The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-12-01
THE POSSIBILITY
Or A MISTAKE
Or. COOK MAKES APPEAL FOR
HEARING ON MS STORY
DOUBT ADMITTED.

he does not know whether he reach
ed the North Pole or not. Dr. Cook,
who has been in hiding for over
year, has informed the editors of the
magazine publishing his story that
he will return to the United States
with his wife and children Dec. %
in order to spend Christmas here.
DIR. Cook in his story deals with
the psychology of his adventure, and
says:
Did I get to the North Pole? Per
haps ! made a mistake in thinking
that l did. Perhaps I didn't make a
mistake. After mature thought | con
| fess that / do not know absolutely
whether | reached the Pole or not.
/ This may come as an amazing state
ment, but | am willing to startle the
world if, by so doing, | can get an
/ opportunity to present my case. By
my case, | mean not my case as a
geographical discoyerer, but my case
as a man. Much as the attainment
OF the North Pole once meant to me,
the sympathy and confidence of my
| fellow-men mean more.
Makes Appeal to Public.
"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 a faker,' then I shall
be satisfied.
Dr. Cook tells the story of his life
and pictures what he calls the over
powering ambition for exploration
that beset him until it finally cul-
minated in his effort to reach the
Pole.
DR.. Cook declares that at the time
he convinced himself that he had
discovered the Pole he was half mad.
He spent two years in his quest and
during that time endured hunger and
privaton that, he says, would unbal-
ance any mind.
The explorer states that it would
be impossible for any man to dem
onstrate beyond question that he had
been to the North Pole. He charac-
terizes the region as a region of in
sanity, one can not believe the evi-
dences gathered by ones own eyes.
He says that he had always looked
upon the discovery of the Pole as an
achievement for his own personal
qualification, for the satisfaction of
a craving and desire that was great
er than any other factor in his life
When he found how tremendous
sensation his statement that he had
attained the Pole created he was
overcome with bewilderment.
Never Wore Disguise.
DR.. Cook then tells the story of
the days in Copenhagen and later in
New York, and of the crisis in his
life that led to his flight from New
York and his voluntary exile from
the United States. The explorer
says that Notwithstanding the fact
that he was followed by the shrewd-
est newspaper men in the world, day
after day, and that sums ranging up
to several thousands of dollars We're
offered for a clew to his whereabouts,
he has never worn a disguise and has
never taken any unusual precaution
to conceal his identity. Part of the
time he says his wife has been with
him and part of the time his children.
DIR. Cook and his wife are now in
Europe and their three children are
now in a convent in France. Most
of the time during his exile DR.. Cook
has been in London. He says that
he has gone about among Americans
there with the utmost freedom, and
at time has travelled under his own
name, and that only few have
guessed his identity. Those who did
guess It, DR.. Cook says, were turned
away with ease by the remark:
why, yes, l have been told that
before"
Anxious to Come Back.
e With the opportunity for thought
that his exile has given him, DIR.
Cook says he never even had time
to sleep more than three or four
hours between his arrival at Copen-
hagen and his disappearance in New
York He has found growing strong
er the desire TO return to his own
country. to be understood by his
own people. He realizes better than
any one else the esteem in which he
was held.
Il have been called the greatest
liar in the world, the most monu-
mental impostor in history" says DR..
Cook. Il believe that, in every un-
desirable way I stand unique, the OBJ