The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1901-12-12
GhNNIBhLISM JUSTIFIED

Julius r. Frederick, of indianapolis,
one of the six survivors of the ILL.,
fated expedition sent out in 1881 in
search of the north pole, has at last
spoken definitely of the details of the
unfortunate attempt to penetrate the
far north.
When Schley, now rear admiral,
made his way in command of the
rescue ship to the icefioe on which
Greedy and his five starving comrades
were awaiting the end, Sergeant
Frederick, together with the others
of the expedition, was carried aboard
the bark and nursed back to life.
Whether promise was made at that
time to regard faithfully all the awful
facts of the end of the attempt to
reach the pole will never be known,
but when the six men reached this
country again their lips were sealed.
1t has been intimated that the gov
eminent, In order to protect itself
from cenSure for delay in organizing
and equipping the relief expeditions,
exacted the promise of secrecy.
Charges have been made repeatedly
that Greedy and his five companions,
in order to survive, found it necessary
to feed on the flesh of their fellows.
Even in the heat of such charges the
six men remained silent.
Sergeant Frederick preserved his
strength much longer than the rest,
and, when practically all hope was
abandoned, together with comrade
who persisted in the effort, made an
attempt to bring from a distant post
a small supply of provisions cached
there. 1t was the success of this
lonely, perllous expedition that made
it possible for those who remained be-
hind to exist until the rescue party
reached them. When they were found
they had already sunk into the slum-
Der that would have ended in death;
at best, the estimates of the surgeons
put it that they could have existed
only forty hours longer.
twenty-five men left happy and
prosperous homes,'' said Sergeant
Frederick in the Sentinel, 'sand sailed
for the land of the midnight sun to
procure for their country the envied
place i'm the world of knowledge for
which others had striven and lost.
Six haggard, ravenous beasts return
ed. Nineteen men found graves in
the north. The sufferings and hero
ism of the members of the expedition
have been set forth, but the truth
cannot at all be tOld-wOrdS are in
adequate.
"Even yet l have perfect mental
picture that 1 cannot blot from my
mind. / see myself with twenty-four
huddled together in the
bleak shelter of a pile of stones. Be-
fore us rises a great hillock of ice,
round which the wind shrieks i'm fury,
never abating.
"My poor comrade, Long, can endure
the cold and hunger no more. In his
delirium he begs for a tiny match or a
crust of bread. A chorus of means
greets his plea. One by one, we rise
to our feet and beat and belabor each
other TO keep alive the circulation of
the blood through our half frozen
veins. One hunger-smitten dog re-
mains. He attracts our attention,
and we fall upon him with one ac-
cord, and, in the twinkling of an eye,
rend him limb from limb.
''And then / see myself and Rice
starting out on our long tramp after
the cached provisions. Mile after
mile over the ice dunes and through
the snow fields we push on our way.
The horror of the perpetual darkness
that hemmed US in on every side is
still a terror that hauntS me day and
night. Rice succumbs, and 1 leave
him, shaIlowly buried on the trail, land
make my way back to my fellows.
Eighteen men lie frozen and dead
by the little shelter of stones. Five
others are almost beyond the reach of
human aid. / sit down with them to
die, and remain there hour by hour,
DULY conscious that the wind is in
creasing in velocity, and that the
snow is covering us with a fieecy, bit
ing mantle of singing ice specks.
All these merely are the visions that
rise oftenest before my eyes, even
after the elapse of eighteen years.
sThe unsuccessful attempt of the
Neptune to reach Fort Conger OR
Lady Franklin bay in 1882, and again
in 1883, the double failure of the
Proteus and the Yantic to penetrate
the ice, made matters indeed serious
for the men with Greelv. The de-
struction of the Proteus in the ice
foes and the return of Lieutenant
Darlington were generally regarded as