The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-02-20
DISCOvERER OF NORTH POLE DEAD
Continued from LIST Page)

n. F.. Sept 6.-To the Associated
Press, New York.
Stars and Stripes nailed to North
Pole
"IPEARY."
Peary actual attainment of the
Pole had been just five months before,
on April 6, 1909
When this despatch came. the world H
was, quite unknown to Peary, already 4
praising DR.. Frederick A. Cook as the
discoverer. Only four days previous to
the Peary announcement, Cook, who /
was on his way back to Couenhagen
on board a Danish steamer, had tele-
graphed the claim that he reached the
Pole on April 81. l90S-nearly a year
ahead of. Pearv
While DR.. Cook 5 claim did not 90
unquestioped from the first. he had |
for four days ut least been widely ac |
claimed as the discoverer of the Pole. |
With Peary S message there arose one
of the greatest controversies of all
ages over the honor Of actual first dis |
covery. There can be no one who has
forgotten the dispute. Peary 5 asser-
| tiens were not seriously questioned, but
among newspaper readers there came
| Cook
| Peary with his record ,of seven sue
cessful trips to the Arctic. his official
standing in the United States navy
and in scientific circles, easily held the
commanding position in the contro-
! versy. But it was only after the sci
entifc bodies one by one had sifted
the evidence and pronounced Cook s.
| claims unfounded that Peary's title
as discoverer of the Pole was really
won.
The bitterness of this episode is only
one item in the price which Peary
paid for the immortal fame that is
now acknowledged to he his He spent
practically all he had in money. gave
all that was in him for hard work, and
suffered all that the human frame
could endure from hunger, cold and
disappointment He made eight Jour
neys into the Arctic. spent upwards of
half Il million dollars and several times
he barely escaped the death which in
various forms had been the fate of
more than 700 explorers before him.
The first step that led Peary toward
the Pole was taken in Washington one
day when he walked into book store
20 browse and picked mp fugitive ac-
connt of Greenland He became an in
Satiablc reader on the subject of the
Arctic.
lie was then 30 years old. He was
born in Cresson Pa, in 1856 His
father died when he was three years
old. and his mother took him to Port
land, Me, where he spent his boyhood
roaming about Casco Bay He Wen
II 1 -
as a runner and jumper, and stood in
the honor column of scholarship. II
was little later that he had gone tc
Washington To work as a draughtS
man in the coast and geodetic survey
Offices lie spent his spare time study
ing civil engineering and passed in
that branch into the naval service. He
became Lieut.. Peary. T. S. y.
His first assignment was 10 the
tropics He wae Il leader of The sur
ycying for the Nicaraguan canal route
It was when he returned to Washing.
/ ton that he fell upon the book about
Greenland. and thereafter virtually
9 consecrated himself to polar explora
: ton.
: Obtaining leave from the nava
9 service. he led an expedition into
| his mysterious land He determined
e its insularity discovered and named
4 many Artic points which today are ia
miliar names-such as Independents,
Bav. Melville Land, and Heilprin Land
e md in oae Of his later voyages he dis
d covered the famous meteorites whiel
(, he brought back to civilization. On,
h If them, weighing so tons, is the won
L.. 81 rtzs4. 70 h., NJ ut
= 1ral History in New York.
Between voyages Peary resorted t.
{ he lecture platform to raise funds TO
i further exploration. In one instanc
L lie delivered l6s lectures in 90 days
: -aising $4,000
4 On his sixth voyage. with the Pol
IS n view, he had TO give up becaus
both of his feet became frozen. Al
hough he had reached the most north
rly land in the world-naming ii Cap
Norris X ,Iessup at the tip of Green
and-and had also attained lat. SAL
y he northermost record in the wester
= world, he was still in great despai
4 he wrote in his diary:
1.-The game is off NV dream of J
years is ended | have made the hes
ight | knew l believe it was goo
| | possible.
BY the time Pearv reached civilizi
ton, however, he had decided upo
till another trip With the special
DESIGNED ship Roosevelt Peary droV
further into the frozen ocean tina
Alligator had ever been before. o
DOT he advanced until his record fC
this seventh trip stood at s6.6, whel
: starvation and cold again checked IL
party.
) The explorer was 80 years old whe
Z July, 1908, he set out on his eight
; md successful invasion of the Polt
, egion.
2 Peary's closing years were spent
, yel-earned rest. living for a large pa
! # the time with his family of three
wife, daughter and SON on Eagle /
and off the coast from Portland, Nj
IRIS Peary formerly was Josephii
Oiehitsch. of Washington, ID. G., ma
wing the explorer in 1888. She fir
ooaopaYa Mod har huS ha nd &