The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-13
The story Denied,

NEW YORK, Aug. l3.-At the Brooklyn
navy ward the story of murder and canni-
halism among the men of the Greedy expedi-
ton, which was published in The New FORK
Times, was almost the only topic of conyer-
satiOn, and was commented on in the most in
dignant terms How much, if any, truth is
i'll the revolving and sickening story, is a mat
ter which an official investigation, in which
nothing shall lie hidden, can only determine.
A. ii rule the officers OF the Greely expedition
who were at the navy yard evinced disposi-
tiOu not to be interviewed, stating, however,
thai it WAS matter for the highest authority
to 81 eak upon, and that at the proper time,
il called upon, they would freely state any
thing they saw or heard of Lieut..
Greely's expedition. Commander Schley
when first questioned upon the sub
ject was unable to retain his in
dignant feelings. He exclaimed: This
is an outrageous publication and only goes
to show " hat depths generally regarded
reputable Journal viii descend to produce a
sensation Ii l was Lieut.. Greely, l would
sua the paper for libel The Times reporter,
whom | call u newspaper scavenger, came
OH beard here and | put him
oil the ship. If The Times wanted TO find
out the truth or the falsity of the story, why
did i; not ~aal to Washington and get what
ever statements are with the secretary of the
navy. the secretary of war or anybody else.
The facts by inquiry in Washington can, |
think. l,e very easily ascertained"
II cali il an outrage" said Commander
Schley in conclusion, qualifying the word
with Il very expressive adjective.
George Nerle, one of the crew of the Thetis,
Commander Schley's vessel, was one of those
who assisted in the transfer of the bodies of
the dead members of Greely's expedition
from their graves near their camp in Smith
sound 10 his own vessel and the Bear. He
said ''I~helped to dig up the bodies and strip
them Of the clothing they were buried in;
the bodies were shrunken and shriveled,
hut it is false TO say that the
flesh was stripped off the bones;
not the slightest sign of cannihalism
was discovered as far as | know and l never
heard Of any ! haven't been warned to keep
my mouth closed about anything, and l don't
know and haven't heard OF any other mem
bers If the crews who had. That is one part
of the story which is certainly false. We
have nothing to conceal The only
thing | noticed particularly about the
bodies where fault might possibly be found
with was that many of them we've badly de-
composed and this was caused by their not
being buried deep enough. The survivors
were sick themselves and did the best il
their power for their comrades / never
heard word spoken on the Thetis about any
evidence of canhibalism, and if any other
member of the crew knew of it | would
know
James Green, another member of the crew
of the Thetis, said: Don't you believe a
word of it. | myself not only assisted in the
transfer of bodies, but l helped to place them
| in alcohol to arrest the progress of decomposl
ton A yarn has been attempted to be made
| out of the suggestion Of Commander Schley
| from st Johns to the secretary of The
| navy that TIE bodies be placed in metallic
| cases As far as l know Commander
| Schley felt it his imperative duty to mak'
this suggestion simply on account of the tal
| advanced decomposition of the bodies. Tt
be sure. some of the bodies presented horri
BE sight on being found. The faces of somt
were shrrnken and hollow, and the flesh haC
wasted away so much before death that ths
| bodies could hardly be recognized by then
| friends. 1t would be cruel to ask them tt
| look at them y