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The "little people", or "boreal pigmies",
as Cook called them never went along with his hoax. First they told
Matthew Henson what really happened in August of 1909. Later in 1924, when Fred was
in prison, MacMillan interviewed them again as this news clipping clearly shows. |
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| But
that's not all he faked...There's
more!
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This is a repeat of Fred's Mt. McKinley fraud—that
is, no witnesses corroborated his story. In fact, all such
"witnesses", guides in both instances, refuted Fred's stories and said Cook was lying. This was how
Cook became known to newspaper men as "The Prince of Liars."
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Ahpellah [Ah′-pel-lah] and Etookashoo [E-took′-ah-shoo] Image
from a December 22, 1909 front page newspaper report. Dr. Cook
had gone into hiding the month before. |
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What was Fred really doing? One theory is that he
went out to the vicinity of the 102nd meridian to look for the "Crocker
Land" Peary had reported. This was actually a mirage caused by the
refraction caused with very cold, dense air. (That was proved later by the
MacMillan expedition.) Fred knew he would become famous if he discovered
new land, so he did. However, when he attempted to travel over the Arctic
Ocean he soon learned how difficult the ice conditions are. Fred never
even saw it. The Eskimos said they saw nothing—no "Crocker Land."
That didn't deter Fred! He simply claimed he discovered land,
renamed it for his gambler pal Bradley, staged photographs of it,
claimed he found animal tracks
in its vicinity, and mapped its (fictitious) location. What a con artist!
Then he headed south - going hundreds of miles below the village where
he started. Why did he do that? Fred knew that Peary was expected in
the Smith Sound vicinity for a 1908-1909 expedition to the Pole. If
Fred went back the way he came he risked running into Peary's ship
and crew; everyone one would know he had not been to the Pole.
So Cook had to hide out until Peary was gone.
He went far south to try and catch a whaling ship to get away on,
but he was too late in the season and had to spend the winter in a
tiny cave. Cook, the faker, and two stinky Eskimos huddled together
for months surviving on blubber and raw meat.
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