San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-08-09

come TO the banquet table ana remain at leaSt lew
minutes.
YEARLY I sat and listened to the long-winded
speakers and wished were anywhere else but there
A French reporter was dronng along in his native
tongue when there came an interruption. A waiter
entered and placed cabegram at my place. Fol-
lowing him came other walters with other cables,
until every man about the table had one before him.
The speaker checked his oratory while we all read
the messages. They were the samec
"Stars and Stripes Nail to Pole.-Peary."
The tension was tremendous in that banquet hall
as the newspaper grasped the significance of the
message. A running fire of discussion and argu-
nlent broke out around the table Many branded the
cable hoax but corrected them with some posi-
tiveness. The wording was too typical of Peary,
and, furthermore, the wireless operators along Lab
rador through one of whom, at Indian Harbor, the
message had been launched, knew Peary well, and
would not have accepted message from impostor.
can honestly say that l felt no envy or pique at
the of Pearys claim. In the first place, knew
that my arrival at the Pole necessarily must have
been long before his. In fact, had made the dis
covery before his expedition sailed from the United
States. Then, too, sincerely meant what told the
reporters:
There is glory enough for ALL"
An attempt was made to go through with the
banquet but it inevitably failed. The guests their
super-deveoped news sense a-tingle with this de.
nouement, slipped away singly at first, finally en-
maSse to typewrters and telegraph stations. When
reached my hotel found waiting for me stack
of messages from various newspapers, asking my
attitude on the Peary message framed dipo.
matte reply and sent it to several representative
publications
At that time had no inklng that Peary would
or could dispute my discovery. Il even wired him
congratulations through New York newspaper, but
he never acknowledged the message.
The next day, as sat at the farewell dinner given
me by the Geographic Society, received Peary's Sec
end message from Indian Harbor, quoting my Eski-
mos as saying we had gotten far out of sight
of land. My Danish friends read this Indignantly,
and pressed me to make sharp reply, but refused.
My ingraned distaste for strife and i'll feeling again
held me back from denouncing Peary for the char
acter knew him to be.
But his vicious messages did cause me to change
my plans. l rejected an offer of $4,000 for
lecture in Paris under the auspices of the paper LIE
Matin, abandoned my trip to Brussels and took the
first steamer the Oscar H., from Copenhagen to New
York.
On the voyage across rested good deal and
regained some of my mental and physical balance.
Also kept two stenographers busy transcnbng my
Cape Sparbo notes into a narrative story of
about 25,0 600 words which had sold to an American
newspaper soon after my arrival at Copenhagen l
was paid for this story which was published in i'm
Stallments, the sum of $4,000,
AS the Oscar II. neared the American coast the
wireless again began to crackle Pearys vicious,
founded messages from Indian Harbor, where he ap-
peared to have isolated himself for some purpose OF
his own. Among the scurrilous attacks he now
launched was the notorious gold brick" cable, which
hurt worse than any that had gone before Still
l controlled my desire to thrust back. l had conf
dence in the public, and believed Peary
would react upon himself rather than impugn my
achievement.
Other messages than Pearys ratings now reached
the ship that was carrying me home, and they told
of great reception that was to be rendered when
] reached New York. | was inclined to discount
these tdings, partly because thought New York
too huge and Indifferent city to indulge in the semi
hysteria which had swept Copenhagen.
But | was mistaken. The Danish ovation paled
besides the one accorded me by my own people. Ar
irving off the harbor day ahead of schedule, the
Oscar II. lay outside over night, as not to upset
the reception program. Boats bearing reporters
and curious folk out to the ship, but none of
their passengers were allowed TO come aboard my
ship.
There was just exception, that of the New
York Americans representative, who with charac