COOK CONFESSES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1018, 6 January 1911, Page 6

COOK CONFESSES.

.RETURNING ,T0 AMERICA. NOT SURE HE REACHED THE POLE BUT THINKS HE MAY HAVE. ' ' I Piles to hand by tho lust American mail state that Dr. Frederick A. Cook has confessed that he does not know whothor he readied tho North Pole. lie has said, too, that ho is tired living the lite of nn exile from his own country, P. j. in Jends to return to the United states, landing at New York 011 Docember 2-, with his wife and children, in tiiuo to spond 'Christmas with his relatives in Brooklyn. His one desire, ho adds, is to re-establish himself in the estimation of his countrymen; he realises the position ho has held in the public cyo since his flight from New York last November, and the confession he has written lS nA? r l n )FP° se of setting him right. Ihe discredited explorer does not say outright that he failed to reach the Pole. He merely admits that ho is not sure, remarking that ho was half mr.d from privation and loneliness, but convinced himself at the time that he had reallv attained the goal of his ambition. He insists that ho did not armreciate the tremendous popular interest"in such a feat, and was overwhelmed and bewildered bv tho attention ho found concentiated upon himself from the time ho landed at Copenhagen. Yet at the time," he declares, believed his own storv. Now, in the light of reflection, ho is not SO' positive. It would be impossible l l i? -{or any man to assert positivelv that ho had reached the spot where all' meridians meet. k

His Craving to Explore. l A>; >" , a sorta of four articles to bepublished m Hampton's Magazine" that Cook discusses this and other phases ot lhe drama wmch absorbed tho world in tho months that stretched between bis reception at the Danish capital and the last tense days at the Hotel Graraatan 111 Bronxville.

Ihe writer pays particular attention to the psychology of his lifo at thsit time. In fact, ho goes back years into his past to trace the desire for exploration that linal y became a reasonless craving, driving him on and on, regardless of perils, through the isolation and suffering 'of tho two years he spent behind the icewall. in the north. For Dr. Cook declines to admit.that he did not pay tho price of tho explorer, even if. he failed to win the laurels. "Did I get to the North Pole?" he says. Perhaps I . made a mistake in' thinking that I did. Perhaps I did not make a mistake. After mature thought, I confess that 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 tho world,'- if, by so doing, I can get an opportunitv to present my case.. .By my case, i mean not my case, as a geographical discoverer, but my-case as a man. Much as tho attainment of tho North Pole once- meant to mo, the. sympathy and confidence .of .my. fellow* menmean more.

. Fully, freely, and frankly I ,shall tell you everything—and leave tho decision with you. If, after reading my storj, you say, 'Cook is sincere and homst; half" crazed by mon'.hs of isolation and hunger, ho believed that he -reached the Pole; he is not a faker,' then I shall be satisfied."' ■ '

"Rcgion of Insanity." In. the tivo years of-his quest, he continues, he endured hunger and privation that would have: unbalanced the mind of.'any. man. He characterises the region he was exploring as a region of insanity, ivhero one could not believe the. evidence gathered by one's own eyes—hence his assertion that it would ,bo impossible for any man to demonstrate beyond question that lie had been to the North Pole.

He had always leaked updn tho discovery of Clio Pole as an achievement for his own personal satisfaction—for the satisfaction of a desire that was greater than any other factor in his life. He could not understand tho sensation that the story of his discovery created in every country. He had not reasoned that it would interest tho world to such an (■stent. Ho was bewildered,\ amazed. Events followed each other with such rapidity, that he could scarcely keep track of.them.. 4.morig tho most remarkable facts brought, out by Cook's story, is that all tho tinio he has been missing he has lever worn a disguise, and has uovot aken unusual precaution to conceal his dmtitv. Part of the .time his wife, has ie"»n with him, and part of the time lis" children. The children are now at a ctreat in France, and Ccok- and Ins ife/are. in Europe.^

Most of the time lie Ims been in I-oi don. Ho' has roiio about anions Amen cans with the utmost freedom, ho says and at times Iras registered under hi: own name. Yet, despite the fact prob ably that there never has been a man whose photograph has been printed so much ami so often, few have. K uess«l lus identity. And even those who did Ruess it were turned away with ease by the remark he used every time anyono would sav ho looked Hko Dr. Cook: '"'Why, yes; I have been told that be°With the opportunity for thought that liis exile f*ave him—he says he never bad time to sleep- more- than three or four hours'at a time between his arrival at Copenhagen and his disappearance from New York—he found growing stronger and stronger his desire to return to his own country, "to bo understow*' here, as he expressed it. ... ; "I have been- called the greatest lmr'in the Att>rld, the most monumental inpostor in history," he remarks, in starting his story. "I believe that, in a very undesirable way, I stand, unique, the object of suclr suspicion" and ■ vituperation as have assailed few men." , , -

■ It was. this realisation that set Cook to work on his story.. Ho lias- told tho ■magazine editors that the honour, of, discovering tho North Pole no longer means anything to him, and that his desire is to make the people of the United States realise what he went through in two and a half years in the Arctic fastness, and to explain what processes of .thinking—or lack of thinking—led him to do the thing which confirmed tho suspicions against him. , ■

According to those who have seen him recently, Cook is in better health' and spirits than at any time since his arrival in-New York a little more than a year ago.. Ho .has had an opportunity to rest, and think, and instead of his flight having harassed him into ill-health, it seems to have had just tho opposite effect an<f to have stimulated him, mentally and physically. He is Faid to bo looking forward, eagerly to his return, to - 'this 1 country. ; What he will do when ho gets here, nobody seems to know. He has made lio attempt to work in his absence, and, while he is understood to have a few thousand dollars left from the sum which ho took with him 011 his flight, he is by 110 means so well oil' as many, have supposed. It is considered likely by those Who have been in communication. with him that he may take up the practice of medicine, a profession for which he was originally, educated. It. has also been.suggested* that he might go on the lecture platform onco more.

Anxious to Make Admission. One thing is certain: Ho took an unusual interest in the t,Tiling of his confession. He worked at it night and day, from tho beginning of August until recently. Ho was anxious to nave a chance to writo it, eager to boßin work, once the chance was offered. Getting in touch with him was not particularly difficult, cither. .Through processes of deduction, the men on his trail narrowed down the available places to London and New Yorlc, tho two best hiding-places in the world for men wishing to bo forgotten. A little while was needed to show that NewYork was a barren field, and tho limit was confined ,to London.

i'iually it was discovered that tlioro was a certain solicitor through whom communication could be established with Cook. Letters were exchanged, and the Brooklyn . explorer expressed himself as glad to have the opportunity (o present his case. In fact, he showed an almost childish precipitancy in taking advantago of tho offer. An agent was sent to London'to .assist him ill the preparation of his articles, but the agent found that there was littlo need for his presence. Cook's one aim was to tell the whole story'. He'laid baro the smallest details that had occupied his mind, and analysed his pettiest motives. And he did it better than anybody else could have done. He said he wanted to ba understood; that was all. .