The Republican journal., 1875-01-14
The Genesis OF Criminals.

In meeting in New York last week Il
physician presented some Of the most re-
markable statistics which have ever been
obtained in the science of criminal reform
While reading of the efforts of the Prison
Association, the New York Times says
the attention ol the doctor was called to
county on the upper Hudson, where there
was remarkable proportion of crime and
county contained but one town and only
small villages, with population OF some
forty thousand; yet the number of pau
pers in its almshouse was four hundred
and eighty, or about one in ten, not reck1
oning Il considerable number assisted by
outdoor relief. DR., Harris noticed certain
names which everywhere appeared Ill the
criminal and poor-house records traces Of
certain families These again seemed OF
up county, and he was led to follow them
up to be connected, and he was induced
to search still further the genealogies Of
these families.
Ordinarily tits extremely difficult to trace
the descent of q criminal family. LII cities
such families become broken up and their
members are scattered everywhere. In
villages, though lines of descent may be
followed, vet the retributive laws OF Prov
idence usually carry the effects of crime
only ''to the third or fourth generation"
and then the race comes to an end through
physical and moral degeneration In this
case, however, it happened that the phys
ical yigor Of the particular family traced
f.osar%oI sorna Of it's members Tor their
evil destiny and enabled the Investigator
to trace them during six generations of
wickedness and misery. Some seventy
years ago a young girl named ''Margaret"
was left adriit in one Of these villages-it
does not appear whether through the crime
or misfortune of others. There was no
almshouse in the place, but she was sub
ject of outdoor relief, probably receiving
occasionally food and clothing from the
officials, but never educated, and meyer
kindly sheltered in q home. She became
the mother of q long race of criminals
and paupers, and her progeny has cursed
the county ever since. The county records
show ttOo hua05cd of her descendants who
have been criminals. In one single gen
GRAFTON of her unhappy line there were
twenty children; Of these, three died in
infancy and seventeen survived to maturi-
ty. OF the seventeen nine served in the
state prisons for high crimes an aggregate
term Of fifty years, while the others were
frequent inmates OF jails and penetentia-
ries and almshouses
OF the 900 descendants. through six
generations, from this unhappy girl who
was left on the village streets and aban-
doned in her childhood, a great number
have been idiots. imbeciles, drunkards,
lunatics, paupers and prostitutes but 200
Of the more vigorous are on record as
criminals. This neglected little child has
thus cost the county authorities, in the cf-
fects she has transmitted, hundreds of
thousands of dollars in the expense and
care of criminals and paupers, besides the
untold damage she has inflicted on proper
ty and public morals.
death is a sad thing" remarked Schc-
nectady woman as she stood beside an open
grave, "Yes, poor thing" replied another.
"how he did like to sit down to a good
billed dinner where the pork was just right"