The new daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1872-1873, 1873-01-03
A Home for Hoo dlams.

name which originated somewhere on
''this coast (Which designation, OF
itself is slangy and provocative OF
slang. When the next dictionary
maker gets cleverly to work he will.
if he is fitted for his business, at
tempt to define "Hoodlum; and as
the genus of animals so named will
not be likely to be then extinct, the
said photographer will probably
have the picture of one of them en-
graved and printed, la Webster;
and description somewhat in this
fashion: Hoodlum, A maliciously
mischievous youth who needs killing
Synonymous with skallywag, Dew
lis own, nc.
Now we deem it misfortune that
| this term was ever invented. It is
Just spicy and tart-favored enough
to please a certain class of wild and
ungovernable boys; and many there
are of those who are far from object
ing to being called by this odd nick
name; many a one, in fact, feels a
pride in having this blackguard
phrase applied to him: and that's the
misfortune of it. It half tolerates
the deplorable cussedness-winks at
the depravities and half-crimes of
misdirected youth.
Nevada, we are sorry to say, is not
the abode of an all pervading virtue
amongst the young-nor yet amongst
the middle aged and old, for that
matter; and it is a sad fact that the
Hoodlum has been developed here.
He haunts mining camps and is the
bane of the unprotected. the weak,
the confiding and the innocent; he is
a rowdv; check guerrilla; chewer
If tobacco; a swearer of oaths; a
bean poker sharp; an associate with
men of the baser sort; has a prema
ture knowledge Of the unvlrtnous
among women: is accustomed to,
and is upon familiar terms with vice
and crime; "packs pistol when he
can get one; swaggers and raises hell
generally. This, in all earnestness,
is very much too numerous class
amongst the youth of the times.
Formerly such boys were only to be
found down in the worser parts Of
great cities--and there they came to
be called street Arabs, gutter snipes
and gamins; but now they infest even
the small villages and more secluded
towns of the interior; and your
country bred hoodlum is match for
the hardest faced little vagabond of
the city wharves.
Now what is to be done? That is
the very serious question which came
in the mind of us when we read a
local paragraph about the doings of
Hoodlums, in an eastern Nevada pa
per. How shall we best do some
thing which shall protect bad boys
from themselves and, at the same
time, relieve the townspeople where
they are found from their mischiev-
Gus incursions and malicious prac-
tices? Ought not the State to take
speedy steps to promote a means of
Notwithstanding after the idea
of An Industrial School? It is a
merciless thing for State to fail of
providing facilities for keeping its
lads and girls out of the way of
temptation, bad knowledge, evil ex-
amples and mischief. As we have
before intimated, young fellows who
have gone wrong need to be pro-
tected from themselves; and certainly
society is entitled to some effort at an
adequate protection against bad boys
whose misdemanors would he crimes
and whose mischief would be roguery
if they were of age.
We hope thus to call attention to
a very serious matter and bring it to
the mind of some Legislator whose
will and energy of purpose may en-
able HIM to get law framed touch
ing upon this matter and make his
efforts practicable by providing for
the construction of a Reform School,
an Industrial College, or whatever
may be the name chosen for an In.
stitution which shall provide 1e-
straint and suitable education to the
Wild, needless and ungovernable lads
who are drifting to perdition so long
as they are left to run at large, night |
and day, in the grogshops, about ia
70 games and in company with men
and women who have taken the sew
eral &c frees in the manifold colleges
Of immortality and crime by which |
we are 50 sorely beset upon all sides
Who will take this matter in hand