ARCTIC TRAGEDY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16200, 25 November 1926, Page 10

ARCTIC TRAGEDY

PROFESSOR MURDERED

REVEALED AFTER 17 YEARS

NEW YORK, October 4. The New Y'orlc Times prints a despatch from Mr George Palmer Putnam, , the publisher, who is returning from the Arctic, where he lias been carrying out investigations, revealing 1 that Prolessor Rorr Marvin, of Cornell Univer- : sity, who was believed: to have been drowned on the Peary expedition in 1909, was murdered by 'one of his Eskimo companions. Mr Marvin, who was about 50 years old, beaded the third supporting party accompanying Admiral Peary (who was then Lieut. Peary) to the North Pole from the ship Roosevelt. The supporting party left Admiral Peary at latitude 86.38 to return to the Roosevelt. When the explorer returned from the Pole, lie learned that the Eskimos had returned alone, reporting that Mr Marvin had' been drowned by falling through thin ice. Admiral Peary incorporated their version in his book. Last year a Danish missionary converted most of the members of Admiral Peary’s tribe of Eskimos, among whom were’ Mr Marvin's companions, one of whom, a man named Kuklooktoo, when baptised, informed the missionary that his conscience had been awakened by the white man’s Christianity. Ho then admitted' that he shot- the professor behind the ear, and that- he and his partner, named Inukitsoq, invented the drowning story to conceal their crime.

The Eskimo said that he shot Mr Marvin to save his companion. Mr Marvin, weakened by'hardships, became suddenly infuriated and ordered Inukatsou to be turned adVift without food or shelter. To save his friend, Kuklooktoo. pretending' to see a seal, got- a rifle and shot Mr Marvin. The Danish Government sent- Mr Kri-ndi Rasmussen to investigate. the storv, as they did not believe that an Eskimo would kill a white man. Mr Rasmussen found Inukitsoq and obtained full corroboration of Kuklooktoo’s confession. The scene of the murder was in “No Man's Land,” which has since been taken over by Denmark, and Mr Putnam is of the opinion that no action will ever be taken legally against the Eskimos.