As a young man in mill-dotted Lawrence (pop. 80,536), Mass., Peter Akulonis had trouble with the police. He was a poor boy. He was deaf in one ear, and a facial paralysis had twisted his mouth. He rebelled against the world by feats of petty crime—once he hung by his fingertips from a third-story roof for ten minutes trying to escape the cops. But back in the 1930s he reformed, got married, grew silent and almost martyr-like in his resolve to lead the humble, uncomplaining life. Peter Akulonis never smiled, but he was...
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