Evening star., 1909-09-13
OSBON DOES UP PEARY
Admiral of Mexican Navy Con-
cIusively Explains Doubts.
WILL NOT READ PROOFS
Would Not Believe Word He
Might Say.
COOK RELIABLE, HE KNOWS
Attended Wife in Illness and Proved
Himself of Old War
Dog and Adventurer.
COOK RELIABLE, HE KNOWS

! NEW YORK, September 1S.-Capt. and
Admiral Bradley S. Osbon secretary OF
/ the Arctic Club of America, and deco
rated with the order of Busto del LIBERIA
tador of Venezuela. tells why he is sure
that DIR. Cook reached the pole and why
he is not sure about Commander Peary
| having done the same thing.
/ His analysis of the situation, in its
| briefest terms, is that DR.. Cook attended
Mrs. Osbon in a recent Illness, and Ad-
miral Osbon knows he is an honest man.
| Il have called Mr.. Peary a faker once
since this polar controversy began. said
Admiral Osbon, and 1t isn't necessary
| for me to repeat the statement. He
thinks he invented the north pole
| Admiral Osbon, secretary of the Arctic
Club of America, is eighty-one years old,
In spite of his age and the exactions of
| his business his interest in science and
| adventure is unimpaired.
| He may be said in fact, to combine his
| business with science. for the headquar-
| Lers of the Arctic Club of America is in
1 his business place at 49, East 23d street
The admiral also lives there, and is never
| off duty.
| The admiral was asked to give in de-
| tail his reasons for intimating that Peary
entific results of his study of the Peary
statement in popular language, SO that
the public could grasp 1t.
Easy Enough to Doubt.
L can't do that" said the secretary of
the Arctic Club. for l haven't read
Peary's statements.
Then how can you doubt them?" he
was asked.
THAT is very simple replied the ad-
miral Il have formed the habit of never
reading anything from a man whom 1
don't believe"
What is your principal reason for
thinking that Peary has not been to the
pole?"
why, his everlasting claim that every
thing with ice in it belongs to him. l
don't say positively that he didn't reach
the pole. but he's got to prove it,
But you admit that you have not read
his proofs that he has sent u.s."
You mean that hot air by wireless?
That isn't proof. l know 1T isn't, with
out reading 1t.
Now, on the other hand. there is no
question about DR.. Cooks proof. He at
tended my wife for two years, and l
know that he is an honest man.
Furthermore. DR.. Cook was one OF the
founders of this club, and is it's second
Peary was a member once, but he re-
signed because we refused to fire out, at
his request, DR.. Thomas 8. DERRICK"
rs there anything about the tracing
on the charts showing Peary's course
which makes you doubt his statement?"
Haven't seen the course on the chart"
replied the secretary. But I'll tell you
something, and the public ought to know
by mail, telegraph or cable with the word
arctic on 1t, written. printed. branded,
stenciled or otherwise. is claimed by
Peary. Now I'll prove it, as you want
to talk about proofs.
So Cook Discovered Pole.
This club sent an invitation to the
Duke of the Abruzzi, as he was about to
sail for this country for the jamestown
exposition, to dine with us. He cabled
that he'd fix a date after he got here.
"Well, as we hadn't registered our cable
address, his reply went to Morris K.
Jesup. Mr.. Jesup held it for ten days till
Peary got to town Then he gave 1t to
Peary. who held it four days more and
then sent it to Herbert Bridgman over in
Brooklyn, who sent it to me.
1T was fourteen days late. That's why
we didn't entertain the duke. And DR..
Cook discovered the pole.
This club is going down the bay to
meet DR.. Cook, and we are going to give
him a dinner at the Waldorf September
o. But we are not going to give Peary
dinner. We won't even go down the
Admiral Osbon has certainly knocked
about the world. 1t was he, he says, who
first discovered the whereabouts of Ger
vera's Spanish feet In the war Of 1898.
IN tell you how I did it, he said. II
was in Curacao and the same barber that
shaved me shaved the valet Of the Span
ish minister there. And, of course, the
valet shaved the minister, so 1 had
complete chain of secret and authentic
information.
Il would tell my barber something that
was not true about the enemy's fleet He
would tell the valet what l said and the
valet would tell the minister. Then the
minister would say 1t wasn't SO at all be-
cause he had just heard so and so from
Madrid. Then the valet would tell the
barber SO and SO, and the next morning
the barber would tell me SO and SO.
And that's the way 1T worked. That's
how l learned finally where the enemy's
fleet was, and / cabled 5000 words about
it to the State Department at Washing
tom
Admiral Osbon is nothing II not pa
triot If necessary he would have shaved
three times a day during that trying
period at Curacao.
Admiral in Mexican Navy.
When asked where he had won the
title of captain which the caller In his
ignorance had addressed him up to this
point in the interview, the secretary re-
Piled
Il am an admiral. sir. / was an ad-
miral in the Mexican navy after the
civil war. / have been a commander in
the navies of Argentina and Venezuela.
The latter country decorated me with
the order of usto del Liberatador
Il was the only newspaper man at the
| fall of Fort Sumter. 1t was l who wrote
that famous dispatch to the State De-
partment that has always been credited
| to Maj Anderson. The Navy Department
gave me carte blanche and many Of the
commanding officers of the navy called
on me to serve them. / was Farraguts s
| signal officer at New Orleans. l was with
| Dupont at Port Royal.
i helped man the old, st. Mary's at
Honolulu sixty years ago when her COM
mander called for volunteers to fight the
| two French men-of-War in that harbor. I
happened to be there after a whaling
voyages and in the arctic and antarctic
| fur trade. Then / went into the mer-
chant marine and sailed to China, where
| l went into the Anglo-Chinese navy and
made war on the pirates.
Admiral Osbon has done many other
| things. but 1t was growing late and he
| had to cut off his narrative about the
pirates.
PEARY AND COOK BOTH WRONG
Noifher discovered Pole French