The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-12-15
The Silver Skulls.

A small boy of Cleveland, Ohio, aged
fourteen, has disappeared from COM
Portable home in company with two re-
volvers and a packet of dime novels.
1t is as yet uncertain whether he will
devote himself to the work of exter-
minating Indians or will embrace the
more elegant profession of highway
robbery and murder. The latter is
probably his choice, for the Indian
field cannot be successfully cultivated
without rifle, and as the small boy
has equipped himself solely with re-
volvers he probably intends to become
a second Jesse James.
This able small boy left behind him
the archives of secret society founded
by himself and called the Society of the
Silver Skulls silver" being a more
picturesque if less realistic adjective than
wooden. In this society were banded
together ten small boys, aged from
eleven to fifteen years, and their oath
of initiation was triumph of blood
curdling writing. The object of the
society is not vet known, but we may
safely assume that murder and rapine
were to be the occupation of its MEM
bers, and from the earnest manner in
which those who took the oath were
required to curse their "fathers, moth
ers, and sisters they doubtless intend
ed to take rich harvest of revenge for
any spankings which they had incurred
or might be called upon to endure.
The members of this society also in
voked contingent curse upon their
posterity, which shows that they were
thoughtful small boys, who looked far
into the future. So far it does not APP
pear that the society has done anything
in particular except to solemnly threat
en- a small boy named Jason Caskey
with death for the crime of refusing to
become "Silver Skull, but in the
absence of the founder of the society
this threat may not be carried into
execution.
The conduct of the Cleveland small
boy reminds one of the nursery epic
entitled the ''Robber Kitten" The
hero of that poem had doubtless read
dime novels in the feline language, for
in the opening lines we are told:
"a kitten once to his mother said,
I'll never more be good.
But I'll go and be a robber fierce,
And dwell in dreary wood"
This is precisely the spirit which our
small boys show who found bloodthirstv
secret societies and run away to begin a
glorious career of crime They are firm
" resolved nevermore to be'good, but to
become the very fiercest sort of rob-
bers The kitten epic, however, goes
on to relate that the Robber. Kitten soon
found life in dreary wood anything
but pleasant, and so returned home in a
very dilapidated condition, convinced
that life of crime was not a happy
one. Such will doubtless be the expe-
rience of the Cleveland small boy, and
we may expect in the course of week
or two to find him negotiating with his
parents and expressing willingness to
surrender provided the integrity of his
person is respected.
Although few small boys who run
away from comfortable homes in order
to become robbers persevere in their
lawless intentions, there are literally
thousands of children who educate them
selves by reading dime novels, and
thereby learn that crime is vastly nobler
than honesty. The influence for good
of our public schools, of which we hear
so much, cannot be compared with the
influence for evil exerted by dime novels.
Formerly boys were taught that honesty
and uprightnesS were praiseworthy.
Now they learn that murder and rob-
berry are heroic. What is the next gen.
Grafton of Americans, educated in this
way, to be? Few of our boys will prac-
tice actual highway robbery, but if they
retain any love for honesty, morality and
decency, it will not be the fault of the
scoundrels who write dime novels and
the wretches who sell them.-M. Y.
Times.