The Yale expositor., 1909-09-10
DR.. COOKS MODESTY
CONv|NCES ALL
THAT HE REACHED THE NORTH
POLE HIS STORY AND
DATA PROVE.
SKEPTICS ARE DISARMED.
Examined Like a Criminal, the Dis.
coverer Shows Newspaper Men
That He Is Right.

Even the correspondents of the
London newspapers, who have been
interviewing DR.. Cook, the American
pole discoverer, at the Phoenix hotel,
Copenhagen, have become convinced
or his absolute good faith. London
scientists and newspapers were at
first inclined to be slightly skeptical,
but that feeling has now changed TO
one of confidence in DR.. Cook and the
truth of his statements.
Before what one correspondent de-
scribes as a Jury of the worlds
press" DR.. Cook answered questions
for long, long hours after returning
from triumphal reception by Prin.
cess Marie at Bernstein castle. The
correspondent says of the meeting:
Il could almost fancy the shades OF
Cabot, Franklin and Andre standing
with folded arms behind the little
man as he spoke quietly, in his curl
GUS American drawl, tinged by years
in the Arctic with a Scandinavian ac-
cent. We seemed to be making his
tory, and behind the greatness OF 1t
there was something grotesque.
Here was man whose name will
live as long as the world lasts. ar
raigned like a prisoner in the dock,
charged with discovering the north
pole. For an hour he was submitted
to searching cross-examination. For
an hour he sat there answering ques-
lions, with a map of the Arctic re-
gfons spread before him. tracing his
adventurous journey with his fore
finger from his last glimpse of land to
the great Ice desert He smiled in
diligently now and again, as If he
pitied our incredulity, but never once
did he decline to answer questions,
and they were put to him BADLY and
directly.
1T was a trial OF veracity Dr.
Cook, with his back to the wall, was
fighting to convince a world of unbe-
levers.
"One picture will ever remain with
me out of today's record-the picture
OF little, sturdy man, with dreamy,
gray-blue eyes that seemed to vision
the desolate days, what had been
trim, fair mustache stubbling his
upper lip. and firm, strong chin,
now shorn of beard.
"A very ordinary catalogue OF
mans features, but that is the most
remarkable thing about him. He is
iust a man of the type you see every
day II there is anything persistent
in his individuality IL is those haunt
ing eyes, the eyes of a man who has
looked far on an empty horizon. He
turned this way and that replying
like witness giving evidence before
a royal commission.
"Dr. Cook convinces one by his
lot. - N,o 81 % l.
ing Sincerity is the keynote of his
personality"
In Copenhagen DR.. Cook was re-
quested to submit his data. In reply
to this request DR.. Cook revealed the
fact that he had shipped all OF his
data and the instruments TO New
York. According to Prof Ellis Strom-
gren, director of the Copenhagen uni
versity, and one of the leading Dan
ish geographers, who accepts DR.
Cooks claims implicitly, it would be
impossible for anyone to concoct a
series of false astronomical observa-
lions extending over any considerable
period.
The opinions of most of the skeptics
who have been inclined to doubt DIR.
Frederick A. Cooks claim that he
found the north pole were based on
denials that he had assembled Mr.. Nc
Kinley. Capt. Joseph II. Heron, of
the T. s. army, who is more intimate
ly acquainted with the facts of the
Mt. Mckinley expedition than anyone
not actually concerned in 1t, declares
that Cook did ascend Mr. Mckinley.
Capt. Heron, who is now adjutant OF
West Point Military academy, has
come actively to the defense of DR..
Cook Capt Heron is the young
army engineer who, at the head of a
small expedition. explored Alaskan
mountains and discovered the direct
overland route TO the Yukon gold
fields through Simpson pass. He is
also the discovered OF Mt. Foraker,
which ranks next to Mt. Mckinley in
that range and was such an acknowl-
edged authority on the region. that
his advice was sought by Dr. Cook
when preparing for the Mckinley ex-
petition.
WIRELETS.