The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-05

could be expected for at least 25o days. However, a shanty or stones and canvas was constructed, and here the men lay in cold. filth and semi-dark- ness, throughout that terrible win ter the stronger ones securing the coast for game and seals, whlch grew so scarce that food gradually failed, | and the men began to de efL. one py 1 one, from scuryys starvation, ana un- | sanitary surroundings. This hut will be our grave" wrote Greedy week after it was built. and the prophecy was, to Q great ex- tent, fulfilled. For a long time the men subsisted on seaweed and a species of shrimp caught by Brainard. who was strongly constituted, and they also occasionally caught a seal or dovekie to eke out their miserable provender. But even these began to fail. and be- fore the winter was over Greedy had almost given up all hopes of rescue. But the men never knew 1t, for even when lying, weakened by scurvy and fever. in the cold and darkness of their wretched hut, the commander and his officers would give talks and readings on various subjects. to cheer them; lectures on American trade. the cap- itals of Europe. /and readings from | Dickens and other authors. % But these soon palled. and no won der. For who could appreciate the hu- nor of "Pickwick" while undergoing mental and physical agony and with death lurking behind every man7 When spring came their number was so reduced that 1t was evident that unless help came all must die be- l fore the summer.
 The month of June came and found fourteen still alive. Greedy and Brain ard among them. Now. however, deaths occurred more frequently. for summer with It's dense mists and chil- ly gales, was even harder to bear than the intense but more healthful cold of winter. On June 4 Greeiy wrote: "Our condition grows more horrible. No man knows when death is coming and I can never sleep without feel ing that shall never wake"
 But there were tragedies worse than these--one of the men, Private Henry. had been repeatedly caught pilfering the miserable store of ra- tions and was warned that death by a rife bullet would quickly follow q rep otition of the oftense. But 1t was soon repeated by the poor wretch. probably maddened by hunger, and he was caught red-handed and summarily shot by three of his comrades.
 Private Henry will be executed to- day" was Greely's written order, which must have seemed almost un- necessary when men were dying ev- cry day from natural causes.
 Rescue Came At Last.
 By the 18th of June no less than eighteen men had passed away, includ- ing Lieutenants Lockwood and Kis- lingburg and Dr. Parry, but in some cases insanity robbed dissolution of itS terrors. The condition oa the seven survivors was indeed pitiabl
 During the winter the walls of their wretched hut had been thickly coated with ice, and their sleeping bags froz- en to the ground. Now they lay an inch deep in the slush caused by drip ping walls and leaking roof. All | fuel was gone, and they shivered in the darkness without Aght or fire. | "Ali were quietly waiting and long, ing for the end, when suddenly a steamers whistle was faintly heard above the roaring of the wind. The relief had come at last In the shape of the Thetis (the vessel. by the way which convyed my Paris-New York l exnedition across Boring Htraits) which had risked ten days of immi- nent peril to gain this almost inacces- | sible spot.
 | A few minutes later strange voices were heard, and it gradually dawned upon the seven half-conscious survi- | vors of the dreely expedition that thev were saved. A Dit of soaked seaislxin had been their only food for | forty eight hours before. and their ap- nearance was so terrible to look upon that strong men gave way to tears H. De windt in The New York
 Times.