Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-23
COOK, GRILLED
BY REPORTERS,
WINS VICTORY
EXPLORER IS. PUT THROUGH
SEVERE ORDEAL
ANSWERS ALL QUESTIONS IN
CONVINCING MANNER
Pole Finder Replies to Point Blank
Questions Without Doubt or
Hesitancy and Shows
Diary
[By Associated Press

Az fully 20 ore OF the seVerest
cross examinations he has undergone
since he announced his discovery of the
north pole
The interview, which was conduct
ed by forty newspaper representatives
including several from foreign news
papers, proved at least that he was
not afraid to meet the public,
incidentally, the city of New YORK
officially recognized DR.. Cook
achievement today when the board OF
aldermen passed a resolution com
memorating his discovery and proVld-
ing for a public welcome at the city
hall.
The material points of DR.. Cook $
answers today did not differ in great
degree from his original recital. Some
slight details were cleared up, how
ever, which throw light on the way
in which the polar dash was erected
DR.. Cook was asked if he would ob-
1ect to showing his diary He lmme-
diately consented and produced a
small octave notebook which he
showed freely to all. 1t contained 176
pages. each of which was filled with
fifty or sixty lines of writing in the
most minute characters. The book
he said, contained considerably more
than 100000 words, while he mas pc
SIDES other books embracing his OBJ
servations and other data.
Waits on Whitney
When requested to say what had oc-
cured at his meeting with Harry Whit
ney the New Haven sportsman, he
said he preferred to let Whitney tell
his own story, as Whitney was quite
unbiased.
His reasons in imposing secrecy in
Whitney on Pritchard, Commander
Peary's cabin boy on the Eskimos,
were prompted by his desire to be the
first to tell the world of his discovery.
He had done the work. he said, and
was entitled to relate how it had been
carried out. Some of the more i'm
portant questions put to DR.. Cook and
his replies follow:
O-Did anything ever occur in the
life of yourself and Mr. Peary that
would create an enmity or bitterness
between you?
A-No, nothing whatever that I
know Of.
Q-Do you look upon Commander
Peary as a friend or an enemy?
Al must say 1 don't know. I have
treated Mr.. Peary as friend and un-
til L know more about the situation L
shall continue to do the same.
Odd you ever say anything in
Etah that indicated that you feared
for your life if he got there?
A-No.
Q-Would you be willing to meet
Peary in a debate when he gets here?
A-As far as I am concerned, the
Peary incident Is closed. Mr.. Peary
is not the dictator of my affairs and I
do not care to say anything further
about him.
Did Not Know Him
Odd you know Mr.. Whitney when
you met him on your return to Etah?
A-No, he introduced himself, but I
did not catch his name and did not
know it until the following day.
Odd you know that Peary was 60
ing to start UP at that time?
A-No, did not know
Q-What caused you to have such
confidence in Whitney that you en-
trusted your instruments to him?
Al knew him by name, and from
circumstances that arose while I was
with him which justified my conf
dence. 1 gave the instruments to bring
back because 1 thought they would be
less liable to injury on board his ves-
sci than if I took them across glaciers
and rough ice-covered country.
Q-What is your opinion of the
story told by the negro Henson of the
information he obtained from your two
Eskimos?
A-Well the Eskimos were bound
down by me not to tell any one where
they had been. 1 should like you to
have Henson here and cross question
him yourself. Henson's testimony is
entirely founded on hearsay.
Q-Knowing that a ship was coming
north this summer for Whitney, why
did you not wait for that ship and
come direct to New York instead of
going to South Greenland and sailing
f,ov,, fO COnaDbaPaO9
Al knew the Danish governments
ship would get me home before Whit
ney's ship.
Cooks Instruments
Q-What instruments did you have
with you from Cape Thomas Hubbard
and back?
A-Sextant, artificial horizon, three
compasses, three chronometer watches
thermometers, barometers and a ped
cmeter
= O-What kind of sextant did you
have and how many?
A-One sextant, a French apparatus
Q-What kind of artificial horizon
did you have?
A-Glass.
Q-What kind of transit of theo-
dolite did you have, and how many?
Awe did not use any
O-What kind of compass did you
have?
Awe had one liquid compass, one
surveying compass.
Q-What kind of compass did you
use TO determine your compass varia-
tions?
A-Surveying compass; it had an
azimuth attachment.
Q-What compass course did you
take from Cape Thomas Hubbard
north?
A-Well that changes every day. If
you follow the course of a map you
have got the compass course.
Q-Was your determination of the
pole solely by an observation of the
SUMS altitude, or did you take observa-
tions of the pole star twelve hours
apart, and by the determination of the
celestial pole midway between the two
positions prove the accuracy of your
position on the terrestrial pole?
Allow are you going to take an OBJ
seryation by the polar star when you
have a continuous sun? There is no
night; you cannot have any stars;
there is no darkness.
Altitude of Sun
Q-What kind of observations did
you make at the pole and how many,
and what was the altitude of the sun?
Awe have told that the altitude OF
the sun gave us our position; that Is
all there is to say about that. We
made regular astronomical observations
such as would be made by the compass