Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1913-02-13
AMUNDSEN TELLS
TALE OF TRAGEDY
Norwegian DisCOVerer Paints
Word Picture Of Scott Disaster.
PRAISES STRUGGLE ON ICE


Oates and Tells Terrors ExpIor-
ers Must Have Passed Through
English Adventurer, Lost Life on
Great Barrier.
Chicago, Feb. ~. - Captain ROAD
Amundsen, who stood at the south
pole where Captain Robert F. Scott
stood only thirty-three days later,
Wove together in Chicago, from his
own knowledge and experiences in
the same time and region as nearly
authentic word picture of the TRACE
dy of the Antarctic as the world may
ever receive.
Before he did so, although he had
been up practically all the night to
return to this city, which he has made
his headquarters for some weeks, the
Norwegian discoverer wrote and dis
patched number of cablegrams CON
veying his grief and sympathy to the
survivors of the Scott party and the
widows of those who persisted.
Pictures Heroism of Explorers.
Out of the Norwegian captains
story there stood wildly the desper-
ate struggle of the English polar dis
coverers to crawl back against terri
BILE odds to their base of supplies.
There emerged the picture of the
great ice barrier, Offering an unob-
structed sweep for the icy gales, blow
Ing down from the polar mountains,
with the figures of Captain Scott and
his companions walowing through
the drifts, pulling with their own
hands the sledges on which their
dWindling provisions were treasured
and growing weaker with every step.
Above all stood the heroism of Cap
tain l.. e. G. Oates, who, rather than
be drag upon his companions by his
Illness, walked deliberately to his
death out into the driving snow.
. ut was on the great barrier that
Captain Scott and his companions
met their DEATH" said Captain
Amundsen. 1T is a great plain of ice,
rising and falling in gentle undula-
lions and stretching out a hundred
miles from the coast of the polar
plateau. Beyond the barrier to the
south rise the mountains which Dor
der the coast of the polar land
Colder Than the North Pole.
"The barrier offers a clear sweep
for the terrific gales which are com
mon In this region. The cold is in
| tense, much greater than that at the
north pole owing to the vast extent
of the ice fields.
at was neither wind nor cold alone,
however, that proved the undoing of
Captain Scott and his companions. If
they had been in good condition, they
would have been able to make that
| final eleven miles to their base of sup
plies.
But the poor fellows had to draw
their own sledges. not only on the
final stages of their journey to the
pole, but all the way back. This
must have been terrific drain upon
their strength. We, luckily, had
dogs, not only all the way to the pole
but all the way back to our base, so
we had comparatively easy time.
weakened by scurvy early in their
journey. exhausted by having to take
hand at the sledges, and their vi
tally lowered by scanty rations. they
were overtaken, apparently within an
ordinary days journey from their
base of supplies by a south polar
storm.
Meant Death to Continue.
"These are terrific in their force A
man we'll prepared to face one and in
vigorous physical condition could
travel through such a storm if his life
depended upon it. 1t probably would
have meant certain death for these
men to attempt it. There was a pos
sibility that the gale would blow IT.
self out before the men were so weak
ened by lack of food that they would
be unable to go on. The storm con,
tinued day after day without abate-
ment. The world knows the rest"