The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-02
a SOURCE OF MUCH EVIL.

The entire community has been
shocked by the depravity exhibited in
the conduct of the two young horse
thieves who have brought their crimes
to a elimination by the Staying of
two officers of the law, reputable men,
with families, and of respectable
standing. In their career of crime
brief as it appears to have been, they
have exhibited the characteristics of
the desperate to the fullest extent.
These youths were raised in this
city. They had opportunities of lead
ing a decent and honorable life,
/ though their circumstances may not
have been of the best so far as wealth
and education are concerned. But
their tendencies were in the wrong
direction. They have gone on from
small offenses to greater until they
have committed the highest crime
known to the law.
1t appears that they have been dill
! gent readers of that cheap class of
novelties which deal in the depreda-
tons of defers of the law Tales
about outlaws and such armed and
desperate bodies as the Jesse James
gang and other bandits, were eagerly
devoured and became their choice
mental food Their tastes were
formed and their minds were warped
by that pernicious brand of literature.
To that perhaps more than anything
else may be traced the moving influ-
ence which led them to adopt the life
on which they have entered, and
which viii probably be cut very short
by the interposition of the law. They
regard themselves as heroes. They
are initiating the scoundrels held up
in those highly colored and debasing
stories for their admiration. They are
to be pitied as well as condemned.
We draw attention to this fact, as
related to US by those who know OF the
circumstances surrounding the two
young criminals, by way of warning
the kind Of reading which is INDUCED
in by their boys and girls. We know
it is no new thing TO trace a criminal
faint in the minds of youthful trans
gressors to the influences of the vile
literature which is published so largely
in the United States. But it is true.
nevertheless, and it is important that
parents and guardians should under
stand the facts.
The writer of this, only a few days
ago, was conversing with a young
girl who was keeping company with a
youth known to have committed more
than one theft and who was evading
the consequences of his offenses. In
advising her to cease corresponding
with him and showing that he was in
danger of the penitentiary, another
young girl, her companion, interposed
with the assertion that she would
think all the more of him if in jeo-
pardy, and would feel that she ought
to stand by him in his danger. Both
these girls are readers of that kind of
novel which deals in sickly sentiment
and false notions OF honor, of love
and of heroism.
These pernicious works ought not to
be circulated in such community as
ours. We are surprised that respecta-
bic booksellers Will deal in them,
poisoning the youthful mind and doing
more damage than the dispensing of
deadly drugs indiscriminately. a novel
may not be evil because it is cheap.
There are high priced works as vile
as they are dear. It is the spirit and
tendency of story which stamp the
character of the work, and the ne
farious kind Of literature which feeds !
the passions, exalts vice and makes
heroes and heroines of violators and
defers of legal or parental authority, |
are to be placed under the ban and |
are only fit for the fire.