The Annual Dinner 



35 



when the president arose and told how 

 he had solemnly promised the General 

 that he would not be called on to speak, 

 but "Gentlemen," he said, "you know 

 what a liar I am," and then introduced 

 the commander of the U. S. Army, who, 

 I am glad to say, was kindly received 

 this time. Following the precedent thus 

 set I shall ask Mr Champ to get up and 

 say a word ; if he cannot say a word, let 

 him get up and show what a good-look- 

 ing fellow he is, and then turn around 

 and sit down. 



A Polar Bear Story— Mr W.S. Champ 



Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



I indeed feel greatly honored to be 

 present this evening, and I will say that 

 I have a very high feeling toward our 

 worthy President, for I am a member 

 of the National Geographic Society. I 

 feel very kindly toward him for afford- 

 ing me an opportunity to pay tribute to 

 himself, Mr Grosvenor, and the Execu- 

 tive Committee of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society for their hearty co- 

 operation and their assistance in equip- 

 ping the Ziegler expedition with such 

 a worthy representative as Mr W. J. 

 Peters. (Applause.) In addition to Mr 

 Peters, there was also another member 

 attached to the expedition who is also 

 a member of your Society. I refer to 

 Mr Russell W. Porter, and I am proud 

 to say, gentlemen, that these two men, 

 assisted by a few others, accomplished 

 a great deal of work under the most 

 trying conditions. They have suc- 

 ceeded in doing work that I am sure 

 you will find to the credit of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society, as well as to 

 the Ziegler Polar Expedition. As re- 

 gards Mr Fiala, it is a great pleasure 

 for me, as the representative of the late 

 Mr Ziegler, to pay tribute to his manli- 

 ness, and I feel that I am justified in 

 saying that he carried out, under the 

 existing circumstances, to the very best 

 of his ability, the sacred trust. They 

 encountered very trying conditions ; 



they were unfortunate in the loss of the 

 vessel with a very large portion of their 

 supplies ; they had high temperatures 

 to contend with which made sledging 

 very difficult. Considering all things, I 

 feel that they have done their duty. 



I feel like asking your indulgence in 

 listening to a little story, an incident 

 which happened on board our relief 

 ship this year. Today there is in your 

 zoological park a small bear called 

 "Buster," a polar bear. This member 

 was captured by the relief ship and was 

 presented to the National Zoological 

 Park. I want to tell you in a few words 

 the story of his capture. To me it ap- 

 peals strongly, as it occurred after we 

 had been in the pack about 20 days, or 

 about 150 miles into the pack. We 

 were enveloped in a very dense fog for 

 three days, and when the fog lifted on 

 the skyline we noticed a very large bear 

 with a young cub. Everybody on board 

 ship was very quiet when we went into 

 the pack, though we knew there was 

 nothing to fear and we waited to see 

 what these bears would do. As a 

 sportsman, I want to say there is no 

 sport in killing a polar bear; they come 

 right up to the ship ; they do not know 

 what a human being is, and as a result 

 of their hunger and curiosity they come 

 right up to you ; this bear had evidently 

 been hunting for food for several days. 

 She encircled the ship entirely and 

 gradually worked her way up to the 

 ship. In the meantime, the doctor who 

 was on board and one of the harpooners 

 and myself went on the ice and crawled 

 up toward the bear behind a huge cake 

 of ice, and finally dispatched the old 

 bear. As a usual thing, when a mother 

 is shot, the cub will run away, but in 

 this instance the young bear sat over 

 the mother and fought us off. We 

 fought her with our rifles and I finally 

 sent the harpooner back to the ship for 

 more ropes and more men. We lassoed 

 the cub and brought it to the ship, and 

 in its efforts to get back to its mother 



