The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-12
AMUNDSEN ON
HEROIC DEATH
OF CAPT. SCOTT
Discoverer of South Pole
Paints Glowing Picture
of Most Awful Tragedy
Ever Enacted in Polar Tee
Fields.

Ry Captain Road Amundsen, Dis
coverer OF the South PoIe.)
Copyright 1913 by the Newspaper
Enterprise Associat1on-)
Chicago, Feb 1z.-In this, my first
and only signed statement regarding
the terrible but superlatively heroic
death of Captain Robert F. Scott and
his four companions In the Antarctic
regions, I wish, first Of all before I
paint the picture as I conceive it of
this most awful Of AL the tragedies
ever enacted on the wastes Of the po-
lar Ice fields, to bow before the great
character of my OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
er. r. E. Scott, by the declarations
a record of a man. a man as sincere,
as honest and as modest as the world
has ever seen-a greater record than
any mere "dfscoverer'' could ever hope
to equal.
Captain Scott, indeed, far from ever
assuming too much-a trait quite oon1-
mon to many pioneers Of the ice lands
took rather too little credit to him
self He seemed to content his spir-
it, in his diary. to simply verifying my
findings. And this. although he reach
ed the pole but little over a month
later.
The last news we heard of Captain
Scott and his pole party was on
April first, 1912. This news came
from those who returned on SCOTS
ship, the Terra Nova. They had left
Scott and four companions in latitude
81 degrees. three minutes south This
party reported on arrival in New Zea-
land, that they had brought back all
the dogs. leaving Scott without any
traction power at all This meant
that these men had to haul the sledges
filled with provisions, themselves This
found that provisions werethe most i'm
portant things and we feared to trust
their carriage to any human beings.
Dogs hold out long after mems
strength has failed Just what cir
cumstances resolved Scott to under
take to transport his own sledges
do not know. However, his reason
must have been a good one for he
was an experienced explorer and had
traversed the snow fields before
1t was January 8. 1912, when the
Terra Nova party took leave of Scott
According. to the diary, Scott reached
the pole January Is, Just Is days later.
We had discovered the pole Dec II.
1s11-onIy a month and four days
previously.
Immediately upon setting his flag
at the pole and verifying our findings,
Scott turned back The record of
| that returning flight will never be
told 1t issbeyond the power of man
so to do.
Imagine. He was man who had
reached one of the poles-on of that
scarce and honored company! The
world was ready TO welcome him and
to do him homage as it has SO gem
erousIy paid homage to me- His
was a pure scientific feat and he was
anxious as his diary shows to corrob-
crate what I had charted on my own
word. He started up from the end
of the world towards-HOME- To-
wards civilization, warmth, friends,
glory, children and wife. And then
across this bright horizon of hope and
longing, just across the lowest corner,
the shadow of defeat, indeed perhaps
DEATH, appeared.
1t was horrible and of course only a
brave spirit like that of SCOTS would
not for a second tolerate the presence
| of such a vision. He was used to
| hardship and he brushed this aside as
he had brushed other encroaching
periIs aside many times before. But
the black snow kept sweeping up over
| that bright horizon ahead.
First of all, as I picture it, the
scurvy-that most horrible of all dis
eases-began to attack the returning
| victors. They had been cutting down
on food because they had perhaps not
| taken adequate supplies in the first
| place, owing to the fact that that
they themselves were dragging the
| loaded sIeds. This lack of sufficient
\ nourishment, coupled with the expect
ed hardships of trekking through an
| ice-bound land, reduced their resist
anc Naturally the scurvy followed. I
| suggest this because Captain Evans,
of the Terra Nova party, was attack
ed by the scurvy in a few days after
| his return This showed that the
| germs were present. Starved con-
stitutions were all that were necessary
| to give these Roadway
The scurvy, the not-to-be-conceiV-
| ed-of cold and low provisions began
| their deadly work. The scurvy slack
| ed the circulation. The blood, heavy
| with poison, did not do its work and
the cold penetrated right through. One
! of the men finally fell exhausted.
There were no dogs to pull him on the
now nearly empty sledges. The 9TH
er four men themselves all suffering
| terribly from disease, from cold and
| from hunger, attempted to save their
| companion by drawing him across the
snow. The burden was almost toe
| they staggered on. They must reach
! their provision depot. There they
would find food, raiment-enough and
to spare and they would pitch their
tents and regain their strength. And
then--HOME!
On and on, sick, freezing and starv-
ing. they staggered over the binding
glare of eternal ice and snow---look-
ing. looking, always looking for thai
provision depot, that life saver. But
it never came At last the truth
must have flashed across them
| They had missed it!
| But still they went on. And now
perhaps they had been nearly con-
sumed by the scurvy and were abso-
lutely without food. Parts of thei.
bodies were almost continuously froz-
en- The suffering must have beer
horrible am conservative wher
I say that it must have been the nost
horrible tragedy that has ever taker
place in a region where tragedies art
almost commonplace.