The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-09-08

Sends Message to Wife.
New Successful, we'll. Ad.
dress Copenhagen. Fred"
Full of meaning if successful" were
interpreted to indicate that he had
reached the north pole, the foregoing
cable message, exasperating in its
brlefness, was received in New York
Wednesday from DR.. Frederick A.
Cook, the American explorer, whom
the latest cable advices credit with
having accomplished what no man
ever did.
The message was sent not to any
scientific society nor to any of his as
sociates interested in his expedition
from a scientific viewpoint, but to his
wife, who has been counting the days
and hours and praying for his safety
since his departure from this city on
July 4, 1907.
Wife Not at Home.
But by chance Mrs. Cook was not at
her Brooklyn home, but spending the
summer at Harpswell, Me-, so the dis
EN~SOAA "So ASNC4NCu NY LII. II. Id.
wilson, a personal friend of the ex-
plorer, who made it's contents known.
then flashed the good news on to Mrs.
Cook. Brief as it was, it was the first
news that she had had from her in
trepid husband since March II, 1908.
when he wrote from Cape Hubbard on
the edge of the polar ice sea on the
northwest side of Ellesmere Land. At
that time he advised his companion,
Rudolph FRANKIE, then stationed at
Etah, Greenland, with supplies, to wait
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 come back he caught the
Peary auxiliary ship and reached New
York last fall.
Cooks Whereabouts Mystery.
Since that time DR.. Cooks where.
abouts has been a mystery, although
members of the Arctic club in this
city, viewing the situation optimistical-
ly, were inclined to think that he had
reached the pole, despite his long
silence. There was, of course, the
ever-present probability that he had
persisted and the schooner Jeanne,
relief ship, is now en- route to Etah,
where she is due the middle of this
month. The jeanne left St. Johns N.
f., about two weeks ago with the
double purpose of searching for DR..
Cook and taking supplies to Com
mander Peary. The expedition was
financed by special committee
headed by DR.. Roswell O. Stebbins of
this city and composed of friends of
DR.. Cook and men of science who
were most keenly interested in his
venture.
Sketch Of the Discoverer.
DR.. Cook Was born at Calicoon De-
pot, Sullivan county, New York, in
1865. He was married in Brooklyn in
1902 to Miss Mary Hunt He went
with the Peary expedition in 1922,
and in 1894 organized the Miranda ex-
petition. He was surgeon of the Bel
gian antarctic expedition in 1897.
Next, in 1901, he went as surgeon
with the Peary Erik" auxiliary expe-
dition. His ascent of Mount Mckinley
in Alaska, October 3, 1906, is the first
on record.
Took New Route to Pole.
In the present expedition DR.. Cook
sought to reach the pole through a
new route known as hansen strait.
DR.. Cook, accompanied by John r.
Bradley and several Esquimaux, left
North Sydney, N. S., early in July,
1907, on the American auxiliary
schooner yacht John R. Bradley,
which landed the party at Smiths
sound.
The party took up winter quarters
about thirty miles farther north than
Peary did two years previous.
In July, 1908, it was reported that
the Cook party had been lost, but the
rumor proved groundless when let
ter was received that had been writ
ten at Comanni, Wosenthom sound, in
which Cook said:
II have this opportunity to send
letter to Upernavik by Rasmussen
during this moon and l must hasten
to report our progress to the present.
have a hundred dogs and as many
more as desire, with Is of the best
Of the tribe assembled here for the at
tack over the new route across Elles-
mere Land, out by way of hansen
sound and back by Kennedy channel,
then using to good advantage the
drift and musk oxen so abundant in |
Ellesmere Land All of my equipment !
is ready and we hope to start for the |
goal late in January. With men and |
dogs we'll fed and under normal con.
litions, like my predecessors, l feel |
as our equipment means
perfection. When we return we will |
push southwark at once to Cape
York"