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Show Ndar-Ardic Explorer Comments ! H Caustically ou Feal Claimed H Iy Discoverer. ' H IH SAYS ACHIEVEMENT WOULD I ' HAVE DEEX IMPOSSIBLE j. Gives Peary Credit; for Uaviug ' .1 Accomplished Journey' and H Making Accurate Record. WASHINGTON. Nov. 28. Walter Well- . H man. whose preparations ror a confines::' j of the North polo in an airship wore abandoned upon tho announcement of the claims of Dr. Frederick A. CooR and Commander Robert E. Peary, tonight-Is-sued a long statomont. in which ho aii-alyzes aii-alyzes the narratives of the two explor--rs, declaring that of Peary "preplse. ( workmanlike, consistent, credible in ev-cry ev-cry paiticular." and denouncing that of ' Dr. Cook as a self-evident and even do- ' liberate imposture. ' "Cook's story is suspicious, both in i .V1.1. 11 ,,oe5 lc''l 5,d what It does not ! HH tell, Mr. Wollnncn declares. "He Is generally vague and indefinite, but like H most men of his class, altogether too i ! precise at the wrong place. Nowhere does his story ring true. it. In alwnv ; an approximation or reality Itsolf. This i ! is true of his figures, ids descriptions of everything. yM "Those of us who have had a ahain JH of Arctic life, and who have felt mix- jH iety that no blot of fraud should slain the proud record of elforts and sac.rlilce. ' IH had a. (lint hope that Dr. Cook would 1 1 ! be nble to demonstrate his good railh. 1 This has dissolved in tlie analysis of his story. A second hijpe that he was the JH vlrtim of some Inlluclnation or monlid ! illness, and himxclf believed ho hail H been to the pol". though of course, he IH bps not vanishes Iu the light of earlier and subsepjcnr events. There remains, H though one says It with keenest regret. I only the v.-retched nlleraatlvo that the If Journey which he did mak-. and the re- port whleii jie gave of it. were deliberate-ly deliberate-ly planned from ihs outset." . i ! Calls It a. C'ousp'ixncy. H The -tet of Mr. Wellman's llnding Is IH Hint, with bin meager party and eaulp-ment. eaulp-ment. Dr. Cook could not possibly have. fl accomplished tho feat for which he claims ; credit, that his astronomical da la nro too minutely ureclFe to have heen made under the claimed condition? in tho field h fl and that tho "explorer's dash for the loc- ture platform and his acceptonco of "crowns of flowers placed upon his head by innocciu women and chlldron, hefors 1 submitting his Held recotds to scienUtlc i' examination all cousplra to. his die- crellt." i Mr. Wellman first attacks Cook'.R stoty of his Journey. He lnt.s out that Are- tic sledging is not a new vent.uro nor an H experiment, but has been reduced nlmor-t H to a science. Me proceeds to the prop- osition that th flisl thing to be done in advancing over the ice tlelds ia the reduction to" the minimum of food and fuel. and. seeondly. the organization of H supporting Tvir'.ic-s that can bo sent back , from the dwindling main body until the j few who are hardiest enter on the final ; trugglo to the goal. i JM The longer thn route, he sets forth. fM necessarily the greater Uu-. weight of iH food and fuel, and, in conserjuencc, -a jH much slower pace. Comparison Bctvccu Two. H rinsing his argument mainly on those 1 H principles. Mr. Wollman lakes up a com- narfr.on of the supposed acldevements of ' , tH Peary and Cook, lie quote:; from records tH to "show that llio former took his ship to within l0 miles of the pole, advancing supplies and his party forty-seven mile.''? r-lo,ser In the autumn and spring. Cook. ho points out, started from Anuntnk, TOO geographical miles from tho pole, and eril 1 4 0 geographical miles westward lv;- i foic turning northward, according lo his I own story. Peary. Wellman continues, mapped out i hip plans carefully for ihe advance ami started with fifty or slty men. 14ft dogs ' i and twenty-one sledges, lie divided his ) parly so ho hnd four supporting parties , who kept open the back trail and. In ' leaving Uic main body, lightened loads which men and dogs were compelled lo draw. BH Dr. Cook had no supporting party, says Wellman. except for the first thrcn days. His party consisted of three, men. twenty- BJ dogs and two sledges lu the loug BB dush ho made. BB "That which be claims to havo done." BBJ declares Mr. Wellman, referring to Cook, BBJ "with hl:i equipment ami organization. ; BB waa physically ImpoKsible. It is boyoiul 1 BB human power," Later iu his statement , BB he adds: I BSJ "The laws of physics and of mechanical I forces can no more be defied and ignored' . BBJ in the Arctic regions than elsewhere, save BB iu the imagination." BB Taking up In order Dr. Cook's record BB of his trip northward. Mr. Wellman BB points lo the statement that the Cook BB parly made slxty-clght miles in three BB days, despite bad weather, rough ice and , . BB tlie necessity of going twice over a big BVJ lead two miles wide, and this, he adds. BB at a time when the sledge loads were. heaviest. Cook, he ays. thus traveled BB a distance of '.'7 por cent greater, at a Bp ppceil 10 per cent faster, than Peary with BB his years of experience and his superior BB organization. BBj Mr. Wellman is especially caustic in BBJ Ills criticism of Dr. Cook for not turning BVJ over record? of hl3 trip Immediately to BBi some scientific body, especially when his BBi story was questioned by critics. Thla ha BB declares to be indefensible. BVJ Records, he says, of any Arctic trav- Bl eler need uo revision, for. If they are BBa honostlv inscribed, they cannot be sub- i BBa ject io revision. Such records, he points BBa out. are kept in "dirly. greasy, grimy BBi notebooks," tlie iirferlptlons in which BBI have heei: "penned with frost-bitten BBa finges-s bv n weary man. lying in th BBa half-darkness of a reindeer-skin bag. BBa ...;.i,t t-.wT.. Im i !M. tool Records Need No Kovision. jH "Lei It be understood." says Mr. Woll- man. "Unit 'such records are always BBb reudy. Thev are complete and perfect BBa the moment they arc written. They can BBf be untied over to a scientific commltteo Bl In two minutes os well as In two months BBV and much better. B "The man who has done an honest piece of work and ice.ordcd it falthfull.v BBh hour bv lour needs not to reconstruct BBa thai record. The bank cashier who look BBi his d.-'ilv ledgers covering a quarter year BBa home with him. upon the protest that , BB they needed revision and pieparallon b- BBa fore being submitted, and Insisted on ro- BBa tabling them for some months with no BBa other evo than his to see them, would BBa urobablv rind himself in trouble with hii BBf director's and officers of the law." BJB Mr. Wcllmon scoffs at Cook's nstro- ' BIB nomlvul data, especially the observation. , BJB which ho claims to have taken within BIB 1,1 IS foot of the polo. BIB "lie la Indeed a marvelous travolcr." BJB declares Wellman. "who can avorags I BJB Ifi.r. miles per day for more than a inor.tU I BJB over soa ice with heavy slcilges. and a BJB Continued on Pac Two. ' BJBJ Bli IWELLMAN DECLARES COOK IS FALSIFIER Continued From Page One. marvelous astronomical observer who can locate his position within 1,400 feet four minutes walk and then 'advance' for the 1 purpose of locating It more closely still, like tho story of tho amateur mountain climber who ascended a peak and .returned .re-turned with a report that ho measured Its altitude by barometer and found It to be eight miles. 25 rods, 7 feet and 3 3-S inches." Observations at Will. W-ollman flatly declares that such observations ob-servations could be manufactured anywhere, any-where, by anybody, and, to support this assertion, In: Includes an "observation" such as might have been made nt the north pole on April 21. 1008. "which I made today In "Washington with a pencil and a nautical almunnc." "Anyone who knows nautical astronomy," astron-omy," he adds, "enn sit down in Anna-tolr, Anna-tolr, or Brooklyn or anywhere, with a nautical almanac by his side and construct con-struct latitude observations at will. "Cook's is lo the trained car and eye, a story of a counterfeit presentment, precisely pre-cisely such a story :i3 one might pen -during a leisurely journey along the coasts of the game lands, using the incidents inci-dents thereof to aid the Imagination in n deliberate transfer of the scene of action ac-tion tome hundreds of miles further nbrtli." |
