The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1894-08-07
MADE HIM
AN OPERATION THAT HAD AN uNFoR-
TuNATE EFFECT.

A Boys Bump of Acquisttiveness Crew ABB
normally After He Was Trephined-But
Corrected the Error.
do You think criminality is dis
ease?" asked the drummer of the hotel
clerk.
Course not, " said the clerk. ct is
an acquired habit, and there wouldn' t
be any criminals if children were train
ed right -
That's what you think, but sit
down there where you will be comfort
able, and I'll tell you something"
1t was after midnight, and as the
clerk hadn't anything else to do he ac-
cepted the invitation and sat down.
Not great while ago, went on
the drummer, 81 was in an eastern city,
and it happened that had q package of
samples stolen by boy on the street,
l caught him in the act, and a police
man being on the spot, for wonder, 1
turned the thief over to him and agreed
to appear against the boy, just to teach
him lesson. The next morning was
in the police court ON time, and there I
was met by physician, who told me
something which led me to leave the
case to him. When the boy was called,
the physician appeared with him and
desired to make statement to the court.
It was granted, and he said:
May 1t please the court, want to
assume responsibility for this offense
and for a number of others of similar
character, which / understand the ae-
cused has committed within the past
year.
"fYour honor, he said, until some
thing more than year ago this boy was
as correct boy as any 1 ever knew. Of
good parentage and excellent training,
there is no reason why he should not
have been so. Two years ago he sus-
tanned a severe accident by being thrown
from a bicycle, i'll which his skull was
fractured directly Oh that spot which
phrenologists have designated as the
bump of acquisitiyeness. was called
i'll to treat tie case, and upon examina-
ton discovered that the only thing to
be done was to remove a part of the
skull ana trephine the fracture. This 1
did, exposing Il considerable area of the
brain. The trephinirg, however, was
quite successful, and I had the pleasure
in a few weeks of seeing my patient
once more on his feet, and to all intents
and purposes as we'll as ever, or very
likely to be soon. At this time, and IN
til several months later, nothing IN
usual was noticed about the boy, but
after several months it was observed
that he began to pulloin small things
about the house. He was not suspected
at first, but one day his mother caught
him in the act and he was punished. l.
may add that at this time he was per-
haps 10 years old, His parents were
greatly grieved over this discovery and
afterward kept close watch on him.
The habit, however, seemed to be grow
ing on him, and all their efforts to
check it were in vain. They even went
SO far as to have their pastor talk TO
they were painfully shocked by his ar
rest for a theft of trifing character
The matter was settled as quietly as
possible, and it was hoped that this
would be a lesson to him. It made alb
solutely no difference, and the boy went
from bad to worse What he has stolen
no one can tell, for he is as cunning as
a fox in his work, as rule, nor is it
Known what he does with his stealings
4nisss he has hidden them somewhere
Tee days ago the case came directly to
rSy notice by theft from my own
house. 1 had heard, of course, of what
the boy had been doing, but it did not
occur to me to think 1 had anything to
do with it.
1" The parents came to me when the
theft occurred at my house, and in the
talk about their boy the suggestion
struck me that perhaps l could offer an
I said nothing to them,
but sent for the boy and made an exam
ination of the trephined fracture and
discovered that while l had saved the
boys life had also given his bump of
an opportunity to devel-
op abnormally, and that it was growing
greater every day. I did not reach this
conclusion definitely until day or two
ago, and this is the first opportunity
have had to make an explanation of
what, to those who knew the boy pre-
viously, is a remarkable case of moral
retrogression. Having made this ex-
PLANTATION, wish to assume the respon-
sibility for the boys acts; and as the
witness is willing not to
appear against my patient would ask
to have him discharged. His parents
have agreed to let me perform another
operation on him, and I feel assured
that I can render him a service which
will make an honest man of him. AS
he now is he will continue to grow
worse, and there is nothing before him
except prison, for steal he will until
his offense becomes such that he will go
to the penitentiary, where his opportu-
mites may be minimized, but his desire
to steal will continue to grow.
"Well," concluded the drummer,
'this sort of thing knocked out the
court and everybody else, but the prison
er was turned over to the physician as
his patient, and he took him away with
him to hospital, where he said the OPP
Grafton was to be performed at once,
That was year ago. Today met the
physician on the street here, and the
first thing I asked him about was the
boy. He smiled all over and told me
that ever since the operation the boy
had been steadily improving, and for
two months past he had stolen nothing,
although the temptation was constantly
put in his way by his orders.
" I think he said as we parted,
that the boy is entirly cured, and here
- a.