Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-05-05
A BOTTLE OF WHISKY.
Its Travels Among the Ice Fields in
Search of Arctic Heroes.

HI
Search of Arctic Heroes.
On the 9Th of February, 1882, Lieu
tenant SchuetZe, started TO the Lena
in search of De Long and his comrades.
Just before his departure several OF his
friends met in the paymaster's office,
90 Broadway, New Y ork, to bid him
godspeed on his journey. One of them,
Henry c. Ellis, of New York, pre-
sented him with a bottle of brandy and
a bottle of whisky for his cold journey.
Then Ellis handed Schuetze a bottle of
fine whisky and said
81 want you to take this to my old,
shipmate and friend, George Melville. !"
Melville was already in Russia on his
way to the Lena on the same errand as
Schuetze, and it was very probable that
they would meet in the Arctic regions.
In the presence OF half a dozen wit
nesses the bottle was sealed and labeled
to protect Schuetzs from temptation,
and to bear to Melville the names OF
the friends who had Sant 1t,
On Monday, March the 10th, Schu-
etze and Harber. whom he had joined
In London, left ITkutsk to proceed on
their mission. They met Melville be-
tween Irkutsk and Iakutsk. When
their friends saw this statement in the
New York papers they discussed the
probable fate of the bottle 0f whisky
and the slim chance that Melville had
ever seen il. 1t was unanimously
agreed that long before they had met
Melville, Shuetze and Harber, had IN
all probability broken the seal and de-
voted the contents to-,he cause OF
science.
On February 20th, 1888, over year
after their departure, SchuetZe and
HARDER returned to America on the
Frisia. A few days after their return
Mr.. Ellis, who was then in Florida, re-
ceiyed letter from Melville, who had
returned, saying: 81 am in receipt OF
the bottle of whisky YOU sent to Siberia
for me. Schuetze, true to his trust, de-
livered tine bottle containing the orig
inal whisky to me aboard of the Frisia
Immediately on his return home"
Ellis was still skeptlcal on one point.
1t was evident that SchuetZe had de-
livered the original bottle, filled with
some sort of whisky, but he had no
idea that it was the duld be hal sent to
Melville. One month later Melville,
Schuetze and HaIber met in Ellis
office in New York. The bottle was
produced, and beyond doubt it had
never been disturbed. The seal and
label were intact. SchuetZe then loomed
I'D as hero before his friends. He had
carried that bottle six thousand miles
H.. Ef+nAr, thRr1sard r1ilaG nv
rall and sledge that be might deliver 1t
intact TO Melville
What should be the fate of this al
ready historic bottle Of whisky? Mel
vile suggested that it be sent to the
PENNSYLVANIA Historical Society. Ellis,
a moment later, made suggestion
which was at once adopted. 1t was
that Melville should take the bottle
with him on the Greely relief expedition
and that if Greely were found Melville
should draw the cork and give Greely
a dram to warm up his frozen heart.
Again the bottle started on its trav-
els. At last Greely was found, but the
poor fellow was so near to deaths door
that it was many weeks before he could
hear anything of home or friends.
When, at last, Melville could have an
cld-time chat with him, the bottle of
whisky was produced and its history Ie-
lated. 1t brought a smile and then a
tear from the Arctic hero in appreci-
alton of the thoughtfulness of his far
away friends. Schuetze proposed to
draw the cork.
"Stop," said Greely, "if that bottle
is mine l want to keep it until my
youngest daughter is married. Then |
will open it and drink to the health and
memory of the friends who started it
on It's remarkable career"
The bottle was then and there en-
closed in a second covering over the
original wrapper. On the outside the
main facts of its history were recorded.
When GreeIy reached New York he
placed the bottle in safe deposit vault,
and there it is now.
As the youngest Miss Greely IS yet a
mere child, the prospective bouquet of
that bottle of whisky when 1t is opened
is enough to torment the dreams of an
epicure.