Norwich bulletin., 1909-10-01
Hopes Controversy Won't Be Men.
 toned.
SKIPPER OF THE ROOSEVELT
 IS FOR PEARY ONLY
Says the Eskimos Believe Peary Is
 Next to the Gods.

New York. Sept. 30.-Capt. Robert A. Bartlett of the Peary Arctic steam ship Roosevelt. which arrived here to- day, was emphatic in taking his chiefs part when visitors piled him with questions about the Peary- Cook con- troversy.
 "Peary has nailed the Stars and Stripes to the pole, and don't you for get it." he said. "The reason our expedition was successful was that it was better equipped than any previ- ous outfit. and Peary was the man to get there" ~
 The skipper wore dark blue fan nel suit and sealskin boots, and looked as though he had just stepped off an Iceberg s
 No man in this world" he contin- lued, can get Eskimos to go out of sight of land except Peary. By Es- kimos I mean the Arctic highlanders. I say this because I've heard them say so themselves.
 Revercd by the Eskimos.
 "On our trips of 1906 and 1907, the Eskimos with Peary thought they were travelling westward The com mander told them they were going east but they didn't believe him at first. Finally, they saw that Peary was tell ing the truth, and from that time forth, they gave him the name of 'Peuk,' which means a man higher than all others and next to the gods
 T know those Eskimos we'll But they wouldn't dream of going out of sight of land with me.
 They wouldn't budge unless the commander were there to push them"
 Some one asked Captain Bartlett if it was possible that Peary had reach ed the pole on other expeditions Such an idea, he replied, was absolutely ab- surd.
 NO man would have undergone all those hardships." he went on, If he had already reached the pole. Peary has at last done the trick. and I doubt if he will ever go back again"
 Referring to Harry Whitney's ac- count of the burying of Dr. Cooks records. the captain said:
 q did not help to bury those records as Whitney says. I did see the chest in which they were supposed to be. It looked like gun chest. When saw it, it was on the ground at Etah.
 Rumors of Cook at Etah.
 While at Etah, we didn't hear that Cook had reached the pole There were rumors that he had been pretty far north, but we never took these re- ports seriousl.
 Cooks scledge was then at Etah, and I saw it. It did not look to me as though it had ever been taken apart.
 When asked if he considered Dr. Cooks sledge sufficiently durable to make the journey to the pole, Captain Bartlett at first only smiled and turn ed away. Then he said:
 q mean to say that if I had that sledge of Cooks l would not take a trip to the stern ')f the Roosevelt in 4 IL so mad that I may seem a trifie biased in my views.
 Recall the elaborate expeditions as Abruzzi's and Nansen's and others, in cluding our own in the past-all these have failed. And yet two men and a sledge and two dogs, more or less, are said to have done it."
 'The furthest north that I went" confined Captain Bartlett. was s7 de- grees B minutes. I was cheated out of some of my distance by the shifting ice, for 1 was actually at the SSth par allel when we stopped for the day and a stiff north wind carried us back be- fore we had a chance to take observa- tions I planted a British flag where left off.
 '',rhc firth ,st north of the Roosevelt was e2 degrees 30 minutes at Cape Sheridan. The last land that we saw
 
 Jessup. at latitude s2 degrees 40 min- utes."
 Steward Pritchard Won't Talk.
 William Pritchard, steward of the Roosevelt, was asked:
 Did you hear Cook tell Whitney that he had been-to the north pole? ?'
 Yes" answered Prtichard.
 What did Cook say besides ?'
 Pritchard threw up his hands
 ',Oh, I've been ordered not to talk. :" he said. T won't say anything more" iPeary Asks His. Men to Keep Away
 from Hotels.
 Others on board who had been on the Arctic trip were Prof. Donald Me Milan, Dr. J. w. Goodsell. George Borup. and Matt Henson Dennis Murphy. the only other man besides Peary who went north. did not turn up at Sydney when the Roosevelt left, and nothing has been heard of him. The ship left Sydney at 2 o'clock Sunday night and reached Eagle Island. Me. on Sunday at noon. After stop of twelve hours she continued on her