Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-12-17
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DR.. COOK ACLOWN
AND We TOOK HIM
FOR AN IMMORTAL
Rev. DR.. E. A. WassOn Says
Arctic Explorers Getaway
Method Is Characteristic.

The reappearance Of DIR. Frederick
A. Cook, the Brooklyn explorer, after
world thrilling claim that he had dis
covered the North Pole, has induced
the Rev. DR.. r. A. WATSON, rector of
st. stephens Episcopal Church, this
city, TO say some caustic things re-
garding the attitude and especially the
getaway" policy that enabled Or. Cook
to lose himself" at the critical stage
of the proceedings.
This controversy, now as dead as
if it belonged to the middle ages, Is
brought to mind by an alleged inter-
view which represents Cook az in Lon
dom declares DR.. WATSON, land
whether 1t is authentic perhaps the
paper itself does not know. and it mat
ters little. But there are one or two
considerations that point to its au-
thenticity. One is, who in the world,
outside of a lunatic asylum. would wish
to counterfeit Cook? That is, TO oun
terfeit a counterfeit?
THE other consideration lies in the
remarkable condition imposed by Cook
for the interview, The condition was
that the newspaper must allow forty
eight hours to elapse before the pub
LEGATION of the interview, in order 10
afford the subject of it ample oppor-
tunity to effect a getaway This is
the very word used a getaway a
word appropriately taken from the
lingo of burglars. Now this stipulation
of two full days for a getaway Is SO
characteristic that II could hardly have
proceeded from anyone else, for there
could hardly be two Cooks in the world.
The only fly In the ointment right here
is the demand for two full days, for
Cooks daily practise of getaways for
nine or ten months ought to have
made him more proficient. II was on
a Saturday. if / recollect, that the
news flashed over the world that Cook
had discovered the North Pole.
.sunt auos PuIverem CoIlegisse Juvat.'
zone lesson life has taught me, the
truth of the old Latin proverb, NO
crown without the lust of conflict
Men achieve only by long years OF
preparation n toll.
THE ~improvised success is apt to
be a sham, and no n could cite
a single thing that Cook had ever
done. Within a week I was as sure
that Cook was q. fraud as l am now.
'"This fellow, parading in stolen
plumes and acclaimed a hero by the
American people. was a sad com
mentary on popular intelligence. For
Cook was so patiently a humbug, his
story so thin, his Inconsistencies so
inexplicable and his memory so bad,
that he ought to have been looked
upon as a clown rather than n OF
the immortals.
This Peary-Cook affair Will always
be one of the unpleasant chapters IN
the country's history. Peary alone
comes out of it with dignity, robbed
of his dues, but his honor untarnished
and his greatness unimpaired. But
Peary is no philosopher. If he had
been he would not have discovered
the North Pole.
He is an elemental man, and no
doubt has ragged and boiled under the
atrocious wrong lone him. But let
him find satisfaction in the acclaim
of all other lands, if not his own,
when this miserable business has been
forgotten. The day. / believe, is not
so far off but that Peary may live to
see and rejoice in his tardily &C
knowledged due"