Show PEARY REFUTES THE CUBS CLAIMS OF EXPLORER COOK ISSUES LONG PROM PROMISED iser STATEMENT IN NORTH POLE DISPUTE GIVES STORY OF THE ESKIMOS the statement it Is signed by peary bartlett mcmillan borup and hen han son ion of the roosevelt party akl mo boys boya closely questioned by all entered r api t to abt of congress n e year by the iha peary aenry arctic club n the tha loftice ot of the ll larlan of 0 congress tt it washington D C now new oct 12 the following statement of 0 commander robert E peary which he submitted together with the accompanying map to the tha peary arctic club in support of his contention that dr cook did not reach th the north pole Is now made public for the he first time the statement and map have been copyrighted by the peary arctic club introduction BY PEARY some soma ot of roy my reasons for saying baying that dr cook did not ko go to tho the north polo pole will bo be understood by those who read tho the following statements of tho two eskimo boys who went with him and who told me and others of ray my party whore where ho he did ga several eskimos who started a ta arted with dr cook from an bratok in february 1908 were at etah when I 1 arrived there in august 1908 they told me that dr cools cook had with him after they left two eskimo boys or young men two sledges and ione twenty dogs the boys were I took a shoo and ah po pe lah I 1 had known them from their childhood onu ono was about eighteen and the oher about nineteen years of age on my return from cape sheridan and at tho the very first arst settlement I 1 touched near cape chalon in august 1909 and nine days before reaching etah tho the eskimos told me in a general way where dr cools cook had been that ho he had wintered in jones bound and that he had told the whit men at etah that ho he had been a lon ion way north but that the tho boys who werf with him I 1 took a shoo and ah pe lah lab said ald that this was wag not so the eckl 1 mos moa laughed at dr cooks story on reaching etah I 1 talked with the eskimos there and with the two boys and asked them to describe dr cooks tourney lourney to members of my party and myself this they did in the tha manner stated below Mig birned ned R E reary PEART signed statement of peary bartlett mcmillan borup and henson in regard to testimony of cooks two eskimo boys the two eskimo boys l 1 took a shoo and ah pe lah who accompanied dr cook while he bo was wac away from anora tok in 1908 and 1909 were vero questioned separately and Ju independently dependently and were corroborated by the rather of one of them I 1 took a shoo who was waa personally familiar with the drat brat third and the last third of their flournoy lour noy and who paid that thai tho the routs route for or the remaining third as shown by them was as described to him by hla his son after hla his return with dr cook TO go more into details one of the boys was called in and with a wart chart on the table before him was asked to show where lie ho had rons gone with dr cook this ho he did pointing out with his finger on the map but not making any marks upon it As he went out the other boy came in and was waa naked asked to show where he had gone with dr cook this he did tilio without making any marks and indicated the tha tame come route and the same ame details as aa did the first boy when he be was through the father of 1 took a shoo a very intelligent tell igent man who was in the party of eskimos that came back from dr cook from the tha northern end of nan sa sons a strait who la Is familiar as a hunter with tho jones sound region agid who has been in commander peares various expeditions for some soine fifteen years came in and indicated the same I 1 localities and details as tho the two boys then the first boy was wag brought in agnia again and with a pencil he traced on the map reap their route members embers rn of our party writing upon the chart where according to the boys statement they had killed deer bear beai some of their dogs seal walrus and musk oxen oien the seland boy was waa then called in and abe two went over the chart together the second boy suggesting some changes ats noted hereafter during duran the taking of 0 this mour it developed that dr cook had bail told these boys ni as he told air whitney and billy pritchard the cabin boy that they must not tell commander peary or any of us ua anything about their journey and the boys stated dr cook had bad threatened them it the they should toll anything any i V fils I 1 the narrative of these Eskin eskimos I 1 ds as follows they with dr cook francka and nine other eskimos left Anora tok crossed smiths sound to cap sabane slept in commander peares old house bouse in payer flat gaibor bor then went through rice strait to buchanan bay after a few marches francko and three eckl mos moa returned to Anora tok dr cook with the others then proceeded up tip flagler bay a branch of 0 buchanan chanan nu bay and crossed ellesmere land through the valley pass pasa at the he head of flagler bay indicated by commander peary in 1398 and utilized by sverdrup in 1899 to the head of hay bay fiord on the west side of ellesmere Elle amere land their route then lay out through this flord thence north through dreps hemerka Heu erka sound and nansen strait on their way they killed and heart bear and made caches arriving eventually at a point on tho the west side of strait shore of axel ilef berg bere land of sverdrup south oi of cape thomas hubbard II A cach was formed hore here and tho the tour four eskimos did not go beyond this point two others and went on one more march with dr cook and the two boys helped to build the snow enow igloo the then re returned without sleeping Ble these two eskimos brought back a letter latter from dr cook to francke Pr ancke dated the seventeenth of march tho the two men rejoined the other tour four men who