Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1909-12-10
ASTRONOMER
CALLS ATTACK
ON COOK FRAUD
DANISH SCIENTIST DECLARES AT
FIDAvITS ARE PROBABLY FAR
FROM TRUTH.
BELIEF IN EXPLORER STRONGER
Landsman and Veteran Navigator Swear
They Prepared Figures for
Copenhagen.
BELIEF IN EXPLORER STRONGER
FIXED PROOFS AFTER RETURN

of affidavits of persons asserting having
aided DR.. Frederick A. Cook in the pre-
pairing of his polar data was read here
with amazement. Scientific circles are
inclined to be incredulous regarding the
charges, and some persons like DR.. Carl
Burrau, the astronomer, consider the
charges so improbable that the effect
will be to strengthen confidence in DR..
Cook.
In an interview DR. Burrau said: pas
sages in the story telegraphed here givt
me the impression that the matter is
thoroughly untrustworthy. Take for in
stance the statement about Capella Ca
pella neither rises nor sets in the polar
regions. but remains fixed over the hori-
ZOn. In order to make observations at
the north pole Il more extended and a
more detailed knowledge is necessary
than is enjoyed usually by the average
ships captain.
1T will, however, be easy for the uni
versity to determine the truth or other
wise of these charges"
The committee of six under the presi-
dency of Prof. Ellis Stromgren, the as
tronomer, which is to examine the north
pole records of DR.. Cook on behalf of the
University of Copenhagen, will begin
work at the end of the present week.
How Charges Started.
NEW YORK, Dec. 9.-Afidavits of
two men asserting that Or. Frederick A.
Cook hired them for $1,000, with prom
Use of an additional bonus Of $500 to one
of them to fabrlcate astronomical OBJ
seryatiODs and calculations of latitude
and longitude for submission to the Uni
versity of Copenhagen, were published
in the New York Times this morning
The men who say they helped Cook in
preparing records of the journey to the
north pole, George II. Dunkle, an insur-
ance broker, and Capt. August Wedel
Loose, a seaman, admit that their rea-
son for making the afidavits known to
the public was that the explorer only
paid them $500 for their work
Dunkle III the course of his story tells
how he came to meet DR.. Cook and
caused him to become interested in Capt
Loose. Dunkle makes no bones of stat
ing that he and Capt. Loose went to Dr.
Cook with the idea that Cook wanted
some one to help prepare evidence clever
enough to fool the Danish savants Be
tween them. the two men decided be-
fore hand that the explorers original
narrative bore traces of fraud, and that
Cook would welcome the right kind of
assistance in carrying out his bluff. also
there is evidence that Dunkle intended
to reserve the lions share of the spoils
for himself
Referring to Capella. Capt. Loose in
a sworn statement, says: I'm working
out the observations on stars at Anora-
tok | experienced some difficulty be-
cause DIR. Cook had made no observa-
tons Of any kind there. He did not
even have record of time. 1t was nee
essary we get a line on some fixed stars
which could be used in establishing and
checking up the time and the rate of his
chronometer watches. | determined that
yrrhT .bs
ton purposes. would be visible for An
oratok
Refers to Book.
after some little calculation. 7 deter
mined that Capella would be visible in
the southern horizon, but on reference to
volume C the Arctic Pilot giving de-
scriptions of the shores of Smith sound
L found that there was mention of a
high stretch of cliffs to the southwark
OF Anoratok and rising abruptly from
the beacr
THE elevation of Capella above the
southern horizon was so low that / was
afraid an investigation would show that
it could not be seen from Dr. Cooks
lgloo. Consequently | calculated the time
when Capella would appear in the north
ern horizon, so that it could be seen out
over the ice, as there could be no uues-
ton of the cliffs interfering with the OBJ
servation in that direction. | also calcu-
lated Capella in the western horizon for
longitude sight, and, assuming the
longitude of the point which DR.. Cook
had placed on the chart as Anoratok to
be correct this longitude sight enabled
me to get him start for his cronometer
time and his difference from Greenwich
mean time"
Capt Loose Talks
Capt. Loose talked this afternoon at
his home in Brooklyn concerning the
statements made in the affidavit.
L went to Dr.. Cook" said Capt
Loose, thinking that / might be of
some little assistance to him, but when
| approached him, I never expected to
do such extended work as l have done.
A short talk with Dr. Cook convinced
me that he knew almost nothing about
navigation. He was ignorant of some Of
the essentials of the science.
AT first l considered it at least likely
that DR.. Cook had got near the pole
say TO SO degrees, or within sixty miles
of the pole. Even his observations would
have given him that accuracy Later |
was forced to change that opinion.
"A person specially accurate might
have thought himself at the. pole when
only within sixty miles of it: but as l
got deeper into the matter | begun to
suspect that DR. Cook was never out of
sight OF land
please notice that l have never said
that Dr. Cook is about to submit my
calculations TO the University of Copen-
hagen as his own observations DIR.
Cook never intimated such to me- l did