Portsmouth, August 2, on the ar
rival Of the ships from ST. Johns, he
was very much agitated, and called the
gentlemen into the cabin of the vessel.
Undoubtedly he then communicated to
them the facts which have since become
an open secret.
The sufferiDgs and privations 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 the game gave out, early i'll Feb
ruary, they lived principally on sealskin,
hchens and shrimps. AS a matter of
fact, they were kept alive on human
flesh. When the rescuing party dis
covered the half starved survivors their
first duty was to look to the two men
who were insensible from cold and pri-
vation even to the point of death. One
Of them, German, was wild in his de-
lirium. "0hp he shrieked, as the
sailors took hold of him to lift him
tenderly, don't let them shoot me as
they did poor Henry. Must be killed
and eaten as Henry was? Don't let
them do it'll Don'ti Don'tr The
sailors were horrltied, but at once re-
ported the mans words to Commander
Schley. After brief investigation he
felt satisfied that the poor fellow was
speaking the tru5 and that some of
the. men who perished had been
stripped of their flesh to keep their
surviving comrades alive
Mr.. Schley proposed to make thor
ough work of it. When the horrible
reality was brought out before an inves-
tigating committee he did not propose
to have it rest solely on his oral testi-
mony. He instructed two or three gen
tlemen, among whom was DIR. Ames,
the surgeon of the Bear, to make a
careful examination and put their CON
clusiops in writing. This was done, and
the reports are now in the hands OF the
Navy Department.
Lieut.. Greedy was decidedly averse
to having the bodies of the buried dead
disturbed. He thought it wise, as they
had been buried SO long, to let them re-
main in their Arctic graves. Com
mander Schley did not agree with him.
The bodies were dug from their graves
in the little hill just back of the per-
manent camp established in October,
1888. Most of the blankets contained
nothing but heaps Of white bones,
many OF them picked clean. The re-
mains could be identified only by the
marks on the blankets. BY inquiries
Commander Schley discovered that
many of the seventeen men who are
said to have perished from starvation
had been eaten by their famishing com
rades. 1t was the one last resort. Pro
vided supplies had not arrived, death
stared the hungry and crazed men III
the face, but there was hope if life
would hold out for even a few weeks. 1t
is reported that the only men who
escaped the knife were three or four
who died of scurvy. The amputated
limbs of men who afterward persisted
were eagerly devoured as food.
Charles b. Henry's death was par
ticularly tragic. He was young Ger
man, without any relatives in this conn
try, and joined Company f, Fifth
Cavalry, in Cincinnati. His friends
tried to dissuade him from going with
the expedition, but his spirit of ad-
venture was aroused by tales of Arctic
exploits, and he determined to go.
Driven to despair by his frightful
hunger, Henry saw an opportunity to
steal little more than his share OF
rations, and he made the attempt. He
was found out and shot for the crime
Ip the published official report the
death of the man is set down as having
occurred June 6. When the body was
found his hands and face, though
shrunken, were intact and recognizable
but everywhere else the skin had been
stripped from him and the flesh picked
from his bones. Even his heart and
lungs were eaten by his comrades. One
rib was found shattered by bullet, and
to another small fragments of lead were
attached. a bullet hole was found IN
the skin.
Whether the four bodies which were
swept out to sea and never recovered
would have added further evidence to
this story of horrible cannibahsm can
not be learned now, though the papers
in the possession of the Navy Depart
ment give all the particulars as told by
the survivors. At first they were loath
to talk of the horrible experience they
had passed through, but after promises
of absolute secrecy their evidence was
all taken III writing.
The officers of the relief vessel tell
conflicting stories, but the members of
the crew are little more communica-
tive Enough has been learned to con-
firm some OF the ugly stories afoat. AT
least dozen of the men admit that
Henry was shot for stealing food
New YORK, Aug. 12-In regard to the