Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-02-20
PEhRY JOURNEYS
!. TO HEAvEhlAhD
Death Pilots Discoverer of
North Pole on Trip to
Great Beyond.
FOREMOST EXPLORER
! DEADINW WASHINGTON

orsat Ambitior-Navai Engineer
Devoted Many Years to Discoveries
In Polar Rsslons-cook Diseredited'
washinSton, Feb. 2o.-Admirai
Robert Edwin Peary. retired. Arctic
explorer and discoverer Of the north
pole, died at his homo today from
pernicious anemia, from which he
had suffered for several years. Ar
ranrsnents for the funeral have not
been completed but he will be buried
with full naval honors.
Admiral Peary submitted to o
blood TRANSMISSION at hospital mere
tan DAYS ago. He was removed to
his home and his condition then was
reported as improved. He gradually
Rrew weaker, however. and the end
4 came early this morning. DR.. H. F..
Strine, the admirars physician, dis
! closed that the TRANSMISSION was the
thirty.fifth to which Admiral Peary
had submitted in two years.
Cook Disputed Claim.
Il was on the afternoon Of Sept.
/ 3, 1909, that the following few words
reported to the civilized world Tor
the first time this crowning achieve
ment of three centuries of effort:
'Indian Harbor, via Cape Ray. \.
h r.. Sept. Ito the Associated Press,
New York. Stars and Stripes nailed
TO north pole.
Peary's actual attainment Of the
pole had been Just five months before,
\ on April 8, 1903.
when TITS dispatch came the world
Twas, quite unknown 70 Feary, al
| ready praising Dr.. Frederick A. Cook
| az the discoverer. Only four days
previous 70 the Peary announcement
Il Cook, who was on his way back to
iCupenhagen on board Danish
ISateAmer. had telegyspAAd tbs. -o3stEn
(lthat ne reached the pole on April IL.
4 IiSoS-neariy year ahead Of Peary.
whiie Dr. COOKS claim did not go
|lunquestioned from the first, he had
for four days at least been widely ac-
claimed as the discoverer Of the pole.
with Pearyss message there arose
one Of the greatest controversies OF
| al ages over the honor Of actual first
discovery. There can be no one who
4 has forgotten the dispute. Pearys
/ assertions were not seriously ques-
itioned. but among Newspaper readers
there came 70 be two great camps,
flor and against Cook.
Peary with his record Of seven
successful trips to tho Arctic. his Of
\ fetal standing In the United States
lEnavy and in scientific circles, easily
held the commanding position In the
/ cntroversy. But II was only after
\ the scientific bodies one by one had
sifted the evidence and pronounced
4 Cooks claims unfounded that Peary's
title as dscoyerer Of tho pole was
really won.
Peary oavs All For Honor.
/ Tho bitterness Of this episode is
only one item in the price which
Peary paid for the immortal fame
that Is now Acknowledged to be his.
He spent practically all he had in
money, gave all that was In him for
hard work. and suffered al that the
human frame could endure from hun
n ser. cold and disappointment. He
! mado eight journeys into the Arctic,
Rspent upwards Of half a million dol
tllars, and several times ne barely es-
Blcaped the death which in various
forms had been the fate Of more
than 100 explorers before him.
The hrst step that lead Peary
toward the pole was taken In wash
inston one day when hs walked into
,a book store to browse and picked
imp . fugitive account Of Greenland.
He became an Unsuitable reader on
the subject OF the Arctic.
He was then 80 years old. He was
born in Cresson. Pa, in 1855. His
fathsr died when he was 3-years- old
land his mother took him to Portland.
1fain9. whore he spent his boyhood,
roamfns about Casco Bay. He went
TO Bowdotn College. won fame there
as q runner and jumper. and stood
I'm tho honor column Of scholarship.
II was q little later that hs had gone
Ito WashlmSton to work as draughts-
oman IN the coast and Geodestic sur
slvsy Officer. He spent his spare time
studying civil engineering and passed
FIN that branch into che naval service.
tHe became Aeutenant Peary, y. 8. N
Becomes Naval Engineer
\ His drst assignment was 70 the
Tropics. ne was a leader Of the sur
veytng for the Nicaraguan canal
route. II was whom he returned to
Washington that no fell upon the
book about Greenland, and there.
after virtually oonsecrated himself to
polar exploration.
Obtaining leave from the naval Scr
Vice. he led an expedition into Green
land, 70 determine the extent Of this
mysterious land. He determined It's
;nsularity, discovered and named
many Artio points which today are
Familiar names-such AZ Independ-
ence bay, Melville Land, and He'll
prin Land, and in one Of his later
voyages he discovered the famous
meteorites which he brought back to
|ctviliEation. One Of them. weighing
etghty tons, II the wonder Of visitors
70 the Museum of Natural History in
l(6w York.
Mads Many Polar Trips.
metween voyages P@ary resorted to
- lsetuss platform 70 raiss funds