Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-12-02
DIR. COOK ADMITS
POSSIBLE ERROR
EXPLORER, IN MAGAZINE ARTi-
GLE, SAYS HE is NOT GER
TAIN He FOUND POLE.
HALF CRAZED BY ARCTIC COLD
Promises to Tell Story, Pleading for
Charity if He Missed.-Declares
He Prefers Friendship to
Polar Distinction.

New York, Dec. DIR. Frederick
A. Cook, the Brooklyn explorer, in an
article which will be published in a
magazine confesses he does not know
positively whether he reached the
North Pole.
Dr. Cook, who has been in hiding
for over year, has informed the edi-
tors 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.
DR.. Cook deals with the psychology of
his adventure and says:
did I get to the North Pole? Per
haps I made a mistake in thinking
that I did. Perhaps did not make a
mistake. After mature thought | con-
TESS that I do not know absolutely
whether I reached the pole or not.
This may come as an amazing
statement, but | am willing to startle
the world if, by SO doing, I can get
an opportunity to present my case.
By my case, mean not my case as a
geographical 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
fellow men mean more.
Fully, freely and frankly | shall
tell you everything and leave the de-
Oft ny
story you say, Cook is sincere and
honest; half crazed by months Of iso-
lation and hunger, he believed he
reached the pole; he is not faker,
then | shall be satisfied"
Discovery of Pole His Ambition.
DR.. Cook tells the story of his life
and pictures what he calls the over
towering ambition of exploration that
beset him until it finally eliminated
in his effort to reach the pole. He de-
clares that at the time he convinced
himself he had discovered the pole he
was half mad He spent two years in
his quest and during that time en-
dured hunger and privation, he says,
that 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 char
acterizes the region as a realm of in
sanity, where one cannot believe the
evidences gathered by ones own eyes.
He says he had always looked upon
the discovery of the pole as an
achievement for his own personal
satisfaction, for the satisfaction OF a
craving and desire that was greater
than any other factor in his life.
When he found how tremendous a SEN
sation his statement that he had at
tanned the pole created he was over
come with bewilderment.
Never Wore a 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 not
withstanding the fact he was followed
by the shrewdest newspaper men in
the world day after day and that
sums ranging up to several thousands
of dollars were offered for clue to
his whereabouts he has never worn a
disguise and has never taken any un-
usual precaution to conceal his iden-
tity. Part of the time, he says, his
wife has been with him and part of the
time his children.
With the opportunities for thought
that his exile has given him-Dr. Cook
says he never even had time to sleep
more than three or four hours between
his arrival at Copenhagen and mis- dis
appearance in New YOrk-he has
found growing stronger and stronger
the desire to return to his own coun-
try to be understood by his own
people.
Il have been called the greatest liar
in the world, the most monumental
impostor in history says DR.. Cook,
Il believe that in every undesirable
way I stand unique, the object of such
suspicion and vituperation as have
assailed few men,"