Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1910 — COOK IS IN DOUBT ABOUT POLE CLAIM [ARTICLE]

COOK IS IN DOUBT ABOUT POLE CLAIM

Explorer Confesses He May Have Made Mistake Dr. F, A. Cook, the explorer, confesses in an article whicir will be published in Hampton s Magazine tha: he does not know whether he reached the north pole. Dr. Cook, who has been in hiding longer than a year, has informed the editors of the magazine publishing his story that Ee will return to the United States with his wife and children Dec. 22, to pass Christmas here. Dr. Cook in his story deals with the psychology of his adventure and says: “Did I get to the north pole? Perhaps I made a mistake in thinking I did. Perhaps I did not make a mistake. After, mature thought I ,confess I do not know absolutely whether I reached the pole or not This may come as an amazing statement, but I am willing to startle the world if by so doing, I can get a chance to present my case. “By my case I mean not my case as a geographical discoverer, but my case as a man. Much as the attainment of the north pole meant to me. the sympathy and confidence of my fellow-men mean more.

“Fully, freely and frankly I shall tell you everything,—tell you everything and leave the decision with you. If, after reading my story, you say: ‘Cook is sincere and honest; half-crazed by months of isolation and hunger, he believed he reached the pole ; he is. not a faker,’ then I shall be satisfied. Dr. Cook tells the story of bis life and pictures what he calls the overpowering ambition for exploration that beset him until it culminated in his effort to reach the north pole. He declares that at the time he convinced himself that he had discovered the pole he was half mad. He devoted two years to the quest and during that time endured hunger and* privation which, he says, would uhhalapce any mind. The explorer asserts that it would be impossible for any man o demonstrate beyond question that he had been at the north pole. He describes the region as one of insanity, where ore cannot believe the evidences gathered by one’s own eye. He says he has always looked upon the discovery of the pole as an achievement for his own personal satiafa tlon '■—for the satisfaction of a craving and desire that was greater than aify ether factor in his life. When he found how tremendous a sensation his statement that he had attained the pole caused he was overcome With bewilderment.