The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1909-12-02
WE[LMAN GOES
AFTER DIR. COOK
ARCTIC WORKER DECLARES STORY
OF NORTH POLE DISCOVERY
is A FAKE.
PRECISE AT WRONG POINT.
Statement Says Laws of Physics Can
No More Be Defed in North
Than Elsewhere.
PERRY'S CLAIM is ENDORSED.

WASHINGTON, d. c., Nov. %
Walter Wellman, whose preparations for
conquest of the north pole in an air
ship were abandoned upon the announce
ment of the claims of DR.. Frederick A.
Cook and Commander Robert e. Peary,
issued a long statement here Sunday
night, in which he analyses the MARIA
tives of the two explorers, declaring that
of peary precise, workmanlike, con
sistent. credible in every Particular and
denouncing that of DR.. Cook as Il self
evident, and even deliberate, imposture.
Cooks story is suspicious both IN
what it does tell and what it does not
tell Mr.. Wellmen declares. He is gen
orally 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 APP
Proclamation of reality itself. This is true
of his figures, his descriptions, every
thing.
Those of US who have had a share
in Arctic work" says Wellman, III con
Guiding his analysis, and who have ret
anxiety that no blot of fraud should stain
the proud record of effort and sacr.lice,
had Il first hope that DIR. Cook would be
able to demonstrate his good faith. rms
has dissolved III analysis of his own
story
Thinks Story Planned
"A second hope, that he was the vic
tim of some hallucinaton or mental i'll
ness. 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 kceneSt regret
only the wretched alternative that the
journey which he did make, and the re-
port which he gave of il, were deliberate
ly planned from the outset
The giSt Of Mr.. Wcllman'S finding is
that with his meager party aud equip
ment 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 conditions he claims TO
have found i'll the field, and that the eN-
plorer's dash for the lecture platform
and his acceptance of crowns of flow
ers placed upon his head by innocent
women and children" before submitting
his field records to scientific examination,
all conspire to his discredit.
Dissects Cooks Story.
Mr.. Welman attacks first Cooks
story of his journey. lie points out thay
the first thing TO be done in advancing
over the ice fields is to reduce TO the
minimum the food ana Iucl To ne carried,
and that the second is TO organize sup
porting parties that can be sent back
from the dwindling main body. until the
few who are hardest enter on the final
struggle to the goal.
Basing his argument mainly on these
principles, Mr.. Wellman takes up a com
parison of the reputed achievements of
Peary and Cook. He quotes from the
records to show that the former took his
ship to within ago miles Of the pole, adj
vancing supplies and his party forty-sev-
en- miles closer during the autumn and
spring. Cook, he points out. started
from AnnOtok, 100 geographical miles
from the pole and went 10 geograph-
zeal miles westward before turning north
ward, according to his own story.
Peary, Wellman continues, mapped
out his plans carefully for the advance
and started with fifty or sixty men. 10
dogs and twenty-one sledges. He divided
his party so that he had four supporting
parties, who kept open the back trail.
DR.. Cook had no supporting party,
says Welman. except for the first three
days. His party consisted of three men,
twenty-SX dogs and two Slcdges in the
long dash he says he made.
physically Impossible"
THAT which he claims to have done
declares Mr. Wellman, referring to Cook.
with his equipment and organization
was physically impossible. 1t Is beyond
human power" Later in his statement
he adds: The laws of physics and Of
mechanical forces can no more he defed
and ignored in the Arctic regions than
elsewhere, save in the Imagination"
Mr. Wellman is especially caustic in
his criticism of DR.. Cook for not turn
ing over the records of his trip immed-
ately to some scientitc body, especially
when his story was questioned by crit
les This he declares to be indefenSibIe.
lie SCOTS at Cooks astronomical data.
especially the observation which he
claims to have taken within his feet of
the pole.