The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-02-15
FRICTION AMONG
SCOTT SURVIVORS
Failure to Save Leader Starts
the Trouble.
HEAD OF RESCUERS ACCUSED
Explorers Sacrificed lives In Effort to
Save Evans, Who Became Insane
After Leaving the Pole.

Save Evans, VINO aecame insane
After Leaving the Pole.
London, Feb. 1.-two sensational
statements regarding the deaths OF
Captain Robert F. Scott and his com
panions in the Antarctic are contained
in news dispatched received from New
Zealand.
One intimates that Scott and his
two companions who got to within
eleven miles of the One Ton Depot
could have been saved had it not been
for the inexperience of the leader OF
the relief party that had been sent to
that place.
The other gives even a more heroic
aspect than heretofore to the deaths
of Scott and his companions-sets
forth that four men persisted because
of their efforts to save Evans, the
petty officer, after he had become in
sane Immediately after leaving the
South Pole on the return march.
A cablegram from Christchurch,
New Zealand says:
Comment is made here to the effect
that Captain Scott, DR.. Wilson and
Lieutenant Bowers could have been
saved if the rescue party had pushed
south vigorously from the base in
March, 1912. It's failure was apparent
ly due to the inexperience OF DR.. At
kinson, the surgeon, who allowed the
bulk of the party to remain at Cape
Evans, cut off by open water from
Hut Point, at the edge Of the Bar
rier.
"At the end of February two men
went south 155 miles to the depot near
which Scott died, but returned on
March 10. On March II DR.. Atkinson
and one companion went out eighty
miles and then returned. The south
ern explorers were left to their fate
at the very time when the delay in
their temperance made it obvious
that their need of assistance was in
tense.
Feeling has been aroused among
the survivors of the expedition by this
failure. The relations between Com
mander Evans, now the leader of the
expedition, and DR.. Atkinson, are very
strained"
That the explorers suffered from
scurvy is definitely denied by mem
bers of the search party. The bodies
were examined carefully, and no dis
ease was found. Death was due to ex
posture and exhaustion.
Captain Oates death on March II
was sought deliberately. His feet and
hands were split, blackened and bleed
ing and he was unable to continue the
march. On the morning of March II
he asked his companions to proceed
They refused to leave him.
The party sat silent for time in
the tent, snow falling outside. Then
Captain Oates staggered painfully tc
his feet and said:
IT am just going outside. I may be
some time"
Scott protested, but Oates silenced
him with a gesture. He said he hoped
conditions would improve soon, and
crawled out through the opening. He
must have walked away till he fell.
The three survivors sat silent for
half an hour and then packed anf
moved northward again.
The tragedy of the Scott expedition
began on its arrival at the South Pol
on Jan. II, 1912. Evans, the petty
officer, physically the strongest mem
Der Of the party, became insane under
the strain of the heavy march, intense
cold and privations. He was occa
sionally violent and was restrained
with difficulty.
He could not be persuaded to march
northward or help pull the sledge
Evans condition was frightful han
dicap to his companions. Travel was
slow, the season was advancing and
the stores that otherwise would have
been sufficient were running short.
The edge Of the plateau was reached
dangerously late, and when the de
scent of the Beardmore Glacier began
the strength Of the party and theil
stores were failing. The conditions
were unfavorable. The ice was cruelty
rough and the sledge was pulled and
carried over hummocks and crevasses
Captain Oates working heroically with
frostbitten feet and hands.
The sledge carrying Evans was
overturned on an ice slope near the
foot of the glacier. The insane mar
suffered conclusion of the brain. He
was taken forward further, but when
he was not carried he Jagged behind
On Feb. II he died, leaving Scott, Will
son, Oates and Bowers weak and shak
en- and a month late.
The rest of the tragedy Is told in
SCOTS message. His reference to the
unaccountable shortage Of fuel In tho
depots has not been explained. The
supporting parties deny that they used
fuel unduly on the return marches.