stefansson-wrangel-09-14-076-001

Chicago, Illinois, November 5, 1923.

Dear Mrs. Crawford:

I have been deeply grieved by a message from Mr. Taylor,
saying that you do not approve of certain things I said in
an interview in the London Times, especially with regard to
their being "plenty game" on Wrangell Island. This misun-
derstanding is especially painful, since it is the first one
so far with any relatives of any of the boys. I am sure it
is no more than a misunderstanding, however, and that if this
letter does not clear it up, we shall at any rate be able to
clear it up when I come to Toronto next week.

To begin with, you must remember that a newspaper interview
is seldom, if ever, given by the reporter exactly as it is
stated to him, although the Times interview is in this respect
much better than the ordinary.

When I made the statement of there being plenty of game on
Wrangell island, I had two motives. The first was that I
believed this to be the truth, for I had just received a
direct cable from Mr. Noice, saying exactly that, but the
reason why I put this in the interview was not so much be-
cause it was the truth, but rather the second motive, that
I thought it would be less painful to the relatives and to
all concerned to realize that the tragedy occurred somewhat
in the manner of a shipwreck at sea, an incident for which no
one could be directly blamed, although indirectly might possibly
be placed much farther back, on someone, perhaps myself.

I have no doubt you know already, from Mr. Taylor, that I do
not approve of many things in the story as given out by Mr.
Noice, and that certain parts of it are very painful to us,
in addition to being incorrect. Any careful reading of the
actual quotations he makes from the diaries will show that
there is not strict correspondence between what the diaries
state and his interpretations, which he constantly puts in
between the diary entries. I feel sure that the final full
publication of the diaries and all the facts will be much
more creditable to all the boys, including Allen, than the
present version has been. I have not as yet seen the diary,
nor any of the papers in the case, for as you again doubtless
know from Mr. Taylor, there has been a quarrel with Noice on
the ground of where the money is to go that was paid for the
newspaper story. I cabled Mr. Taylor from England that no
one connected with us must make a single penny of profit out
of the tragedy, but that since the full publication seemed