harold-noice-01-02-15-010

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was no fault of mine. Stefansson had written me previously im-
plying 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 com-
mercial 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 Oct. 20?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.