St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-09-07
AN ARCTIC HERO HERE.
Sergt. Brafnerd, of the Greedy Expedi-
ton, Guest I'm Minneapolis
A Talk of the Perilous Trip to the
Farthest Fc1nt Reached by Man.

OF all the heroes who have faced death in
a thousand dreadful forms, while exploring
the unknown and icebound wonderland at
the north pole, none underwent greater suf
fering OF accomplished as significant results
as the devoted band led by Sergt. ID. l..
Brainerd. Of the twenty-five members
who spent three years under the midnight
sun, only seven returned to give the world
the results of an expedition that penetrated
to within 395 miles of the pole, the farthest
point north ever reached by mortal man.
Sergt. Brainerd arrived in Minneapolis yes
terday, and is the guest of his friend VIII
lam Bradford, the celebrated painter. whose
Arctic pictures are the center of the Expo
sition art gallery. Mr.. Bradford is himself
no tyro i'm Arctic affairs, having six times
visited that Hyperborean region and seen
with his own eyes the wonderful lights,
which he otherwise could never have
painted. A GLOBE emissary met the two
gentlemen in the midst of the Bradford
collection yesterday, and had an interesting
conversation on the theme uppermost in
the minds of both. Sergt Bradford had
intended to join the Holgate expedition in
1881, but when the secretary of the navy
pronounced the vessel unseawOrthy
and refused to detail seamen he joined the
ProteuS and left St. Johns June Z, 1881.
1t was over three years of hardship and
suffering before he again saw Goods coun-
try" and after he had planted the Amer
lean flag and the records of the expedition
on Lockwood's island. off the coast of
Greenland, latitude SO deg "a sec, 395 miles
from the Pole, and the northernmost point
of land known to exist. The story OF the
trip is perhaps known to every American,
~f% I,a RI fI,or
of the party from Cape Sabine. June %,
1884, by the Thetis, Bear and Alert, when
its members had been reduced from twenty
five to seven by the incredible horrors Of
that winter.
The party had made it's way in boats,
from Lockwood's to Cape Sabine, through
the foes, finding at the latter place the
carn with the records, and provisions for
one menth to last nine months. They
learned then, for the first time of the loss
of the Jeanette and death of Garfield, the
former through fragment of paper, en-
closing some article and the latter by means
of an English almanac. From September
to June they eked out an existence and
were finally taken Off by the Alert, seven
living skeletons. For eight months they
lived on twelve ounces Of food daily and
during the last month On half that amount.
Several seals had been caught and one bear
killed, but life was mainly supported by
sort of shrimp, a small cruStacean. of which
one part is meat and six shell. So small
were they that it took 600 to weigh an
ounce. yet, during the winter, 1000 pounds
of them were captured! Nine million six
hundred thousand of the minute shell fish
were taken in that time.
'Our expedition" said Sergt. Brainerd,
''entirely upset the Kane theory of an open
polar sea. We were provided with fine
telescope and from our point OF Observa-
ton could cover over sixty miles further
north, yet we could discover no break in
the ice. There were no signs of sea fowl
flying from or to the northward, in the sea-
son, which would have been the case had
the open sea existed. In latitude 800 we
found foxes. hare, wild fowls and few
musk oxen, but none further north"
1.-The musk OK" observed Mr.. Bradford,
lis an animal of wonderful endurance and
with extraordinary storage capacity. 1t
gets practically nothing to eat during the
winter and we found them in the spring all
skin and bones. When the grass begins to
come up they fatten up in three weeks and
soon lay on so much tissue they waddle and
shake as they walk"
Sergt. Brainerd has experienced no ill
effects from his suffering and privation.
beyond the usual weakening of the eyes
from the brilliant snow glare. He is still a
very young man, of athletic build and
bright, intelligent face. Since his return
he has been connected with the signal SER
vice, having come, before the expedition,
from the Second cavalry. HE'LL be made
a lieutenant" said Mr.. Bradford, after
ward, land he richly deserves it. The
matter was laid before President Arthur,
and when he placed it before his cabinet
Secretary Frelinghuysen wanted the place
for relative, and so it went. I'd just like
to see member of President Cleveland's
cabinet do such thing. We reward man
who faces death in battle, but great
heaven! what are the chances of war as
compared with the battle of life in the
Arctics? The Arctic explorer faces horrors
before which the stoutest soldier would
quail. Never fear, Brainerd will get his
roxyor1