Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09
COOK TO QUIT CELL
WITH GOOD RECORD
Officials Say Former Explorer
Was Model Prisoner Dur
ing Five-Year Term.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LEAVENwoRTH, Kans., March B.
When DR.. Frederick A. Cook leaves the
Federal Penitentiary here on parole,
probably today or tomorrow, he departs
with a five-year record marked by
service, kindness and fortitude.
Only the receipt of formal papers
from the Attorney General in Washing
ton, authorizing the warden to release
him, stands between the man, VINO, IN
1909. received the worlds acclaim Tor
his asserted discovery of the North Pole,
and freedom. The Department OF JUS
tice announced from Washington yes.
terday that Attorney General MltcneH
Cook. who entered the prison April g.,
1925, to begin serving a sentence OF
IA years and months for using the
mails to defraud In connection with oil
promotion activities in Fort Worth, Tex.
When news reached the prison that
DR.. Cooks parole had been approved,
the whispering wires" by which news
travels through the Dig penaI lnstlII-
ton. buzZed with memories of the DEEDS
of kindness of the elderly physician
explorer, as the comments passed from
LID to lip among a conglomerate popu-
lation OF 1900 men, gathered together
as violators Of the laws OF society
Recall School Work.
Hundreds Of these men we're recalling
TODAY DR.. Cooks words Of encourage
n1enf as head of a night school he or
0aniSed, as night inferno in the prison
hospital and as editor of the New Era,
the prison magazine.
His YniniStrations to the sick were re-
called. The little extra services which
the 65-year-old former BROOKLYN phy-
sician rendered to prisoners to make
them more comfortable and his constant
apueal to their better qualities were re-
uiembered. No one knows just how
many, but hundreds, at least, were
benefited by his cheerful manner and
kindly advice.
In the oficial family, the guards
likewise had the same views. They
spoke highly Of the fortitude Of DR..
Cook who entered the penitentiary at
IS. with little money, but optimistic
and with plans for his future.
Made Good In Prison.
The man upon whom high honors
were heaped by universities, who re-
ceived foreign decorations as the dis
coverer of the North Pole and whose
name later was flashed over the world
as a colossal fraud. with the oil pro-
motion difaculties and prison sentence
as q climax, faced q weary future when
the prison doors shut him In five years
ago.
His two daughters and his wife. from
whom he Is divorced, never have visited
him.
Notwithstanding the discouraging
outlook, DR.. Cook announced when he
entered the prison that he would be
model prisoner. Oficials say he made
good his intentions.
Warden r. B. White said that DR..
Cook had been the outstanding model
prisoner and that he never was too
busy to pause and give some errtng
prisoner sound advice.
Terms Of Parole.
Close friends Of DR.. Cook have said
that he still has hopes Of establishing
his claims to the discovery Of the North
Pole. It Is understood he has written
some material on his polar expeditions,
which he will publish.
Under the terms of the parole DR.
Cook Is to report once each month until
March 2, 1898. In addition to his
prison sentence, he was fined $4,000.
If he makes a poverty afldavit that
he cannot pay the amount, another so
days In lieu Of payment will be added
TO his sentence. Since he is paroled,
that 80 days, Warden White said, viii
be applied to the time of his parole.