Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-28
DISSATISFIED EXPLORERS
What Some of Those Who Went With Pear
Say.
Not Enough Food and Were Not
Treated ms They Thought They
Should Have Been.


The members of the Peary north Green
land expedition. who returned on the whaler
Falcon on Tuesday. are dissatisfied with
the treatment that they received on the
trip. They have been reticent about talk
ing OF their experiences. but the story came
out yesterday. 1t all resulted from an in-
tervlew had with Mrs. Peary in Washing
ton yesterday Gin Wednesdays Starr, in
which the wife Of the arctic explorer is
quoted as saying that she was at a loss to
understand the stories which have been
printed about the scarcity of food and the
suHerings Of the party. She stated that
only on one occasion did the members have
TO eat seal meat and that was on a aisa-
sreeable day when hunting was Impossible.
III Mrs. Peary spoke thus the members
of the party Immediately felt that they
might hint at things, even though I,ieut
Peary had bound them TO silence before
they had started on their far journey TO
the north 1t IL stated that the members Of
the party, or most of them, realize that the
plan OF the whole voyage was for the glori-
fication Of Mr. Peary and nobody else. He
was to be the all-illustrious star and they
were to figure only satellites to be pass
ed without notice.
Peary's Secretary Talks.
w. T. Swain. who was one of the party
L II. ".
broke the ice by stating last night to a
Press reporter that there is dissatisfaction
among the members over the conduct Of
the trip. He said: 1T was agreed that We
should say nothing. Now that Mrs. Peary
has spoken, 1 think that conditions ara
changed. As for my contract with Peary,
II has been broken repeatedly by him during
the course Of the expedition.
He agreed that We were to be treated
as gentlemen. 1 can say that Lieut. Peary
himself did not act a gentleman among
gentlemen. Mrs. Peary, l see, has some-
thing 10 say about food. Let me give You
our menu during the last two months of our
stay while We waited for the relief party.
This menu " as the outcome Of Peary's ar
rangements and was due TO insufficient
provisioning in the beginning.
"Breakfsst-Corn meal mush. sprinkled
py Peary with sugar and a sparing hand;
bacon, with all the fat fried out Of It: an
occasional spoonful Of Boston beans out OF
a can; coffee.
"Lunch-Boiled seal meat, tasting like
stale mutton. Favored with coal oil: corn
"Dinner-Reindeer meat when We coula
get IL: seal meat, when We couldn't; beans
occasionally. and one-halt a slice OF white
bread; coffee.
.'on Sunday morning. as a special treat
We had for dessert one can Of tomatoeS
among the party.
Mr.. Swain said that he did not knou
what Peary and his wife had to eat They
lived apart. and not one of the party. dur.
| ing the entire expedition, was invited d
their quarters "Peary treated US TO a lo0
of red tape" he continued. land with auto
cratic rule that had serious consequences
sometimes. He would order some Of us e
! go on a seventy five-mile sledge journey 10
procure food for his dogs. and only give us
an hours warning, when half days notice
could have been given. We would not have
time TO dry our fur stockings and we ran
the risk OF frozen feet. My toe was frozen
In that way"
Not Fit for a Woman.
The consensus Of opinion, although soma
Of the party win not say so for publication IN
| that the embarrassments Of an arctic ex.
petition while there is a woman on Il can,
not be appreciated There is nothing In the
feelings Of the members against Mrs Peary
personally. All Of them admire her per-
sonal qualities, but on general principles
as one very modest member of the party
said last night. ITO be on an arctic expeii.
ton OF men is no fit place for a woman"
They felt under a restraint all the time.
ana were not given that easy, comfortable
freedom which they had expected
One Of the party was asked why he did
not remain two years with Peary. as had
been stipulated at the outset He replied
eNasiVely; We'll. maybe We all got home
sick. you know. Probably we were tired of
being UP there so long"
He was question ed about the vein OF
satirical innuendo that ran throughout this
Our lips were to have been sealed and we
were most anxious TO do what was right.
Let others talk freely, but 1 do not think
that i shall"
What did You do with yourself while
you were north?'
There was no answer to this for a mo-
ment. He simply laid his right hand upon
Look at it and tell me il 1t is not larger"
he said.
Yes, 1t is large"
Don't YOU think IT is out of proportion
to the rest Of me-just a little abnormally
larger
IL Was All "work.v
Then, without waiting for a reply. he
added: what did we do with ourselves?
We did nothing but work"
There was special emphasis laid on the
word work"
What's the use Of saying bad things,
anyway" queried he. Frightening up.
There is Capt Bartlett, our genial, capable
navigator. who has seen us In safety
through everything. he deserves a great
amount of credit Capt Bartlett treated
all Of us royalty, and not too much In praise
OF him could be said"
The captain overheard this complimentary
remark; His jolly. brown face wore little
smile of appreciation, and he said. depre-
catingly: Tut, tut, don't say anything
about me. 1 am not to be interviewei.'
A man who is in touch with the feelings
dissatisfaction: 1t was the un ierstan1ing
that the members of the expedition were to
remain with Peary two years. Their ex-
perience OF his methods for a single year
sufficed them and that experience accounts
for their coming back on the FaleOn. They
found that everything was red tape Rnd
that as regards glory their COMMANDER
wanted IL all. The lieutenant and his wife
had their own quarters and every comfort
obtainable. The others had to forage for
themselves. The fact Of the matter is that
the expedition was all Peary and nobody
else.
Home at the First Chance.
''Peary had given them their option OF
staying two years, but when the auxiliary
expedition arrived he asked for volunteers
to remain in Greenland. Every member OF
the party, except Peary's servant decided
to come home, first because there was rot
much food, and next. chiefly because they
did not want another year Of red tape and
autocracy. Before the Falcon saile1, how
ever, one of the party changed lis mind
and agreed to stay with Peary, because he
said the lieutenant had agreed TO teach him
civil engineering. AS for scientific work
during the ensuing year i do not believe
that Peary can accomplish much"
Another thing that had some effect on
81 he. 90