Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29
The Arctic Explorer Tells Of His
Trip North.
SOME MISREPRESENTA EXPLAINED
There Never Was Any Need Of a
Relief Expedition.
WILL TRY 1T AIN

Mr.. walter Wellman, who has been for
| a number Of years one of the best known
| newspaper men in Washington, and who
has this year achieved fame as an arctic
explorer. returned to his home in this city
last evening. He was accompanied by Mrs.
Wellman, who has been here all summer,
and who went over to New York to meet
him on his arrival there. The other three
members of the expedition have not yet
returned to the city.
Mr.. Wellman is in the best of health and
ences in the far north. He brings back
equally satisfactory accounts CT the con-
dition IF the other Washingtonians who
accompanied him on his hardy dash for
the north pole. OF all those who were glad
TO see him back none were demonstra-
tive as the five pretty little daughters who
have followed their fathers progress as
best they could all summer. and have hun
gered for news of him when he was out of
| reach of civilization. Their happiness today
Is unbounded.
A Call ON Mr.. Wellman.
A Star reporter found Mr.. Wellman at
his handsome home on Thomas circle this
morning. The returned voyager talked most
entertainingly Of his trip. and while he
admitted that it had not been as great a
success as he might have hoped. he showed
fact, Mr.. Wellman rather intimated that
he might return to try the same trip next
summer in the hope of more favoring for
tune. He did not care to speak definitely
on this point just yet, as he said his plans
depended largely on what he might hear in
the course of the next fortnight from par
ties in Europe, who are greatly interested
in his work, and who have the utmost con-
hdence in the possibilities of his scheme
for reaching the farthest north" by the
same route that he followed this summer.
Mr.. Wellman said that he had had several
very hattering offers to lecture both in
England and since his return to this coun-
try, but that he thought that the results
OF his first essay 10 reach the pole hardly
deserved SO much attention. In the course
of his conversation with The Star man this
morning Mr.. Wellman said.
Enjoyed the Summer.
Barring the extraordinarily unfavorable
CONDITION Of the ice on the north cosct Of
Spitzbergen. making it impossible fo- US
to advance beyond the Slst parallel OF lat
itude. We have much enjoyed our summer
in the far north. We have no tales of woe
to- tell. Some hardships We did have, due
not to the cold. but to the rough and broken
condition of the ice over which We trav-
eied. But one can get accustomed even
to wading through ice water and slush up
70 ms waist. Notwithstanding good deal
OF this sort of exposure, We had splendid
health ard really enjoyed our experiences.
Now and then our position was somewhat
dangerous, but there never was a time in
which We lacked confidence in our ability
to take care of ourselves. 1t was rather
hard luck to have the ice break up off the
northern coast and become impassable lust
as we were ready to travel over f.. We
had fine party of men-better men than
my American companions and our Nor
wegian followers never went into the arc
tics-an equipment which the European
experts have admitted was the best ever
cad hat tv, La,
out from Norway had reached a point
farther north than that attained by ali the
arctic expeditions known to history, with
half dozen exceptions. If the ice had re-
mained solid, as 1t does some years, or IT,
after breaking and piling up it had drifted
out to the southwest, as 1t often does, We
should have been able to go very far north
ward. But this year Ii did neither. 1t
Croke up in hopeless confusion, and then
lay all summer along the coast, blocking
our way. But these things are the fortunes
of war.
I'VE have the satisfaction of knowing
that we did all men could do. and that we
We're rot weak enough to risk the lives of
our party in hopeless task. Arctic eX-
plorat:on, when prudently conducted. may
be done in safety and without eXtraordn-
airy hardships. There is nothing in the re-
suits to be attained that will Justify reck-
less sacrifice of human life. j believe the
people of this country are tired of reading
of starvation and other horrors in the arc
tics, ar d 1 do not blame them. OF course,
accidents may occur in the far north. but
they occur everywhere L have no quarrel
with the people who do not believe in
arctic exploration. Men do not agree on
that question any more than they agree
in politics. Those who don't believe in Il
will do well to let 1t alone, while, if l do
believe in it, and wish to invest my money
and energies in 1T, that is my business. If
some persons persist in misunderstanding,
in misrepresenting and even in questioning
motives, l suppose they must be permitted
N fhAvr,C ,CAlrv
money and doing what l please with it, i
am much too busy to waste time chasing
yellow dogs up alleys because they chance
to bark at me-"
Some Misrepresentation.
You have been misrepresentation
well. l should say so," replied Mr.. Well
man. smilingly, pointing to a desk full Of
newspaper cuttings from all over the world.
Il have here my obituary in all languages
1t would be amusing but for the pain caused
my wife and family. How the reports as to
our death in the arctics came to be pub
lished and given credence Is more than
can understand. Carl Siewers of London
who was authority for some of the reports,
Is O crank, who has killed us OF, and Nam
sen also. with no other weapon than his
imagination. Col Feilden, the Englishman
who made the wonderful discovery that our
Prof. Oyen was starving to death at Danes
Island with 1000 pounds of the best pro-
visions in his house, and who afterward
apologiZed for his Misrepresentation also
sought to advertise himself by reading a
burial service over the supposed fate of my
companions and myself. All these reports
were pure conjecture, without the first trace
of actual Information to stand upon. Besides
these false tales there have been baseless
stories about dissensions in our party, al
legged lack Of food, failure of equipment and
SO on. In fact, the Misrepresentation and
the criticisms based upon them have been
SO phenomenally wide of the truth as to
make my companions and l laugh where l
suppose we should have wept. 1t is going
rather too far, however, when the fakirs
make ones own wife say disagreeable
things about him, isn't it?''
"You had some good men with your"
Good Men With Him.
Splendid. Prof French of the coast and
geodetic survey is the best man for such
a trip ever saw. If go again, as hope
to do. hope he will be along. DIR. Thos.
B. Mohun was a most admirable medical
officer and charming companion, while
Charles c. Dodge of the bureau Of con-
struction. Navy Department. was in his
element among the polar bear. the reindeer
and the dangers of boating amid fields Of
floating ice. Our Ncrwegians were almost
IDEAL They have all asked to go again IL
we CO. and could not ask for better men.
By the way, / see We have been criticised