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Show HINGES ON MEANING ON WORD ' ' SUCCESSFUL ' NEW YORK. Sept. 1. "Succussful. Well. Address Copenhagen. (Signed) Fred.-' Full of meaning, If "successful" were Interpreted In-terpreted to Indicate that he had roached the north pole, the foregoing cable message, mes-sage, exasperating In Its briefness, was received In New York today from Dr. Frederick A. Cook, tho American explorer, ex-plorer, whom the latesl cable advices to-nlght to-nlght credit with having reached the pole. Mrs. Cook was not at her Brooklyn homo, so the dispatch was received by Dr. R. T. Davidson, n personal friend of Hie explorer, who made Us contents known, then flashed the good news on to Mrs. Cook. Brief as it was, it was the first news she baa roceivod from her husband since Mnrch 17, 1008, when he wrote from Cape Hubbard, on the edge of the polar Ice sea on the northwest side of Ellesmercltind. Ono Man Conquers. "Single handed and alone Dr. Clnrk'hag apparently accomplished what hundreds of more experlctued and better-equipped cxp'orers have been trying for In vain for runts." was the comment of Herbert 1j. Bridgman of Brooklyn, secretary of the Peary Arctic club and an Intimate friend of Dr. Cook. "Beside men like Peary." continued Mr. Bridgman. who hns himself taknn a large part In several Arctic explorations during dur-ing tho past fifteen years, "Cook is a comparative amateur. He went north merely as tho surgeon of an expedition and was left behind with a small storu of supplies at his own request. "He appears to have wnlted a favorable favor-able time and then, when' thingH looked J"lght, he pushed northward, accompanied only by two Esquimaux, depending for his supplies largely on the small amount of canned goods tie could carry and the musk ox which he probnblv ascertained i wore plentiful along the route he planned I to take. "According to his last letters, he must have left IStah about February 21. 1908. Crossing lo Ellsmcrelaiul, ho reached Cape Thomas Hubbard. There ho may have wilted a few davs and laid In a stock of fresh meat. Finally, when all was ready, on March 1, he took his two trusty Esquimaux servants and started on his dash over the polar Ice 500 miles to the ultimate north. "He reached tho pole, the dispatches toll us, on April 21, averaging In the neighborhood of fifteen miles a dny. If he traveled In a straight line, and making a far higher average if as is likely ho was compelled to go In a roundabout way. "From the time of his arrival until today to-day we have' little but guesswork on which to form theory as to the movements move-ments of Cook. There is some long gaps of tlmo to be accounted for In Dr. Cook's movement, but anyone who has ever been In the North can readily realize that thero are a .thousand and one things which might have delayed him.' "It Is rather remarkable that Dr. Cook did not cable to his friends In America the news of his accomplishment. "That the captain of the Danish steamer steam-er was the first to report the news Is not particularly rcmarkahle, as the captain is a government official and would only be expected to send the news of the achievement to his superior. "Dr. Cook shows how largely the element ele-ment of luck enters Into the problem of rArctlc exploration. If the reports are correct, ho has accomplished, almost without equipment or preparation, a thinif which the most elaborately outlined expeditions ex-peditions have failed In." |
