stefansson-wrangel-09-32-036v

276 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

attempted only by Crawford and Galle. Like everything
in this case not actually recorded as a happening in some
authentic document, these opinions of the Maurer family
are only opinions. They are significant, however, since
they are based in part on evidence which we cannot
publish. I have, therefore, asked John Maurer, elder
brother of Fred Maurer, to write a statement on behalf
of the family which I might print somewhere. I have
chosen to place it here immediately after recording
Knight’s wish of February 5th that “the three fellows
would come back.”

“New Philadelphia, Ohio,
December 15, 1924.

“Dear Mr. Stefansson :

“My opinion of Fred’s letter to his wife and the other
evidence is that Fred did not want to leave the island and
that Knight and Crawford insisted and brought forward
the argument about the shortage of food and he was
persuaded to go with that reason. No doubt he also
felt that the two young men, Crawford and Galle, needed
someone with experience with them to cross the ice.

In reading Knight’s diary carefully I get the opinion
that Fred allowed himself to be persuaded to go for two
reasons, one to give the benefit of his greater experience
of ice travel to Crawford and Galle, and the other to
leave Knight and Ada enough food.

“I am sure that the boys could have caught enough
game to keep alive and perhaps to have saved Knight
if they had all stayed on Wrangel Island. The diary
shows Knight and Crawford making arrangements to
leave long before they did, only waiting for the right
season, but not a word about Fred or Galle wanting to
go. I don’t say this to criticize Knight, for he no doubt

[left margin starting from "DEAR MR. STEFANSSON:] Set in smaller type