The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-09-21
HISTORY OF LIEUTENANT PEARY'S ATTEMPT
TO PLANT THE u. S. FLAG AT NORTH POLE

From the Chicago Record-Herald.
The north pole his goal, and possession
for the United States of the far-off limits
of the world his ambition, Lieut.. Robert
e. Peary launched the little band of
which he was the leader upon its plunge
into the frozen land of mystery in $685.
Hope was strong within his breast, and
his plans, maturing through the years he
had spent in the region for which he was
bound in his previous Intellectual dashes
northward, seemed to provide for every
contingency that might arise.
1t was not to be a quick rush through
The ice-bound region; rather was It to be
a siege. Peary was convinced that the
only way in which he might accomplish
his great aim would be to go forward
prepared to remain for several years If
necessary terrifying each step in adj
vance of the main body of his expedition
so he might safely fall back fraction of
the way If compelled to do so and still
be ready at the instant conditions
changed to push on once more. Relief ex-
petitions were arranged to go up after
him each year, ready to take him back
to civilization If he had gained what he
sought, or to return without him if he
still had his task before him.
Privations of the sort that drive the
bravest men from their appointed mis-
sions confronted the daring explorer in
the four years that he spent in the frozen
Businesses of the north. cut off from all
civilization, his friends and supporters
here in doubt most of the time whether
he still lived.
His feet were frozen; he was sledded
hundreds of miles in helpless condition
back to where science might relieve his
suffering; his toes, seven of them, were
amputated, and then he would not listen
to the counsel that the time had come for
him to abandon his task. His feet healed.
he could walk once again. and again he
was pushing on in the hope Of finding
that for which he sought.
Peary returned from his expedition in
1895 almost convinced that he would
never make another raid into the north.
| But as time went on the old ambition
came back upon him, ana in the end,
| after making two trips into the Arctic
region in 1896 and 1897, to study out the
problem before him and bringing lack
with him the famous Cape York mel eor-
ties, the largest in the world. he could
no longer resist the temptation.
Funds were needed for this expedition
and they were quickly forthcoming. Nor
ris X. Jesup of the American Museum of
Natural History; Henry w. Cannon, pres
ident of the Chase National bank, and
Charles A. Moore of the Montauk club
of Brooklyn, were his chief aids in gath
ering the money required. The Peary Arc
tic club was organized and influence was
brought to bear at Washington that re-
suited in the navy department, in which
the explorer is civil engineer, with the
rank Of lieutenant granting him a four
years leave Of absence. Alfred c. HARMS
worth, publisher Of the LONDON Dairy
Mail, offered Peary the fine arctic ship
| Windward, which had already carried
| the Jackson expedition north.
! Peary reached Etah, Greenland, Au-
| gust 10, 1898. 1t was on the first long
march to the northward, the party Greet
ing its steps toward Fort Conger, the
| most northerly house in the world today,
| standing there as the storeroom for the
holding of the provisions for the expedi-
| ton, that the first misfortune overlook
| the leader His feet were terribly frozen
and he was at last Obliged to turn hack