The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-01-16

Commodore sch1ey's Report of the Arctic
Relief Expedition.


Commodore Schley has submitted TO
the secretary of the navy his report up
on the Greedy relief expedition. Much
of the information contained therein
has aI,eadv peer published, but 1aaGs
int .asting details are given. Commo-
dore Schley graphically describes the
VOYAGE of the three vessels composing
the expedition, and the circumstances
attending the finding of the surviving
members of Greely's party. Lieut..
Greedy was found in his sleeping bag,
his body inclined forward, and head
resting upon his left hand. The book
of Common Prayer was open and held
in his right hand. He appeared
to be reading prayers to Private Con-
nell, whose condition was most desperate
and critical. The latter vas cold to the
waist; all sensation of hunger gone;
was speechless and b%reathless; his eyes
were fixed and CLASSY. Indeed, the
commodore says his weakness was such
that it was with diff oulty he swallowed
the stimulants given him by DIR. Green
and Ames. His jaws had dropped; his
heart was barely ~pulsating, and his bod
ily temperature was very low. This
tender scene of o helpless, almost fam
ished officer consollng a dying compan-
ion was IN itself one that brought tears
to the eyes of the strongest and stout
est of those who stood about them on
the merciful errand of relief. Sergts.
Brainard and Frelricks and Hospital
Steward Bierderbeck were extremely
z--o o-l L,rlly ,1ln - efanl Vhnu
were no longer able to venture away
from their camp to seek food, not tc
prepare their simple diet of boiled seal
skin, nor to collect lichens, nor to catch
shrimps, upon which they had to de-
pend to q great extent to sustain life,
Their faces, hands and limbs were swol-
len to such an extent that t~heyscouldno 81
be recogninized. This indicated that the
entire party had but a short life prob.
ably not more than As hours at most.
This fact was recognized by them all,
and had come to them from their ex-
perience, during that long and desolate
winter, in watching their dying com.
panions, as one after another passed
away from among them forever.
Poor Sergt. Ellison was found in
his sleeping bag, where he had lam
helpless and hopeless for months, with
hands and feet frozen off. Strapped
to one of the stumps Was found a spoon,
| which some companion had secured
there to enable him to feed himself
His physical condition otherwise APP.
peared to be the best of any of the sur.
vivors, and this may be attributed tc
the fact that each of his companions
had doled out to him from their small
allowance of food something to help
him, on account of his complete help
~lessness. Lieut.. Greedy was physically
the weakest, but mentally the most Wig,
orous, Of his party. He had lain in his
sleeping bag for weeks, on account oil
his gradually failing strength. He was
unable to stand alone for any length OF
time, and was almost helpless, ex.
cept at a sitting posture. All pangs
of hunger had ceased; his appear
ance was wild; his hair was long and I'M
kept; his face and hands were covered
with sooty black dirt; his body was
s~cantily covered with worn-out clothes
his form was wasted, his joints were
swollen and his eyes were sunken. His
first inquiry was if they were not En-
glishmen, but, when he was told thai
we were his own countrymen he paused
for a moment, as if rejecting, then said
"And / am glad to see you" The con.
dition of his camp was in keeping with
the scenes inside his tent-desperate
and desolate. The bleak baroness OIL
the spot, over which the wild Arctic
birds would not fly; the row of graves
on a little ridge 100 feet away, with the
protruding heads and feet OF those laSe-
" buried, a SID, but silent, witness tc
the daily increasing weakness of the little
band of survivors; the deserted winter
quarters in the hollow below, with iii
brokenswall, invaded by the water from
the melting snow and ice above it; the
dead bodies of two companions stretched
on the ice foot that remained; the scat
tered and worn-out clothes and sleeping
bags of the dead; the absence of al
food save a few cupfuls of boilee
sealskin scraps; the wild and weirt
scene Of snow, ice and glaciers, over
looking and oyerhanging this domestic
camp, completed a picture rs startling
as it was impressive. The report de
scribes the exhuming of the bodies of TIN
dead, and the method OF their indenti
ication and preparation for transporta
ton TO st. Johns. While preparin,
the bodies, it was found that six o
them-Lieut. Kislingbury, Sergts. jew
ell and Ralstan, Privates Whistler, Hen
ry and Ellis had been cut, and III
1eshy parts removed, to q greater o
less extent. All the other bodies wer
! found intact. When the bodies Of tn
j dead were exposed in preparing them
the identification was found to be com
! pIete. "Some of Them" the commo
! dore continues, could be recognize
! by Che aid of pictures taken with u
! from home. Others, whose feature