The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-12-24

/ mains 70 be seen, but the chances are
/ against DR.. Cook at the present time.
The Citizen has always been. and is
/ Vet, a staUnCh believer in DR.. Cook
and It will not desert him until the
| last vestige of truth is stripped from
/ him, if il ever should be. We doubt
very much. however. if the undOing
/ Of Cook would place the stamp OF
veracity on Peary's claims. Indeed
the discovery of the north pole should
/ hereafter hold little attraction for ex-
/ pIorers, for the reason that such dis
! COvereTs will be classed as liars and
/ frauds unless they can furnish proofs
which to our mind now seem impOs-
sible
| The pole searcher of the future will
/ be required to take notaries public
along with him, and every latitude
/ crossed viii have to be placed on
affidavit That the world should in
the future grow skeptical of polar
discoveries lies at the door of Lieu
tenant Peary, for the words liar. -
fraud" and "faker" found ready place
in his mouth when he heard Of Cook s
alleged success.
Peary has quieted down since those
days; the disgust of the public was
too apparent to be overlooked when
he put himself On the level of a cad !;
but il was his rancoroUs voice which
set the wheels of malice in motion
against Cook. What guarantee has the
world that PeaTy is not the cheat and
fraud he says Cook is2 His chief
witness as to his (Peary's) arrival at
he pole is a negro. Beyond that it is
impossible to go. But backed by ali
the machinery of the army and navy,
attack, if any had been attempted.
Cook never doubted Peary's claims;
at least he never expressed himself,
but the word liar" swept down from
the frozen north before Peary had
any con option of the nature of DR..
Cooks claims. Cook may later be i'm
peached, but if there had never been
any challenger but Peary, the doctor
would have been honoTed by abuse
coming from that source.
Our chief disgust with DR.. Cook,
however. is the cheap poItroonery the
man showed when, apparently reaIiz-
ing that his story was to be discredit-
ed, not only by much of the American
and European public but by the very
authority in a neutral nation on which
he had almost boasted reliance, he
packed up his bag and baggage and,
without one syllable of explanation or
without one whisper OF farewell to the
man who had supplied him with the
sinews of war for his Journeys poleward
OF to the hundreds OF loyal symDa-
thizers in this country who had buck
Tered him against the verbal and writ
ten Onslaughts of his detractors. he
beat it out OF the country and re-
manned in secIusion on a foreign shore
full 30 days before he permitted his
Whereabouts to be discovered-and
then only by an accident.
Some days ago we said, as nearly as
We can recall our language on that oc-
casion, that DIR. Cook must ultimately
stand revealed as the greatest fakir
or else as the most prosecuted great
man this continent ever produced"
We thought at the time that the lat
ter situation was not only possible but
logical: that scientific criticism and
newspaper as well as personal attack
ndu broken LlG man ; nervous spirit
down and that he had dropped out
health seeking. for d season. Now We
doubt it.
The eeotism of Commander Peary is
as disagTeeable to US as It ever has
been, and We are not yet by any means
persuaded that the Cook and Peary
acTimOny is anything more than case
of pot and kettle; but We are forced
to say that Or. Cooks unceremonioUs
exodus. after he had earned some hun
dred thousands of dollars by Iecturing
and writing about his ostensible polar
discovery, looks as though he had de-
Iuded himself with the notion that the
American people, at least, unable to
either prove or disprove his falIacious
story, would promptly give the ex-
plOTer the benefit of the unreasonable
doubt and declare him the discoverer /
of a spot of earth which We are not
sure has ever been visited by anybody.