The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-12-23
Little lypewritten and Unimportant Interuier
Was His Only Statement States That He
Believes He Was at the Pole--.Pass-
engers Engage in Heated Con-
ControUersy---Enemies De-
sire Ii Understood Ex-
plorer Was Stunned.

New York, Dec. 23.-Dr. Frederick
A. Cook came back to his native lant
yesterday on the steamship George
Washington as calmly as if there hat
never been North Pole controversy
He said that little typewriter inter
view handed to the reporters embrac
ed all he had to say, with the excep
ltion of the necessary formalities OF
conversation thrown on him by the
interviews.
OF far more dramatic interest was a
heated controversy among the steam.
ship passengers concerning the i'm.
pression he had made on them. The
doctor asserted that he believed he
was at the pole His statement in part
follows
u have no statement to make other
than that which have carefully pre-
pared. Any interview | might give
would necessarily be fragmentary and
doubtless misleading, so l shall not
give out any interviews, and any pur-
porting to come from me will not be
authorized. ! spent weeks carefully
preparing my story, and have frank
ly said in it all there is to say. Ev-
cry charge AGAINST mo ie tolra,, .,., ,..l
answered in its proper place in my
narrative.
Il do not know what my plans for
the future will be. have not re-
turned to America with the intention
of making money out of my arctic ex-
periences. Money did not prompt the
writing of my story, as l have seen
suggested in certain newspapers. AS
I have said, have come back solely
for the purpose of rehabilitating my
self and my family by setting matters
right with my countrymen."
Argument among the George Wash
ington's passengers arose when the
doctors sympathizers aboard wished
it understood that he was received
with no shadow of discrediting by the
other passengers. His enemies wish
ed 1t made clear that he had been
stunned. The minute the reporters
who had gone down the harbor on the
revenue cutter stepped into the saloon,
representatives of both sides assailed
them. Persons, who in ordinary cir
eumstances dodge publicity as they
would a plague, button-holed the re-
porters in eagerness to present their
case first Men elbowed each other,
trampled on each others toes, shook
their fingers in each others faces, and
shouted unqualified contradictions at
each other Women gave up pouring
tea to stand on brocaded chairs and
peer over the ring of men into the |
vortex of discussion.
Cook was spared embarrassment of |
this hubbub as he met the reporters at
the ladder when they boarded the ship, |
perfectly poised. 1t was the same
Cook, little less tanned and worn,
but with the same lock of hair hanging
down over his forehead, the same re-
ticent smile and the same stubby mus
tache.
I'm half an hour, gentlement, | will
have a statement for you Just make
at home in the ladies sa-
loon," he said, and led the way him.
self. He spoke few words here and
there to friends, shook hands and ex-
cused himself without a trace of self
While the dispute in the ladies' sa-
loon boiled more temporarily, the pas
sengers elsewhere found time to tell
without heat of the doctors trip. He
came aboard at Bremen, they said
wearing full beard but had it shaved
off on the first days voyage. His
name did not appear on the passenger
list at first, but later was r aced as
Herr DR.. Frederick Cook on a supple
mental list.
The unostentatious passeN ger was
playing cards of evenings with a few
riends once, when toasts were going
'ound before bed time, and when it