THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN COOK AND PEARY 195 



adherents and Peary adherents. It was the all-absorbing topic of 

 the day and a war of words raged everywhere. 



The attitude assumed by Peary that he alone was capable of 

 reaching the Pole and the denouncing of Cook as a pretender could 

 not fail to alienate much of the sympathy felt for him in his great 

 disappointment. Such messages as the following to the New York 

 Herald: "Cook has simply handed the public a gold brick. He has not 

 been at the Pole April 21, 1908, or any other time. The above state- 

 ment is made advisedly and at the proper time will be backed by 

 proof," could not fail to create a feeling of regret. 



Immediately upon receipt of that despatch the Herald sent a 

 message to Mr. Peary stating that his accusation would be published 

 and asking him to wire the evidence on which it was based, stating 

 that the unsupported charge was liable to excite a public sentiment 

 adverse to himself. It seemed that "the proper time" to furnish 

 proof of the assertion that Dr. Cook was untruthful and in effect 

 a swindler was when the accusation was made. 



Mr. Peary replied that the despatch was not intended for pub- 

 lication and if he so intended it he would have modified the "gold 

 brick" expression to something more elegant but not less forcible or 

 significant. 



More remarkable even than the discovery of the North Pole 

 by two rival Americans, after intrepid and adventurous explorers 

 had sought it in vain for centuries, was the astonishing fact that 

 the news of the achievement first by Dr. Cook and then by Com- 

 mander Peary should be given to the world within the span of five 

 days. Naturally, the question presented itself, Was it a mere coinci- 

 dence that these similar messages should have come out of the land 

 of eternal snow and ice almost simultaneously? Did Dr. Cook know 

 that Commander Peary, formerly his friend, but later his rival, 

 had reached the North x Pole ? Did Peary divine that Cook had been 

 there? And in consequence, did they both hasten homeward, each 

 desperately eager to be the first to tell the news? 



