Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1885-02-17
PRIVATE HENaY's DIARY.

A Record OF Experiences In the
Arctic Rekaens.
Washington. Feb. The journal of
Private Henry, shot sfor stealing pro-
visions. by order of Lieut.. Gfeely. in the
arctic regions, covering the period he
tween October, 1883 and June. 1884, has
been made public. He writes under
date Of May 3rd:i =
He (Whistler). who was loudest in his
denunciation Of the unfortunate who
vas tempted to purloin scrap of meat.
was to-day caught in the commissary,
having broken open the door, and was
found with about pound of bacon in
his pocket.
The entry of May 1lth is:
Cowardly actionin Greedy. wanting to
shoot DR.. p. He also drew q rife on,
Lunder; calls Kislingbury q liar, and
apologies to enlisted men,
-Four days later is the following:
Yesterday Bredviback and Whistler
had row out doors, and some one stole
Eliison's bacon, which was under charge
of Lieut.. Greedy. Tie terrible struggle
with death by starvation actually had
no terror for us. We looked with stolid
indifference upon our coming fate. A
few hours before death, instead of crav-
ing for food, they kept calling for water
and could hardly be controlled or salts
fed. All, with one exception, we're nm.
conscious for hours before dying. Poor
Lockwood! He came out of his bag to
stand in the elieyway while the moon.
shine distillery was going on. and was
the last to receive his potation, Ere the
rest OF us had received our share he re.
quested repetition Of the dose from the
officiating steward; and, upon being
reprimanded BY an officer for asking for
such thing from the steward, he turned
to the doctor and said: "WelI, I will 20
to the fountain bead;" and he repeated
his demand. Upon being absolutely re-
fused, he dropped to the floor and hardly
ever opened his mouth again to utter
another word.
On May 23rd, after noting that Whist
ler is dying, Henry says:
Called in the tent and was informed
that tive men made sworn statement
that Pavv stole Ellieon's ratiops, and
that the official record concerning ii had
been tampered with BY A. w. G. If the
does die, he dies the death of 8
miserable coward.
On May 28th is the following entry:
Poor Kislingbury is sinking rapidly
and the doctor has given him up. Las
night DR.. P. and Lieut.. G. had another
squabble over medicine. The majority
of us fourteen have given up all hope
OF seeing our friends again. But few
have still o chance at the conclusion ol
\ this terrible tragedy to be welcome
with universal acclamatlon as worthy
frontiersmen of Uncle Sam, and a
men who have made themselves i'm
mortal by q splendid victory and innu
merable suferings. hitherto incompar
able in the annals ofafctic exploration
and against sill the laws of nature.
The notes of the first -four days of June
are brief memoranda of the rapidly
sinking condition OF those left. These
were made just prior to his being shot
Extracts from other diaries show de.
plorable state of affairs. Insubordina
tion prevailed to considerable extent
and quarreling, sometimes leading Il
blows. was not of uncommon occurrence
Sergeant Brainerd's diary is in hi
personal possession and not obtaiuable
aud Sergeant Connell declined to ALLOW
his diary to be inspected, stating it wa
written with the express understanding
that no one but Gen. Hazen should reae