Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-12-14
Flash Paper and Dime Novels.

The influence of the dime novels. bad.
boy books, and the pernicious Police
GGZcttcS with which our news-stands
are Hooded is conSpicuously illustrated
by some developments recently made
in Cleveland. A fourteen-vear-old bow.
member of an ariStOcratic family. sud
denly disappeared and has not been
seen since. He was an iuvcterate reader
of dime novel literature. and under it.,
influence developed into a hoodlum
with astonishing rapidity and at once in
stituted propaganda TOR the increase
of hoOdlumism. The secret, oath-bound
society, with plenty of Dangers. skulls
and crosSbOneS, particularly innamed
his imagination, and he soon found nc
difficulty in organizing ten other boys.
between eleven and fifteen years of are.
into an association bearing the startling
name OF The Society of the Silver
Skulls These rampageous idiots
armed themselves with revolyerS, each
boy having 4 couple, for what purpose
remains mystery. 1t may le that
they intended TO take the road and levy
toll upon the people of Ohio. To ro -
burgling," To- tender their services tr
u. llNHIN
Manitoba and wrcst it from the Domin.
ion and annex it to this country. What.
ever their purpose. il was something
dark and terrible, as the following
bloOd-curdling oath, which was written
by the youngstcr vino disappeared, will
show:
Cursed bc friendship. Cursed be fathers.
mothers; sisters. brothers May the oTsprin5
its dying mothers breast: may the blood of
each breed pcstiferous plaques: may the hnii
OF each fall from hi@ head. tho teeth crtlmbls
ia his jaws; the brain rot in his skull. the eye.
cankcr and fall from their sockets and ths
fingers grow palsicd IT we ever bctray the So
crcts of the skulls So do we swear. death
To our enemies. Life to the skulls
1t appears that one of the "Silvei
Skulls after calmly considering the
amount of unprovokcd cursinr. canker.
Ing. blistering and decay to which he
had consigned his family ard friends.
and the extraordinary duties he had be.
queathed To his possible offspring in the
same direction. not 20 mcnt on the phys.
ical unpleasantncss he had invoked
upon himself. grew FESTIVE and demon
allied, absentcd himself from meet nps.
and was not belligercntly inclined when
the other Skulls canvassed the perpe.
tration uf midnight orgies and horrors
and brandishcd their revolvcrs. In
view of his reasonable proclivities the
other nine Skulls doomed him to death.
The warrant, deliberately supplied with
cabalistic signs and suggestive hints OF
the brevity of life, was sent to him.
The youth perused it, and, with every
hair standing erect on his own
''silver skull' and ewes dilated with
horror, exposed the whole affair. The
jig was up and the young hoodlum who
had organized the society suddenly dis
appeared with his two revolvers and
such other weapons as he could conve-
niently carry, and is now probably
foraging upon the State at large or Is
seeking associates of like character
with whom TO organize general raid.
II is to be hoped that the other s.Silvel
Skulls were at once stripped of their
accoutrements and set to saving wood
or some useful employment calculated
to take such nonsense out of their heads
and the silver out of their skulls.
This IS not solitary illustration oil
the effects of the pernicious trash which
is offered for sale at our news-stands
So long as it can be had it will be read
by boys. If the publishers of the vile
stuff can not be stopped from issuing
their flash papers and stories, then the
dealers in them, who can be reached by
the law, ought to be prevented from
selling them. The only way to stop the
business is to GO TO the fountain-head
and stop the supply. So long as they
are exposed to view and offered for sale
boys will find ways to read them, how.
ever strict the authorities at home may
be- Chicago Tribune.