New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-09-03
NO FEARS FOR PEARY.
HIS FRIENDS DO NOT BELIEVE The DID,
oIyIETING REPORTS FROM LABRADOR.
W. f. MEEHAN. THE B0TANlST VI hio r0i''1A'
EXPEDITION. GIVES REASONS FOR CON-
ND DE .pY,S SUCCESS.

EXPEDITION GIVES REASONS Fois CoN'
r1pESCE IN Mr.. PEARY's SUCCESS.
Philadelphia, Sept (SpeciaD-ln an interview !e'.
terday William Il. Meehan' polahis' "a VI" ~,
Pellet Expedition of 1891 and close irienu oi MI
D., discreded the recent reports that the pres
o,t avnedition was in trouble. Mr.. Meehan saiu
ha n,aced little or no reliance on any Oh the re-
ports of trouble to the Peary Expediuoh' "'''e ~
sailed from St Johns every report 'iiu' ."'
ceived outside those over the signature Vi sumo
member of the expedition might be taken win
mopv allowances for imagination on the part Oh
tho sender "All the unofficial dispatches, ne sald'
fare 70 my certain knowledge ipaccurate In many
particulars, and bear the impress OF nmprooaoh'.
But granting" he said that the dispatches seh'
to date are substantially correct as to the move
ments of the expedition, it will be notlceo OH d
ot,1 s,ud,, that more trouble to Mr.. Peary ana
hts marty is announced in the newspaper headlines
than in the reading matter beneath. mus oie
morning journal few days ago. over uiSp'''"
from St Johns purporting to contain news Aoni
the explorers had the following head: Feary III
trouble-mdicatons that his expedition VIII prove
q faiure' There was nothing whatever in the text
TO warrant the sub-nead. 1t was pure Inauguration
on the part of its writer. -
'Since the departure OF the Falcon from o.
Johns two letters from members OF the eApeui'ioh
have been published In the newspapers anu 'hese
written after the date Of some announcing the
daotb of burros and dogs-stated everything to be
going we'll and that but animal, dog, mad
been lost and it by jumping overheard thinK'
therefore. that these two letters are suHciei' u
stamp all other dispatches up to the date these
were written pure fakes
"Tbe latest report dated from st. Johns August
e. has been taken by many to indicate that the
expedition is threatened with disaster and the re-
porter goes far as to express the opinion that
Mr. Pearys actions are suicidal ana that IL he de-
berately intended to wreck the expedition he
could not be doing the work more e1ecuvey.
dislike to call the who conceived such a
thought an ass, but really everything in the dis
patch indicates 1T. There is absolutely nothing in
the report from beginning to end, assuming the
general statements TO be true. that even points to
suicidal actions to the danger of the expedition
being wrecked.
In the first place it is stated that all the burros
are dead. Suppose they are. Mr.. Peary did not
depend them for the successful carrying out OF
his expedition in the slightest degree. They were
taken along simply as an experiment In the nope
that they might be valuable aids in his work. and
he told me himself that if they were not he would
kill them and use them as food. Their death-as-
suming they are dead-smply leaves MIR. Peary In
the same position he two years ago when he
made his great inland ice trip to Independence
Bay when he had donkeys.
Next it is announced that the Labrador natives
asked s. for trained Esquimau dogs, but that Mr..
Peary would not give more than so cents. Per-
consider Mr. Peary's actions suicidal But those Of
us who were with Mr. Peary last year in Green
land and those who were with him during his
whole North Greenland expedition will hardly agree
for we all know that the intrepid explorer can Sc
cure all the dogs he wants in South North
Greenland, and without paying s. apiece for them
either.
THE only reason Mr.. Peary went to Labrador
at all for dogs was because he did not wish to
drain his northern Esqumau friends too heavily of
their only beast Of burden. The statement that
his last chance to obtain these animals is at God
hayn Disco is superatvely ridiculous and its
writer betrays ignorance Of Greenland startling
in Newfoundlander, a people supposed to be more
or less familiar with the Arctic regions. In the
first place Godhavn and Disco are usually inter-
changeable names for the same place-Godhavn
being the settlement and Disco the Island on which
1t is situated In the second place Godhavn is not
the last chance even in South Greenland. Uper-
navik, a much larger settlement, is further north
and after that he can rely on the natives OF Cape
York. Netulumie and Whale Sound
'In the dispatch the most dreadful announce
ment in the mind of the writer of II. Is reserved
till the last: Peary could not have got away from
the Labrador coast before the middle Of August.
and must be at least five weeks behind his time
of last year, he states, and adds. Everything is
against him. A mixed and more ignorant
statement could not be devised. Mr.. Peary did not
take a northward trip last year. 1t Is true II, as
the dispatch states he did not leave Labrador I'M
Ill the middle OF August, ne Is five weeks behind
the date Of his northward voyage of 1884, and that
was wisely and deliberately intended. In 1881 Mr..
Peary by starting five weeks earlier than this
year. was held up for more than month in the
straits OF Belle Isle and Melville Bay through the
ice not having broken up
Leaving the coast of Labrador in the idle OF
August would bring the Falcon TO Bowdn Bay in
Ingefield Gulf by August 2G at the very latest and
September or would not be too late for the YES
sci TO begin its return voyage 10 civilization In
safety Those of who have been with Mr..
Peary in Greenland know him TO be not only an
intrepid explorer but cautious man, looking care
fully after his own safety as we'll az OF those I'M
der him. and II disaster overtakes the expedition
we will all be greatly Hurprteed."