stefansson-wrangel-09-34-034

Blackjack -4-

controversy. Anent the Peary-Cooke North Pole claims.

I have no recollection of just where and when my sister
Frances met Harold Noice and I can't recall the date of my
sster's marriage to him. Had thought it was after he returned
from the rescue trip; this would make it in 1923 or'4. Just
phoned Fred Foote and Fred, reflecting on certain circumstances
in his life, put the date at 1922, which would put it previous
to the Wrangel Island business. (She met him in Alaska on his return from Wrangel Is.)

Anyhow, there was a wedding and dinner at a New York City
hotel at which I was present. Both Fred and I remembered a
nice fellow there, a friend of Noice's named Erskine, a writer
and, I believe, a Canadian. The Footes and others were on hand
for the occasion including Frances' elder daughter, Julia Probst.
Frances was 10 years older than Noice.

I do remember that some time following this, Noice and
Frances were living temporarily at a small hotel on the Palisades
near Ft. Lee-- the Hudson Villa." "Villa Richard."

I spent several evenings with them at this place, and
Noice appealed to me as he was a well-spoken, sensitive, and
intelligent person. Compared with one or two other husbands
of Frances' whom I had met, he seemed outstanding and, like
Stefannson, he was filled with the lore of the north. He spoke of
"taking” Wrangel for the U. S., if not for England. He asked me
to make an imaginary drawing showing an airport, hangars and
other buildings on the Island as a base for military action in
case there might ever be any trouble between Russia and the U. S.
The picture (done in pastels) was reduced and made into a lantern
slide as a part of the lectures he was then giving.