The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-03-28
DEAD BODIES
PILED HIGH.
Steamer Greenland Reaches
Port With a Cargo
Of % Human Beings Frozen
to Death.
OTHERS NEARLY DEAD
UnfOrtunates Were Members of
Sealing Crew
And Got Lost From the Ship in
a Storm.
HELPLESSLY
For Two Days on the Ice,
Thinly Clad.
TWenty-Three of the Crew Are
Still Missing.

st. Johns, N. F., March 28.-The seal
ing steamer Greenland has sailed into
the harbor with grewsome cargo. Tween
ty-hVe cOrpses were piled up on the
deck and 50 men were moaning with
terrible suffering in the hold from the
pains of frost bitten limbs and bodies
me lttle sealing steamer which sailed
Tor the hunting grounds three weeks
ago, returned as an awful charneI
house.
The dead bodies were in tiers on the
decks of the steamer, disfgured and al
most unrecOgnizab BILE from the effects Of
the terrible suffering which they had
endured, presenting one of the most
horrible sights ever beheld
The Greenland set sail from St Johns
on the first of March on her fateful vOy-
age. She was commanded by Captain
George Barber and carried a crew of
nearly 300 hunters. The steamer pro-
ceeded nOrthWard with the rest of the
sailing fleet, but after a couple of days
she dIVerged on separate track and
reached the hunting grounds not long
after.
All went we'll until Tuesday last and
seals were quickly encountered and sew
eral good packs were secured. On Tues
day morning the hunters left the ship
about o'clock, as usual when the
lookout in the Crows Nest reported ice
plentiful around them. The men were
clad in light clothing, for the slaughter
ing of seals is eXhausting work Scat
tered over the ice fields, they wandered
far from the protection of the ship and
a gale and snow storm shut them out
from view. The ice foe parted and
they drifted away from the steamer
Long ere the storm subsidized many of
the unfortunate fellows had succumbed
to the terrible cold and exposure. Those
who did not were terribly frost bitten
and suffered excrUciating pain.
The long night passed, but morning
brought no help, for the storm still
ragged and the atmosphere was thick
with snow, driven before the gale. Snow
continued to fall and evening brought
no cessation to the high wind Another
night, one which was to the helpless,
drifting sufferers who still lived, a
thousand times longer than the first,
was passed in untold agony. Some of
the victims had already given up hope
and in despair lay down and died, and
every hour witnessed at least two
deaths on that awful night on the ice
foe.
Toward morning the storm subsidized,
and clear weather enabled the surviv-
ors to see that the Greenland was not
far away.
The steamer bore down on the drift
ing field of ice, which had by this time
separated into a number of sections,
and began the work of picking up the
bodies of the dead and the almost life
less bodies of the living. Twenty-Five
corpses were taken on board that morn
ing but % men were still missing, and
though the search was continued all
day no more were recovered
Thursday night the Greenland head
ed for shore, reaching Bay De Verde,
proceeding thence to St. Johns with her
CHASTITY cargo.
Most of the men who met this awful
fate on the Inflated treacherOus foes,
are married men with large families,
who are thus deprived of means OF
support.