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found on the island, but named me as one of the parties possessing a claim to use such material and bound me to give the Newspaper Alliance the first opportunity of purchasing further stories based on such material. This contract and telegrams relating to it clearly prove Mr. Taylor's good faith with respect to his agreement with me. If Mr. H. G. Wells had been sent to Wrangel Island instead of me the Alliance would have probably offered him considerably more than $3,000 for 20,000 words, because Mr. Wells has written ten books to my one. On the other hand, if Captain Bernard had been sent to Wrangel the Alliance would probably have offered him considerably less than $3,000 because the Captain has had no literary experience. Mr. Stefansson's claim that because I had been sent to Wrangel to do certain definite work for the company I was morally bound to turn over to the company any money I might make through my ability as a writer is absurd. It would have been equally absurd if the American Museum who sent Mr. Stefansson north toccollect ethnological specimens had demanded that he give them the money he received from the sale of articles based on his experiences during the expedition..

Upon my return to Nome I sent out detailed information concerning the tragedy, clearly showing that all the men of the party had perished but that the tragedy was not due to the inherent inhospitality of Wrangel Island, either in severity of climate or lack of game resources, and that I had, therefore,

Last edit over 1 year ago by Samara Cary
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established the new colony of professional trappers completely outfitted with all things necessary for the maintenance of a happy existence for two years and ammunition for three years.

I received congratulations from Stefansson and the company stating that high personages in the British Government were delighted with my action. Then six days after I had returned to Nome I received a cable forwarded from Stefansson instructing me to purchase the Donaldson outright and leave her at Nome to be used by the company the following year. I was unable to do this for obvious reasons and I was also considerably annoyed and astounded because the cables also stated that Mr. Stefansson hoped the impression could be created that both the establishment of the colony and the purchase of the ship were for the sole purpose of being useful to the survivors of the Crawford party. I refused to perjure myself but when I met Mr. Taylor in Toronto upon my return from Alaska he explained the matter by saying that doubtless it was only a political move on Stefansson's part to please the British authorities who for diplomatic reasons wanted the idea to get abroad that the colony had been established for humanitarian rather than for Imperialistic reasons, but who would nevertheless take formal possession of the island later on. Mr. Taylor was delighted with my management of the expedition and said that, if I had refused to establish the colony in the face of such a tragedy as most other menwould have done, the whole project would have been ruined, but now his cable from

Last edit 4 months ago by Samara Cary
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Stefansson indicated that it would be only few weeks now before the government would take over the island and the company would be reimbursed for the total expenditures shown on its books an amount in excess of $30,000. Not only this but the fact that the contract I had secured with the trappers would write off the total expense of the expedition made Mr. Taylor exceedingly grateful for my services. I turned over all the effects I had found on the island, records, diaries, documents, etc. to Mr. Taylor who examined them with me, and I asked his permission to use the information contained therein in writing additional articles which I felt certain the Alliance would purchase from me. Mr. Taylor thought it was the least the company could do to repay me for my services and it meant no money out of their pockets. He very gladly gave his permission with the understanding, of course, that as soon as I had used what I needed I would return the diaries to the company.

With this understanding I came down to New York and had a long talk with Mr. Pickering of the Alliance, the afternoon of the day I arrived.Note letter of day after I left Toronto Mr. Pickering thought that instead of my writing a second series of articles on the information contained in the diaries it would be better to include the new material in the original 30,000 words and then expand the series, if necessary, agreeing to pay me an additional $1500 for this new material. This was satisfactory to me. Mr. Pickering asked me if I had thought to secure written permission from Taylor because he would have to have confirmation in order

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to legalise the second agreement. I told him I had not thought of this angle at all but for him to write or telegraph Taylor for the desired confirmation. Mr. Pickering got in touch with his representative, the editor of the Toronto Star, and asked him to see Taylor and have the agreement ratified which he did, and I began work on the articles. I did not receive my first payment until the work was underway and in the meantime Stefansson had sent no money to the company which being short of funds wrote me a letter on , asking me to send them a check to cover the cost of the telegrams and their stenographic work,as I had agreed to do which I did as soon as I got my first payment from the Alliance note letter of also and on the company having received the check wrote me a letter of thanks and acknowledgment, also saying that they had just received a letter from Mr. Stefansson which gave them,and also me, our first intimation that Mr. Stefansson was expecting me to give the company the pay I received from the Alliance and states that a Mr. Griffith Brewer, the gentleman in England who put up all the money for the relief expedition was coming over with Stefansson for the purpose of going into the accounts of the expedition. This was all very interesting but it was an outrageous presumption on Stefansson's part, especially in view of what I had done for him and his company. If Stefansson had got into trouble with Brewer it certainly

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was no fault of mine. Stefansson had written me previously implying that/inmy account of the tragedy I had not blamed the men who perished for mistakes which, if known, would remove the feeling that Wrangel Island itself was ill-suited for habitation, and he had also given out the suggestion that it was his view, presumably a move made for publicity, that no one connected with the company should make any money out of stories but should donate such money towards building a monument. Now if anyone should put up a monument it should be Stefansson himself or the company. They were the ones who benefited by the work of the boys who died and who, thanks to my work, had continued in possession of an island inhabited by a colony of professional trappers. The commercial value of this colony on a basis of the fur catch alone was an asset worth in the vicinity of $15,000 to the company, and the value of the island itself was not less than $50,000. note confirmation of this on page 311 - Stefansson book ["Total value of the catch of Wells and his companions in one year 10,000"] Now it appeared that Stefansson was actually trying to get possession of my money, not for a monument but for some purpose best known to himself and I quite naturally resented it very much indeed. I had unfortunately mislaid the letters I had received from the company and had only the contract with the Alliance to support my case whereupon Stefansson claimedletter to Alliance as of ?that it had been necessary to draw up a contract in my name because I was the one to write the articles, but that I had agreed orally to turn over the money to the company. Stefansson's great reputation and the testimony of his officers convinced people that I was a crook and had taken advantage of a legal technicality.

The officers of the Stefansson company now deny that they testified against me. They say Stefansson used their names without their knowledge or consent.

Last edit over 1 year ago by Samara Cary
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