The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-08
l HARRY WHITNEY | DODGES REPORTERS
New York Newspapermen Unable to Get New Haven Hunter to Talk of Dr.
 Cocks Instruments.

New York. Oct. S.-Harry Whitney,
 the New Haven sportsman, who came
 out of the arctic from a hunting trip ten days ago to find himself plunged into the whirl of controversy over the assertion of Dr. Frenerick A. Cook that he had discovered the North Pole,
 arrived here yesterday. and devoted most of his time to lodging report CTS.
 MT. Whitney reached the Grand Gen. tral station from New Haven just af- l ter Il o'clock, and went to the Holland
 House. MT. Whitney stayed at the i hotel a while and then took a taxicab ! tc the Fifth avenue building, where he called upon Congressman Bonnet, 1 campaign manager for Otto T. Ban /, nard, Republican candidate for Mayor.
 MT. Whitney and MT. Bonnet were col 1 legemates They talked for a while,
 and Mir. Whitney told the Congress-
 man that he had had good hunting in
 the arctic. When the conversation i turned upon the instruments at Etah
 MT. Whitney gave a deprecatory wave of the hand, exclaiming:
 l 'I wish I'd never heard of them."
 Before he departed, MT. Whitney
 asked Congressman Bonnet to give his regards to MT. Barnard. and express ed a hope that Barnard would be elect ed.
 l After this, MT Whitney rode back | to the Holland House. After dinner ! he went in a taxicab to the. steamer
 Roosevelt, at the foot of East Twen- 1 ty-fourth street, where some of his arctic trophies are stored. MT. Whit ney wanted to see Cept. Robert Bart | lett about taking his relics away, but | the Captain had just left the ship. | The rest of the Roosevelt's crew, ex- i cept John Cody, who was ill in bed. had gone on an automobile trip 1 through the city, so MT. Whitney could | not get at his belongings. They were | put away somewhere in the hold," | Cody said, but was too i'll to recall anything more about them MT. whitney left the ship efter a stay of ten minutes, saying he would be back last evening. He did not appear again. Inquiry at the Holland House | ir the evening failed to reveal any ments.
 Matt Henson, who went with Com mander Peary to the pole intimated in talk yesterday that George Pritchard, the cabin boy who was in | the igloo at Etah when Dr. Cook told Whitney that he had reached the pole, has given several versions of the Etah incident, and the Roosevelt's crew didn't know exactly which to accept. "I shall be glad when Commander lic,'' said Hansen to a. Times reporter. because it will put the whole thing in a different light. The Commander has the goods,' as he has told you all.
 
 It's hard to keep still That boy Pritchard when he came aboard the Roosevelt was questioned about what Dr. Cook told him, and he declared Dr. Cook had said rfothing of having dis covered the North Pole. The Com n,ander asked Pritchard about it. and Pritchard stuck to that story. The crew asked him and Pritchard told us the same.
 "Then. when the Roosevelt reached Battle IIarbor, Pritchard told of hay ing heard pr. Cook tell MT. Whitney that he had got to the pole. It sur prised us all We didn't know what to make of it. We asked Pritchard why he had told the other story, and all he said was that Dr. Cook had told him to.
 '"The fact is,'' said Hansen. ''Pritch- ard doesn't seem to know exactly what did happen at Etah. I don't know how the Commander finally made out with Pritchard, but I know what inn pression I got.''
 Hansen repeated the assertion he made at Battle Harbor that pr. Cooks two EIskimos had told him the doctor had not gone more than two sleeps from land. and I knew what they were saying to me- said Hansen. They drew al map for the Commander, and showed him how far they had gone with pr. Cook I can tell you that map didn't take in the North Pole.
 the truth?'' repeated Hansen when that was asked. You can take my word for it that they were not trying to fool me. They hadn't any reason to lie to me, and they didn't. I cor roborated their story through others in their tribe to make doubly ssureii about it.''