Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-26
EXPLORERS DROP DR.. COOR
Club Finds that BE Did Not Clinb
Mount Mckinley.
AGAIN BRANDED AS mPOsTER
Associates Charge that He Broke
Faith with Them-Testimony
Given by Guides Not
Considered.

NEW YORK. Dec. &-The board OF gov
ernors Of the Explorers club met yesterday
In executive session and, standing IN
silence. voted with bowed heads that Or.
Frederick A. Cook be dropped from the
rolls OF the club for frauds practiced on
its members and on the public. Coming
hard upon the heels Of the crushing yer
dict lately rendered by the University Of
Copenhagen. the action Of the Explorers
club today is the result Of independent in
vet LEGATIONS. which in no way touch upon
the polar controversy. and the weight Of
its disappruval thus becomes cumulative.
Preliminary TO its vote Of expulsion, the
hoard met to pass upon the report OF IT'S
committee, which has been investigating
the validity OF DR.. Cooks assertion that he
FETCHED the summit Of Mount Mckinley.
This committee, in concluding an exhaust
i've report recommended that "Dr. Cooks
claim that he ascended the summit OF
Mount Mckinley in 1906 be rejected by the
Explorers club as unworthy Of credenee. q"
The committees recommendation was
based on its finding that Or. Cook had
repeatedly made statements that have not
been in accord with the facts, and that he
had entered into agreements which he has
failed to Keep, and that the misstatements
and broken agreements deal not only with
matters appertaining to discovery, but to
ordinary financial transactions, so that no
credence can be given to statements made
by him"
Guides Testimony Not Considered.
Among the seven signatures appended to
this arraignment are those Of Caspar w.
Whitney and Antonio Fiala, both personal
friends OF DR.. Cook. The committee is fur
ther explicit In its statement that It under
took its investigation only after first ap-
prising DR.. Cook Of its purpose, which he
approved in person. and that II has disre-
garded entirely the testimony Of Edward
Bsrrill, Or. Cocks guide. sne Of Fred
erick Prints, his packer-although such ties
timony was before them-because Il wished
no cloud Of partisan contention or CUES
ton Of financial interest to dim the integ-
rity Of its verdict.
In addition to the findings Of the com
mittee as q whole-which are signed by
Anthonia Fiala, a polar explorer Of note;
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh Of the Ameri-
can Geographic society, Prof. Marshall H.
Saville Of the chair Of archaeology in Co.
lumbla university, Walter G.. Clarke.
Charles H. Townsend, director Of the New
York aquarium; Henry G.. Walsh. secre-
tsry Of the Explorers club, and CAspar
MISREPRESENTATION signed reports are
submitted by Hersa c. Parker, professor
Of physics at Columbia, and Belmore
Brown, both Of whom were members OF
the Cook-Mekinley expedition, and by
Charles Sheldon, who has recently re-
turned from a years residence on the slope
Of Mount Mckinley, where he went with
the express purpose of studying the con
figuration of the mountain, with a vie "
to the possibility Of its ascent
Breaks Faith with Associates.
Prof. Parker reports that he was a part
ner with DIR. Cook in the Mckinley expe-
dition, both physically and financially.
DR.. Cook assumed the lead with a plan
which proved unfeasible and the party es-
capped with their lives, thanks to the To-
cal knowledge Of Belmore Brown, one OF
It's members.
1T wAs perfectly understood" says Prof.
Parker, h after the m~isadventure all
further attempts were abandoned for the
season. Otherwise Prof. Parker would not
have left the expedition"
Instead Of this, d.. Cook, IT is charged,
sidetracked all members Of the expedition
until there remained only Cook. his guide,
BarrilL and one packer. who was subse-
quenuy got rid Of also. These OBJECTIONS
left DIT. Cook, says Prof. Parker. no in
strumentE capable Of measuring the Alti-
tudes he says he attained. Moreover, he
ADDS, the summers experience had shown
that, OF all the party, DR.. Cook asa Bar
rin were the least fitted physically for
arduous mountain climbing.
Belmore Brown in the main confirms
d. D,~Law ranA ava .laa 49, - ~.
Cooks book there is not one data given
from the time he left the Chulitna river.
This makes intelligent criticism Impossible,
he declared. He asserts further that he
never saw DR.. Cook make a single aneroid
barometer reading during the whole trip.
Confirming a charge that has previously
been made he says that Dr. Cook was
known to be in serious financial straits
and would have great difficulty in getting
out of Alaska il he had not reported that
he attained the summit OF Mount MeKin-
ley.
Brown f~ortifes his charges with the
declaration that Cook and Bsrrill had no
ice creepers. and that, though Dr.. Cook
afterW ard told Prof. Parker that he tCook)
and BRrrtll were roped together every foot
Of the last stages, Prof<Parker and Brown
both remembered that they destroyed the
climbing rope as defective. before they quit
the expedition. Furthermore, in none Of
the pictures published in DR.. Cooks book,
does a climbing rope appear.
Brown and sheldon also report that
various photographs in DR.. Cooks book do
not represent the peaks they are said to
picture; and sheldon denies that he Is the
author Of the appendix in the book. which
DR.. Cook credits 10 him.
story is Incredible.
The committee as a whole, therefore, con
cludes in part, that DR.. Cooks account OF
the ascent Is not only such as TO be IN
convincing to the experienced mountaineer
but that under analysis 1t becomes in
credible.
That ne entered into a secret financial