The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-05-13
A PRECIOUS LOT.
/ ONCE NOTORIOUS FAMILY AGAIN
Comes 10 the Front In Its Ola Character Of nac.
+, OF yssabunds-Aa Example Of How Low liz.
mainly Can t'st. and How Rapidly itcan get
Thsn-Fl's Cases Ia Police Court.

An item yesterday morning In the IsrxI.
LlsEScgR recalled TO come OF lis readers q
family which once figured prominently and
constantly 10 police and Justices courts and
the records OF commissioners aud oversecra
Of the poor In this vicinity, and especially
In the river towuu Of Belmont county. They
we're not unknown to the Wheeling police
by any means, bat their main habitat was
Bellaire. From there they removed to the
vicinity OF slAckto Hn, End several years ago
apparently disappeared from sight.
Saturday night word was received at 20.
lice headquarters that ~ crowd OF msn and
women weto behaying In a disordery man.
ner and disturbing the residents In the neigh.
horhpod Ol the mouth OF Wheeling creek,
Lieutenant Sylvia and an officer went down,
and found three men and two women living
In miserable hovel OF one room, built on
boat They were INDUCING In an orgie over
quantity Of vile whisky, and had rot to
qnatreling and fighting. They were taken
to the lookup, where they gave their names
az Drum and Tucker. Ono OF the men,
Ferdinand Drum, WINS q cripple. Tucker
had woman whom he called his wife, who
ls sister OF Drum. The others were yarious
ly related 10 tho Drums. a,.z.., H,
Yesterday morning the five prisoners were
arra'Hned In Police Court md given half an
hour to leave tho city, never to return. They
lett, Tor now long remains to be seen.
THE DguMMoSp FAMILY.
These people vera specimens OF as low an
order Of humanity as ons could wish 10 see,
and present u strong argument In favor OF
the deterioration Of man from bis primal
innocency" Into savagaa only step above
the beas,s.of the field. Yet less than an ordi.
nary generation ago the father Of this family
WAS IN envitb!e circumstances. His lail
presents an almost Unprecedented illuslrs.
ton Of the blighling influence Of in,smper.
ancs and vice. '.a1i --s .T7'IT
The family name 10 Drummond, but this
has boen. shortened In time to Drum, aud q
lew years ogo "Old John Drum" was iamil.
lar figure 10 residents OF Bellaira. A man In
middle lie, prematu.ely eyed, clothed in
rags and presenting n disgusting pic.
tu.e oil filth and animslitm he beg.
sec, from door to- door or got by petty
theft miserable subsistence for himself and
his degraded offspring. His 500 and daugh.
tiers also occasionally begged, and habitually
stole. but confined their thieying operations
to such petty articles that they were seldom
arrested.
"0ld John Drum" died a few years ago,
and thus ended remarkable career.
DRux's AErEcEDrSTs.
He was we'll connected, and received In bis
youth fine education, which was supple.
mented by special training tor the law. But
he acquired taste for strong drink and low
associations, and finally married a woman
who was below him socially aud mentally.
Such union could be expected to have but
one result. The couple went from bad 10
worse. The drunken parents transmitted
their vices to their children, and with them
physical deiornlily. They we're all of weak
mind and had soma pa! steal defect. They
grew up familiar with all grades OF bestial
sin, and In turn their children developed the
same traits which had made their grand.
parents aud their parents notorious. The
family figures IN work by Massachusetts
writer on "Heredity end Crime" and fur.
nishes strong Illustration of the writer's
theory. It is to be feared that thsi. geiurn
to- this vicinity will prove permanent, in
spite OF thel: uammary Punishment yes,er.
day.