Evening Star Newspaper, March 2, 1930, Page 100

THE SUNDAY STAR, VVASHINGTON,* D. C, MARCH 2, 1930. v el W ISRy f)r. Cook, Prison Edito Long Incarceration at Leavenworth Has Not Dulled Imagination of Former Arctic Explorer, Who Has Kept His Mind Active by Writing, Teaching, Lecturing and Lditing the New Era, Monthly Magazine of the Federal Penitentiary, From Which He Is Soon to Gain Freedom. Awaits Release BY JACK LUDDY. HE scratch of a pen upon paper... the rattle of a key as it turns in iron-barred door...hand clasps all around...finally the creaking of a ponderous gate as it swings out and open and the world will get back its Peck’s Bad Boy. He is none other than Dr. Frederick A. Cook, known successively during the last two dacades, first, as a conquering hero; second, as the world's greatest faker and biggest liar and, third and more recently, as Frederick A. Cook, M. D. United States convict, prison physician, educator, lecturer, editor and philosopher. But it will be a vastly different Dr. Cook than the one that came down out of the North 20 years ago and electrified humanity with the announcement he had discovered the North Pole—and a vastly different world will re- -ceive him. Hardened by the rigors of his experiences as an Arctic explorer, Dr. Cook in 1909, then in the prime of life, was vigorous, clear of eye, sprightly of step, keen of intellect and glib of tongue. The world that received him was warm of heart and gullible. Always eager to heap laurel on the brow of a hero, it pros- trated itself at his feet. But the Dr. Cook that quits the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth will be a dis- credited and disgraced old man, bent under the weight of 60-odd years, broken in health and in spirit, with no one to greet him save relatives, and no one to extend a helpful hand save a lmited few friends who believe him to be the most maligned of men. DR. COOK entered Leavenworth April 6, 1925, under sentenoce of 14 years and 9 months for conspiracy to use the mails to de- fraud. He has served more than a third of 'that term and is eligible to parole for good be- havior. His application for release has been approved by the Federal Parole Board and will soon be finally acted upon by Attorney Gen- eral William D. Mitchell. . Present indications are that he will go free some time in the near future. Several circumstances favor his release. By good conduct and his ability and eagerness to help, Dr. Cook not only has won the confidence and admiration of prison officials, he actually has exerted an influence for good among fellow , convicts. Furthermore, his health has failed. Friends say it is such that he positively could not live to complete his full term. i __In one respect, prison has been kind to Dr. Cook, for it has permitted him to exercise his passion for writing. When first brought to prison Dr. Cook was assigned to the hospital and placed in charge of the night shift. A year later he became editor of the New Era, the monthly magazine. Under the masthead that carried the names of John G. Sargent and William D. Mitchell, as Untled States Attorneys General, and Sanford Bates and T. B. White as superintendent of prisons and warden, respectively, he has written on many subjects. Dr. Cook was made superintendent of the prison night school three years ago and as such he has helped teach many of his fellow pris- oners how to read and write. He has lectured frequently and invariably virtually all of the prisoners have left their cells to hear him. A perusal of Dr. Cook’s prison writings re- veals his philosophical turn of mind. In reply to the American Philosophical Society’s intel- léctual stock-taking question, “What is the world’s intellectual need?” Dr. Cook wrote: “Bring us a new Confucius to restate the affairs of man. The Oriental world of thought B. C. 600 was already so vast and complex that few people could encompass it. Confucius re- set the accumulating knowledge which had been adrift for 10,000 years to brief symbolic form which has lived as the life stream of Chinese intelligence for 2,600 years. “Today we are again in urgent need of an- other Confucius. If Christ returned to earth, his greatest mission would@ be to codify as Con- fueius. did the conflicting vastness of all hu- man belief and disbelief. This would clear over- crowded heads and reduce thought to simple feeling principles.” ‘ DR. COOK'S term in prison has not dulled Lis imagination. In another number of his m2z._zine he offers to his readers what he calls “a miltion doRar idea.” It is the proposi- tim ot tapp:ng the higher f.r cold air to cool off the large cities during it swealtering heat of Summer, ‘We know that the earth and all the spheres above Temain suspended in celestial space,” writés Dr. Cook.” “‘Can ‘we not suspend a minor globe at ani alfitude of fhiree. or Your miles shd drop from this tubes or line. devices which by ... . glectric currents or.ether power carriers will . ither bring down cold by direct currents or by of