The Worthington advance., 1885-05-28
TB RESCUE OF CHIEFLY;
oennanAsr QsAlsv's Account Of tae Pa-
81; 1hotio Incident. -

oennanAsr 9sAlsv's Account Of oths "a
T.. tAstio Incident. ~:
The strange fascination. which at,
taehes b stories of exploration, danger
and suffering in the bleak and dasolate
acrtic region will cause . book to bopub:
lished in . few days by CHARLES Scrib.
nets Sons to be read with sagerness.
This is "The Rescue of Greedy" by
Commander W. 8. Schley, who had
CHARGE OF tho successful relief sxpe.
dition Of 1854, and By. Professor j: 4:
Soley, also Of the United States Navy,
who has access to the official documents
bearing on the case.
The story is an old one, but as att-
thoritatively and pathetically told by
Commander Bchley, 1t is worth rstsl1-
ing. And 30, passing over the discov.
cry Of Gree1y's records, which are given
entire, oh Brevoort Island, we make i
condensation of the narrative, taking It
up at tho point whefs the suttsf ST the
rescuing party approached the spot
where the provisions Of thewrecked Pro-
teus had been left:
At last the boat arrived at the site ST
the wreck cache, and the shofs was
eagerly scanned, but nothing could be
seen.r Rounding the next point the
cutter opened out, the cove beyond.
There, on the, top of a little ridge, fifty
or sixty yards above the ice-foot, was
plainly outlined the figure of a man.
Instantly the coxswain caught up the
boat hook. and waved his flag. The
man on the ridge had seen them, for he
stopped, picked up signal flag from
the rock and waved it in reply. Then
he was seen coming slowly and eau.
tiously down the steep, rocky slope.
Twice he fell down before he reached
the foot. AS he approached, still walk.
ing feebly and with difficulty, Coiweii
hailed him from the bow IF the
boat :,
"Who are there left ?" '"seven. left. "
As the cutter struck the ice, Colwell
jumped off and went up to him. He
was ghastly sight. As he spoke, his
utterance was thick and mumbling,
and in his agitation his jaws worked in
convulsive twitches. As the two met.
the man, with sudden impulse, took
off his glove and shook ColwelPs hand.
Where are thcy?" asked Colwell,
briefly. I'm the tent" said the man,
pointing over his shoulder, lover the
hill-the tent is down. lis Mr.. Greedy
alive?" Eyes Greely's alive" "Any
other officers?" mo" Then he re-
peated absently, 1.-THE tent is down" F."
"Who are you?" Long"
Before this colloquy was over. Lowe
and Norman had started up the hill.
Hastily filling his pocket with b%ead
and taking the two cans of pemmican,
Colwell told the coxswain to take Long
into the cutter. and started after the
Others with Ash. Hurrying on across
tho intervening hollow, Colwell came
up with Lowe and Norman, Just as
they were greeting .soldierly looking
man who had come out from The tent:
As Colwell approached, Norman was
saying to the man-''There is the lieu
tenant" And he added to Colwell-
''This is Sergeant Brainard: Brainard
Immediately drew himself lip to the
's'position Of the soldier" and was about
to sall1te, when Colwell took his hand.
At this moment there was a confused
murmur within the tent, and q voice
said-"Who's there?" Norman an
swered, Its Norman-Norman who
was in the Proteus." This was followed
BY cries of "Oh, it's Norman!" and a
sound like feeble cheer.
Meanwhile one of the relief party,
who in his agitation and excitement
was crying like child, was down on his
hands and knees trying to rcl away
the stones that held down the flappinF
tent 9TH. Colwell called for knife.
cut slit in the tent cover, and looked
in: It was sight of horror.
Directly opposite, on his hands and
knees, was dark man with long mat
ted beard, in dirty and tattered dress
ing gown with little red skull cap on
his head, and brilliant, staring eyes.
As Colwell appeared, he raised himself
little, and put on pair of eye glasses.
"Who are you?" asked Colwell: The
man made no answer, staring at him
vacantly. "Who are you?" again.
One of the men spoke up, '"That's the
major-Major Greedy" ,Colwell crawled
in and took him by the hand, saying to
hiM; "Gfeely; is this you?" YES y
said Greely, in faint, broken voice,
hesitating and shuffling with his words,
"Yes-seven of us left-here we are
dying-like men. Did what came to
do-beat the best record" Then he
fell back exhausted.
The scene, as Colwell looked around
was one Of misery and squalor.
There was no food left in the tent, but
two or three cans of thin repulsive-
looking jelly, made by boiling strips cut
from the sealskin clothing. Except
Connell and Ellison, the feeblest of the
party was Lieutenant Greely. His
strength was failing fast. He could not
stand upright, and for sometime he had
not left his sleeping bag. He lived on
the food which the others brought him
but all pangs of hunger had ceased and
his wasted form and sunken eyes and
swollen joints told plainly enough what
was in store for him.
As soon as Colwell understood the
condition of affairs, he sent Chief En-
gineer Lowe back to the cutter to put
off to the Bear with Long, to report
what had happened, and bring off the
the others with the surgeon and stimu-
lants. Fredericks and Bierderbick
presently got up and came out. COL
we'll gave them, as we'll as Greely and
Ellison, little of the biscuit he had in
his pocket, which they munched slow
ly and deliberately. Then he gave
them another bit, while Norman opened
one of the cans of penmican. Scraping
off little with knife Colwell fed them
slowly by turns. 1t was pitiable sight.
They could not stand up, and had
dropped down on their knees, and held
out their hands begging for more. After
they had each been. fed twice, they
were told that they had had enough, /,
that they could not eat more then
without danger; but their hunger had
now come back with full force, and they
begged piteously to be helped again pro-
testing that it could do them no harm.