The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-10-16
COOK A RoMANceR
Capt. Armstrong Says He Is Worst
Prevaricator in World

Capt William NJ. Armstrong, a
brother of Paul Armstrong, the play
wright, was a member of the second
Cook expedition to Mount Mckinley.
in which Dr. Cook has asserted that
he reached the summit of the great
unexplored Alaskan peak Capt Arm
strong accompanied the expedition as
far as the boats carried its members.
He is now in Seattle, where. accord
ing to recent letter of Prof Ralph
Stockman Tarr OF Cornell, he met
Barrill, the guide of the expedition.
some time ago and heard Barrills
story Of what Cook actually did ac-
complish,
Capt Armstrong telegraphed last
night an account OF what he saw OF
the expedition and his impressions OF
Cook. Here it is
BY. Capt. William M. Armstrong
Seattle, Wash Oct. livery one
is taking sides in the Cook.Peary
north pole controversy Peary has
lost his temper and at present this
has prejudiced public opinion against
him. | believe, however, that Peary
reached the north pole.
| was with Or Cook in Alaska on
his Mount Mckinley expedition in
1906. We slept, ate. and travelled to-
gether for about a month, then | left
the party at the head of the river,
near the foot of the mountain and re-
turned to Seward Alaska. where |
had mining property to look after. Our
pictures were in the Review of Re
views that year, and he also mention
ed my services in his book. entitled
The Top of the Continent" publish
ed the following year In this book
he claims to have reached the summit
of Mount Mckinley.
Cook is good fellow, a great self
adv ertiser. but. in my opinion, the
worst preyaricator In the world. He
possesses great patience and is per
severing but he has not the executive
ability of a school boy. He never
reached the top of Mount Mckinley
and many of us who were with that
expedition have always known he did
not get half way up the mountain;
the one man, Edward Barrill, whom
he took with him up the mountain,
told us so.
His first expedition to Mount Nc.
Kinley, made a few years previous,
was also joke. Dunn, who was
with the party, expressed Cooks lack
of ability at that time in book en-
titled THE Shameless Diary of an
Explorer Diston, the Philadelphia
millionaire, saw manufacturer, fin
anced both of these expeditions and
it is remarkable how quiet he has
kept during all This controversy The
truth is, he always did doubt that
Cook reached the summit and last
year paid the second trip expenses
from Seattle to Philadelphia of Miller
whom he knew would tell the truth
II is to be hoped that some day Distou
will break the long silence.
! l. for one, think the man who will
climb the mountain above snow line
/ is a fool Below the snow line he
can use many reasonable excuses foi
his action, such as prospecting, etc.
above the snow line there is none
and l classify him with the man who
tries to swim the whirlpool rapid.
and the man who jumps from the
F., Brooklyn bridge. For this reason
cooks Mount Mckinley excursion
had little interest for me.
Did not Mind Cooks Romancing
l went along principally to pros
pect, and when Cook misrepresentet
the success of his trip did not care
enough about it at the time to contra
dict him. Now 1t is different, for ht
is claiming an honor that scores O
men for hundreds of years have los
their lives in endeavoring to attain
With me his romancing about noun
tain climbing was joke, and thin,
to be expected of most men wht
climb mountains but he has carried
his Joking too far this time and tn,
world is demanding that all sid,
lights be turned on that they ma,