stefansson-wrangel-09-12-043

No Ans.

July 20, 1923.

Dear Mr. Stefansson:

I know how worried you must be at not hearing from Nome. I am worried, too, and am doing everything I can to get a reply. Your second telegram came this morning.

Immediately upon receiving your first cable asking me to find out from Lomen's if Alexander Allen accepts your offer, I sent them a telegram, asking them to reply rush. I confidently expected a reply would come last Saturday and when it had not come Monday morning I cabled you. At that time I wired Taylor asking if he had had a confirmation and received the following reply:

"Toronto, July 17th. "Recd wire Mister Taylor out of town have no confirmation from Lomen but believe charter arranged stop papers this morning say Noice arrived Nome. (signed) John Anderson."

Upon receipt of this I sent a wire to Noice, asking the same question and telling him to reply immediately so that I could inform you. I thought he would reply promptly even if Lomen's didn't for it is to his interest to do so.

This morning I have wired Lomen's again telling them we must have a reply immediately.

I have traced the wires through Western Union and they say that they went out all right and that I would have been notified if they had not been delivered at the other end.

As to the "Polar Picnic." When you asked long ago to have Noice send it to the Lecture Agency, I delivered the message to him immediately. I wrote the address out on a card and handed it to him and he said he would send it to you at once. He never mentioned the subject again and I took it for granted that he had sent it. It never occurred to me that he hadn't, for I supposed of course that if he was not going to send it he would tell me so that I could inform you.

When you cabled about it last week Miss Skinner then told me that just prior to your request to have it sent to the Lecture

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Agency, Noice had given it to a London agent who was sailing for London and took it with him. I understand that Noice gave him the right to place it in England if he could. This agent's name is G. N. Jeffries, Hopefield House, Hanwell, London, W.7.

This was the first that I had heard of it. I can't understand why Noice didn't tell me either at the time that I asked him to send it to you or else later.

There are two other copies, one is out in the magazine field and the other is with some book publishers. Last week Miss Skinner thought she might be able to get one of them back, but she now tells me that she cannot and so instead has given me the name of the London agent suggesting that you try to borrow it from him.

I hope I shall hear from you soon about the Neilson dates, also about Maine.

Sincerely,

Olive R. Wilcox