Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-12-28
REJECT COOK CLAIMS
| As POLE D|SCOvERER
Danish Scientists Declare That the
Proofs Presented by Doctor
Are of No Value.
FOOLED US ALL BRADLEY.
Psary on Receiving News Says, 81
Told You so?'-Recalls Gold Brick
Message from Labrador.

The University of Copenhagen. the
tirst institution of learning to recog-
nizesDr. Frederick A. Cook as the dis.
coverer of the north pole, has solemn
ly declared that the explorer had fail
ed to establish the claim upon which
his high honors had been based.
The committee appointed by the
university to examine Cooks records
recently presented its report to the
consistory of the university, which re-
viewed the deductions of the experts
with the greatest care and discussed
the findings from every standpoint
That both the committee and the con.
sistory were disappointed was soon
known.
When the consistory met the other
lay written report was adopted to
the effect that the alleged records sub
mitted for examination by DR.. Cook
failed to prove his claim that he had
reached the north pole.
The report of the committee, of
which Prof Stromgren was chairman,
as presented to the consistory, states
that Cooks papers are without any
value; that his report to the univer-
sity is practically the same as that
published in the New York Herald
upon his return from his arctic expe-
dition. The copies of his notebooks
submitted, says the committee. contain
no original calculations of observa-
tions, but only results thereof. Ac-
cordingly the committee concludes that
he affords no proof of having reached
the pole.
The documents handed the commits
sion of the University of Copenhagen
for examination are:
1. A typewriter report prepared by
Cooks secretary, Walter Lonsdale, and
covering sixty-one pages of foolscap
2. A typewriter copy made by
Lonsdale from Cooks notebooks. This
occupies sixteen pages of foolscap and
includes a description of the expedi-
ton during the period from March IS,
1908, to June 10, 1908. during which,
according to the statement, Cook Jour
neyed from Svartevog to the north
pole and returned to a point on the
polar ice not specifically indicated, but
west of the Axel Heiberg land.
The papers were not accompanied by
private letter from Cook, but Secre-
tary Lonsdale stated verbally to the
commission that the original notes
and books of the explorer from which
his copies were made had been sent
to Europe by another route as a pre-
cautionary measure and would be de-
livered to the university in the course
of few days.
In presenting the data Lonsdale said
explicitly and repeatedly that docu-
ment No. was a complete and accu-
rate duplication of the information
contained in all of Cooks notebooks
that could be of any Importance to
the university for the purpose of this
examination. In spite of the explorers
promise and his secretarys assurance
that they would be forthcoming, the
commission is not yet in possession of
the original notebooks and diaries.
He has fooled us all, from the king
of Denmark down." was the exclama-
ton of John r. Bradley, F. A. Cooks
New York hacker in his arctic trip,
when appraised of the news from
Copenhagen. And he fooled me with
the rest. As matter Of fact" con-
tinued the sportsman, II long ago lost
all interest in DR.. Cook, the north pole
and everything connected with it. Po-
lar bears and the wild life of the arc
tic in general is the only thing that
has ever interested me much in that
connection anyway
Three months ago from the Labra-
dor coast | sounded an explicit and
deliberately worded warning to the
world, based on complete and accurate
information in regard to the Cook
claims. In doing so, l accepted the
responsibility devolving on me and
fulfilled my duty to myself and to the
world" With these words Commander
Robert e. Peary expressed his senti-
ments regarding the failure of the
University of Copenhagen to find any
proof of the discovery of the north
pole by Cook.