The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-12-07
Says Be Does Not Kaow Whether Be Dc.
covered Pole Or Net.
WILL TELL HlS STORY
Statement May Be Startling. but He
Is Willing to startle the Waf36
II He Can Present Case and Re-
gain Sympathy and Coandenee -
His Fellow Men. :!

did l get to the Nsrth Rals1
Perhaps ! made q mistake In thtlk-
ing that I did. Perhaps I did mo-
make q mistake. After mature
thought I confess that l do net know
absolutely whether I reached the
pole or not. This may come a. IN
amazing statement, but I an Will
ing to startle the world II, By 20
doing, I can get an opportunity 20
present my 8 By my case I
mean not my case az q geographical
~discoverer, but my case as a man.
Much as the attainment of the North
Pole once meant to me, the sympa-
thy and confidence of my fellow meR=
mean more" ..
In this way DR.. Frederick 4.
Cook, the Brooklyn explorer, In an
article which will be published In
Hampton's Magazine, confesses that
he does not know whether he reach
ed the North Pole or not.
The publishers Of the article 10
sued a statment Wednesday night
saying that nowhere in his narrative
does DR.. Cook either cast any re-
Election on Peary or question Pearys
claims. DR.. Cook, who has been IN
hiding for over a year, has inform
ed the editors Of the magazine pub
fishing his story that he will return
to the United States with his wife
and children, December %, in order
to spend Christmas here.
Continuing DR.. Cook says:
"Fully, freely and frankly I shall
tell you everything. Tell youp.ey-
erything-and leave the decision
with you. If, after reading my story
you say, Cook is sincere and hoa-
est; half crazed by months of iso1a-
tion and hunger, he believed that ha:
reached the pole; he is not q faker.
then I shall be satisfied"
Dr.. Cook tells the story Of HIS
life and pictures, what he calls TIA
over-powering ambition of expIoza-
ton, until 1t finally eliminated I'm
his effort to reach the pole. Dr.
Cook declares that at the time he
convinced his wife that he discover
ed the pole, he al half mad. Hs.
spent two years in his quest and
during that time endured hunger ami
~privation that, he says, would I'M
balance any mind. DR.. Cook ssyn
that 1t would be impossible for any
man to demonstrate beyond gRos-
ton that he had been to the Nort&
Pole. He characterizes the region
as a region of insanity, where ans
can not believe the evidences gath
cred before one eyes. ....'
II have been called thu greaa-,
est liar in the world, the most mum
umental imposter in history" sayx
DR.. Cook. II believe that in e7e.Y
undesirable way I stand unique tAe
object of such suspicion and vitupor-
alton as have assailed few men,"
With this realization, DR.. Cook
wrote his story and says that TO nm
the honor Of discovering the NORTH
Pole no longer means anything. Thar
explorer has been VIC kitty en- hta
story since last August, ard says.
according to the editor Of Hamp-
tons Magazine, that his sole d ssirG
is to make. the people OF the United
States realize just what he vent
through during his two and q han
years in tho Attic f~astness, and to.
make them see what processes %
thinking-or lack of thinkfng-t
was that lead him to do the thing
which confirmed to the average nina
the worst suspicious against HIM
DIR. Cook then tells the story ne
the days in Copenhagen and later IN
New York and OF the crisis In HIN
life that led to his flight from New
York and his voluntary exile FROM
the United States.
DR.. Cook and his wife are now h
Europe, and the children are nor
in a convent in France. Most OF tina
time during his exile DR.. Cook haR
been in London.