The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-11-29

Washington, Nov. 2s.--walter We'll man. whose preparations for . con- quest of the North Pole in an airshlp were abandoned upon the announce. ment of the claims of pr. Frederick A. Cook and Commander Robert E. Peary, Issued here tonight . long statement In which he analyses the narratives of the two explorers. declaring that Of Peary precise, workmanlike, consis- tent. credible in every particular" and denouncing that of pr. Cook as . seif-evident and even deliberate inn posture.
 cooks story Is suspicious both in what 1t does tell and what 1t does not tell" Mir. Wellman declares.
 "His story Is vague. but like most of his class, entirely too precise at the wrong place. Nowhere does his story ring true. II is always an approxima- ton of reality itself. This is true of n: figures his descriptions. every
 Those of us who have had share In Arctic york;" says Wellman in com ciuding his analysis, ''and who have felt anxiety that no blot of fraud should stain the proud record of effort and sacrifice. had first hope---that Dr. Cook would be able to demonstrate his good faith. This has dissolved in anaiysis of his own story. A second hope--that he was the victim of some hallucination or mental illness and be iieved himself he had been at the pole, though, of course. he has not, vanishes in the light of earlier and subsequent events. There remains, though. one says 1t with keenest regret. only the alternative that the Journey which he did make, and the report which he gave of 1t, were deliberately planned from the outset"
 Thinks Data Too Precise.
 The Gist of MT. wellman's finding Is that with his meagre party and equip ment. pr. Cook could not possibly have accomplished the feat for which he claims credit; that his astronomical data are too precise to have been made under the claimed conditions In the field and that the explorers dash for the lecture platform and his accept anee of crowns of flowers placed up- on his head by innocent women and children" before submitting his held records to scientific examination adds to his discredit.
 weilman attacks first pr. Cooks story of his journey He points out that Arctic sledding is not new ven- ture nor an experiment. but has been reduced almost to science. He pro- ceeds to the proposition that the first thing to be done in advancing over the Ice fields is the reduction to the min- mum of the food and fuel to be carried and secondly. the organization of sup- plying parties that can be sent back from the dwindling main body until the few who are hardieyt into the final struggle to the goal. The longer the route, Mir. Wellman sets forth. neces. sarily the greater the weight of food and fuel. and in consequence. much slower pace.
 Easing his argument mainly on these points, Mir. Wt1lman takes up a of the supposed achieve ments of Peary and Cook. He quotes from the records to show that tho former took his ship to within 460 miles of the pole. advancing supplies and his party forty-seven miles closer during the autumn and spring. Cook. he points out. started iron Annotok, TOO geographical miles from the pole. and went ITO geographical miles west. ward before turning northward. ac- cording to his own story.
 PeAry. Weliman continues. mapped out his plans carefully for the ad- vance and started with fifty or sixty men, iso dogs and twenty-one sleds. He divided his party so that he had four supporting parties who kept open the back traif and In leaving the main body lsgh tened the loads that men and dogs were compelled to draw.
 Dr. Cook had no supporting party,