The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-12-01
Arctic Explorer May or May
Not Have Reached the
North Pole.
HALF MAD AT TIME OF
HIS ALLEGED DISCOVERY
Seeks Now to SET Himself Once
More Alright With Ameri-
can People.

NEW YORK, Nov. 3O-Dr. Frederick
A. Cook, the Brooklyn explorer. in an
article which will be published in
Hampton s Magazine, confesses that he
does not know whether he reached the
north pole or not DR.. Cook, who has
been in hiding for more than year.
mas informed the editors of the maya.
zine publishing his story that he viii
return 10 the United States with his
wife and children December 90 in order
70 spend Christmas here.
DR.. Cook. in his story, deals with the
psychology of his adventure, and says,
'Did ] get to the north polel Per.
haps lgmade a mistake in thinking that
] did. Perhaps | did not make mis-
take. After mature thought J. confess
that | do not know absolutely whether
] reached the pole or not This may
come as an amazing statement. but ]
4 willing TO startle the world. if, by
so doing. | can get an opportunity to
present my case.
BY my case mean not my case as
a geographical discoverer, but my case
as man Much as the attainment of
the north pole once meant TO me, the
sympathy and confidence Of my fellow
men mean more.
"Fully, freely and frankly I shall tell
'
and leave the decision with you II.
after reading my story. you say Cook
is sincere and honest: half crazed by
Y ouths of isolation and hunger. he be
lieved he reached the pole; he is not
fakir then | shall be satisfied"
Region of insanity.
DR.. Cook tells the story of his life
and pictures what he calls ,he overpow.
ering ambition for exploration that be.
set him. until he finally culminated in
his effort TO reach the north pole. DR.,
Cook declared that at the time he con.
WINGED himself he had discovered the
pole he was half mad. He spent two
wears in his quest, during that time en-
dured hunger and privatjou that, he
SAYS. would unbslance any mind.
The explorer states that il would be
impossible for any man to demonstrate
beyond question that he had been to
the north pole He characterizes the re.
gion as region of insanity. where one
cannot believe the evidence gathered By
one S own eyes.
lie said he had always looked on the
discovery of the pole as an achievement
for has own personal satisfaction for
the satisfaction Of craving and de,
sire that was greater than anv other
factor in his life When he found how
tremendous a sensation his statement
that he had attained the pole created,
ne was overcome with bewilderment,
DR. Cook then tells the story of the
days iu Copenhagen, and later in New
York, and of the crisis in his life that
caused his flight from New York and
his voluntary exile from the United
States
The explorer says that notvithstand.
ing the fact that he was followed by
the shrewdest newspaper men in the
world day after day. and that sums
ranging upwards of several thousands
of dollars were offered for clue as
to his whereabouts. he has never worn
disguise and has never taken any
unusual precautions 10 conceal his iden-
tity. Part of the time, he says, his
wife has been with him. and part of
the time his children
Concealment Was Easy
DR.. Cook and his wife are now in
Europe and the children are in con
/ vent in France.
Most of the time during his exile
I DR.. Cook has been in London. He says
he has gone about among Americans
there with the utmost freedom. and
at times has registered under his own
name. and that only few have guessed
his identity. Those who did guess it,
Dr. Cook SAYS. were turned away with
ease by the remark "Why, YES. ]
/
With the opportunities for thought
that his exile has given him-Dr. Cook
/ says he never even had time 10 sleep
more than three or four hours at
/ time between his arrival at Copenha
| gen and his arrival at New ork-he
has been growing stronger and stronger
| in the desire 10 return 70 his own coun
/ try 10 he understood by his own peo-
I pie. He realizes better than anyone
/ else the esteem in which he was held
/ ''I have been called the greatest liar
\ in the world. the most monumental i'm
postor in history says DR.. Cook. 81
! believe that in every undesirable way
stand unique. the object of such sus-
picion and v!tupe as have assailed
few men"
With this realization. DR.. Cook wrote
; his story. ana saws that TO him the honor
Y of discove ring The north pole no longer
means anything. The explorer has been
working on his story since last August.
D