The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1909-10-22
OOK NOT
AT POLE,
--PEARY
aval Commander
sternly Refutes
Claims Made by
the Doctor.


ESTIMoNY OF THE ESKIMOS
ng and Carefully Prepared state.
ment Given TO the Public Amounts
70 Direct Questioning Of Or. Cooks
veracity-ls Signed BY All the
Principals Of the Roosevelt Party.
New York. Oct. 1.-THE following
Atement Of Commander Robert f.
cary. which he submitted, together
18th the accompanying map, to the
cary Arctic club in support OF his
bntention that DR.. Cook did not reach
e north pole. Is now made public for
be ffrst time. The statement and
Jap have been copyrighted by the
cary Arctic club.
Commander Peary's introduction.
Some of my reasons for saying that
d. Cook did not go to the north pole
Pill be understood by those who read
(he following statements Of the two
Cskimo boys who wen with him, and
Who told me and others Of my party
who're he did 60. Several Eskimos
Who started with DIR. Cook from An
Dratok In February, 1908, were at
ctah when l arrived there in August,
1905. They told me that DR.. Cook had
with him. after they left, two Eskimo
boys. or young men, two sledges and
some twenty dogs. The boys were
I-took-a-shoo and Ah-pelah. 1 had
known them from their childhood.
One was about eighteen and the other
about nineteen years OF age.
On my return from Cape Sheridan
and ct the very FIRST settlement I
touched (Nerke, near Cape Chalon) in
August. 1909, and Zine days before
reaching Etah. thes Eskimos told me.
IN . general way. where DR.. Cook had
been; that he had wintered in Jones
Sound. and that he had told the white
ut Etah that he had been a long
way north, but that the boys who were
with him, I-took-a-shoo and A-pe-lah,
said that this raj not SC. The Eski.
mos laughed at DR.. Cooks story. On
reaching Etah. I talked with the Es-
kimos there and with the two boys
and asked them to describe DR.. Cooks
Journey to members Of my party and
myself. This they did in the manne
stated below.
<Signed.) r. e. PEARY.
Signed Statement Of Peary, Bartlett.
Mcmillan. Borup and Henson, In Re-
gard to Testimony Of Cooks Two
Eskimo Boys
The two Eskimo boys, I-took-A-shoo
and Ah-pe-lah. who accompanied Dr..
Cook while he was away from Anora-
tok In 1908 and 1909. were questioned
and Independently. and
were corroborated by Panikpah. the
father OF one of them (I~-took-a-shoo),
who was personally familiar with the
nrst third and the last third Of their
Journey. and who said that the route
Tor the remaining third as shown by
them. was a described to him by his
son after his return with Dr.. Cook.
The narrative Of these Eskimos IL
a follows:
They. with DR.. Cook. Francke and
mine other Eskimos, left Anorat0k,
crossed Smiths Sound to Cape Sabine.
slept in Commander Peary's old house
In Payer Harbor. then went through
Rice strait to Buchanan bay. After a
few marches Francke and three Eski-
mos returned to Anoratok.
d.. Cook. with the others. then pro-
ceeded up F1agler bay. . branch Of
Buchanan bay. and crossed Elles-
mere Land through the valley pass at
the head Of Flagler bay. indicated by
Commander Peary in 1898. and utilized
BY Svefdrup IN 1899. to the head Of
Sverdrup's Bay Fford" on the west
side Of Ellosmere Land.
Their route then lay out through
this nord. thence north through Sver-
Arup's "Heuerka Sound" and hansen
strait.
On their way killed musk oxen
and bear. and me caches. arriving
eventually at a 80 on the west side
Of Nansen strait Tshore OF Axel Hell
berg Land Of S%verdrup), south OF
Cape Thomas Hubbard.
A cache was formed here and the
four Eskimos did not go beyond this
point. Two others. Koolootingwah and
Inughito wont on one more march
with Dr. Cook and the two boys,
helped to build the snow iglo0, then
returned without sleeping.