And why would I care? Possibly
because she was incorrigible and I like that.
Los Angeles Herald, Volume
37, Number 210,
29 April 1910
FRESNO. April 28.
Ethel Boyakin, aged
16, detained In the county jail for alleged Incorrigibility, today sang herself
to freedom.
Her voice, Issuing from the bars of the jail In plaintive melody,
be appealed to Assistant District Attorney Mc Cormicks that he made a plea
before Judge Austin of the juvenile court to release her on parole.
Mr. McCormick
stated In court that he believed the girl would win fame as a prima donna If
her voice were trained.
The court complied with the request of the assistant
district attorney.
The World's News Sydney, NSW: 1901
Saturday
3 September 1910
GIRL WHO SANG HERSELF OUT OF
GAOL.
A bird-like voice trilled
through the bars of the county gaol at Fresno, California, U.S.A.
Deputy
District-Attorney Mc Cormick, trying a case in the adjacent court-house, heard
the singing and wondered who could be the canary that was filling that grim
cage with music.
When the Court adjourned he went over to the gaol and made
inquiries.
To his astonishment he learnt
that the sweet singer was a girl whose imprisonment he had been urging, on the
ground that she was incorrigible.
It appears that Ethel Bayakin.
16-year old girl of Fresno, was attacked with wander-lust.
Accompanied by a girl friend
of Del Ray, a near-by town, she started for San Francisco, only to land in the
county gaol on the charge of incorrigibility.
She did not put up much of a
defence.
She said, she wanted to see the world.
She want's to do big things,
she hardly knew what,
but something bigger than she thought
she could do in
Fresno.
The stern arm of the law led
her into the detention quarters of the county gaol until the mind of the law should
decide just how her offence be defined and punished.
And it was Mr. M' Cormick who
had prosecuted her.
This official had the girl
brought before him.
What passed between the attorney
and the prisoner probably will never be known, but perhaps the man of the law
understood something of the nature which can sing even behind prison bars, the
nature that craves for freedom, but that even restraint cannot prevent from
voicing the music that is in it.
At any rate, he must have
made it quite clear to the girl that so lovely a voice needs training, that
work, not wander-lust, is the road to a musical career.
For she agreed that if she
was given an opportunity to study, she would remain under her parents roof.
The next morning the Public
Prosecutor appeared before Judge Austin, of the Juvenile Court, and stated the
prisoner's case so strongly that the judge agreed to release the girl on
parole.
But this was not enough. The
opportunity to study, to vent in musical work the energy that had led to her escapade,
must be added.
A local teacher of vocal
music read about the case, and wrote to Deputy District-Attorney M' Cormick
that she would like to test Miss Boyakin's voice. Again the music loving prosecutor
turned from his court duties to answer the call of music.
He sent for the girl and accompanied
her personally to the studio where the teacher awaited her unusual caller. Her
voice stood the test, and showed remarkable range and quality.
Arrangements were immediately
made for Miss Boyakin to begin her studies, the lessons being furnished free
by the enthusiastic teacher, who now hopes to send forth from Fresno a real
prima donna who will someday grace the opera stage at home and abroad.
Thus did the girl sing
herself out of gaol, she had no thought as she sang that her sweet voice was
the open sesame to the locks of her prison.
Probably every man and woman
who was ever sent to prison has thought over means to regain freedom.
Many are the ingenious
devices that have been brooded over in the silence of cells- from cutting through
the walls to gulling their chaplain, from murdering the gaolers appealing to
the governor for pardon- 'but few have resulted in success.
It is not the deep laid
schemes of prisoners, but rather the fortuitous circumstances, the unforseen or
uncalculated actions on their part or on the part of their friends, that open
the doors of gaols.
***
"What happened to Ethel? did she get married have 10 kids? did she change her name? Have I missed something, there is not a lot about her on line.
So:-
This is my Ditty for the incorrigible girls of the world, but specially this one, and I also being in the ranks of the incorrigible's, should pay homage to my forbears in incorrigibility.
That incorrigible Girl from Fresno
Quite unsure where to go
Thought it was San Francisco
She set out to put on a big show.
She raised too many eye brows
Created too many frown's
So off to Coventry she goes
To keep he out of the town's
With a key they locked her in
A voice in bondage,will always sing
And through the bars Freedom did bring.
That incorrigible Girl From Fresno!
I must confess I too was incarcerated at 13 turning 14 for being incorrigible, but I could neither sing or whistle, so I along with the Queens step daughter (that's what she told me) scaled the walls to freedom!
Naturally caught the next day as Australia started out as a penal colony and "they" know how to track you down, and I only 13-14 and unskilled in Goal breaking.
But I think my tenacity and unwillingness to be locked up impressed some one, as I was soon released, fortunately for me that was my first and last time in Coventry.
Like the players in "The moon is a harsh mistress" we must have always had a Dinkum Thinkum, here in Australia, and (some of us) are hereditary convicts who need some sort of conviction to be part of the ancestral rights, be it a driving offence eg. a ticket or being drunk on your horse, as long as you get charged fined arrested locked up, you can be of that long proud tradition one must live up to. (so it seams)
I mean who would keep the Judges, lawyers and gaolers in work? you know "it" (some kind of law breaking) is a job and some one has to do it, other wise these poor professionals would starve from lack of work and income, that's just a fact.
I did my part and not even a
thank you for any of them! and I am sure they are the last ones who wish there
was 'no more law breaking' in the world, as they would also wish themselves out
of existence, for what would their purpose be if they are
not litigating and legislating the laws?
The moon is a harsh mistress"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_a_Harsh_Mistress
Some fine Opera
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