CHAPTER VII. 

 PEARY FINDS THE POLE. 



At this point it becomes necessary to leave the narrative of Dr. Cook for a 

 time and record the extraordinary fact that a second message came from the far 

 north ; a second hero appeared to receive his share of glory. 



On September 6, 1909, a telegraph operator in the New York office of the 

 Associated Press, the great news-gathering agency, heard the call of the wire. 

 He answered. As he wrote down the words that tapped on the instrumeiit at 

 his side an incredulous smile spread over his face. 



Another man Jiad discovered the North Pole! 



This was the message : 



"Indian Harbor, Labrador, via Cape Ray, Sept. 6.— To Associated Press, 

 New York : Stars and Stripes nailed to North Pole. 



"Feary/' 



In a few minutes the dispatch was in the office of every newspaper in the 

 world. There were more incredulous smiles. It was enough to have spent 

 five days recording so astonishing a fact as the discovery of the North Pole ; 

 and now came a second claim and in a short time the Peary telegram was thun- 

 dering out from the big presses to startle the world. 



What doubt there was did not have to do with Commander Peary's veracity, 

 but with the genuineness of the dispatch itself. That some joker was busy 

 was the prevalent theory. This, however, was speedily disproved. Commander 

 Peary, besides wiring and sending a duplicate message to Renter's" Telegram 

 Co., a similar news agency in London, had telegraphed to Herbert L. Bridg- 

 man, secretary of the Arctic Club in New York. There could be no question 

 this message was from Peary. Besides the earmarks of truth in the wording it- 

 self, the dispatch was in cipher code known only to the New York official 

 and to his friend in the north. 



Said this message: 



93 



