The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-03-06
FOUGHT DEATH
IN ANTARCTIC
Escape Of DR.. MaWSOn Little
Short of Miraculous.
ALONE, FACED STARVATION.

His w Companions Rad Fertsheo IN
Icy Wastes-Their Leaders Thirty
Days Doeged Battle For Life One of
the Finest Acts of Personal Courage
Recorded In Polar Exploration.
Returning from two years and three
months Of exploration In the antarctic.
DR.. Douglas Mawson. the young Aus
tralian g~eologist, tells a thrilling story
of heroic endurance in a terrific fight
with starvation I'm the barren Ice fields.
Two OF his party OF fifty which left
Tasmania Dec. 2. 1911. persisted.
These men were Lieutenant ID, II. s.
MINIS of the Royal Fusilicrs and DR..
Xavier Mertz. n Swiss scientist For
ty-four OF the expedition returned IA
year ago.
In December. 1912, these three were
returning from a sledge journey along
the 1000 mile stretch of coast between
Cape Adare and Gaussburg, the sur
vey of which was the expeditions
chief purpose. On Dee. 4 Mawson and
MertZ crossed the revasse OF n gla.
cier and shouted a warning to MINIS,
who was behind them. No answer
coming. they looked back and were
astonished TO see no living thing upon
the expanse of ice and snow.
They caught sight OF an injured dog
cllnging to a ledge. About II were
fragments of something. they could
not tell what, but nothing to show
that MINIS had not plunged to the
very bottom of the abyss.
Funeral Service Beside crevasse.
For many hours the two called mt
intervals, but no answer came except
the moaning OF the dog. After awhile
even these interludes in the eerie still
ness ceased, and hope that MINIS was
alive or that Ii he were assistance
could be rendered him vas given mp.
The rope available fell far short OF
reaching the ledge, $50 feet belo On
which the dog lay. Finally the burial
service was read at the brink OF the
~crevasse, and Mawson and Mertz re-
sumed their journey.
The sledge that remained to them
dIttT IIlS ulSdSL6T DOTe man IOUu
for only one and one-half weeks.
Owing to the bad weather and the
necessary reduction In rations. the
dogs failed rapidly, and by the first OF
January none of them remained The
explorers We're then still 100 miles
from the hut; Mertz was breaking un
der the strain. Unable to proceed fur
Their on foot he was placed on the
sledge. On Jan. 8 Mertz died.
Left Alone, Mawson Suffered Tortures
Mawson himself was In such a con
dillon hen that little but his will kept
him alive. Several times as he at
tempted TO cross crevasses he fell in &c
the length of the rope that bound hin
to his sledge. Only by the greatest
effort was he able to drag himself on
again. and as the days went by hi,
nails dropped of, his hair fell out ant
great patches Of skin ~sloughed Off un
der the wind, edged with bitter cold.
Reduced, literally. to the last stages
OF starvation. Mawson staggered OIL
across the waste. Finally he saw II
the snow a bit of something that fixed
even his wavering glance. He made
his way to 1t, found that II was food
that must have been dropped by the
searching party sent out for him, and
with its spiritual, rather than physica
comfort, set out on what proved to b,
the last stage of his endeavor.
The supply hut was but twenty miles
distant, as 1t proved. but the flashing
wind and drifting snow made II i'm
possible for Mawson to go more thar
two miles. He returned to the spoI
where he found the trace of the search
ing party. When 1t finally picked hin
up he had been utterly alone In tina
wilderness for thirty days.