newspapers of September 4, 1909, the of Dr. Cook's arrival at Cope ingly. Overdressing reaction of cold water should be encouraged. D&ooox‘smureerm nothing so much as the flight of a sky- rocket. A ball of sparkling fire, it solid his reception, with a headline on page 2 which corner of the globe and he was hailed alike by commoner and king as the greatest discoverer since Columbus. Napoleonically into the front of his frock coat, took it majestically on the chest! But, alas, it was not to last. Ugly make date says in big black headlines: “Dr. Cook as Copenhagen; City Wild With “Clothes Torn by Eager Crowds in Danish Capital.” “Discoverer Visits Palace in Hunting Cos- tume; King Frederick Receives Triumphant American and Showers Congratulations Upon Him.” “Reception in Streets Unprécedented.” “Explorer Described Emotions When He Realized His Success.” The New Era BN E et RN et ettt re s rrr sttt eceeetesteceestettesses sessssnsese secsceccasccccow Edited and published monthly at the United States Penitentiary, as a part of .the system of education? with the permission of the_Department of Justice! Articles not otherwise designated are contributed by the editor. = oy o 1y VLR shoisersshsoissiisbrevimsbsividevborsviestivsses esescsccsccsessescscsssssccssscceld WML D MITCHERT 2 N\ttorney General ®ecescevarsesctcscstssescnssrtssisscasane esecccse sescssenccressscvessstssecscscnassall MARET, WALKER WILLERKANDT X -~ . - .' . . > r Assistant Attorney General ."""“""m-..«-—..* i B - - - 2 - - e o——a o v e e S N HL CONNER Supt. of Prisons T B, WHITE - - Warden JFREDERICK N, COOK, M. EDITOR Sececcscceibeceeetcnttenceattetsticicsasctctitccteces ~osssetcanssasranssacanssetsssecnnes LLEAVENWORTH, KANSAS, My 1929 seeesececase sesscecseesccctcestacattecatteta Sescseantatasttecnccsaansctascsssssncsscaned ceeseescasstssecevsisctssesescnceces secnectteccsssscanssssssabnassssssed D e L R L L L LT L T T TR SWT T o Hetw 8. wha's, who in_the. publication of the Leavenworth prison paper, tr .. #he New Era. . rems Other assailants arose. Among them was George Kennan, who had spent three tive Winters in Siberia and contended for 82 days, as he had claimed, with food than that which he-started Finally, the then Capt. Robert turmmed from the Arctic with the ment that he had reached the Pole April 1909, and had found no trace of the records Dr. Cook had said he left there. There fol- Meantime, the University of Copenhagen, to which Dr. Cook had promised to submit proof of his discovery, began to grow impatient for intrusted them to his secretary, Walter Lons~ dale, for delivery at Copenhagen and them quietly disappeared. Illdueunntlnhlo'teu. Newspaper head- lines of December 21, 1909, best tell the story. Says a newspaper of that day: “Dr., Cook’s Claims Declared Worthiess; Branded Faker by Danish Scientists.” "Pe.ry's”meuxt for World Honors Is Now “Copenhagen Board Stunned by Utter Lack of Convincing Proof That Physician Penetrated Arctic Wastes for Any Great Distance.” “Washington is Aroused to Action.” “Geographical Society Announces That Ine vestigation of Cook’s Whole Career Will be In- stituted Without Delay.” The verdict of the university, since it had been predisposed notably in Dr. Cook's favor, was overwhelming. Directly following it the Exprlorers’ Club in New York, in a stinging ree port, declared him unworthy of belief and exe pelled him from membership. The Arctic. Club also held a meeting and, although Dr. Cook had founded it, the directors declared him an undesirable member and voted his expuision. For almost a year Dr. Cook remained in hide ing. Like Ishmael he wandered—to London, to Spain, to South America and back to Lone don—while an angry world heaped contempt upon him. October 1, 1910, he was located in London and November of the same year in New York he came closer to admitting the truth of the charges against him than he ever has before or since. In his famous “confese slon,” published in Harper’s Magazine, he said: “Did I get to the North Pole? Perhaps I made a mistake in thinking that I did. Per- haps I did not make a mistake. After mature thought I confess that I do not know absolutely whether I reached the Pole or not. “Fully, freely and frankly I shall tell yow everything. Tell you everything—and leaye the decision with you. If, after reading my story, you say, ‘Cook is sincere and honest; half crased by months of isolation and hunger, he believed . that he had reached the Pole; he is not a. faker,’” then I shall be satisfied.” o Dr. Cook's bid for vindication reached & ., pathetic climax November 24, 1911, when he. made a theatrical, but futile attempt in Copen=. hagen to reassert his claims. Appearing . in the same hall where two years previously he. . had held spellbound an audience - that ine. cluded the royal family and the most dise tinguished scientists of Europe, he was booed, hissed, jeered and finally egged from the place under police protection. i The “stolid Danes” had had their revenge; the ruin of Dr. Cook was complete. Vo