The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-12-28
COOK COMES BACK.
RETURNS TO NATIVE COUNTRY
WITH LITTLE TO SAY.
Passengers Divided Into Two Gamma
on Question of His Reception-His
Trip. 90

New York, Dec. 22.-Dr. Frederick
A. Cook. came back to his native lafss,
today on the steamship Geor~- "a :
ington as calmly as i'S s6sep' sr
been No"", n. sy He
loof I'D little. in fact
t. .rn interview handed the
reporters embraced all that he had to
say with the exception Of the neces-
sary formalities of conversation thrust
upon him by interviewers.
Of far more dramatic interest was
heated controversy among the
steamship passengers concerning the
impression he had made upon them.
The doctor still asserts that he be-
lieves he was at the pole.
DR.. Cook in his statement referred
to the fact that he was in the United
States less than a month ago.
II arrived in Quebec on October 20,
went to Troy, N. c., then to Newburgh
and Poughkeepsie," said he. 1 syas
in the two last nayued cities about
81
correcting proofs of my stor!. L
registered under an assumed name
because I was very busy-too busy to
receive my many personal friends or
newspaper men. No other precau-
tons were taken to keep my presence
concealed"
DR.. Cook said he did not know what
his plans for the future will be; that
he had no plans whatever for going
on the lecture platform.
II have come back solely for the
purpose Of rehabiliating myself and
my family by setting matters right
with my countrymen." he declared.
The argument among the George
Washington's passengers arose when
| the doctors sympathizers aboard
wished 1t understood that he was re-
ceived with no shadow of discrimina-
ton by the As*her PASSENGERS. Eis
enemies wished it made clear that he
! had been Stunned. The minute the
! men who had gone down the harbor
on the revenue cutter stepped into
the saloon, representatives of both
sides descended on them. Persons
who in ordinary circumstances dodge
publicity as they would the plague
| fairly button-hoIed the reporters in
| their eagerness to present their ase
first.
While the dispute in the ladies' sa-
loon boiled, more temperate minded
passengers elsewhere found time to
tell without heat about the doctors
trip. He came aboard at Bremen.
! they said, wearing full, beard, Lut
had it shaved off the next day. He
was an unostentatious passenger,
playing cards of an evening with
few friends ad neither seeking nor
! avoiding attention.
Once when the toasts were going
around before bedtime and it came
his turn to name a health, he was
quick to propose the STARS and
| Stripes" a toast that none could re-
fuse.
Are you the DR.. Cook who went
to the North Pole?" presisted the
| questioner.
"I have been there" asserted the
doctor gravely.
The typewriter interview with the
| doctor did not satisfy the reporters
They piled him with questions, but
| almost all of them he parried.
You have written this doctor:
After mature thought 1 confess that
1 do not know absolutely whether 1
reached the pole or not Do you be-
| lieve that you did?"
II still believe it."
Does your uncertainty at all cx-
tend to your ascent of Mt. McKin-
ley
Not in the least. 1 shall have
reply to make to Prof. Herschel G.
Parker's latest attack on my ascent
Of Mount Mckinley in a few days
probably next Monday.
Did you still believe in your rec
ords when you sent them to the Uni
versity of Copenhagen
"Oh, certainly"
Then why did you call Capt. Au-
gust w. Loss to aid you in compil-
ing them?"
THAT will he answered in the next
instalment"
Yet you accept the verdict of the
university?"
Yes I think we have accepted
that"
And you believe that Peary got to
the pole?"