The herald., 1898-02-15
Was 1t the Right Things
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people OF the community in which he lived
from early childhood. Around and over
him were the beneficent influences of a
Christian home. the public school, the Sab
bath school, and the Sociey of Christian
| Endeavor. He was overgrown, but not
ungafnly In appearance. His features were
| regular, but wore an inane expression
His reputation In the community was that
of an inoffensive, Industrious boy, but
densely stupid.
In an afternoon of day in November
last this boy went out from this home in
the atmosphere Of the uplifting influences
of this public school. this Sabbath school,
this Society of Christian Endeavor, and
| returned at nightfall a would-be murder
er. In single hour he had developed
into a repulsive criminal.
| In his absence he had fallen In with two
men armed with shotguns, and, himself
armed with pistol. had shot one of them
He had piloted his victim, who was equip
ped for hunting. into a thicket of willows
in search of game. The other of the two
hunters had taken diverging path, but
was not far away. The hunter attended
by the boy was leading the way along a
| path through the thicket, when suddenly
| he fell. wounded with pistol shot at the
hands of this boy. The wounded man had
| jingled some pieces of money loose in his
| pocket The boy had heard and wanted It,
| eN'AN A'N Shce " 6Ct IL iHduc iO luI
| ther attempt to get 1t. He stayed by, but
made no effort to complete his work The
! half conscious wounded man sent him to
find the other hunter. In evident bewilder-
ment he started, and finally brought him,
| Neither OF the two men had any suspi-
cion of the facts. The boy had dis
| armed suspicion by his conduct He seemed
as unconscious as they were of his awful
deed. He helped to get the wounded man
to his carriage and on his way home with
his companion, receiving their expressions
| OF gratitude and promises of reward as he
parted from them. He had wholly de-
ceived them-not by artifce or cunning
! however, for he Is totally incapable Of
| either. The deception was detected and
exposed upon slight scrutiny. The reality
may be stated In few words: The hunt
ers had unconsciously put themselves into
the hands of a half-witted boy: an indi-
vidual who. from some cause or other "is
| unable to fully) appreciate the real rea-
sons which ought to make one refrain from
| the commission of crime" and one of the
hunters he had attempted to kill.
Thus. eventually, this boy was accused
of an attempt to commit murder. and the
case of the the People vs.. wilfred Glover
was case in court.
An eminent jurist has said that 1t is as
absurd to punish an individual not Grimm
ally responsible for hitting one with a stone
| ones head is hit. But was Wilfred Glover
not criminally responsible? That he Is an
| imbecile there is little doubt. But what
| is the degree of his imbecility? AS we all
know, and as the authorities state, "imbe-
cility may exist in different degrees, be-
tween the limits of absolute idi-
ocy on the one hand and per-
feet capacity on the other" In
some cases of imbecility there arises much
difficulty in the decision of the question
of criminal responsibility. This Is neces-
sarily So for as the degree of imbecility
or weakness varies, so does the strength
to resist temptation. And 1t does not mat
ter in what way the responsibility arises,
whether from absolute weakness of INTEL
iect, or insanity, the irresponsibility is the
same.
But what was the degree of this boys
| imbecility: 1t was certainly not that of
a desperate who plans with intelligence
and executes with deliberation. Such an
| individual would not have ended his at
| tempt with the wounding of his victim. nor
have gone as far as did this boy and then
| relented of his purpose. With pulling the
trigger of the pistol, his strength of pur-
pose was spent His fund of intelligence
was unequal to the emergency of support
| ing him one step further in the perpetra-
| ton of his crime. He was at the end of
| his capacity for mental achievement in
| wrong to rob and wrong to kill. Possibly
| he knew the difference between right and
wrong. Possibly his mental weakness was
| only such that he had not the strength to
resist the temptation to avoid the right
| and do the wrong. Like the infant who
| sees the glittering fame of the lamp and
| will grab for 1t. he heard the rattle of the
| coin and would rob for it, How much
| above the infants appreciation of the con-
| sequences of its act was his appreciation
Of the consequences of his act?
| Could he appreciate the reasons why
| he should refrain from crime? Or did he
appreciate them, and from pure wanton
wickedness despise and reject them? Upon
| truthful answers to all these questions
must IL righteous decision turn as to his
responsibility for his crime.
All persons are capable of committing
crime, says the law, except:
l. Children under the age of fourteen.
g. Idiots.
g. Lunatics and insane persons.
But in the case Of either children or i'd
lots, which includes imbeciles, only in the
absence of clear proof of their knowledge
of the wrongfuness of the act they are
charged with.
Wilfred Glover had passe the age of
fourteen but few months when commit
ting the act he is charged with. He was
under fifteen. Then he was affected by in
son clearly and successfully. He was very,
very stupid. He thus narrowly escaped
being in law both an infant and an imbe-
cile, at least.
And thus. when his case was called for
trial, his attorneys, recognizing the prob
ability of his coming within the class of
persons criminaly responsible, advised
that he withdraw his plea of not guilty,
enter a plea of guilty, and appeal to the
mercy of the court, in consideration of his
extreme youth and obviously imperfect
mental development. This was done and
in so doing 1t was suggested that his sem
tence be suspended and that he be commit
ted to the Preston school of industry, at
lone, to which boys under the age of eight
cen found guilty of crimes punishable by
Imprisonment may be committed, and the
ultimate object of which is such instruc-
tion as is given in the public schools. such
discipline and Industrial training as shall
qualify it's inmates for honored and profita-
BILE employment after their release from
it. 1t is due to the district attorney to say
that he heartily favored the acceptance of
this suggestion by the court, after a craze
full examination of all the facts, bat that
before he could give expression to his rec
ommendation of the acceptance of it to the
court, he was headed off and turned down
by the attorney of the prosecuting wit
nesses, who objected to the lone reform
school as place of adequate punishment
of this boy for so atrocious crime as he
was guilty of, and asked that the prose-
cutting witnesses be permitted to repeat
the story of the crime, that the court
might the better comprehend its enormity
This was nermitted And then the show-