Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-07-22

THE PoMERoY BoY.-Jesse Pomeroy
the remarkable young criminal of South
Boston, who was brought into notoriety
by his cruel numbering of little boy,
Horace F. Millen, last April, is again re-
called to public attention by the discovery
Saturday afternoon, in cellar of the
building where his mother formerly kept
a dressmaking store, of the remains OF
Katie Curran, a little girl, who was sent
by her mother on an errand, one day last
March, and never again seen. 1t was
suspected that the Pomeroy boy was re-
sponsible for her disappearance, when his
other murder came to light, and the prem
ises were examined, but without any sue
cess The discovery Saturday was made
by workmen employed in an adjoining
cellar; n stone was loosened and fell upon
a pile of ashes in the part formerly occu-
pied by the POmeroys, and, upon going in
to remove it. a fragment of n dress was
seen protruding from the heap. Upon
pulling it out, child's head was brought
to light the police were at once summon
ed. and the heap was more fully examined,
when the remainder of the body of the
child was exhumed. The remains were
much decomposed and utterly unrecogniz-
able, but the clothing was fully identified
as that of the little Curran girl both by
the detectives and the parents of the un-
fortunate child, who were at once sent for,
and whose grief upon fully realizing the
horrible facts was heart-rending. The eX-
element was so intense that the mother
and elder brother of Jesse Pomeroy were
arrested, not from any suspicion that they
were accessory to the crime, but as meas
ure of safety, it being feared that they
would be lynched by the excited crowd.
The theory of the detectives is that the
Young murderer enticed his victim into the
cellar during the absence of his mother,
and, after torturing her to death disposed
of the remains in the ash heap. Pomeroy
is now in the Suffolk county Jail awaiting
trial for the murder of the Millen boy,
and has several times asked of the attend
ants what reward was offered for the
whereabouts of the Curran girl, and what
would be given him if he should reveal
her hiding place. He was interviewed by
the chief of police, Saturday evening, but
was very guarded in what he said. Alto
Massachusetts, has seen for many wear
1t would be the height of recklessness to
permit n person who has manifested hon.
icidal mania to 90 outside the bars of an
insane hospital, and it is a grave question
whether or not the safety of society would
not require the surrender of his life. DIR.
Hammond, the eminent authority on the
pathology of the mind, has not hesitated
to say that death should be the punishment
of crimes like those charged upon young
Pomeroy. He is, according to this author
ity, the victim of morbid impulse, man
ifested by an unnatural pleasure in human
suffering and death. There are. As is we'll
known, some forms of insanity ip which
the fear of punishment is sufficient to pre-
vent the commission of acts injurious to
society, and DR.. Hammond regards Pom
eroy's case as one of these. Pomeroy
made a full confession of the murder to
chief of police Savage, Monday, which he
read at the coroner's inquest: March 18th
the Curran girl came into my mothers
store for papers. ! told her there was a store
down stairs; she went down to about the
middle of the cellar; | followed her, put
my left arm around her neck, my hand
over her mouth, and with my knife in my
right hand cut her throat. | then dragged
her to and behind the water closet, and
put some ashes on the body.