The Washington times., 1909-09-15
Declares He Can Convince
Any Scientific
Body.
HAS PROPER PROOF
FOR PROPER TIME
Explorer Wants Time to Finish
Book Covering Trip of
400 Miles.
tcontlnued from Is Page.l

based sent to New York by the
Jeanne"
Cannot Be Lost
DO understand I asked DR.. Cook,
that although you divided your docu-
ments into two parts, the loss of either
would still leave you adequate material
to make good your claims?'
THAT Is true answered the ex-
plorer. The calculations would have
10 be worked out over again, but the
material would be all there.
This statement was made in the pres
ence Of Minister Egan and half a cozcn
guests and naval officers, all of whom
heard DR., Cooks reply. ] can only
reconcile this explicit statement with
the speech put into mis- mouth upon
leaving Copenhagen, by supposing that
the correspondent who reported II did
not discriminate between one class OF
documents and the other.
Cook always asserted TO me that at
the proper time, before the proper au-
thority, he would produce evidence
which. he said, would be entirely con-
elusive.
duce this evidence was iInmutable, even
when the news came that Peary had
reached the Pole. DR.. Cooks hrst re-
mark upon hearing this news was that
he hoped Il was true, because PeaTL
evidence would confirm his own
No Documents Produced.
DR.. Cook deprecated producing his evil
dence. piecemeal AT Copenhagen He pro
iuced no documents. as far as l know,
to any one. He drew sketches Of his
route and he penciled diagrams as to
the position of the sun at various points,
but beyond showing Captain Syerdrup a
book containing a map on which he
traced his route, he showed nothing.
This book he took from a small hand
bag. which was tightly bound and seal
ed and which he guarded jealously-
After describing the fortunate combi-
nation Of circumstances that brought
him to the edge Of the Arctic Circle at a
time when good dogs, plenty OF Eskirnos
and lots of food were there, Dr.. Cook
told me the story of his Polar march as
follows:
L started away from Annatook, near
Etah. on February 10, which was the
sunrise of 1905. had ten Esklmos, eleV-
en- sledges. heavily laden with supplies,
and 100 dogs. II was the coolest part
of the winter. TIE thermometer regis
tered So degrees below zero as We passed
over the heights Of Ellsmere Strait,
We were bound for Lands End 70
the west, where we we're TO begin our
ice journey During the trip we struck
several fine game trails. and secured lOl
musk oxen, 335 hare and z bears We
reached the end OF the land and the be-
ginning of the ice on March is. 1908
Dash of 400 Miles.
There we established a supply station,
and I picked out the two best men and
twenty-six Of the. best dogs for the dash
across the ice. The Eskimos were
Eutikishook and Ahwelsh. bravest and
strongest of the tribe.
- f.4 - - "a
miles from the Pole. We started our
advance three days later, on March q.
During the first days we made hong
marches. The cold persisted, and there
were strong winds.
Il lived as the Esktmos did and man
aged TO get some comfort by sleeping
in snow houses which we dug out, eat
ing tallow and drinking tea The sky
during these days was overcast by
smoky mist, so that no observation
could be taken. but on March 30 an OBJ
servation gave our position as latitude
s4.47. We had covered. therefore, more
than 30 miles In nine days.
Beyond this point we encountered
merely desert Of ice. There was no
life. Tracks of animals and blOwholes
Of seals were absent. Nor was there
a trace Of vegetation
Day after day. from then on, we
progressed monotonously. The surface
level. II was still cold. and there was
a bitter wind. I recorded daily our po-
sittOn and the incidents of the march
but one day was much like another.
April 7 was worthy Of especial note,
because the sun at midnight appeared
over the edge Of the northern Zee. The
next day ] made an observation which
placed our position at latitude S.. So
Our speed had increased slightly. We
had traverEed more than 80 miles In
seventeen days.
Sunburnt and Frostbitten.
I'VE were then trife more than 2OC
ed and frostbitten on the same day. but
the light enabled US 20 advance more
easily.
Beyond the eighty-sixth parallel the
crevices because fewer and narrower
and between the eighty-seventh and
eighty-efehth parallels ! was surprised
10 find indications of land ice. For two
days we Travelled over ice that looked
IKE a glacial surface. But there was
TO perceptibie elevation. and, therefore
Il was impossible to tell whether we
were on land or sea
On April "a we reached Latitude Ss.21
and we're within little bit less than lOC
miles OF the Pole. We no longer had
energy 20 make snoUhouses and slept in
a silk tent which we carried.
I'm the days that followed we saw
uoirages inverted mountains, and queer
objects that seemed 20 dance about. Ths
horizon itself seemed 10 dance. But
made careful astronomical observa lions
and always knew our position.
'sCyu Aprfl n nv ObRe rVatfon--rorres-t-