Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-01
WIcKERsHAM TELLS HOW
COOK STOLE HIS THUNDER
Delegate From Alaska Tells OF
Explorer and Mount Nc
KinIey Hoax
BY RALPH SMITH.

By hAA4fh
WASHINGTON. Feb 2S-"Back in the
fan of 1908 I was holding court at Valdez.
Alaska" said James Wickersham- Mr..
wickersham Is the delegate from Alas
ka 10 the house ofrepresentatives. At the
time he referred TO he was United States
district Judge for the territory of Alaska
.'On returning to my home after court
one day" continued Judge wickersham.
II was told that a man was waiting to
see me. he proved to be a short. stock
lily built man with light hair and pale
blue eyes. he said he was DR.. Frederick
Cook and had Just come out of the
Mount Mckinley country. Learning that
I had spent some time trying to reach
the summit OF that mountain he came TO
me. I had spent the months Of May.
June and July. OF that year in futile
EFFORT 20 reach the top of this noun
tain.
During our pleasant conversation Dr.
Cook questioned me closely about my eN-
periences. He suggested finally that
should write up the story of my trip 10
Mount Mckinley and send IL TO him IN
the east with my photographs. etc. he
s4id he would cause my story and his 10
be published. He was very ingratiating
and / proved to be a sucker. 1 did not
know DIR. Cook then as well as l do now
and i'm view Of his letters from the geo
logical survey. data and other papers ne
has / took him for what he seemed 10 be.
There was nothing TO indicate that ne
was a Simon pure faker. was not seeA-
ing a reputation as a mountain climber
and / knew that he was. AS he wanted
TO spread public interest in the Alpine
beauties of Alaska, I w9s willing TO aid
him In any way l could thought II was
very nice Of him. especially as had an
interest In acquainting the world that
part Of the country.
As said before, being simply judge
and with no desire to pose as a mountain
climber. I complied with his request 1
wrote a story OF nay experience in climb
Inc about i1.po feet up the eooco-foot
mountain. / sent this TO DR.. Cook along
with some very handsome photographs
my party had taken. OF course, my story
was never published but he published
some Of my pictures I'm his magazine ar
tfcIes and never even mentioned the fact
that I was on earth. He took the credit
for making the pictures himself. No,
did not say anything about IL. 1 did not
want any controversy with him.
STOLE A PICTURE.
one Of my boys took on the trip. IL is one
OF those which he deliberately stole
With that Judge wickersham pointed
to an enlarged and handsome photo
graph of the glacial heights Of Mount
Mckinley II was hanging on the wall
of his committee room in the off1ce
building of the house of representatives.
'You will find an exact duplicate of
that picture" he continued in one Of
Dr. Cooks magazine articles on his
Mount Mckinley experience. In one or
two magazine articles written by other
members of the Cook party mention was
made of this incident. DIR. Cook. how
ever, never referred to the fact that he
had my narrative and photographs and
that / gave to him practically the only
map Of that country he had.
~Our party got up between 1o.o0o and
HOO feet toward the top of Mount Nc
Kinley. | have no doubt that DIR. Cook
got as high as we did. We were very
successful. although We did not get much
more than half way to the summit. We
spent 50 days on the job and during all
that time we slept in the woods on the
mountains wherever we happened to
make camp at night. We did not see
white man me- a house of any kind. We
were in q wilderness where there was
absolutely no trail and where no white
man had ever been before We could
always see the great mountain and were
guided by this
What stopped your
''Precipitous walls. We followed a
stream until We struck the big glacier.
After that further progress was rem
dered impossible"
DO you think IL possible for anyone
20 reach the top Of Mount McKinleyT'
II do, not" was the emphatic reply. II
know that I could never reach IL and I
don't believe any one else could. / also
know that DR.. Cook did not get there, at
least in 1913. He does not claim TO have
reached the Eummit in that yean But
he pretended to have reached the top in
his second attempt. which was in 1903.
No ope who knows anything about the
conditions there has the slightest hesitan-
ey In denouncing his claim as false"