The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-02-11
Crimes and Criminals.
No -
N ". -,

That such disease as kleptomania is
prevalent few deny Yetit is as rule adj
missible only in case of the wealthy. Judge
kudlich of New York in a recent case at
jefferson Market Court, when the charge
was withdrawn against women of wealth
because a Kleptomaniac and restitution
made, exclaimed:
''kleptomania? Oh, | see. When
thief is wealthy, it is a case of klepto-
mania Ah but if some poor woman,
whose cheeks are peaked from hunger,
holding in her arms poor half-starved
babe, should dare to venture into your
store, and, suffering from the torture of
the thought that now, in the present Civ
ing time her innocent little lamb must be
denied the trif1es that brighten a child's
life, should take something from one of
your counters, no matter how valueless,
she would be thief, and you would be
the most Jealous in prosecuting her. KEEP
tomania for the rich stealing for the poor
such is the Distinction The woman
was discharged.
If this disease exists in the wealthy,
why not among the poor? Is it a disease
to steal what you do not want or need-a
crime to steal food or fuel for which your
children are suffering? May not the mother
feel the effects of disease to take fuel to
warm her child? If so, are not crime and
disease SO near that scientific experts
should determine. If wealthy woman is
"Kleptomaniac'' may not her offspring S
be contaminated and develop into crmi-
nails? Should such women give birth to
criminal conditions. If this be true, may
this not be one source from whence crimi-
nails come? If SO, proper study should de-
determine it. This, with alcoholic stimu-
lants, shows two sources that may develop
criminals. Reports show that in Penob-
scot county in 1896 there were 902 COM
mtments, of which 76S were for drunken
ness.
Another source of crime may come from
imaginative children, in many cases
brought about by their home training and
surroundings. The following incident
may show how it is developed:
[ once knew a little child who with per
feet seriousness would make the most re
markable statements about the various
conditions of her life and family, says a
contributor to Harper's Bazaar. When
she was four years old she told me, as |
was walking with her, that she had step
mother who was cruel and who locked her
up in dark closets, and that when she
went into the woods some kind old woman
gave her things to eat; that she never had
any dinner at home.
A good doctor, who lived near by, came
to her house one day when | was stand
ing in the doorway with the child. She
had just told me some tragic story about
his wife and dog of which she had been an
eye witness. | asked him about it, being
full of sympathy. He laughed, and then
looked suddenly serious. ''You must not
blame her." he said, ''for what else are
you to expect? We older people are Al
ways stimulating the imaginations of
children, inventing situations for them,
giving them fiction for fact. and then we
take them to task for doing the same
thing for themselves. Children who talk
in this way are not liars. They have
simply been taught how to make up
things without discrimination
Each of us know this to be true only
we forget it in our judgment of the young.
We blame the natural depravity of the
child nature, forgetting that we ourselves
have planted the seeds from which these
alarming shoots have sprouted.
CITIZEN.