Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1910-12-09
COOK DROPS CLAIM
EXPLORER SAYS HE DOES NOT
KNOW whether HE REACHED
POLE-WlLL RETURN HOME.
SEEKS TO REGAIN ESTEEM
BIames PrlvationA for Yarn, Declares
Months Of Isolation and Starvation
Racked His Mind-knoWs He Has
Been Called "Greatest Of Liars"

New York, Dec. DIR. Frederick
A. Cook, the Brooklyn explorer, con-
fesses in an article which will be pub
lished in a magazine that he does not
know whether he reached the north
pole.
Doctor Cook. who has been in hiding
longer than a year, has informed the
editors of the magazine publishing his
story that he will return to the United
States with his wife and children De-
cember %, to pass Christmas here.
Doctor Cook in his story deals with
the psychology of his adventure and
says:
did get to the north pole? Per
haps I made a mistake in thinking
that l did. Perhaps l did not make a
mistake. After mature thought con-
TESS that do not know absolutely
whether l reached the pole or not.
This may come as an amazing state
ment, but l am willing to startle the
world if, by so doing, can get an
opportunity to present my case"
Desires Confidence of Men.
"By my case l mean not my case
as a geographical discoverer, but my
case as a man. Much as the attain
ment of the north pole once meant to
me, the sympathy and confidence OF
my fellow men mean more.
Fully, freely and frankly shall
tell you everything-tell you every
h: k1o MI yrN1
If, after reading my story, you say:
Cook is sincere and honest; half
crazed by months of isolation and
hunger, he believed he reached the
pole; he is not faker,' then l shall
be satisfied"
Doctor Cook tells the story of his life
and pictures what he calls the over
towering ambition for exploration
that beset him until it eliminated in
his effort to reach the pole. He de.
clares that at the time he convinced
himself that he had discovered the
pole he was half mad. He devoted two
years to his quest and during that
time endured hunger and privation,
which, he says, would unbalance any
mind.
Says 1t Is impossible to Prove.
The explorer asserts that it would
strate beyond question that he had
been at the north pole. He describes
the region as one of insanity, where
one cannot believe the evidences
gathered by ones own eye. He says
that he always looked upon the dis
covery of the pole as an achievement
for his own personal satisfaction
for the satisfaction Of craving and
desire that was greater than any other
factor in his life. When he found how
tremendous sensation his statement
that he had attained the pole caused
he was overcome with bewilderment.
Doctor Cook Is Now in Europe.
Doctor Cook and his wife are in Eu-
rope and the children are in a con-
vent in France. Most of the time
during his exile Cook has been in
London. He says he has gone about
among Americans there with the ut
most freedom and at times has regis
tered under his own name. Only few
have guessed his identity. Those who
did guess it, Cook says, were turned
away with ease by the remark: "Why,
yes, have been told that before"
Knows He Is Called Record Liar.
II have been called the greatest liar
in the world, the most monumental
lmpostor in history" says Doctor Cook.
Il believe that in every undesirable
way l stand unique, the object of such
suspicion and vituperation as have
assailed few men,"
With this realization he wrote his
story and he says that to him the
honor of discovering the pole no
| longer means anything.