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

for the first year by the time the pro
visions and supplies were scheduled tx
arrive. But the ship never came
Our prospects, however, were MOI
alarming. The farthest north expedi
ton, under the command Of Lieuten
ant J. B. Lockwood, made ready fol
it's dash for the POLE On a dark
stormy morning we babe good by t.
our comrades and turned our faces
northward.
81 will not enumerate the trials Of
the return journey. We met again al
the starting point and then began the
real horrors of our situation. Time and
again we made efforts to obtain the
supplies we had previously cached, but
in every instance, even where we
were successful, the food thus obtain
ed was insufficient. 1t was always
with the greatest difficulty that we
managed to keep alive. Still no relief
expedition appeared.
1.-The dark days slowly passed, the
relief still failed to appear. At last,
in the desperation of our situation,
Lieutenant Greedy, realizing that ex-
IRENE measures were necessary, called
for volunteers to go to Baird inlet in
search of the last remaining cache of
provisions. Sergeant Rice and myself
were selected. AS for myself, 1 made
the trip on the scanty ration of six
ounces Of meat doled out to me before
my departure.
''The whole trip to me was horrible
/ see the rock-bound
coast yet, the dark, lowering sky, and
the undulating ice foe. am kneel-
ing by the side of my comrade Rice,
to rub his hands and call him by
name. He cannot speak; his tongue
is paralyzed with the cold, but his
eyes look into mine with such a be-
seeching expression that l turn tear
on the storm and curse it.
The form becomes rigid; the breath
leaves the body, and Rice passes away.
bury him as best l can and push on
again on my way, dragging the double
load, to reach the men l have left i'm
the camp on Cape Sabine.
supplies grew scarcer day by day.
All our dogs had been sacrificed, all
our cached provisions exhausted. We
were SubSiSting on the meager nutri-
ment that could be obtained from
broth made of the dry skins that
formed our garments and our bedding.
we found lichenS and bird
eggs. All hope of rescue was gone.
several OF the men died, and we who
had a little strength remaining buried
them as best we could. All of us. in
truth, were ill.
people have accused us of being can
nibals. of eating the flesh of our COM
rades. 1t is horrible thought. Yet
such things have been done i'm the
history OF arctic exploration, and, i'm
every case, where such measures were
found necessary to keep life sustained,
the action was justifiable.
81 was away from camp most of the
time. l did not see human flesh eaten.
and if it was | cannot say that
know it personally. We were driven
to desperation, and in the nature of
things, to men i'm our situation. it
was not fraught with the horror that
such suggestion would bring to me
today.
eff l were to go on another arctic
/ would write two letters.
both identical. One l would leave be-
hind with my family; the other l
would carry with me always. l would
say in these: In case of nv death
and in the edvent of such necessity.
my comrades are authorized to do as
they wish with my body. Rather
than feed the fishes of the sea or the
fowls of the air place my body at
the disposal of my comrades, to be
used, if necessary, in prolonging their
ives
"What suffering we endured during
the twenty-one days of that last June
we spent in the midst of the fastness
Of the arctic night. We were all
1elirious. Ellison's fingers and toes
were frozen off and we were obliged to
feed him like baby. Each with his
tiny bit of dry skin and his cup of
warm water did all that was possible
in the face of fast approaching death
to cheer the drooping spirits of his
comrades.
son the morning of June % the
scene changed. We felt as we lay
there regardless of the passing Of the
hours, that it was only question of
another day before the end would
come for all of u.s. That morning,
Long, stronger than the rest of us,
,rawled to the shore. Although it
was but a short distance away, it took