had been left behind and the six returned to Anora tok arriving may 7 this information was obtained not from the two eskimo boys but from I 1 the he six men inen who returned and from francke himself and was known to us in the summer of 1908 when tho the roosevelt first arrived at etah ape the information Is Inter inserted ted here as supple n irti tary to the narrative of the two anya after sleeping at the camp where the last two eskimos turned back dr cook and the two boys went in a northerly or northwesterly direction with two sledges and twenty odd dogs one or more march when they encountered rough ice and a lead of opert open water they did nt enter this rough ice nor cross the lead but turned westward or southwestward a short distance and returned to heiberg halberg land at a point west of where they had left eft the tha cache and where the four men had turned back after being informed of the boys narrative thus far commander peary suggested a series of questions to be put to the boys in regard to this trip from the land out and back to it did they cross many open leads or much open water during this time A ans a none non e 4 f did they make any caches out on the ice ans ana no with how many sledges did they start ans ana two how many dogs did they have ans ana did not remember exactly but something over twenty how many sledges did they have when they got back to land ans ana two old did they have any provisions left on their sledges when they came back back to land ans ana yes the sledges still had about all they could carry so they were able to take but a few things from the cache from here they went southwest at along the northwest coast of heiberg land to a point indicated on the map cape northwest from fr 0 m here he re they went west across the ice which was level and covered with snow offering good going to a low island which they had seen from the shore of helberg heiberg land at cape northwest on this island they camped for one sleep from this island they could see two lands beyond ellef ringnes and amund lands from the I 1 island I 1 nd they journeyed Journey eEr toward the i lefthand left hand one of these two lands amund land passing a arna small at I 1 island a nd which t they hey did not visit arriving at the shore of amund ringnes land the eskimos killed a deer as aa indicated on the chart the above portion of the statement of the eskimo boys covers the period of time in which dr cook claims to have gone to the pole and back and the entire time during which he h could possibly have made any attempts to go to it if it Is suggested that perhaps dr cook got mixed and that he reached the pole or thought he did between the time of leaving the northwest coast of helberg heiberg land at cape north went and his arrival at ringnes land where they killed the deer we must then add to the datlof date of dr cooks let ter of march at or near neap cape thomas hubbard the subsequent four or five sleeps at that point and the number of days required to mareb march from cape thimas hubbard to cape northwest a distance of some sixty miles which would advance his date clate of ee departure from the land to at least the of march and be prepared to accept the claim that dr cock went want from cape northwest about latitude eighty and a half degrees north to the pole a distance dl stance f five hundred and seventy geographical miles in twenty seven days after killing the deer they then traveled south along the east cast side of R ring I 1 ng ties nea land to the point indicated on the chart where they killed another deer they then went bastl iacross the south bouth part of crown prince gustav sea to the south end of heiberg elborg II land then down through norwegian bay where they secured some bears but not uncil after they had bad killed some of their heir dogs to the east side of graham island then eastward to the tha titus tittle bay marked elds fiord on dreps chart then southwest to hells gate and simmons peninsula here for the first time during the entire journey except as already noted off cape thomas H hubbard they encountered open water on this point the boys were clear emphatic and unshakable they spent a good deal of time in this region and finally abandoned their doga clogs and one sledge took to their boat crossed hells gate to north kent up into norfolk inlet then back along the north coast of colin archer peninsula to cape vera vcra where they obtained fresh elder duck eggs here they cut the rema remaining inin 9 sledge off that Is ia shortened it us its it was awkward to transport with the boat and near here they Id killed Ileda a wali wal rus from cape vera they went on down into tile southwest angle of jones sound where they killed a seal thence hence cast along alone the south the sound killing three bears at the point noted on the map to the peninsula known as cape on the map about midway on an the south side of jones sound here herb they killed some musk oxen and continuing east killed four more at the placie place indicated on the chart and wore were finally stopped by the pack ice at the mouth of jones sound fro from M here they turned back to cape where they wintered and killed many after the swa eua returned in 1909 they started pushing their sledge across jones sound to cape tennyson thence along the coast to clarence head passing inside of two small islands not shown on the chart but drawn on it by the boys boya where they killed a luear b ear thence across the broad light bight in the coast to cadogan fiord thence around cape isabella and up to commander old house la in payer harbor near capo cape sabine where they found a seal cached for or them by pan I took a ahola father from here they crossed smith So tt the le ice arriving at Anora tok signed K R E re PEAKY uty U S N ROBERT A banalett BAnT LETT vaster matter KS 8 B D 11 M MILLAN MATTHEW A L |