The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-06-28
CRIME IN THE BLOOD.
Whole Faeilics Who Hnvo Been Rnised in
Crime.

'Is there such thing us hereditary
criminal instinct?" asked st. Louis re-
porter of the force of detectives who con-
gregated ut headquarters to "sign up for
the day" with view of getting most in.
formation from their unanimous opinion.
'Such thing as crime running in
families" repeated Detective Lawler.
Eyes, there is, and there is no better
proof of it than we can show right here
III st. Louis, where there are several
families, nearly every member of which
has been convicted of crime. In one of
the murder cases now before the Criminal
Court defense of hereditary love and
yearning for strong drink is to be intro
,luced rs a defense, and on just as good
grounds some of the criminals locked up
III our Jail and i'll Jefferson City Penitcn-
tiary might set up defense of hercdi-
tary inclination to be criminals. 1t is
not an extremely uncommon thing to find
whole families participating in and living
case in the jail. The sheriff of st. Fran
co.'s County, Mo-, on his way to the Pcni-
tcntiary, had five prisoners in charge
going up on sentences of from two to
| six years. They had been detected in
Il
| County, and it was supposed that this
was not the first job of this description
i'll which they had taken a part The
principal prisoner was under six-ycar
sentence. His wife was going to the pen
for four years, and his brother and sis
ter for three and two years respectively.
The father and mothcrwere dead or they
would probably have had place in this
! family group. This however, is rather an
instance of a family uniting efforts in the
preparation of single felony"
"Have we any families of this dcscrip-
ton in st. Louis ?"
eyes; only they are stronger proof of
the fact that tendency to commit crimo
is transmitted from father 20 son and per-
vadcs whole family. There is one
family here named Mcclure. Tho old
man has been in the pen, and two of his
sons are making tall efforts to follow in
the footprints of their respected father.
There is another family here. all the
mcmbcrs of which are not criminals, and
As the two respectable persons in it bear
the family name, it would be wrong to
implicatc them by publication. They
will he readily identified by any officer
[ on the force and many of their victims
when YOU state that the most daring Of
The batch are Tommy Ms and his
lister Kate. There were five boys and
;wo girls. Three of the boys turned out
10 be thieves, and tho two girls as bad.
The girls arc living with two men enjoy
ing the reputation Of thieves, and dock
cted in the Ro3ucs' Gallery as pals of
their three worthy Notwithstanding. This
batch has been repeatedly rrrcsted, but
we have never succeeded in getting more
than one of them out of harms way.
Another family named Bryland worked
st. Louis for long time. There were
{, ur boys in this gang, but all died OF
consumption, brought on by the night
work done by them in bad weather and
dissipation"
"These are not bloodcd crooks from
their birth, arc thcy?"
"Well, you woullthink they were if you
knew them, for they have arcgular'growth.
The little ones begin at petty thcfts from
hnwkers' and farmers wagons, market
stalls aud grocery store exhibits and rail
road freight cars, for which, on account
of the smallness of the offcnse and Of
fender, they escape punishment. The
next step is pulling hampers; that is,
tapping tills of small shops. Picking
pockets, which requires little moro
science, is the next step, and about this
stage they are taken in tow by their elder
brothers and serve as kids, to be lifted
in window, to open door, or perform
| similar functions. After this they are
full-fedged and capable of performing
| Jobs for themselves"