The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1909-10-27
DID COOK CLIMB
MOUNT M'K|NLEY2
Asserts He Did, but Companion
Denies Story.
SAYS He FAXED PICTURES.

Did Not Get Within Twenty Miles of
the Summit, Declares BarriIl Whom
Explorer Called "Noble Character
In His Book.
Edward n Barrill, the Alaskan guide
who was DR.. Frederick A. Cooks only
companion on the ascent Of Mount Nc
Kinley in 1906, when Cook said he
reached the summit, has offered sworn
testimony that Or. Cooks assertion is
unfounded The New York Globe says
that Barrill has made affidavit that at
no time did DR.. Cook and he get nearer
\ than point fourteen miles in an air
line from the top Of Mount No inley.
/ He declares under oath that a photo
graph which Or. Cook published =,
/ his book, ''To the Top Of the Con
/ tinent." as the summit Of Mount Nc
Kinley was in fact a photograph Of
( peak at an elevation Of not more than
5000 feet and not less than twenty
miles in an air line distant from the
top Of the mountain.
Barrill adds that Dr. Cook ordered
/ him to doctor his diary SO as to make
1t appear therein that they had ac-
tually gone up the whole 20,390 feet
OF the mountain and that the picture
OF the small peak was used because it
looked just the same as the top of
Mount Mckinley as they saw 1t in the
dim distance"
Story Denied by Or. Cook.
DR.. Cook has made a formal denial
Of Barrill's story.
He declined. however, to go into the
details OF the guides afIidavit until he
learned how 1t was obtained and said
he had a feeling that the statement
might have been "doctored."
Captain William n. Armstrong, who
was member of the Cook Mount Nc
Kinley expedition as far as the foot
Of the mountain, declared that all the
members Of the party knew that Cook
didn't go halfway up Mount Mckinley
and characterized his story of the as
cent as a joke and Cook as a romancer.
Story Told by RarrII.
After reciting the circumstances Of
his employment by Dr. Cook as
packer, Barrill declares that on Sept.
6. 1906, DR.. Cook and he started from
near the foot of tEount Mckinley on
their way toward the summit. He says
that after climbing not more than
5000 feet (the mountains height IS
over 10000 feet) DR. Cook said to him
at or near the point which DR.. Cook
claimed as the top of Mount McKin-
ley, I'VE will so back down and get
picture of this" His narrative con
tinues:
I'VE did not take our bags with us
to the top of the point. having left
them down in the saddle above the
glacier. We then both went down
from the point to where our bags had
been left The doctor took the Amer
lean flag out Of one Of the bags and
handed 1t to me and sent me back TO
the top of the point and told me TO
hold it there ON the end Of the ice ak,
which l did.
THE doctor then with his camera
took the picture shown opposite page
2a7. which picture is there designated
as The Summit Of Mount Mckinley
in his work TO the Top of the Cont
nent, the truth being that the sum
NIT Of Mount Mckinley was over
twenty miles distant in an air line
from the point where my picture was
so taken. according to the scale Oh
DIR. Cooks map shown between pages
152 and 153 in the book.
Says Pictures Were "Coctored."
Il then came down with the fac to
where DR.. Cook was standing with his
camera. and made the remark that
the eight peaks on the other side of
this point where had been photo
graphed would probably show in the
picture, and he said that he had taken
the picture at such an angle that those
peaks would not show.
"When we were in the saddle near
the point where I was photographed
/ made a drawing of what | named
Glacier Point. At the same time and
point | made a drawing of Mount Me-
Kinley. as could see the top Of Mount
Mckinley Off to the northwest and.
should say, at least twenty miles
away. DR.. Cook stood by my side
when ! was making these sketches.
using his instruments for the purpose
Of taking temperature, elevations and
the like.
ssWhen I came down from the point
and handed the doctor the aae, in ad-
iition to what stated above, he made
several other remarks, and there was
more or less talking done, which / do
not now recall: but. whether at that
time and place or thereafter and be-
tween the 10Th and the l6th of the
month. when my diary was doctored
to flt the conditions In order to prove
that this point was the top he stated
to me as follows: That point would
make good top for Mount Mckinley.
1t looks just about like the gunsight
peak would look on Mount Mckinley
which we had been looking at from
the saddle"
Barrilrs "Noble Character"
In his book Dr. Cook refers to Bar
rfll as fnIlnWS when describing his