The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-15
a MAN o, wAnsmANs YARN.
Eating Monkey and Human Flesh-The Eek
perience of an Old Sailor.


ton Self preservation is the first law of ma
ture, and under the desperate circumstances in
which they were placed | think they were ex-
cusable if they did resort to cannibalism. Ex-
| IRENE hunger is species of Madness and when
suffering from it all the finer sentiments are for
gotten and only the brute instinct remains
Greely's party was exposed to sufferings and
hardships which few civilized people can under
stand Numerous authentic cases are on record
where shipwrecked crews have resorted to can
nibalsm, even in the temperate and torrid
zones. AS is well understood, a man requires
more food in cold climates than he does in
warmer atmospheres. Seemingly cut off from
! all hope of rescue, abandoned to their fate. suf
fering the terrible hardships and privations,
and with hunger, intensified by the
! vitals, is it any wonder that
these men lost their humanity for the time
being, and resorted to feeding on human flesh to
the story to me is the fact Of the public being SO
Mortified over the details of the affair as if such
a thing had never before occurred
! You talk as if cannibalism were common
occurrence remarked the reporter; 'swere you
| you ever placed in position where your moral
senslbilities were blunted by hunger so that you
would relish human flesh2n
mo, thank God, / never have although 1
have been so hungry that boiled monkeys fore
arm tasted sweeter than a spring chicken; but
every sailor who has seen blue water knows
that he may at some time be called upon to
draw lots to see who shall die to preserve the
! lives of his shipmates They all know that it
may be their fate to be placed in such extreme
circumstances but, like the possibility of being
| shlpwrecked, they take their chances. OF course,
| such occurrences are few and far between; but
| there are men living to-day who owe their lives
! to cannibalism.n
Have you ever met one who had been re-
| dueed to such extremitieslp
Y es. but it is long winded yarn, and unless
you have time to listen to it do not care about
relating it. besides, the dust of this street
chokes my pipe, and it's too hot to stand up for
an hour
| Taking the hint the reporter piloted the way
into a s'grog shop and the two were soon seated
! at a table unloading a couple of schooners
Now, am going to spin this yarn my own
way, and you can boil it down to suit yourself,
/ but will swear to the main points in the narra
tive In the year 1877 l Joined the United
! States flagship Richmond, at Rio de Janeiro
| then homeward bound from long cruise in the
Pacific. soon made myself at home among
my new shipmates and a few days after
leaving Rio / found that my topnates Of
/ the port watch had a fashion of collecting
between two of the guns in the starboard gang
| way and willing away the hours of the night
watches by spinning yarns about their individ-
ual experiences. Like all sailors was fond of
listening and occasionally tuning my own pipe;
for although mere youngster had seen good
pit OF the world. and had good memory for
/ things had seen. heard and read about--for as
you can see by my manners, am not so litter
| ate as sailors generally are; in fact hatter my
self no one would ever think by looking or talk
| Ing Wild me That L mad ever passed reef earring
| in gale of wind or growled at the cook because
his stuff was soggy--but that don't belong to the
| story; however, it is fashion sailors have Of
beating about while spinning a yarn, like ship
lacking against head wind; so, if you will
| pardon the depression we will come in stavs go
on the right track and finish the yarn before we
| shift the helm again.
Among the boatswains mates on the Rich
mond was hale. hearty middle-aged man.
whose deep, bass voice and pleasant manner had
/ often attracted my attention while directing the
men at their work or repeating the orders of
1 the officer of the deck. found out that his
4 name was Jack Burns, and that he was an En-
/ glishman by birth and had sailed in lime julc-
! ersi for number of years.
What is a lime juicerfp
IA designation applied to all English mer
chant ships, because lime juice forms an article
/ of their regular rations Well he had passed
/ the best part of twenty years in that service
and had gained large experience as a seaman
/ before he discovered that sailors in the United
! States navy are better paid, better treated and
more respected than in any other, and he lost no
| time in joining the service which promised so
much. knowing as he did that his illiteracy
would not permit him to rise above the grade of
a seaman or petty officer. At that time he had
/ been i the service nearly nine years. and his
| seamanship and manly qualities had won for
1 him the grade of chief boatswain's mate, the
/ highest to which he could aspire The one who
! gave me this information also told me that
Burns had endured many hardships before en-
| tering the navy and among other things that
/ his ship had foundered in the Pacific while on a
| voyage to Australia, and that the survivors had
| been forced to kill one of their number to- fur
nish food for the rest
My curiosity was aroused, and the next even
! ing Joined him as he was pacing the deck in a
! thoughtful mood. and asked him if it was true
that he had been forced to eat human flesh Ay,
| lad, he answered, in his good-natured, deep,
bass voice, I had to do it once, but hope it will
never happen again. That was an awful time,
and the sight of rare meat makes me sick when
ever see it on mess cloth
: never like TO talk about it, but seeing you
are quiet sort o chap, and won't think hard
o me for what done to save my life will spin
you the yarn:
6 you see I am Britisher and passed about
eighteen years in deep-water ships in the west
ern ocean, Chinee, India and Australia trade.
About ten years ago come October | jined
barque of about 900-ton register called the
Psyche bound from Liverpool to Sidney with
cargo O. railroad iron She was deep loaded, but
a fine ship, and we had a crew o. nineteen men,
countin' the cook. Our shippers name was
William Dodds, as good man, albeit little
strict as ever trod a deck The shippers
son, whose name was also William, a
smart young seaman Of nineteen or Whereabouts,
was our second matte and our first mate was a
| long fellow from the Isle O Man, named Jack
Fenton--Sleepy Jack we always called him. be-
cause his eyes were always half shut whenever
everything was ataunto allow an aloft, but wide
awake enough when squat was on hand. or
any work to be done Well we sailed out o. the
Mercy one bright morning with fair fresh
breeze, and left the hills q old England out
o sight We had fair voyage until we got off
the Cape o Good Hope, when we met three
heavy gales O. wind, one after the other each
heavier than the first, and during the last gale
the cargo shifted and the ship sprung a leak,
Then it was all hands man the pumps spell and
spell about, and trim sail between times so what
with hard work and no sleep we were all knocked
up and ready to drop. The captain worked like
a man, but at last he gave out, and while rest
ing near the wheel on The night the gale
h1aolrf E~11 - .
the ship threw him overheard and he was lost
as the sea was too heavy to let us lower a boat
Young Dodds cried like baby at first, but at
last ne cheered up, and saying, 1t is a sailors