Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-12-16
GIVES NOR DETAILS
OF ARCTIC EXPERIENCES
Tells Weird Tale Of Strange
Things He "Saw" on
Frozen Wastes.

NEW YORK, Dec. 16.-Dr. Frederick
A. Cook. the Brooklyn traveller. has sent
word TO his friends here that he will
reappear next week. following his self
imposed exile of one year. DR.. Cook
will arrive from Europe probably on
next Wednesday. The doctor has con-
fessed that he did not know whether he
reached the North Pole or not, and in
a current magazine he tells of the
mental and physical stress he labored
under on his journey northward. OF
the trip over the ice he says:
There was little in the white waste
about me to occupy my attention.
Sometimes o spot on the horizon or the
twist of a dogs tail would fascinate
me and hold my attention for many
minutes.
During this time, from the early
days OF our journey. as / want to show,
everything centred about the idea of
the pole. Then, to bewilder one, to set
one laughing with silly amusement OF
to fill one with n sense of awe, there
early began a procession of mirages
and optical illusions. The mental effect
1 find 1t difficult to analyze. Sometimes j
these exaggerated transformations had
the effect of bringing far-off objects
apparently, Tear to US. This often
caused confusion in estimating dis
tances.
This Is New "Trimmins.e
"Just after Heiberg Land had be-
come a dull haze behind us these u n
tastic u~nrealities of the North began to
manifest themselves most. Peaks of
snow were transformed into volcanoes
belching smoke; out OF the pearly mist
rose marvellous cities with fairy castles;
huge creatures, misshapen and gro
tesque, writhed along the horizon.
"These spectral denizens Of the North
accompanied us during the entire jour-
ney and when tagged Of brain and
Slapped of bodily strength | felt my
mind swimming in a sea of half-con-
seriousness; they filled me almost with
horror, impressing me as the monsters
one sees in a nightmare.
"That I did travel upward OF $500
miles in some direction even my
enemies credit.
whether / went directly north or
was diverted at times does not. cannot
change the facts of my experience.
Wherever I went, however, l maintain
it was northward, and | did reach a
spot which I believed to be the pole.
From the end of the polar night.
late in February, up to the sleep OF
April 7, I estimated by various sys-
TENS of reckoning that we had e
q distance which placed me somewhat
over 200 miles from my goal. The sun.
because of elopded night skies, had not
, been visible before, but now it was
seen for the first time at midnight and
it assumed a strange shape. 1 have
| described 1t as a vase Of blue fire, from
, which rose luminous flowers i have
spoken of the distorted faces which
leered at us over the horizon. Some
1 times In our northward progress these
faces laughed; again they scowled.
r What the actual CONGREGATIONS were !
do not know.
, Despite a physical lassitude and
9 suffering, which mad 1t painful to
2 move, l took observations in a regular
i mechanical way. The much-ado since
! made about such proofs never at that
time occurred to me or seemed possible
= at never expected that my accom-
4 plishment of the pole, If I did it, would
4 be regarded as a thing OF great i'm
portance to science, which it is not.
+ want to be honest in this, and right
q here / say that any observations I tool
were taken, first, Of all. for my owr
h satisfaction, to check our line of march
At a point which I calculated as TWEEN
ty-nine miles from the pole. we paused
to rest. Not possessing the strength
to build snow houses we used the sill
tent. While the Eskimos slept I tool
observations. My heart thumped. and
(. pursuing our march through the ic'
n vacantness, my imagination peopied tn
n region with glorious things.
g.. For a little while l forgot the an
euish of my body. OF course, I wa
hungry, thirsty, weak, dizzy with faint
It ness, and I made the last upwar'
marches in a delirium. Just what
felt then, Just what happened, I d.
not know. They are in my notebook
brief notes and calculations.
l. "Here a snow house was built n
Is round of observations taken.
l. 'Unquestionably, I believed that o.
April q. 1908. we had reached the pole.