630 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



for no other reason. Had I died I should have wished a grave 

 in the North." 



He said again : "Why did we not allow poor Elison to die, if 

 we were so far past the line between humans and savages? Why 

 did we share our food with him to the last?" These were manly 

 words, and were, no doubt, sincere, for cannibalism may have 

 been practiced without his knowledge ; but, still the report grew 

 apace, until it was definitely stated that Lieutenant Kislingbury's 

 body had been partially devoured after his death. So specific 

 were these statements, that the three brothers of the deceased, 

 John F., Frank W. and William H. Kislingbury, decided to have 

 the body exhumed from its resting place in Mount Hope Ceme- 

 tery, Rochester, N. Y., and an investigation made. Doctors 

 Charles Buckley and Frederick A. Mandeville were engaged to 

 make the examination. Accordingly the body was exposed on 

 August 13th, and after performing the duties for which they 

 were engaged, the two doctors made a sworn statement declar- 

 ing that the flesh had been stripped from the limbs and the larger 

 part of the body, reducing it almost to a skeleton of bare bones, 

 weighing only about fifty pounds. 



This statement set at rest all doubts of the dreadful resorts to 

 which at least some of Greely's men had been driven, and reports 

 began to increase until several other bodies were exhumed, some 

 of which bore unmistakable marks of the knife, while others did 

 not. There is also the best of evidence that the body of Private 

 Henry was eaten, for his headless remains were found a mile 

 from Greely's camp, and some of his bones were bare and scat- 

 tered, but no official investigation was held to determine the full 

 extent to which cannibalism was carried. Quite enough became 

 known, however, through investigation, to shock the moral sense 

 of those who cannot be brought to a proper consideration of what 

 starvation might force men to do. 



WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. 



IN the light of subsequent events we feel justified in saying 

 that had the relief expedition succeeded in reaching Fort Conger, 

 or in making caches of supplies where they could be found along 



