The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1909-12-02
SAWS DR.. COOKS TALE is SELF.
EvIDErT AND EVEN DELHI
ERATE IMPosTuRE.
REVIEWS POLAR STORIES
Intimates Journey and Reports Were
Planned-peary's Narrative "Pre.
else, Workmanfike, Consist ,
,ent, and Credible, s,,,.

Washington, D. c. - Walter Well
man, whose preparations for a conquest
of the North Pole in an airship were
abandoned upon the announcement of,
the claims of Dr., Frederick A. Cook
and Commander Robert f. Peary, is
sued a long statement in which he
analyzed the narratives of the two ex-
plorers, declaring that of Peary pre-
else, workmanlike, consistent, credible
in every particular" and d~enouncing
that of DR.. Cook as a self-evident and
oven deliberate impOsture.
Cooks story is suspicious both in
what it does tell and what it does not
tell" Mr.. Wellman declares. He is -.
generally vague and indefinite, but, like
most men of his class, altogether too
precise at the wrong place. Nowhere
does his story ring true. 1t is always
an approximation of reality itself. This
is true of his figures, his descriptions,
everything.
Those of us who have had a share
in artic work." says Wellman, in con-
Guiding his analysis, and who. have
felt anxiety hat no blot of fraud should
stain the prCLd record of effort and
sacrifice, had a first hope that DR.. Cook
would be able to demonstrate his good
faith. This has dissolved in an analy-
sis of his own story.
"A second hope that he was the vic
tim of some hallucindtion or mental
illness, and himself: believed he had
been to the pole, though, of course,
he has not, vanishes in the light Of
earlier and subsequent events.
There remains, though one says it
with kcCnest regret, only the wretched
alternative that the journey which he
did make, and the report which he
gave of it, were deliberately planned
from the outset"
The gist of Mr.. Wellman's' finding
is that with his meagre party and
equipment DR.. Cook could not possibly
have accomplished the feat for which
he claims credit, that his astronomical
data are too infinitely precise to have
been made, under the claimed Condi-
tons in the field, and that the explor-
er's dash for the lecture platform and
his acceptance of crowns of flowers
placed upon his head by innocent wo!
men and Children before submitting
his field records to scientific eXamina-
ton, all conspire to his discredit. i :
Mr.. Wellman attacks first Cooks
story of his journey He points out
that Arctic sledging is not a new VEN
ture nor an experiment, but has been
reduced almost to a science. He pro-
ceeds to the proposition that the first
thing to be. done in advancing over the Z.
ice fields is the reduction to the mini
mum of the food and fuel to be car
ried, and s~econdarily, the organization
of supporting parties that can be sent
back from the dwindling main body
until the few who are hardest enter
IN the final struggle to the goal. The
longer the route he sets forth,j neces-
sarily the. greater the weight of food
and fuel, and in consequence 9. much
slower pace.
Passing his argument mainly on
these principles, Mr.. Welfman takes
these comparisons of the supposed
achievements of Peary and Cook. He
quotes from. the records to show that
the former took his ship to within
$50 miles of the pole, advancing sup
plies and his party AZ miles closer ,
during the autumn and spring. Cook,
he points out, started from Annatok,
700 geographical miles from the pole
and went 10 geographical miles west
ward before turning northward, &C.
cording to his own story.
Peary. Wellman continues, mapped
out his plans carefully for the ad-
vance and started with so or so men,
l40 dogs and 81 sledges. He divided
his party SO that he had four support
ing parties who kept open the back
trail and, in leaving the main body,
ligbtened the loads that men and logs
were compelled to draw.