Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1895 — MRS. PEARY. [ARTICLE]

MRS. PEARY.

Wife of the Famoas Arctic Kxplorer Talks of. Their Polar Voyage. Mrs. Peary, wife of the famous tic explorer, declares herself as having had more than enough of the polar regions, and is determined that her husband shall never repeat his travels in those frigid lands. When asked what experience stands out most prominently in connection with the unusual life while exploring, Mrs. Peary, without a moment’s hesitation, said: “Our hunt-, ing the walrus. It is the only occasion in my life when I was so lightened tbat I would have welcomed death a£ a relief. We were out in a boat with Dr. Cook, ‘Mat’ and some natives. Mr. Peary had broken his leg, but was steering the boat, his legs, in splints, stretched out before him. We saw the walrus coming toward us, and when the natives said ‘Shoot at them,’ we took our rifles and did so.

“Then followed a scene too terrible for words. The bullets had only entered the hides of these animals, enough to infuriate them, and they came forward enraged and with but one determination—to turn over the boat. They placed their long tusks on the gunwale and attempted to tip us out. I crouched at the bottom of the skiff, loading the rifles, so that the men would not have to wait a second. The sea was crimson with their blood, and for a few mo-

ments I did not know whether I should be shot by the excited men or drowned by the walrus. We killed about seventeen, and have some of the tusks. Rut don’t let me talk about it any more ’’