stefansson-wrangel-09-13-029-001a

Broadway at 156 St, New York,
September 6, 1923.

Mr. A. J. Taylor.
Combustion Engineering Co.,
Bank of Hamilton Bldg.,
Toronto.

My dear Taylor:

A few weeks ago the North American Newspaper Alliance
got in touch with me and retained me to write the background of the
Wrangel Island story and also to advise them with regard to the matter
until it should be over.

Shortly after this Mrs. Wilcox went away on her vacation and I
offered to look after the office and attend to V.S.'s cables during
her absence.

Thus I came in a way to be a sort of liason officer between the
various sections of this widely spread drama.

The other day I received a cablegram from V. S. asking me to consult
Miss Marbury and others regarding the sale of Crawford’s and the other
boys' diaries in magazine form edited by himself and Noice. From con-
versations I had had with Pickering I felt certain that he considered
the Alliance entitled to the first chance at all the material and upon
consulting the contract made between yourself and the Alliance I still
think this to be the case.

Pickering intimated to me that he would probably be able to pay
more than any other bidder anyway and that his use of the material
need not necessarily conflict with its being used in magazine articles
afterwards. He intimated also that the figure he had in mind was
$5,000, but this would depend upon the amount of material that was
available. So far we do not know whether Noice brought back any
diaries or not.

I have cabled Noice twice for information and so has Pickering but
so far nothing has come from him excepting that delayed cable, part of
which I relayed to you yesterday. Of course the earthquake has upset
the cable service between Seattle and Sitka and that may account for the
delay. The Alliance people were greatly upset yesterday upon receiving
the Toronto Star which had a Canadian Press dispatch from Nome containing
about as much information as Noice had sent to them. Noice's story