THE STHYTON MAIL
PART TWO
STAYTON. MARION COUNTY, OREGON. THURSDAY, 1'KHRUARY 13,*11)13.
Dr. Cook Says He Isn’t “Colossal Liar’ and Attacks Rear-Admiral Peary T.horpe Lo*es
Famous Polar Controversy Is Opened Again by Explorer W hose Claims o f Discovery Have Been Denounced as Fraudulent by His Enemies
Amateur Rank
i of bis reach, but was worth twenty plicate of mine; that, lieraiise of the cnuie forward, posing as experts to World’» Beat Athlete Confesses
{ five thousand dollars.
Here was pariillcl material which it contained pass upon both cases, Mr. Peary’s and
to Professionalism of Long
thirty five thousand dollars to gain that it either proved my position at mine, to settle for all times and ail
“ Accused uf being the most colossal liar in history, I some
Standing and Loses
and Mr. Peary changed heart.
He the Pole, or it proved that he had peoples the question of distribution
tunes (twl that morn lisa have been told about me than about
called Frnuke aboard the ship, offered borrowed from the previously pule of Polar honors. But whenee their
auyone ever burn. I have been guilty of many mistakes.
His Medals
I him a cup of eoffee and a square lished report. You are then asked to authority!
Who are its members!
Most m«u really true to themselves sdmit that. My claim to
James
Thorpe—Jim
Thorpe to thuee
meal and gave him two big goblets take this man’s report as the truth, For two dollars per, any man, woman
tko North Pole may always be (pieetioned.
Yet, when I re
of whiskey. He then called Franke and to take mine as a lie.
W ay! or child in this audience becomes a who follow athletic events— has ad
gard tM lies great and small attached to me, 1 nm filled al
to bis private cabin and there the Why was it neces-iary to put this geographer ia that society, for the mitted that he ia a professional. That
most with indifference.
following conversation took plaee: leprous sp o t u p o n the fnbrie of clean same money the man who sweeps the
“ As a popular illustration o f the sort of yarns that were
means that he has accepted money
Mr. Penry said to Franke, 'Y ou are human endeavor! Yout cannot under- streets becomes with equal facility a
told, let me refer to the foolish fake of the gum« drop.
for
his services in athletic compe
a very sick man. If you stay here
Hoineomi started the story that I exported to reach the Pole
tition.
That means that he is for
you
will
die.
I
f
you
go
home
you
by bribing the Eskimos with gum drops; perhaps the idea was
muy live.’ Franke knew that. ’ You
ever
barred
from taking part ia track
that I was to lura them on from point to ;>oint with regularly
Picture of Dr. Cook, j 4* He Is To-day
may go home on one o f these ships,
meets, football games or baseball
issued rations of these roafeetions.
bat before you do so you must turn
games in which amateurs figure, and,
“ Wherever I weal on my lecture tour after my return to
over everything that belongs to your- j
most especially, that he may not
the I'nlted States, much to my irritation, I saw ’ C ook’ gum
j self, aud everything that belongs to
again show his wonderful prowess in
drops conspicuously displayed in confectionery store windows.
| Dr. (took. You will not be allowed i
the Olympic games, that great inter
Hundreds o f pounds of gum drops were sent to my hotel with
to take any records home.’ There
national congress ot athletes. Thorpe
the compliments of the manufacturers. On all aides I heard
: was no alternative, the man did it.
is, undoubtedly, the greatest all-
the gum drop story, aud ia almost every paper read the re
! Iiut what law o f what land would \
arouud athlete in the world. He is a
iterated tale o f leading the Eskimos to the Pule by dangling
'grant itf
Sac and Fox Indian, a student at the
a gum drop on a string before them. I never denied this,
Carlisle school for Indians. Within
aa I never denied any o f the fakes printed about me. The
“ Here is, first, a dastardly under
a little more than half a year Thorpe,
fact is that I never heard the gum drop yarn until I canio
| handed trick to steal thirty five thou
at Stockholm and in competition
to New York.
We took no gum .Imps with us on our Polar
sand dollars, but that isn’t the worst.:
against the world, established a new
trip, and, to my knowledge, no Eskimo ate a gum drop while
| It was a deliberate attempt at mur
record and showed his supremacy. He
with m e.’ '—Dr. Frederick A. Cook.
j der. For in taking my camp, all o f (
was recently charged with having
i my food supplies, he was attempting
played professional baseball with the
| to starve me out, to prevent my re
Winston-Salem team in North Caro
turn to civilization. Here Mr. Peary
lina. Wh«n the charge was brought
la the annals o f Arctic exploration needed help. He started south, aim j did a thing for which he would l>e
home to him T hor;* confessed that
there ia nothin« to compare with the ing to get some assistance from th e: hanged, and rightly so, in a mining
he had been a professional since 1910;
Danish
whnlvsbips
in
North
Star
Bay.
ramp,
but
he
next
did
worse.
