After Crawford's disappearance
"Parents Blame V. Stefansson for Allan Crawford's Death," The Evening Telegraph, 29 April 1925.
Evening telegraph where John and Helen Crawford blame V. Stefansson for their son's death.
On January 28th of 1923, expedition members Allan Crawford, Frederick Maurer and Milton Galle left Wrangel Island to go south along the Siberian coast to Nome. These men would never be seen again.
While the truth of their disappearance remains unknown, the news of it did not. In the Fifth Wrangel Article published, it was theorized that
“the party must have traveled too far into
the evening twilight and may have failed to recognize danger
because of the combined disguise of snow and darkness”
If the ice the party walked upon was “far from any solid floe”, their death would have been sudden. Even though there was no more communication from the group, the writers of the article believed
“that Crawford, Galle
and Maurer faced the situation as bravely on the sea
ice as Knight did on the land”.
After their son’s disappearance, John and Helen Crawford were devastated. They outwardly blamed Vilhjalmur Stefansson for their son’s death, in which an article was published in The Evening Telegraph. They charged Stefansson with
"Failure to keep faith with the
boys, together with the totally inade
quate supplies with which he encour
aged them to embark,"
They were enraged with the speculations Stefansson made surrounding their son’s death. Stefansson tried to convince the public that their deaths were a tragic accident and were in no relation to starvation.
Yet, documents from the trip revealed that they were inadequately prepared with food supplies and
"it was short
age of food that led to their cruel
and unnecessary sacrifice.”
Furthermore, the parents of Crawford recall his last letter dated January 7th 1923, in which Crawford considered leaving Wrangel Island in the previous spring as the game was already sparse. In the final postscript, Crawford wrote “it would be disastrous to return a second time”.
Also included are excerpts from Lorne Knight’s diary and Maurer’s letter to his wife, in which both complain of food shortages making it impossible to stay longer on Wrangel Island. When Crawford left Wrangel Island, he along with Maurer and Galle were already weak without proper food. While they headed for Nome, Stefansson was bragging about the expedition, ignorant of the impending deaths of the expedition members.
The Crawford family ultimately blamed V. Stefansson for the unnecessary death of their son. In “Failure to Keep Faith” their final claim:
It was this failure on the part of
Mr. Stefansson to keep faith with the
boys, and join them in 1922, together
with the totally inadequate supplies
with which he encouraged them to
embark (in order to prove his theory
that man can 'live off the country'
in the Arctic) that led to the need
less suffering and death of our son
and his companions.
Sources:
"Parents Blame V. Stefansson for Allan Crawford's Death," The Evening Telegraph, 29 April 1925.
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