The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-12-24
A GEAEALGGY or CRfHE.
Il Terrible Result from One Poor Vagrnnf
-- "A Warming.

.-. n UElE1GVR1 W thI8Es
X Terrible Result from One POOr VagrnnG
- "A Warming.
e The interesting facts in regard TO
q Margaret, the mother of criminals"
haze attracted the attention of the
United States commissioner of education
who has made a careful investigation of
them. From the information furnished
to the bureau by the member of the
rrisrn association. Mr.. Dugdale, who
first unrayeled ths yeneslggy of this
guilty family, it appears that hfs ottGn1-
ton was originally called to them by
discovering the following interesting
band of relatives in the Ulster county
Jail: The oldest, Il man ffty-five
years Gf ags awsitii1g trial for receiving
stolen goods; his datighteT, sgeh eighteen
Consequently arrested as a pr0stitute),
held as a witness against him her uncle,
degree the illegitimate daughter of the
which child he had attempted violence,
and who was awaiting sehtehce for va
grancy, aud two brothers, aged nineteen
and fourteen, accused with an assault
with intent to kill, they having pushed
child over a cliff and neaft7 killed him
bv the fall. These were blood relatives,
and, on carefully tracing back their gen
ealOgy, proved to be the descendants,
among numerous Others, of one unfor-
tunate little vagrant and her sister.
The ancestral source of this line of
paupers and criminals is described as
''the f0rest-cOvered margin of fine lakes,
50 rocky as to be in SOME parts ihacces-
sible," in Ulster county. Here colony
of rural rOvers and vagrants lived
crowded in small log or stone houses, all
ages and sexes, relations and strangers
living and sleeping together in the same
room. No privacy was possible, and
purity or mOdesty vss unknown. The
occupations of these people were fishing,
shooting, fighting, and stealing. Owing
to their outdoor life, they grew up, un-
like city criminal population, very wiry
and robust, and they were enabled to
continue for six generations their geneal-
ogy of crime.
The attention Of the benevolent was
frequently drawn TO the ragged, little va
grant, Margaret, and her miserable sis
ters. The kind-hearted, here and there,
gave them bread or supplied them with
clothing in the winter. But the majority
of persons did not consider themselves re-
spOnsible for the wretched condition of
this little waif, and made no efforts to re-
form or educate her or her sisters. She
grew up without friends or education, or
being reached by any religious influence.
The yagrant girl grew up to a wicked
wonlanhoOd, and died shortly after 1925,
aged, it is believed about 60 years. The
family line Of her and her sisters has been
carefully searched, and eight hundred and
thirty-four persons are distinctly traced,
but it is believed that the full number Of
descendants is at least 200. The num-
Der whose fortunes are most clearly
known, amount to 709-327 males and
319 females; remainder unknown. Of
these 106 were illigitimate, 164 prosti-
tutes, II keepers of houses of ill-fame,
142 receiving outdoor relief, "a paupers
in alms-hOuses, and 66 were criminals.
The number of indictable ofenses COM
mitted by them is 115; the number of
years imprisonment they have suffered
is 116; the number of years individual
relief 734. And of the whole 700, only
% ever acquired any property, and of
these 8 lost what they gained.
When it is remembered that these fig
ures are all derived from the public re-
cords, and that they only express proba-
mitted by this unhappy family, the pic
ture becomes truly appalling. In exam
lining more closely the offenses of this
guilty stock, it will be found that among
the females the especial crime is licen-
. tiOusness, and among the males theft and
violence. The former would arise nat
urally from the promiscous habits of liv-
ing of the families. In the New York
- Il, IL
dren from three families in the sixth gen
Grafton from Misunderstanding herself
as the first. Fifty per cent. of all her
direct female descendants became prosti
tutes, and of the whole stock from the
age of twelve upward, fifty per cent are
found to be OF disreputablc character.
Murder or attempts to murder appears
among the males in every generation ex-
cept the sixth, where the children are
not older than seven years. Forgery is
found but once on their records Theft
appears everywhere As Mr.. Dugdale
well observes, the same general condi-
tions of parentage and training produce
prostitution in the one sex and theft in
the other The tendency Of crime is in
the direction of least resistance. Each
sex without moral training chooses the
easiest way of making a living. The
trait at the foundation of the true crimi
nal is e" the lack of the power of continu
GUS effort" Early want of training and
early examples, as well As inheritance, pro-
duce this in both sexes, and each shows
the result in analogous forms. 1t is to he
hoped that this terrible lesson in the in
heTitaDce of crime, furnished by the
New York prison association, will he
carefully studied by all our village and
city authorities and the superintendents
of almshouses. 4 little care and expense
now may turn a genealogy of guilt into a
family line of virtue and industry
INcU York Times.
MAN with hands in pockets); . Seen
anything of job o work lately, John ?''
Other man (hands in other pockets):
@ Saw one t'other day, but didn't like to
ask, COS they might "a said yes,-LoRdon