Twen
rase of Dr. Cook. He baa been ac
that, technically, at least, be had
With bunt and sled he fought an al ty five miles south o f Etah, in a
claimed sad honored: be has been most iinhunian battle and reached
taken Olympic honors under false
region o f bleak rocka and glaeiera,
pretenses. His confession was con
denounced and condemned.
lie baa North Htar, but too late. The last in a region o f death-dealing storms,
tained in a letter to the registra
been hailed as the first man to pone ship bad gone, there would not be an Mr. Penry deserted two innocent,
tion committee of the Amateur Ath
train the froxen North to the axle other for another year. He appealed lielplees children.
Two little boys,
letie Union, which organization has
of the earth, aa the first to reach the to those ever kindly wild people. kis own flesh and blood, his own
general supervision over the eligibil
" B i g N ail” o f the Eskimos. Then, They nursed him as liest they could children, were left there to starve
ity of all athletes who are not in
Or. <look has been denounced as “ the and aided him to get back north, and freeze in that cheerless world.
sports for n livelihood. This board
most eoloeeal liar in history,” as he aiming to get him back to my earap Those poor little ones are there to
was in session in New York City at
says himself.
at Anaoatoli. They did get him back day, crying for bread and milk and
the
time,
convening
to
deeide
The eareer o f 4 h , I'ook since his s i far aa Etah, only 2.1 miles south of a father. The meanest thief in all
Thorpe’s ease. In extenuation of his
claim to Arctic honors first thrilled my camp, but here Franke was ua- the world would not do that. Mr.
conduct, Thorpe said that he did sat
the world is too well known to need abla to go another step.
He was Peary dit It. Can that man be honest
know that he had done anything
discussion here. It is enough to eav sick; he had not had a morsel of in anything! That is the kind of
wrong, as on the same team with him
that he was the center o f the most eivilized food in two months. Ue lay man yrho tried to stir heaven and
in 1910 were several college men who
sensational conflict ever known and down on the rocks and expected to earth and the other place, mostly the
were spending their vacations playing
that he, himself, now feels that he die.
other place, to overthrow my elsim.
baseball for pay. These, said Thorpe,
must defend his achievements. It Is
“ While he was lying on those
“ One o f those ships went south,
were regarded as amatewra, and ha
ant lu the province of this article to rocks, two big ships came into that earrying Fntnke with it. ' The other
could see do reason why he also
espouse the cause of Dr. Cook, but harbor flying the American flag. went north, stayed for a' year, came
should not retain bis sta g in g . Also,
it cannot be amiss to give something Franks was glad; he was happy. He back on the following year to this
the Indian stated that he did not play
of what the explorer has to say. He pulled'himself together and went out same place at Etah, and there, from
for the money offered him, bnt be
is now making a lecture tour o f the and boarded the ship “ Roosevelt.
■ny Eskimos, Mr. Peary learned for
cause he loved the game.
United Mtatee, giving from the stage Hr went up to the galley and asked the first time that I had reached the
His record is remarkable. His win
his version of his case.
for a rup of eoffee. That coffee was Pole a year ahead o f him. He gath
ning of tke pentathlon and decathlon
For Current Features Dr. Cook has refused, but that wasn’t the worst, he ered all the information he could and
events at the Olympic games in Swe
prepared an article which de*!» with was forcibly put o ff that ship in the then put on full speed and rushed to
den and later his wonderful perform
what he calls the “ Polar Contro presence o f n dozen other men. Here the wireless station at labrador. Here
anee in winning the all-aronnd chain
versy,” starting with the time he and was a sick, a hungry, dying man re he sent through a brief message say
pionship o f the Amateur Athletic
his two Eskimo companions started fused a cap o f coffee from an Ameri ing that he also had reached the Pole.
Union at Celtic Park, New York, last
back from the top o f the earth:
can ship, fitted out at public expense! I had gotten to Copenhagen about a
¡September, stamped him aa the most
“ On the return journey our d iffi
“ Franke went bark to his rocks week previous to this, and had
¡marvelous athlete of modern times.
culties were even greater than on the and prayed that he might die, to be promptly given to the world my com
!lu addition, his prowess as a football
upward march.
The Ice began to relieved o f bis misery.
Those two plete report. That report was public
during tbe season o f 1912
break and separate; there was open ships stayed there two days. Then property, as all o f my material al stand that unless you understand this geographer in that society. Now, as «r player
- . . .
..
* ____
water with continuous fogs.
With Mr. I’eary changed heart.
In the ways has been. That report was at man, and I want you to understand an organization o f political shrimps, , brouKht to him
...
