River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-12-16
POLE DATA A FAKE?.
TWO MEN SWEAR THEY MADE
ALL OF DR.. COOKS
RECORDS.
THEN CHEATED OUT OF PAY
Were to Have Received $4,0oo-Got
Only $3.50 on Account Before Ex-
pIorer Disappears-5rookIyn Physi-
clan in Nervous Collapse.

clan in Nervous Collapse.
New York.-The remarkable mar
ratives of two men, made under
oath, declaring that they were en-
ployed by DR.. Frederick A. Cook to
fabricate astronomical and other OBJ
servations for submission to the Uni
versity of Copenhagen, which is about
to pass upon DR.. Cooks assertion that
he discovered the north pole on April
FL, 1901, were made public thursday.
These men ere George H. Dunkle,
an insurance broker of 81 Nassau
street, New York, and Capt. August
Wedel Loose. sea captain of 437
Thirteenth street, Brooklyn.
For their labors they were to have
received jointly from DR.. Cook $4,000,
with an additional bonus of $500 to
Capt Loose upon the acceptance of
the records by the University of Co
penhagen. They say that DR.. Cook
had paid them only $3.50 when he dis
appeared on the eve of the dispatch
of his records" to Copenhagen, two
weeks ago, and his failure to pay the
sum remaining due them, they freely
acknowledge to be their motive for
coming forward with the story.
The full narratives of Capt. Loose
and Mr.. Dunkle constitute one of the
fascinating chapters In all the liter
ature of imposture. Capt. Loose
frankly expresses his scorn at DR..
Cook, laughs at his ignorance OF the
simples essentials for accurate obser-
vations in the arctic regions and de-
scribes at length how working back
ward from the pole, he calculated OBJ
servations that would fit in with Dr.
Cooks narrative and coached him on
the necessary notifications of the lat
ter-as, for example, that he must be
sure to record that he rose before
AIS o'clock on a certain morning,
because it was at that hour that GER
tain star, mentioned in one of Losses
calculations, would be visible. Mr.
Dunkle describes the inception of the
enterprise; how from the newspapers
they gathered that DR.. Cook was in
deep water, and inferred that he would
be glad to pay for help; how Dunkle
got John R. Bradley, Cooks hacker,
to introduce him; how the subject was
led up to delicately and the bargain
finally struck and carried out,
Henry Wellington Wack, personal
lawyer of Dr.. Cook, has broken off his
relations with the explorer.
Mr. Wack refused Thursday to con-
firm or deny mis- withdrawal, but it
can be affirmed on competent author
ity that after a consultation with his
partners, Mr.. Wack wrote DIR. Cook
so long ago as November 80 that he
must beg him to seek legal advice
elsewhere.
81 have not the remotest idea," said
Mr.. Wack, where DR.. Cook is keeping
himself or why he persists in Sc
clusion when his presence is vlCal to
his own interests and his friends.
read that he is in Brooklyn, in sani-
tarium in Maine, in a Philadelphia
asylum, but, personally, I incline to
the belief he is abroad.
Copenhagen, Denmark.-Dr. Torp,
rector of the University of Copen-
hagen, Thursday said that the charges
published in the New York Times
against DR.. Frederick A. Cook are
based on pure fiction. Nevertheless,
he added, he would accept the offer
to examine the documents prepared
by Loose and Dunkie, which the
Times has agreed to send to Copen-
hagen.
Walter Lonsdale, secretary of DR..
Cook, who brought the explorers rec
ords to Copenhagen, also declared
that the accusations published in
New York and London against DR..
Cook were totally unfounded. He
said that the papers delivered to the
University of Copenhagen contained
the original observation made by DIR.
Cook during the expedition, without
alterations.
Boston.-Dr. Frederick Cook, the ex-
plorer, is in a decidedly bad nervous
condition, but is not likely to die or
to suffer permanent effects from the
strain of the last few months.
This statement is made on author
ity of DR.. T. S. Pitt, superintendent of
the Pine Tree sanitarium at Wells,
Me-, where DR.. Cook is patient.