The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-11-29
COOK SUFFERS At
WRITER'S HANDS
CONTINUED From Page one.)

ncnt mainly on these principles. Mr..
/ Wellman takes up IA comparison Of
the supposed achievements Of Peary
! and Cook. He quotes from records to
| show that the former took his ship to
within ie0 miles of the pole, advanc-
ing supplies and his party AZ miles
closer In the autumn and spring. Cook
he points out. started from Annatook.
| 700 geographical miles from the pole
and went l7c geographical miles west
ward before turning northward. ac-
cording to his own story.
Peary, Wellman continues. mapped
out his plans carefully for the adj
vance and started with so or so men.
lao dogs and "a slcdges. He divided
his party 80 that he had four support
ing parties who kept open the back
trail and In leaving the main body
lightencd loads FOR men and dogs To
draw. DIR. Cook had no support
ing party. says Wellman, except for
the first three days. His party con-
sisted Of three men. Is dogs and two
sletses In the long dash he made
north. That which he claims to have
DONE. declares MIR. wellnan. refer
ring to Cook. with his equipment and
organization. was physically impos-
sible. II is beyond human power
Later In his statement liz adds.
The laws Of physics and of ncchan-
ical forces can no more be defled and
iRfcred In the Arrtics regions than
elsewhere, save In the imagination
Taking no In order DR.. Cooks rec
ord of his trip northward. Mr.. Well
man points to the statement that the
Cook uarty made SIS miles in three
days, despite bad weather. rough ice
and the necessity Of going twice over
a big lead two miles wide and this.
he adds. at time when the sledge-
loads were heaviest. Cook, he says,
thus travelled distance % per cent
greater at speed 20 per cent faster
than Psary with his years of expert
encc and his superior organization.
10 Csustie.
Mr.. weilman is especially caustic in
his criticism of DIR. Cook for not turn
ing over records of his trip immed-
lately to some scientific body. espe-
cially when his story was questioned
by critics. This. he declares to be
indefcnsible. Records, he says, of any
Arctic traveller needs no revision. for,
cannot be subject to revision. Such
records, he points out. are kept in
dirty, greasy, grimy notebooks" the
inscriptions in which have been
penned with frostbitten fingers by a
weary man, lying in the half dark
ness OF reindeer skin bag. within a
snow hut or tent"
Let it be understood" says Mr..
al n.
ways ready, They are complete and
perfect the moment they are written.
They can be turned over to scien-
tiftc committee In two minutes as well
as In two months-and much better.
The man who has done an honest
piece of work and recorded it faith
fully hour by hour needs not to re-
construct that record. The bank
cashier who took his daily ledgers
covering n quarter year home with
him, upon the prctext that they
needed revision and preparation before
being submitted. and insisted on re-
tanning them for some months with
no other eye than his to see them,
would probably find himself In trouble
with his directors and officers of the
law
SeoSfS At Data.
Mr.. "ellman SCOTS at Cooks as
tronomieal data. especially the obs.r-
walton which he claims to have taken
within l.tlS feet Of the pole. He il.
indeed. marvellous traveller" de-
carcs wellman. who can average
la.s miles per day for more than a
month over sea ice with heavy
siedses. and "A marvellous astronomical
observer who can locate his position
within l.too feet-four minutes walk
ana then advance for the purpose OF
locating IL more closely still, like the
story of the amateur mountain climb
or who assembled peak and returned
With report that he measured its
altitude BY barometer and found it To
be eight miles. - rods, feet and
SO inches
Nellman fatty declares that such
observations could be made anywhere.
by anybody, and to support this as
seftion. he includes an observation.
such as might have been made at the
north pole on April Il. 1905 which l
made today in Washington with a
pencil and nautical almanac. ANY {
one who knows nautical astronomy"
he adds. can sit down in Annatonk. /
or BROOKLYN or anywhere. with a nau-
hcal almanac by his side and con-
struct latitude observations at will
COOKS Is To the trained ear and eve
story of counterfeit prssentment,
precisely such story as one might
pen during leisureiy journey along
the coasts of the game lands. using
the Incidents thereof To aid the irnag- .
nation IN deliberate transfer of the
scene OF action some hundreds of
miles further north"