The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-09-10
An American Reaches North Pole
DR.. Cook Succeeds In the
Greatest Achievement 5
the World Has
Ever Known :

AZ oA " z
Sunday to a number of correspondents,
representing the foremost news agencies
and newspapers of Europe and America,
Dr.. Frederick A. Cook, pinned down by
the merciless searching questions of w.
NJ. Stead, the veteran British journalist,
and dean and spokesman of the CORE
~spondents' corps, admitted that unless
his astronomic observations and the cor
roborative observations. by his two Es.
qulmo companions is accepted as such,
he has no positive proof of his right to
the title to the discovery of the North
Pole.
So frank, straightforward and con.'
vincing were the answers of the daunt-
less scientist that at the end of an
hours gruelling he had satisfied the be-
lief of every man present at the inter
view in the truth of his assertions that
he planted the Stars and Stripes on the
long coveted northern goal on April 21,
1908.
DIR. Cooks statement, the first de-
tailed account he has related of the
achievement which has startled the
world, was a graphic recital made under
lit HibSG CIupf anu IlOSU uu1dVOIdDI0 cir
eumstances.
After a day, strenuous enough to tire
a Roosevelt, DIR. Cook, in the face of
~discouraging skepticisms which would
have snatched away his laurels almost
before they were bestowed, was called
upon to clear away an international in
credulity which seemingly barred his en-
trance to the hall of fame.
He succeeded in the effort.
Calm and imperturbable, though vino
ing under the cruelty of thrusts which
even the t%actfulness of Stead could not
mitigate, DIR. Cook modestly and with
delightful unassumption met every in
quiry with a directness and frankness
that quickly won all his hearers.
He Is Congratulated.
At the conclusion of the interview he
was congratulated on all sides, and
everywhere were heard expressions of
favorable comment on his modesty and
sincerity, and the belief was expressed
that the scientific worlds verdict will
be that he won the prize vainly sought
for centuries.
Il realize, gentlemen" said DR.. Cook,
in addressing the newspaper men, that
despite the fact that | lave nothing to
gain from misrepresentation of actual
facts, and on the other hand have every
thing to lose, that the nature of my &C.
complishment of April, 1908, when /
planted the flag at latitude 90 degrees
north, calls for proof to the scientific
world.
Has Esquimos' Word. ra
81 understand that in a case of this
sort my reputation and my past count
ed for naught, but l believe that in a
carefully prepared diary which / kept,
and in the painstakingly accurate as
tronomic observations which l made.
will be found the proof demanded by
the world. Corroborating this will be
the evidence of the two brave and un-
complaining companions of my trip, the
Eskimos Etuishaak and Ahwalah, whose
names were previously misspelled.
Il am told that our trip to the pole
has been branded as unscientifc and a
mere unprecedented, s~portsmanlike
event. While l. plead guilty to a GER
tain amount of the spirit of the sports
man, l am not willing to admit that
my expedition was unscientifc. It Is
true that | did not ave the elaborate
paraphernalia or all Instruments that l.
could have desired had it been possible
for me to carry more luggage.
Had Some instruments.
81 was, however, equipped with In
up-to-date and complete set of naviga-
tiOn and astronomical Instruments
had three thermometers, a pedometer and