Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-02
NEW YORK RECEIVES
NEWS OF DISCOVERY

NEW YORK, Sept 1.-"Suceessful.
Well Address Copenhagen. (Signed)
Fred"
Full meaning if successful were
interpreted to indicate that he had
reached the North Pole the foregoing
cable message, evasperating in its
briefness, was received in New York
today from DR.. Frederick A. Cook, the
American explorer whom the latest
cable advices tonight credit with hav-
ing reached the pole.
Mrs Cook was not at her Brooklyn
home, so the dispatch was received by
DR.. r. T. Davidson, a personal friend
of the explorer, who made its contents
known, and flashed the good news on
to Mrs. Cook.
Brief as it was, it was the first news
she had received from her husband
since March II, 1908, when he wrote
from Cape Hubbard on the edge of the
Polar ice sea on the northwest side of
Ellesmereland.
At that time, he advised his oom-
panion, Rudolph FRANKIE, then stationed
at Etah, Greeland, with supplies, to
await there until June for his return,
but in the event of DR.. Cooks failure
to appear to proceed to America.
FRANKIE waited as instructed, but as
DR.. Cook failed to return, he caught
the Peary auxiliary ship and reached
New York last fall. Since that time,
DR.. Cooks fate has been mystery.
Feared for Safety
There was of course, the ever pres
ent probability that he had perished
and it will be recalled that a relief
ship is now en- route to Etah where
she is due the middle of this month,
This vessel, the schooner Jeanette,
left st. Johns, n. F., about two weeks
ago with the double purpose of search
ing for Dr. Cook and taking supplies
to Commander Peary.
DR.. Cooks message was dated at
Lerwick, Shetland islands, the frs.
available point of transmission In the
regular steamship course between
! Greenland ports and Copenhagen
whittier he is bound. 1t Is supposed
the message was sent primarily to
assure his wife of his safety and not
to apprise the world of his discovery
"Singlehanded and alone, DR.. Cook
apparently has accomplished what
hundreds of more experienced and bet
ter equipped explorers have been try
ing in vain for years" was the COM
ment of Herbert l.. Bridgman of
Brooklyn, secretary of the Peary Arc
tic club. and an intimate friend Of
DR.. Cook
Beside men like Peary," continued
Mr. Bridgman, who has himself taken
large part in several Arctic eXplora-
tions during the past fifteen years,
Cook is comparatively an amateur.
Went as Surgeon
"He went north merely as the sur
geon of an expedition and was left be-
hind with a small store of supplies at
his own request.
HE appears to have waited for
favorable time and then when things
looked right he pushed northward ac-
companied only by two Eskimos and
depending for his supplies largely on
the small amount of canned goods he
could carry and the musk OK, which
he probably ascertained were plenti
full along the route he planned to
take.
According to his last letter he must
have left Etah about February II.
1908 Crossing to Ellesmereland he
reached Cape Thomas Hubbard. There
he may have waited a few days and
laid in a stock of fresh meat.
Finally when all was ready on
March II, he took his two trusty Es-
kimo servants and started ON his
risky dash over the polar ice-500 miles
to the ultimate north.
"Dr. Cooks achievement shows how
largely the element of luck enters into
the problem of Arctic exploration. If
the reports are correct he has accom-
plished almost without equipment or
preparation thing in which the most
elaborately outfitted epeditions have
failed"