The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-10
Dr. Torp Declares That New York Times Story Is Based
 on Pure Fiction
NJ OHE SEEMS ID KNOW WHERE COOK IS HIDING
pr. Cooks Lawyer Has Not Heard From Him and Has About Broken Of Relations With
 the Arctic Explorer

1 Copenhagen. December a.-Dr Torp,
 rector of the University of Copenhagen,
 said tonight that the charges published / in the New York Times against nr. Frederick A. Cook are based on pure fiction. Nevertheless. he added. he
 would accept the offer to examine tie
 documents prepared by Loose and Dun
 kle which the Times has agreed to send
 to Copenhagen.
 Walter Lonsdale. secretary to Dr. 1 Cook, who brought the explorers rec
 ords 10 Copenhagen. aiso declaged that the accusation published in New York
 and London against Dr. Cook vera totally unfounded He said that the pa pers delivered to the University ,f
 Copenhagen contain the original obser-
 vations made by Dr. Cook during sae expedition without alterations. MT. Lonsdale stated further that the explorers report was founded on these and dictated by Dr. Cook to him, no other person having anything to do 1 with it. Loose and Dunkle. MT. Lons- dale said. were guests at the Waldorf | Astoria during Dr. Cooks stay there. but the explorers acquaintance with 1 them was slight
 l The committee which will examine
 Dr. Cooks records is composed of the l following:
 President, Prof Ellis Stromgren. direc-
 tor of the astronomical observatory, Dr.
 (. r. Pechulee astronomer Attached tc thu ehservatoly; Gustsee Holm. explor- |
 School of Navigation; Dr. Royder, di-
 rector of the meteorological office and | Dr. F. A. Engstrom. director of the | Lund observatory
 Story Discredited. 1 Commodore Nevgaard, the explorer, and Professor Olufsen, seeertary of the I Danish Geographical society, also dis
 credit the accusations against pr. | Cook
 The National Tidende in an editorial says:
 | 'It is natural that calumnies should | increase when pr. Cooks papers are | on the eve of examination, the object l of his accusers being to influence the 1 committee"
 | In an interview Dr. Burrau said: Passages in the story telegraphed | here give me the impression that the | Illdtlcl IS tnOTOuSHly unlTuSlWOTl1ys | Take for instance the stateemnt about | Capella. Capella neither rises nor sets | in the polar regions but remains fixed | over the horizon. In order to make | observations at the north pole a more
 extended and more detailed knowledge
 is necessary than is enjoyed usually by 1 the average ship captain. "It will, however be easy for the uni-
 versity to determine the truth or oth- erwise of the charges" The committee of six under the pres | idency of Ellis Stromgren, the astrono-
 mer. which is to examine the north pole
 records of Dr. Cook on behalf of the 1 University of Copenhagen will begin it's work at the end of the present week. | Cooks Lawyer Puzzled. | New York, December 9.-Dr. Frederick | A. Cooks personal lawyer. Henri Vel | lington Wack. has severed relations with l his client MT. WaclS refused to con- | firm or deny his withdrawal, but it can be | affirmed on competent authority that l after a consultation with his partners. MT. Waek wrote pr. Cook as long ago | as November 30 that he must beg him to | seek legal advice elsewhere. l q have not the remotest Idea" said l MT Wack tonight, where Dr. Cook ] is keeping himself or why he persists in | secuson when his presence Is vital to
 his own interests and his friends. l read ] that he is in Brooklyn, in a sana torium in Maine in Philadelphia asylum. but 1 personally l incline to the belief he Is | abroad
 One thing. however. is certain. there | is agreement tonight for the first time 1 among those who have always believed | that pr. Cook discovered the north pole. those who have never believed, and those
 who have waited to be informed on lisin- tad Do flee l clra tirx- alike now concede certain cardinal facts which admit of no argument namely Dr. Cook has sent his records to the Uni versity of Copenhagen for the inspection of commission.
 Fabricated Observations "Two men-one a broker, who says he acted as go-between and one a skilled
 navigator-have sworn that they supplied the doctor with complete set of fabri- cated observations covering his trip to
 the pole, in agreement with his narrative as originally published. These sworn statements carry within themselves their own proof or disproof. That Is to say. if the papers now in the hands of the University of Copenha gen
 contain any considerable portion of the boreal observations which Capt August Loose says he worked out by the reverse route no farther north than the Grama- tisn inn In BronNville. N. Y.. the deduc- ton is that Dr. Cook felt no confi-
 dence in the adequacy of his own proofs. ''If, on the contrary the Copenhagen
 records show that Dr. Cook made no evil
 dent use of the calculations Captain Loose
 says he supplied, 1t will be fair to assume
 that he accepted them only as checks on
 his own data. The Inquiry will then re-
 vert to it's first status: Are the original
 observations of Dr. Cook sufficIeut?'