The news proved to be a grievous exaggeration which was contradicted by a later dispatch some hours after, but the damage was done.
"A History of the Third French Republic"
C. H. C. Wright
But Cook, in his first cable dispatch, stated definitely and positively and finally that at the North Pole there was no land, but sea, frozen over into smooth ice, and Peary confirmed Cook's statements.
"My Attainment of the Pole"
Frederick A. Cook
Fearing exposure I hastily locked my door, and proceeded with the greatest dispatch to dress myself.
"Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity"
Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard