The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-22
ESKIMO ASSERTS
 HE HAS SECRET OF POLAR TRIPS.
Can Settle Controversy Between Peary and Cook, Says
 Mene Wallace.

New York, Sept. 22-Mene Keeshoo,
 tribe of Eskimos in Greenland, who
 was six years old when Rear Admiral
 Peary brought him here in 1897,
 where he studied and returned to his
 people seven years ago, arrived in
 New York yesterday on the steamship
 Stephano of the Red Cross Line from
 St. Johns, N. F., and announced that
 he held the secret of whether the North Pole had been discovered by
 Admiral Peary or pr. Cook, or both. During his seven years in the Arctic
 Keeshoo, or Wallace, as he prefers
 to be known, because William Wal
 lace, former Superintendent of the
 American Museum of Natural His
 tory, was his guardian, lived with the
 natives. adopted their dress, and hunt
 ed with them the walrus, seal and
 norwal for his food and fur-bearing
 animals and birds for his clothing. Af-
 ter carefully wrapping his native cos
 tune, which included white and blue
 foxskin coat and polar bear trousers,
 and placing them in storeroom of
 the McsAlpin Hotel for safety, Wallace | took a bath with a lump of ice in it,
 donned cool clothing, and inspected | Broadway.
 T have lived so long in an iglooa- l Greenland icehouse, you know, that l I'm glad of the change" he confided to reporter. Meme further admitted | that the "igloos of Broadway" the memory of which he had carried back with him, had made his evenings somewhat dull in the "ice-houses," with smoky oil lamps for light. But Broadway was not the only lure of American civilization. Many times I would have given a $2 fur piece for cup of coffee with sugar in it,' he said. Wallace, who speaks like an educat- ed American, says he did not remem- Der more than dozen words of his native language when he returned to the Arctic. He had to learn the lan- | guage of his tribe, and in turn taught | some of them English. His stories | of the great world was a continual source of entertainment for the tribe, | he said, after he had learned and was | able to describe things to them in their own tongue.
 According to Wallace, he had little except the clothes he wore when he reached the place of his birth,T to which he had travelled on the steam CT Jeanie, Peary relief ship, in 1909. To return here Wallace said he had walked a day and g. night from the healdquarters of his tribe at North Star Bay, Greenland, to Parker Snow Bay or Cape York, where he found the schooner George B. Cluett of the Me- Milan Crocker Land expedition ready to sail He was taken on board as I> t. -sv,o two months trip to St. Johns. Sailors gave him spare clothing. With the money thus earned he came to New York as passenger.
 r'My father died here, and when l went back to North Star Bay want 1 ed to find the only two or three rela- lives had reason to believe were still | . living" continued Wallace. T was !! unable to speak Esquimo, and I ap- pealed to a missionary to help me. I ''who is to pay your board?" he asked. I couldn't guarantee that, so | I immediately sought out the old tribe | of my father. They welcomed me. | Was satisfied withe crude life there? I? Yes and no. The climate suited me and my health was better than When here. But the hard, dreary life of the | J people and the conditions under which they live is very motonous to one who | knows of the high state of civilization here. 'For my own part I could have been happy there but for this. In fact there were times. and still have thef impression that it would have been better for me had I never been brought to civilization and educated. It leaves me between two extremes, where it would seem that can get mo- where.
 Meme says, he will go back to the Arctic, and when he goes he expects r to carry many things to contribute to the mental improvement and enter tainment of his friends and neighbors. He wasn't sure of his future plans at North Star Bay, but thought he might go into trading there. Then he might marry, he admitted.
 "You can support a family cheap ly there, and at night there is no place