Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-09-07
mander Peary fully. aware that there
was a man somewhere ahead of him
who was going to put in the claim of

mander Peary fully, aware that there
was a man somewhere ahead of him
who was going to put In the claim of
the poles discovery and receive the
fruits Of praise.
Cook Wins by Five Days.
DR.. Cook won the dash for civiliza-
tion by just five days; at Lerwick, in
the Shetland islands, he found the COW
eted cable end on Wednesday last and
thru 1t caught the worlds ear.
Yesterday Peary got his message on
the wire at Indian Harbor, away up
on the northeast coast of Labrador
the same message as that which Cook
had sent drumming thru the wire on
Sept. 1.
Two men dashed for the pole. Two
dashed for the lands Of men below.
The dash for the pole was made with
the energy of inspiration; that for the
kfndlier climes was urged by sterneUt
rivalry and the great worth of fame
Struggle Back the Harder.
Perhaps, said these intimates Of
Peary today, he struggled harder to get
back to civilization ahead of DIR. Cook
than he did to reach the goal of his
twenty years effort.
That Peary knew Of Cooks claim and
Of Cooks start ahead in the direction
Of civilization is undoubted There is
only one stepping stone known in the
arctic regions from the world into the
hitherto impenetrable mystery of the
polar seas, and that is Etah, huddle
Of Esquimaux huts on the western
coast of Greenland by the shore of
Smith sound.
To Etah DR.. Cook returned after his
winter in the ice wilderness of Elles-
mere Land, and there he found Harry
Whitney, the New Haven youth who
had gone up with Peary the year be-
fore and who remained at Etah to
guard the cache of supplies that Peary
had left behind him when he made his
sprint northward.
Leaves Data With Whitney.
With Whitney he left some of his
data, according to the dispatches from
Copenhagen, and with him he left the
story of his Rorthing, even to the pole,
then he set off for Upernavik, the
southern Danish settlement, there to
get aboard the little Danish govern
ment steamer and make for the world
below.
Then came along Peary-just what
time he returned to Etah can only be
surmised. At Etah he heard from
Whitney that the man who said that
he had beaten in the race for the pole
already was started on the race for
civilization.
The folks who sketched this probable
situation today even went to the extent
OF figuring how great start it was
that Cook had on Peary. Cook had
reached Upernavik in May, but there
would be no boat out of there until the
impending autumn sent whatever craft
that were summering in the bleak har-
Dor downward.
Explorers Near One Another.
There is a strong probability-~in
fact, 1t must be, they say-that when
Peary returned to Etah and there
learned that his glory was imperiled
Cook had not even left Greenland and
that less than 300 miles of the Green
land coast separated the two explorers.
Under the great handicap of doubt,
and the undoubted jealousy of a man
with whom he is not on friendly terms,
Comm ander Peary had to head the
Roosevelt south thru the channels of
the ice on the last lap of a race for
fame wherein every minute meant pos
sible defeat.
He could not know until today, when
he touched at Indian Harbor in Labra-
dor to file with the telegraph his claim
to being the poles discoverer, that he
had lost the race thru the frozen oceans.
Nav Aava noxun IL o.&
And yet-here those who talked on
Peary's achievement interjected quail
flying clause-and yet there is the pos
sibility that, before he returned to Eta1
even, Peary had known that he had
been preceded.
If he followed the course that he an
nounced on his departure from New
York in July of last year. he may have
crossed the tracks that Cook and his
two Esquimos left in the frozen sea
north of Grants land.
There would be camp debris, sled
ed road enough to appear to the COM
mander of the Roosevelt's crew like
Fridays footprints on Crusoe's island.
Until further and definite word comes
from Peary this freak of circumstance
and strangest coincidence in the his
tory of exploration must remain in the
domain of speculation.
That the return of Peary to civiliza-
tion and further elucidation of his own
claims by DR.. Cook probably will pre-
cipitate a controversy as acrid as any
that has recently interested the peo-
pie Of all the world was the certain
promise that the polar explorers in
New York held out
PEARY's FEAT PLEAsEs COOK.