The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-07-10
HARDSHIPS IN THE ARCTIC.
TALK WITH SURVIVOR OF THE
GREEDY EXPEDITION.
How the Terrible Days were spent
Sergeant ConneII's Tragic story of
starvation and Misery.

pheasant DUO eye, udTk CURING nalT
and mustache and a bright, expressive
face. Although apparently in perfect
health his hands are slender and colorless
and have peculiar nervous habit of I'M
rest, while his manner-at one moment
| free and hearty-is at times under a sim
! gular constraint, AS if chilled and OPP
pressed by troop of fearful memories.
He is Sergeant Cornell, one of the most
heroic members of Grecly's brave little
Arctic band.
A reporter who encountered Sergeant
Cornell at the signal service Office found
him genial and communicative, although
at times pausing in his conversation as if
suddenly brought up against a wall,
when referring to the horrors of their
experience or the sutferings Of his dead
comrades.
"Who was the most cheerful of the
party" inquired the writer.
They were all of them brave men
and kept up their spirits to the last.
Nothing daunted them, and they died
nobly and blamed nobody for their
death. But l think if any distinction
should be made Rice should have the
palm. He was a CHEEKY, courageous
man of most noble character. You
know we spent two years at our station,
near Lady Franklin bay. In the spring,
from the return of the sun, The 1st of
March, to the end of June, we were al
ways in the field. But during the re-
mainder or the time we had little to do,
and during the winter the sun was alb
sent 1870 days. We had to do something
to make the time pass pleasant and we
had jolly time, do assure you. We
had snowshoe races out on the ice, and
there was some tall betting done. The
only money we had in circulation was
tobacco, but we had plenty of that, and
so one man would back his favorite with
pound of tobacco and another would
60 him two pounds better. We had
shootidg matches, putting lantern 200
Yards Off in the darkness. The men
were all good shots, and some Of them
had made handsome records. Long, one
of the survivors, was abOut,the best shot.
We had a paper issued in camp, the
arctic Noon, in which the men got of
some capital jokes; and we used to play
jokes on each other and some pretty
tough ones-any thing to raise laugh.
recollect when the men came back
from their trip north, some of them
Ellison among the rest-were snow-blind
and some OF the boys got out a decoy
duck and placed it on a pond near the
camp, where it looked for all the world
like an Oneida duck. Then they told
Ellison to come and look. He took one
peep then jumped for his gun, crept
down cautiously and sighted it.
Bang! Blind as he was, he hit il
square, and knocked it over. But
oho1 I11;,1,'o Il, |,
he found out how he had been fooled.
Jewell, welln he said, anybody tina
would play such trick on poor blinc
man" 1t made us feel small.
''The men were fond OF music, and
some of them had good voices, Ellison
particularly, had a rich, mellow voice
that it was a delight to hear. But W.
never asked any questions about tn,
quality or range of cultivation of a mans
voice. SO long as he could follow tune
he pitched in with the rest. The only
musical instrument we had was one o
these little organettcs that turn with ;
crank and grind out music to order
Somebody brought il down to the shin
Just as we set sail. 1t seemed foolish ittl,
gift at the time but it proved a bonanz,
up there. 1t played the sweet BY anC
BY, John Browns Body and an,
quantity of hymns. Lieutenant Kisling
bury was great hand at singing churcl
tunes, and he sung the doxology the mo
ment before he drew his last breath"
did you ever sing Home, Swee
Homer" questioned the interviewer.
always Over and over again, from
the first to the last. Even in those day
at Cape Sabine we sang it..
"Whcn Brainard and Lockwood
started on their famous expedition Nortl
| was with them, but we hadn't gone ia
when froze one foot and had to turn
back. The EsquimauX came back will
me nearly to the snow huts at Cap'
Beechcy and left me there. | hadn'
gone far before noticed the tracks o
wolves, and pretty soon came upon tire,
of them standing on the icefoot (the ICE
that adheres to the landD | had hearC
a great deal about the fcrocity of these
Arctic wolves and thought my day haC
come, for | was hobblng along on m,
heel, only making a mile in three or fou
hours. ! had no arms, no knife; but
had q pair of dogskin mittens and seal
skin jumper, and Il bright idea seized ms
that if dropped these, one at time
!, they might stop to eat them before they
began on me; and, meantime, | might
possibly get to the hut. SO got thu
mittens of, ready to drop; but before
) let go a crazy impulse seized me to try ;
kind of an Indian yell and see how
they'd like that. And would you believe
it, the moment those wolves heard my
warwhoop they put their tails between
their legs and scrambled off over the ice
as fast as they could travel. A few day.
later had occasion to hunt them with s
gun, but couldn't get within thousand
J yards of them"
Connel makes one big ingenious &C
acknowledgement OF human instability Oi
purpose.
''We used to plan about what VT
would have to eat if ever we were back
in civilization. | had been, like mos
men, never thinking or caring mucl
about what l ate, but l made up my
mind that if ever | got back where there
+ was decent food and enough, | would