The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-10
pr. Frederick A. Cook, Who Found sThePole of Doubt, lis 49 Today.

ryr. Fredertck5A. Cook, who discov- ered sstFae Pole of Doubts' and has been lecturimg about 1t ever since, win bewin faisshftdeth year today, hay ing been born on June 10. 1885, The Doctor. although more or less dis credited as an explorer by scientific zocseties and in tfhe public mind, still has his firm ad1perents who atead1ast- 1y refuse to believe what they call t4T.e- sscaluunies'' which have been frsfrra1la.ted about the Doc. And one oR those most constant in his faith fw inc ultimate rehabfl1tatfon of the reputation of pr. Frederick A. Cook lg pr. Frederick A Cook The au- -hor of 's1dy Attainment of the Poie' rejects with scorn the accusation that pr. Cook is liar, although he efreerfulIy admits that he has heard of such reflections on his veracity.
 Tghe man who has been called the areatest modern disciple of Ananlas, End a direct descendant of Baron 7Huncshausen, and the monumental faaxer of all time, and the perpetra- for of the worst hoax in history. and a few other things, does not look, act nor talk like the sort of a. Cook who would tcook up such a mess of lies as he hasAbesn accused of doing. With zreat frankness the Doctor admits that he may not have reached the ex- act rnath ema1ica1s geographical spot on the map where the North Pole ought tc Hbes but he insists that on April -z1, 190gs he was someWhere nj the immediate neighborhood of the earth's pivotal point Tn other words. he asserts that he reached rfneEr deRraes north, at a place on the Arctic Ocean $50 miles north Of svartevoeg. And if you oon't be- lieve 1t, why then you can go to- but let pr. Cook tell you where to go. Tn concluding one of his lectures he dec1ared=
 ssThe Eslunnos believe in q heaven and they think 1t very hot place. naturally picturlng 1t happy con trast to their cold earthly home. I would say to you that if you are still in doubt as to the truth or my claims as to the discovery of the north pole to be convinced you will have to go either to the north pole or to the -EsklmO heaven
 So theres now Mfr. Slxeptic!
 The experiences of Dr. Cook and that gA tHse more di nguiEhed trav- eIer who dlseoVerea the Brazilian river of doubt. are by no means without precedent. In a recent ar ticle Edwin Swift Balch pointed out that from time immemor1a1 travel CTS have been called nars," and ad- ded that fft is on this general as- sumption of their Munchausen- like proclivtt1es that much of the weight of argument against Dr. Cook de- pendgs' The author points out that Marco Polo, greatest of nAedfaevaI travellers, was. generally discredited, and Fernao Mendes Pinto, Nathaniel B. Palmer. Robert Johnson. James Wedde11. NordenskJo1d. Bruce, Char cot. Dr. Krapf, Golfer and Dr. Rop- mann were for a time reviled as fabrica&ors" Also. Henry M. Stan ley was dubbed a plain liar for quite a tame,'' and "duChaillu was accused of nct4oniztng.'s
 All of which, of course, doesn't prove that Dr. Cook is another un- Justly nna1iened hero. but 1t does sug- gest the possibility that contempo- raneous estimates are not always in faInbIe. And in favor of the belief that pr. Cook did discover the pole is the fact, which cannot be denied, that he is a genial, kindly, democrat fe, charnKng chap, blessed with a keen ssnse of humor, a. proud spirit which does not permit him to bow or frernb1e before the storms of denun- ciatfon which have swept over him, and a warm heart into which the zelfd frosts Of the Northland have never found entrance. Unmitigated liar he may be, but nevertheless he is what the red-blooded and the two- listed call "a good spor-t.''