The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-03-10

coio,el Of cavalry, and has in it certain
susgestiyeaess Of the late Marshal MacNIahon.
II il IS added that the Superintendent's eyes
are so hSht a brown Us to seem nearly
grey, and that the expression is shrewd and
kindly rather than searching and agrees
i've, fair idea Of the personnel ofthe greatest
living detective may be mad
Very suave and approachabie, when he
wants 60 be, is Superintendent Byrnes. He
places a comfortable chair for one near the
desk in his private Office at Poliee Head
quarters, and sitting down on the arm Of
another chair facing me- be talks with an
easy tiuency, and with so much snrewd
sense that the greatest sticlcer.for grammati-
cal purity Of speech finds that his colloQuia-
lisms give 4 decided force and piquaney to
what he says.
Busyl' repeats the Superintendent, in
response to my inquiry, Il always find
plenty to DO, but have time to give you"
Doyou lind from your experience, % 1 ask
that the tendency Of educatiol-sueh as is
city for instance-is to reduce crimeg"
Yes, and no. Mark you, I am strong
advocate Of our public schools, but the ability
10 read and write is now so general, parricu-
larry among young criminals, that it is diff
cult reason, when they are nearly as bad
IS they can be, that but for the schooling
they might be worse. The tendency Of
education is to sharpen all the faculties, in
Guiding the criminal tendencies. But there
Is education apd education, and that is what
most people 10 not understand. l do not
pretend to learning myself, but still realize
yhat most Of our teachers and professors
sntirely overlook, and that is the great
Inference between learning and education.
Mere learning, that is a knowledge Of things,
may tend to make more dangerous a char
acter that is naturally vicious. But there
are many weIl-educated men who are not
learned. Such an education az I understand
it means the proper development Of the
head, the hand and the heart and Of course
it5 tendency IS TO draw ont all that ia best
and to suppress all that is worst But as
We DO not ind this sort Of training, even
among the children Of the respectable and
well-to-do We should hardly expect Il among
those less fortunately born.
have known cases and have one in
mid now, where schooling to uso the
general term, proved the curse Of what might
have been a decent, hard-working family
This man was a thrifty laborer, and his wife
. shrewd, saving woman-kopt a boarding
house for men Of the same class. Thi:
couple had two children, boy and a girl
These children became the Idols Of theii
parents, the one object for which they lived
They educated them well, according to theil
notions, under the impression that that was
all that was necessary to keep. them from
hard work and enable them TO fight The
battle Of life to advantage. As they grew
mp with a contempt for labor, they soon be-
came ashamed Of the old people who haC
done 50 much for them, and whenever visitor.
came, the old man and his wife sneaked of
30 thekitchen. It is unnecessary to fill in tn,
story; tho girl went 10 the bad, and the boy Il
now in the penitentiary, victims Of mis-
education"
Have you noticed, Superintendent Byrnes
fhat the tendency to vice or crime runs ii
families?"
" have, and it is no new discovery. To b.
sure, the children Of the lower class Of Grim
inals, are brought up in such an atmospher,
of vice, such constant contempt for, anC
such ceaseless struggle against the law, tina
they may be said 10 know nothing olse. I'm
der proper circumstances, such childrel
might be trained into good citizens; SO,
under proper circumstances, but this Is onl.
a guess As a matter Of fact, tho children o
criminals inherit a disposition to crime. Ger
tain qualities in the horse, dog, and othe
animals are increased by breeding, and
would seem that man is no exception to tn
rule. know Of criminals whose fathers AM
mothers were criminals, and If we could trac
them back 10 their grandiather's and great
grandiathers, the chances are we should fin'
the same tendency, but growing stronge
with each succeeding generation. Familie
with several members in the penitentiary u
the same time have become so common asst
excite no comment. have known iathe
and his two sons 70 bo in the same peniten
tiary for different offences; and mothers an
their daughters are often to DO found in tn
same jail"
GAS tho intormarriago Of the crlmino
classes tends to propagate crime, do you no