Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-01-27
STYLES AMAZE
SILENT CORKEy"
Liberated Prisoner Who Has Not
Spoken for Ten Years
Is Shocked.
FREE AGAIN after Is YEARS
Finds Many Things That Astonish
Him, Particularly Short Skirts and
Gauze Stockings-Looks as If
They Were on Stills.

Boston.-Free again after IS years
in Charlestown state prison, the last
ten of which were spent without utter
Ing a word, P. J. Hanley, otherwise
known as "Silent Corkey," declares the
things that strike him as most maj
ing are women's dress, the general re-
fnment of people and the intelligence
Of the younger generation.
Still unwilling to talk, "Silent Cor
key" says these things in writing. At
ter "Corkey" had written the first line
he stood up and embellished the OBJ
%servation by pantomime. He pulled
the left leg Of his blue serge trousers
almost up to the knees. Then he pulled
both legs together, s%ignifying that
skirts are also tight. Finally, he
placed both hands on his hips as if the
sights shocked him. Then he sat down
and wrote:
Where's the BustIe?
what became of the bustle?"
The first thing "Corkey" wanted to
do, apparently, was to p%erforate the re-
port that he went on a silence strike
at CharlestOwn because of some griev-
ance. AS to that, "Corkey" Hanley's
first observation consisted of two
words:
paper talk"
Asked to elucidate, the man who had
been put away for 25 years wrote this {:
ut happened in 1910 that I was TAX
ing the air in the yard, walking about
as all do who are in plant CHERRY
Hill), and there was a storm inc a
terrific wind was blowing. I stood for
a while under an old chimney at the
side of G. 81. CHERRY Hill). Bricks
were blown down. My head was cut.
eYOu can see the marks). I became IN
conscious. I have never been able to
speak since that moment. I wish l
could. DR.. L. Vernon Briggs Ga good
mani said I must have received some
kind of think the word is-concus-
sion"
At the prison 1t has been said
"Corkey" became chronically silent
after a fellow prisoner had repeated
statements made by "Corkey" and
caused him to be punished. "Corkey"
wrote that he was all worn out from
seeing the sights in New York, where
he went on a visit after his release.
'The Bowery," he said, "is not what it
used to be-
A young mn s~tenographer
thought the visitor should be more
specific in his remarks about women's
dresses. "Corkey'' was willing. This
time he wrote:
"When I went away there were no
such short dresses, except (on) little
girls of ten. And the thin silk stock
ings you wear-bare."
Then there was more pantomime to
describe high heels, and Hanley sat
down again and wrote four words
more
Gas if on stilts." T'<s'.
He's No knocker.
But he isn't a knocker. He has bee
just as much impressed, and very ia
vorably, by the rising generation. He
said:
young people today appear to be
4lIOiC lllClilSCAI lldl lHS SoutIS
folks of Is years ago. Their manners
are good. They look clean. They've
got a go-ahead look that only one in a
hundred used to have. This is a great
country"
There could be only one or two ques-
tons more before Hanley had to run
for his train to the suburbs.
"What are you going to dc? What
kind of a job do you want?"
"Anything-I don't care what. You
a see how strong I am that will
help MT TO lead a straight life. l guess
I'm the only man recently discharged
over there who did not have a job
waiting for him."
A few words of encouragement to
the visitor and he was asked:
"Well how does it feel to be out
again and free?" Corkey wrote:
Gust like being born again."