St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-12

see it when he came out Of his warm
corner. At other times each man would
light his candle and set 1t on the floor.
There the crowd would be sitting warm
ing their hands at the candles
when Peary emerged. or course
things OF that sort did not tend
to promote good feeling between the
commander and his men. but, after all,
the fellows conld hardly he blamed.
Why, II man was out and managed to
get his clothes wet. he had to wear them
that way until the heat of his body dried
them, because there was no fire OF any
sort. You see, if Peary had not had his
wife along the money that was spent to
provide her with luXurieS whould have
gone to furnish neceSsarieS, such as fuel
and food. for the men, and while there
was not man in the crowd who would
not have died in minute to save Mrs.
Peary from discomfort, there were
many Of them who blamed Peary for
bringing her ona useless journey at the
expense of the men who needed at least
fuel enough to keep the warmth of life
in their bodies.
'l want to say Of Lieut.. Peary that
consider him a brave and capable man.
No doubt he realized that a mistake had
been made as soon as the men did, but
you or or any other man would look
after his wife's comfort before any
bGdy's in a similar situation, mistake or
no mistake. We had a hard time, and
walrus meat is filthy, bad feed. but as l
said before, we are all home. all alive.
and that last is piece of luck that
ought to make up for any amount OF
past hardship: For my part, am will
ing to let it all 20 by the board"
"Have you not seen it stated by Mrs.
Peary that Lieut.. Peary always ate
with the men at their table?"
Nov, think you may take my word
for 1t that Mrs. Peary has been mis-
quoted in that statement. l do not think
she ever made it, because as matter of
fact Lieut.. Peary never did eat at the
same table with US. He had private
table with Mrs. Peary. and their food
was or character apart from ours.
That was certainly due to Mrs. Peary,
ana nothing to complain of that | see.
Mrs. Peary is also misquOted as saying
that there never was 4 shortage of pro-
visions, ard that there were $500 pounds
left when the Falcon took us Off There
may have been half that amount left,
but 1t must be remembered that no one
knew the ship would be able to reach
US, and the supply oil hand was intend
ed to cover another winter. Again, do
not believe that Mrs Peary has been
correctly quoted. She could scarcely
have made the statements attributed to
| her.
For my own part. I made no COM
plant on the way things went up at the
house Lee made no complaint either.
but the rest of them did. and, in justice
to all the men. [ must say that they
have not made single state ment since
their return that Is not true. ALI they
have said has been fully justified by
the facts, but l scarcely think it was
| policy to open controversy of this
character. 1t Is foreign to the work of
| the expedition, which, while in some
respects failure, was of no little value
to science. There was an immense
| amount of work done. We covered
| altogether $500 miles in the sledges.
! made maps of hitherto practically un-
known coast lines. and did great deal
of surveying. Hugh Lee. of AIeriden,
Conn.,, remains up North with Lieut..
Peary. He will stay with him another
winter.
''As to the statements that Peary was
reserved and naughty with his men, it
must be remembered that relations were
strained. and that, under such circum-
stances, a man could not be otherwise
than reserved. l think there is only
one mistake OF which Lieut.. Peary can
be accused. That mistake was allowing
Mrs. Peary to accompany the expedi-
tion. After that he did only what any
other man would have done, and those
who complain of their treatment ought
to remember that he could not very we'll
have acted Inherently. l never knew
him to avoid man who wished to speak
with him, or to treat complaints lightly.
He realized the sufferings of the men,
but they simply could not be averted at
that time. and there is no use COM
planning"