Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-23
AT New York After a
Years Absence Abroad.
Declares He VIII Square Him.
self with the People.
Says He Believes" That Ne Did
Reach the North Pole.

|
ington as calmly as if there had never
been North Pole controversy. He
| looked vel! and said little; in fact a
typew rltten interview handed to re-
. portcrs embraced all that he had to
! say with the exception of the neces-
sary fOrnalities of converse ton
thrust on him by interviewers. OF
| far more dramatic interest was a
| heated controversy among the steam
ship passengers concerning the i'm
! preston he had made Upon them. The
! doctor still asserts that he believes
| he was at the Pole. Here Is the state
| ment IL part:
| II have no statement to make other
! then which I have carefully prepared
and wnici. is now being published.
| Any interview | might give would
necessarily be fragnentary and doubt
less misleading also, SO I shall not
| now give out any interviews and any
| purportins to come from mo will not
| be authorized. / spent weeks care
fully preparing my story and / have
| frankly said in it al there is to say
| Every charge against me is taken up
! and answered in it's proper place in
my narrative.
| Il will say. however, that T was
IN the United States less than a month
| ago. I arrived in Quebec on October
%, went TO Troy, n. y, then to New
burgh and PIughkeepsie. I was in
the two last named cities about three
| weeks writing, revising and correct
ing proofs Oh my story. l registered
under an assumed name, because I
WAS very busy-too busy to receive
my MANY personal friends or news
| l"per men. NJ other precautions
We're taken to keep my presence con-
c"aled. l stopped ut leading hotels
! md took an automobile ride each
pleasant day. l was at the Palatine
hotel in Nowburgh most of the time.
I left PoughkeeI.sie on the night OF
Nov. %. and went directly to Halifax,
where l sailed for Europe on the same
| steamship line on the same steamer
| and just Il year from the time l sailed
| from the same port when l left Amer
lea in 1909.
Il DO not kno" what my plans for
| the future Will be. l have no plans
| whatever fer going on the lecture plat
| form. I have not returned to America
with the intention of making money
ont of my Arctic experiences. Money
did not prompt the writing of my story,
as has been suggested in certain news
papers. AS ] have said. | have come
back solely for the purpose Of reha-
bilitating myself and my family by set
ting matters right with my country
mem
Tie argument among the George
|
when the doctors sympathizers aboard
wished it understood that he had been
received with no shadow of discrim-
ination by the other passengers. His
| cneiuIeS wished ii made clear that he
had been summed. The minute the
newspaper men who had gone down the
harbor on the revenue cutter stepped
into the saloon representatives of both
sides descended upon them. persons
who in ordinary circumstances dodge
publicity as they would the plague,
swooped down on the reporters and
fairly buttonholed them in their eager
ness to present their case first.
Women had given up pouring tea to
stand on the brocadcd chairs, finger
tips On their escorts shoulders. peering
over the ring of the throng into the
a vortex of the discussion.
II The doctor himself was spared the
: embarrassment of this hubbub. He met
: tn re porters at the ladder when they
= boaued the ship, perfectly poised.
c with steady hand and clear. straight
f forWar eye for all of them. 1t was the
4 same ID, Cook, little less tanned and
= worn thtn when they had seen him
n last. but With the same lock of halr
4 hanging down over the forehead. the
same reticclf half smile. and the same
. scrubby ,nousache.
I'm half an eour, gentlemen. I will
have statemeft for you. Just make
yourselves ut honp in the ladies' Sa-
, loon he said, and led the way him
self
While the DISPUTE in the ladies Sa-
loon boiled. moe tempcratc minded
passengers elsewhere found time TO
tell without heat Of the doctors trip.
lie came aboard q Bremen. they said,
wearing a full bcar1, but had it shaved
off on the first day. His name did not
appear on the passenger list at first
but was placed decentralization
Dr.. Frederick a. Co,l1-on a suppl
ment list issued. He han behaved quiet
~ playing cards of al evening with
Il few of his friends and deiticr seeking
nor avoiding attention. Once, when the
toasts We're going rouno%before bed
time and it came his turn. to name a
health he was quick to propose the
Stars and Stripes. Another tine when
a passenger who had not remarked
him before, asked brusquely: Are
YOU Dr. Cook" He answered: MY
| name is Cook
Are YOU the Doctor Cook who went
Ito the North polc?" persisted the qucs-
TONER. Il have been there asserted
the doctor gravely.
The typewritten interview which the
doctor put out did not satisfy the re-
porters. They pounded him witt;
questions, but to almost all of them he
parted:
THAT has already been covered in
the statement you have" Or. Il shall
answer that in full in the series of ar
ticles that is now being published"
Then YOU will not submit to cross
examination on what you have already
pubiished?" was asked
NO" said the doctor firmly. and
then qualified it. AT least, not now