sources

An Absurd Arctic Story

Washington Post, Tuesday, September 2, 1884, p. 2, col. 5.

An Absurd Arctic Story.

A morning paper published yesterday under a New York date an alleged interview with a Mr. Coldwell¹, of Cincinnati, in which the latter states that Capt. Hall, of the Polaris, told him Capt. John McClintock,² of the Franklin relief expedition, was shot and eaten by his comrades. As a matter of fact Captain, now Admiral, McClintock returned alive from the expedition in 1859, and was present at the recent presentation of the Alert by the British Government to the United States. His return of course was a public matter, and Capt. Hall could hardly have made such a statement. None of the journals, notes or letters of the expeditions contain any reference to cannibalism.

Citation

Washington Post, Tuesday, September 2, 1884, p. 2, col. 5. Source: newspapers.com image 1037685932.

Notes

¹ "Coldwell" — should be "Caldwell" (John Day Caldwell). Preserved verbatim.

² "John McClintock" — should be "Francis Leopold" (Francis Leopold McClintock). Preserved verbatim.

'An Old Cannibal Story', Rediscovered After 142 Years

A wave of newspaper articles from 1884 preserves what Charles Francis Hall learned about Franklin's men. Nothing like it appears in any other source. Some mysteries thin over time. Not Franklin. Since late July 1845, when whalers last saw Sir John Franklin and his 129 men anchored to

An Old Cannibal Story

Winnipeg Daily Sun, Friday, September 5, 1884, p. 1, col. 7 AN OLD CANNIBAL STORY. A MEMBER OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION KILLED FOR FOOD. BUFFALO, Sept. 1.—A morning paper here prints the following despatch from Cincinnati about an interview with John D. Caldwell, an old and respected citizen, in

He Was Eaten

Cincinnati Evening Post, Thursday, September 4, 1884, p. 2, col. 2 HE WAS EATEN. Not Capt. McClintock, of the Franklin Relief Party, BUT AN OFFICER OF FRANKLIN'S OWN EXPEDITION. John D. Caldwell Reiterates His Statement as True, Save that in Haste He Recalled the Wrong Name—Capt Hall

McClintock Was Not Eaten

National Republican (Washington), Tuesday, September 2, 1884, p. 2, col. 4 McClintock Was Not Eaten. To the Editor. I notice with surprise and pain that in your paper of the 1st instant appears a copy of a reported interview between some one and a Mr. Caldwell, of Cincinnati, in which