Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-10-14
EVIDENCE GARBLED
DOCTOR DECLARES
COOK ASSERTS HE WILL BRING
TO AMERICA EsKiMoS WHO Ac-
coMPANiED HIM AND LET THEM
BE EXAMINED.

brateI1enI StSSuca ny FCa' y, Sc'a
Cook today to the Associated
Press. "There could not be better
testimony than that given by the
men themselves before an unbias-
ed body of inquirers. Peary evil
IDENTITY regards their evidence as
of the most profound Importance
and SO do |. 1t seems to me he
might have brought them along
with him If he was SO confident
they would corroborate his story.
He, however, chose not to do so.
will, therefore, send for them as
soon as possible and place them at
the disposal of any scientists or
other body that may desire to ex-
anime them, with the aid of any
competent Interpreter whom the
examining board may appoint
New York. Oct. 13.-Commander
-Rehert e. Peary's detailed attack UPON.
the authenticity of the claims OF Or.
Frederick A. Cook as .discoverer of the
north pole, the long promised bomb
shell In the camp of his rivals follow
ing, was exploded last night when the
Peary Arctic club issued the state
ment which has been for weeks under
preparation by the explorer whose
name the organization bears.
Taking as It's basis the stories of the
two young Eskimos, claimed by DR..
Cook as the men who stuck with him
and reached the coveted spot, Com
mander Peary's statement attacks ev-
cry detail Of the tale of the Brooklyn
explorer.
y
From Dr. Cook, who is in Cleveland,
Chic. comes ridicule of his rivals at
tack. When shown the signed state
ment last night he declared that sit is
the same old story" and that in deny
ing his approach to the pole the Eski
mos were only obeying his instruc-
tions in keeping the discovery a Sc
cret.
Five men of the Peary expedition
were present at the cross-examination
of DR.. Cooks two companions. Be-
sides Peary, they were Robert A. Bart
lett, captain of the Roosevelt; D. B..
Mcmillan, George Borup and Matthew
A Hensen. All vouch for the truth Of
the transcript of the Eskimos' story
over their signatures.
Besides the two boys, Peary and his
companions also questioned Panikpah,
father of Lrtook-a-shoo, who was with
Cook on the first and last third of his
journey, and who said the other third
as drawn by the boys on the chart
was just as they had told him in ear
lier conversations.
All three Eskimos were questioned
separately and the testimony of each
corrobcrated that of the Others Ac-
cording to the statement, the bulk of
the testimony was not taken by Com
mander Peary, or in his presence, a
fact Peary believes obyiates any pos
sible claim they were awed by him.
Following Is Commander Peary's in
PRODUCTION to the statement and the
statement itself:
Pearys introduction.
Some Of my reasons for saying
that DR.. Cook did not go to the north
pole will be understood by those who
read the following statements of the
two Eskimo boys who went with him,
and who told me and others of my par
ty where he did go. Several Eskimos
who started with DR.. Cook from Ano-
ratok in February, 1908, We're at Etah
when / arrived there in August, 1908.
They told me that Dr. Cook had with
him, after they left, two Eskimo boys
or young men, two sledges and some
twenty dogs. The boys were I-took-a-
shoe and Ah-pe-lah. had known them
from their childhood One was about
Is and the other about 10 years of
age.
ION nv return from Cane Sheridan
and at the very settlement l touched
(Nerke, near Cape Chalon) In August
1909, and nine days before reaching
Etah, the Eskimos told me, in gen.
eral way, where DR.. Cook had been;
that he had wintered in Jones Sound
and that he had told the white men at
Etah that he had been long way
north, but that the boys who were
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