Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-12-02
DR.. COOK AGAIN.
Now Admits That He is a Monumental
Fake.


Did 1 get to the North Pole? Per-
hapS 1 made mistake in thinking l
did. Perhaps l did not make q mis-
take. After mature thought l con-
fess that 1 do not know absolutely
whether l reached the pole or not.
This may come as an amazing state
ment. but l am willing to startle the
world if. by so doing, l can get an
opportunity to present my case. By
my case / mean not my case as a ge-
ogra phical discOverer, but my case
as a man. Much as the attainment
Of the North Pole once meant to me,
The sympathy and confidence Of my
fellowmen mean more"
In this way DR.. Frederick A. Cook,
the Brooklyn explorer, in an article
which will be published in Hampton's
Magazine, confesses that he does not
know whether he reached the North
Pole or not. The publishers Of the
article issued a statement tonight say
ing that nowhere in his narrative does
Dr. Cook either cast any reflections
on Peary or question Peary's claims.
Dr. Cook. who has been in hiding for
over a year, has informed the editors
of the magazine publishing his story
that he will return to the United
States with his wife and children De-
cember 90 in order to spend Christ
mas here.
Continuing, DR.. Cook says:
Fully, freely and frankly I shall
tell you everything. Tell you every
thing-and leave the decision with
you. If, after reading my story, you
say, Cook is sincere and honest, half
craZed by months of isolation and
hunger. he believed that he reached
1. l.. -, LII.
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 1t finally culmi-
mated in his effort to reach the pole.
DR.. Cook declares that at the time
he convinced himself that he had dis
covered the pole he was half mad. He
spent two years in his quest, and dur
ing that time endured hunger and pri-
vation that, he says, would unbalance
any mind.
The explorer states that it would be
impossible for any man to demon
strate beyond question that he had
been to the North Pole. He charac-
teriZed the region as a region Of in
sanity, where one cannot believe the
evidences gathered by ones own eyes.
days in Copenhagen and later in New
York and his voluntary exile from
tho United States.
DR.. Cook and his wife are now in
Europe and the children are in a
convent in France. Most Of the time
during his exile DR.. Cook has been in
London.
II have been called the greatest
liar in the world. the most monu-
mental imposter in history" says DR..
Cook. II believe that in every un-
desirable way l stand unique, the OBJ
ject of such suspicion and vitupera-
ton as have aSsailed few men,
With this realization DR.. Cook
wrote his story and says that to him
the honor Of discovering the North
Pole no longer means anything. The
explorer has been working on his
story since last August and says. ac-
cording to the editor Of Hampton's
Magazine. that his sole desire is to
make the people of the United States
realize just what he went through
during his two and a half years In
the Arctic fastness and to make them
see what process Of thinking-or
lack of thinking-it was that led him
to do the thing which confirmed to
the average mind the worst suspicious
against him"