Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-09-18
NO WHITE MAN
WAS WITH PEARY
Reached Pole With COIOTed Man
and Few ESkimOS.
WILL WELCOME EXPLORERS
Peary's Ship viii Participate In Hud
son-FuIton Naval Parade-Rrooklyn
Preparing to Honor DR.. Cook-Mrs.
Peary Awaits Husband at Sydney.

Washington. Sept. 1.-THE great po-
lar controversy has resolved itself into
a question of purely personal ~veracity
between Or. Frederick A. Cook and
Commander Robert e. Peary. 1t is now
the unsupported word of d white
man against another.
According to the statements OF each
over his own signature, neither was
accompanied by a member of his own
race when he is alleged to have plant
ed the Stars and Stripes at the North
Pole.
That Commander Peary had with
him only his old colored body servant,
Matt Hensen, and a handful of Eski-
mos when he made the last stage of
his journey toward the pole, and that
he had sent back the only remaining
white member of the expedition when
he reached latitude S7.S was not known
until the first installment of his de-
tailed narrative Of his trip was pub.
lished.
One Of the principal arguments
made by the Peary supporters against
the acceptance of DR.. Cooks claims to
discovery OF the pole was his own adj
mission that he was unaccompanied
by any white man and that, aside from
the records of his observations, the
only c~orroborative evidence he could
produce would be the testimony Of
the two Eskimos who were with him
on his final dash.
Now ii appears from Commander
Peary's W account that he himself
was in a like situation. Aside from
Hensen, who has been his man Fri
day for the past twenty years, his
sole companions were four Eskimos.
There was no white man with him who
can now take the witness stand and
testify to the accuracy of his scien-
tific observations above the latitude Of
81 degrees and s minutes.
Peary says that when he started
from Cape Columbus there were seven
members of the party. seventeen Els.
KINDS and thirteen dogs.
Commander Peary's ship, the Roose-
welt. will be one of the features of the
Hudson-Fulton naval parade on the
opening day of the celebration. The
following telegram was received here:
Sydney, c. b. Sept. 10.
"Hudson-Fulton Celebration Com
mittee-Peary Arctic club applies for
position for it's steamer Roosevelt with
The North Pole in tercentennial pa
rades. II. L. BRlDGMAN."
:, A favorable reply was promptly
sent. and the Roosevelt will be as.
signed to a place of honor close to the
Half Moon and Clermont, which will
lead the parade. In all probability
Peary himself will be on board, to-
getber with the members of the Peary
Arctic club and possibly other distln-
guished explorers. DR.. Cook, It is ex-
pected. will be In New York city at
the time. but the celebration commit
tee regards it as unlikely that he Will
be invited to join the Peary party.
Meanwhile Or. Cooks friends in
Brooklyn are completing their plans
to make his welcome to that borough
commensurate with the peculiar o
ors he has conferred upon it. Several
thousand dollars have already been
raised. Near the explorers house on
Bushwick avenue a triumphal arch OF
flowers win he placed. and there will
be a parade, a lecture, ar informal re
ception and a banquet. A committee o.
100 prominent P%rooklynites will be ap
pointed to take charge of the affair al
a a meeting to he held on Monday