Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1901-05-30
\0'NISrON GRAPHIC
ABOUT ANDREE
The Latest Is Supposed to Be Gen.
aguine News.
II the Accounts BE True the North
ern Aeronauts Were Killed by
Observation-Disclosures Ex-
petition. .t

Rear Admiral Campion, of the Brit
ish navy, is the gentleman who received
and. gave publicity to the story that
Andree's balloon party had heen massa-
cred. by Eskimos in northern Canada.
The story came to him from his nephew,
Mr.. Aston, who is in charge Of the
Hudson Bay company's post at Fort
Churchill, on the west side of Hudson
bay. @
Aston wrote that party OF four
white men far north were shooting deer
in the summer of 1898, when some Els
kimos who were approaching and did
not see the deer thought the whites
were shooting at them, and thereupon
killed two of the whites with arrows.
The other two fled, pursued by natives,
and it is not known whether they es-
capped. Different parties of Eskimos
brought practically the same story to
Fort Churchill, and one of the Stockby
brothers, who was hunting musk oxen,
saw the bodies of the two white men,
described their appearance, and told
what they wore. The fact was accept
ed by the whites of that region as
proof that.the arctic aeronauts had
met a tragic fate in northeast Canada.
| Aston wrote to Rear Adm: iral Campion:
you will no doubt be greatly surprised
to learn of the loss of the Andree eX-
petition up north" Campion accepted
this supposition as correct and wrote
to the London Times: mir. Aston has
been there five years and talks Eskimo,
and, from what he relates, all hope of
the ballooners must be given up, l
fear, although the other two may be
alive"
The fact is, however, that there were
only three men in the Andree party;
none of them was middle aged, nor was
there a knckerhocker suit in the out
fit, as described by Mr.. Stockby, who
saw the dead bodies. The victims of
this tragedy were probably hunters
who. had gone far north on their own
responsibility.
Two messages and relic of the An
dree party are all that have been re-
ceived since the aeronauts made their
descent on July II, 1897. The relic may
prove to be much more significant than
the messages. On September ~, 1897,
q carrier pigeon lit OH the whaling YES
sci, Falken, and around its neck was
tied brief message from Andree, writ
ten two days after his ascent, report
ing all well and giving his position as
east and a little south of his starting
point. On May II last year a drifting
buoy was picked up on the north coast
of Iceland, in which was another brief
message from the explorer, written
only seven hours and ffty-fve minutes
after his ascent. On September II, last
year, another of Andree's drifting buoys
was picked up on the north side of King
Charles island, northeast Of Spitzber-
gen. 1t was the so-called north pole
buoy, which the explorer was to drop
when he passed the north pole. 1t was
taken to Stockholm, where it was
opened on October in the presence of
some members of the government and
experts in arctic navigation. The tube
was empty, much to the disappoint-
ment of the explorers friends.
Prof. Nathorst declared that the buoy
could not have been carried from the
pole to King Charles island by the sea
currents. Some persons expressed the
opinion that the buoy had been thrown
out empty from the balloon, but there
was no evidence that this was so. The
finding Of this buoy will have one i'm
portant result. An expedition will be
sent north in the spring to search for
traces of the lost explorers at King
Charles island and the surrounding re-
gion. 1t is argued that the explorers
would not throw an empty buoy over
board and that the chances are against
its having been accidentally lost. No
current would have been likely to lodge
it ON the north coast Of King Charles
island, and the fact that it was found
there makes it not improbable that it
parted from the balloon in that neigh
borhood and that other relics may be
found in the same region and help to
determine the fate of the expedition
Chicago Inter Ocean.