Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-23
PEARY'S STRUGGLE
Only Great Perseverance Saved Him
and His Party.
FOOD CACHES COULDN'T Be FOUND
Dogs Were Slaughtered and
Eaten.
1es's. '|Ev@ryom@ Has Dyspepsia"
SAVED IN NICK OF TIME

Special Dispatch to the Philadelphia Press
ST. JOHNS. N. F., September 21-Fail-
ure, plus starvation and misery, is written
large on the record Of Peary's expedition
which reached here today Peary first
went north in 1891 and the next spring
crossed the interior of the Greenland ice
cap to the northern extremity, Indepen-
dence bay. latitude S1.4 north He took a
| larger expedition north in 1893, hoping to
ger polewards over land masses, visible
therefrom. but when he started from head
quarters. Anniversary Lodge, In Bowdoin
bay, latitude 77.4S north, in March, 1884, to
make second journey over the icecap, his
party of eight men encountered success
sion OF dreadful storms. They bravely Tat
tied against them, but the Thermometer
sank to 80 degrees below zero, the men be-
came frostbitten. the dogs froze solid, and
their enterprise had to he abandoned Be-
fore returning, however, Peary cached six
months provisions for eight men at the
last camp, one hundred and thirty-five
miles inland, and ere3tei cairn above
them. Nearly all the members OF the OK
Iedition returned home last summer but
Peary determined to remain and try again
Matthew Henson. his colored servant, also
stopped. and Hugh Lee of Merdep like
Wise volunteered.
The Beginning of the Trip.
Waiting for the cessation of the March
eQuinotical gales, they started from head
quarters April l, three men, five sledges
and forty-nine dogs. Within seven days
Il ey reached the proximity of the all
precious cache of food on which the sue
cess of the journey depended Peary had
cached it last year for the express purpose
of utilizing 1t this spring. Disappointment
however, greeted them, as the most per-
sis;ent and careful search failed to find it,
trace of it, With this terrible damper at
their first start the three noble fellows
still dared to venture into the unknown.
Danger of Death.
1t meant hardship, privation, possibly
death, but they would not retreat. Short
Ell ing their rations they began their ter
rble journey. The suffering they endured
few can tell. Many will tenn their action
ftclhardy, but arctic records TEEN with
such deeds of daring. The party of three
men was inadequate to face this wilder
ness. and this was proven when Lee, big
of heart but frail of body, gave Up through
sheer exhaustion and lay down to die His
faithful companions drew him on sledge
for $50 miles till Independence bay was
reached, where permanent camp was form
ed and the sufferer treated till he re-
covered.
Dared Not Venture.
Peary was, however, oowerless to make
any rev discoveries. He dared not ven
ture alone on the ice and land masses
extending north beyond the range of Wis
ion A few miles of coast exploration to
the northward, in the direction where a
juttny CAPE forms Lockwoous highest
point, S2.34. reached in 1883, forms the
solitary achievement and, dispirited and
Tod "a
During the stay on the coast eight musk
oxen were shot and their flesh, enabling
the pemmican stores to be kept for the
return, saved the three explorers from a
miserab BILE death from hunger that vast
inland Sea of ice Peary acknowledges 1t
was miracle they escaped. No help could
reach them. and, even as it was, they were
starving when they reached their home.
A Race With Death.
They started back on June 15, and after
a weeks travel Lee again showed signs
of weakness. They pushed on at top speed,
but food for the dogs was likewise unob-
tanabIe, and it speedily became a case of
the survival of the fittest. The weaker
dogs were slaughtered that the others
might live and help their master along.
AS the stores were consumed and dogs
decreased, the sledges we're abandoned.
Then Lee had again to take his place IN
a sledge and the others to drag his weak
ened form along. Soon it became a strug-
gle for very existence. Every ounce of
impedimenta was discarded. The sledges
dwirdled to two. the dogs to fifteen. The
boundleSs, frozen field extended on every
side, and looked to be their grave.
The rifles We're next abandoned, then the
scientific instruments, wind gauges, ETC.,
which could be dispensed with, until at
last only one sledge, a few pounds of food
and five dogs remained.
Terrible Last Hours.
AS home grew nearer, while food was
vanishing, they abandoned their last sledge
and with one solitary dog. the lone sur
vivor of the pack, faced the last twenty
miles of this awful journey. 1t occupied
them thirty-sx hours, during which time
not one morsel of food touched their lips
When they entered their comfortable lodge.
doubly dear after what they had come
through, Lee tainted from sheer JOY and
was four hours unconscious. To show how
desperate was their condition Peary aban-
dcned even their nautical almanac, tear
ing out the three leaves Of destinations for
the days they expected to ba occupying
in reaching headquarters.
Endurance and Hcroism.
Not since the gruesome story of Greely's
men has such story of misery, endurance
and triumph over death itself been made
public; but the Kites crew tell more grue-
some stories still. They say the three men,
to prolong their own lives, had to eat their
dogs at the last, and the one who survives
now owes his life to being Peary's pet. a
companion on a former journey. This story
is very probable, in view Of the desperate
straits they were reduced to. Pearys scien-
tific records will Doubtless be advantageous
to scientists, but would i'll repay such des-
perate risks.
Another Ice Trip.
They rested at headquarters to recuperate
and await the relief steamer, but Bowdoin
bay was filled with ice. No ship could pene-
trate, and as days passed they asked them
selves, would it open at all? Should it not