- ”
given
a
plaee
on
tbe
All-American
clouded skies, it wan impossible to meantime he had learned from the that wireless station in Labrador. Mr. j him.
that ig
right, but as a scientific ”
football eleven, a “ paper”
team
determine the drift o f the ice under Eakimos that after nil Franke was Penry took it from the operator, went “ We next go down to Washington, body it is a colossal humbug, and
picked by leading sporting experts
our feet.
We were carried uncon not n beggar. He had no money, but behind the rocks and stayed for n I the home of the “ Steam Roller. ’ ’
those of my readers who are mem-
sciously far to the west and south he did have in his possession furs and week, digested that report and then Here we have the so-called National hers of that soceity are a party to from among the best in the great eol-
o f our course, and, when skies finally ivory worth ten thousand dollars. He esme forth and
issued his report. Ueographieal Society, an organization that humbug. Two-thirds o f the news lege game.
Thorpe will be required to return
cleared and we got an observation, had under his direction my camp Every Arctic sxplorer at once said which is no more national than the paper editors o f this country are two-
alt of the medals and insignia of
wo found ourselves away down in north of there, which ramp was out thc Peary report was a scientific d u -1 National ©
Register, but they
(Continued on page three)
honor that he has won in competition
Crown Prince Oustav 8ca. After a
with amateurs since the time ha
long and tedious journey, with starv
played baseball for hire. Foreign
ation staring us in the
fare, we
M o r e P o w er to Y o u Colum bia R iüer
sporting men, however, are reported
finally ranched Jones Round, and here,
as believing that Thoi pe should be
on Cape Hparbo, we stayed through
allowed to retain his medals, cvea if
out another long winter night.
We
he won them under pretenses o f being
ate the meat o f the musk-ox and
an amateur. This, too, means that
used their fat for fuel and their skins
tbe points won by Thorpe for America
for clothing. Wc spent the winter in
i may not be counted for this country.
an old
rave.
Early in March we
5 Their loss, however, does not take
started for the long return march to
victory from Uncle Sam. Tbe cor
our Greenland camp. After many de
rected score gives the United States
tours, to avoid open water, and many
79 points, with Finland second with
narrow
escapes from starvation, we
2P.
finally
got back to our Oreenland
UNCLE
In the pentathlon in Stockholm
ramp and here we saw for the first
Thorpe finished fitat in the running
time in fourteen months other human
broad jump, first in the 200-metew,
faces except our own.
Here with
run, first in the 1500-meters run,
their people I left my two Eskimo
j first and third in the javelin event.
companions, splendid, faithful, helpful
In the decathlon, whieh consisted of
manly fellows they had been! They
the 100-meters dash, running broad
had gone with me to the Pole and
jump, shotput, running high jump,
hark, had suffered all of the tortures
400-meters run, 110-meters hurdles,
I had suffered, had endured all the
discus throwing, pole vaulting, javelin
hardships uncomplainingly, not for
throwing and 1500-meters run, Thorpe
money, not for honor—for they can
had a percentage o f 8412.955, against
not appreciate either—but simply be
7724.493 by Wieslander o f 8weden,
cause they wished to he useful to one
whom they choose to call a friend.
his nearest opponent.
They deserve just as much credit as
Thorpe first was heard of several
I do for the result of the expedition,
years ago as a football player with
the Carlisle team. Later he special
and I want you to remember them,
to remember their names: Ah-we-lah
ized ia weight throwing, jumping and
and K-tuk-i shook.
running. He also became noted as a
“ Now we wore hack to our Green
lacrosse and baseball player and tn
land camp; we were half starved, a!
the latter branch o f sport several
most unable to walk. Wo naturally
of the major league teams tried to
looked around for something to eat,
procure his services. Only last year
especially from our own school. But,
Pittsburg and Washington endeavored
sad to say, during our absence some
to secure him, bnt the Indian re
one else came along and took that
fused to sign a contract, declaring
enmp, took everything we had in the
that he wished to remain an amateur.
north world.
This brings ue to the
AfteT the Olympic games in Swe
first chapter of what is known as the
den last year King Gustave sent for
Polar Controversy.
Thorpe to congratulate him on his
“ Two months after I had reached
prowess. A t first the Indian timidly
the Pole, two big ships started north
declined to meet the monarch, bnt
for the Pole. They went north with
later, when several o f tie American
the usual press bombast.
At about
committeemen insisted that he do so,
the same time my companion. Ru
Thorpe went to the palaes. There the
dolph Franke, who had been left in
| king took the Indian by the hand
Oreenland to guard my supplies, was
and smilingly said: “ Yon are the
eick. He was in desperate shape; he
! greatest athlete in the world.”
,