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 Mr. Caldwell is stated to have reported, as from the late Capt. Hall, of the Polaris, that Capt. McClintock, of the Franklin relief expedition of 1859, was shot and eaten by his starving companions. This will certainly be news to the now Admiral McClintock; who, as all newspaper files show, was present in London at the recent presentation of the Alert by the British government to the United States. I may say also that I have had the honor of a letter from the admiral of no very old date.

The fact is, that the whole of this matter of resurrecting the yarns said to have been told by the Eskimos about cannabalism is a disgrace to all concerned, and it is but just to all, our English friends included, that such stories be nailed as soon as told.

In justice to our own Hall, also, I must say that whatever he may possibly have privately said to Mr. Caldwell about cannabalism among the explorers for Franklin, he could hardly have said this about McClintock, for he well knew his safe return.

Having had access, when preparing "The [Narrative of Hall's Second Expedition,"] to all his correspondence and notes, I must add that not one syllable of what has now appeared as to the story of McClintock's fate is to be found in his journals, notes, or letters.

J. E. N.

Citation

National Republican (Washington), "McClintock Was Not Eaten," Tuesday, September 2, 1884, p. 2, col. 4. Source: newspapers.com image 77892973.