The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-17

must have been taken from some wild
| and bloodthirsty animal.
Testimony admitted at the trial, how
/ ever. established the fact that when u
small child the youthful murderer had
taken great delight in the torture Of
cats and other small animals. Later.
! like his counterpart OF a quarter-cen-
fury afterward. he had found pleasure
in stories of cruelty, especially accounts
| of Indian torture. On one occasion he
| tried 10 run away 10 the wild West to
| join the Indians. He confessed that his
abnormal desire for torture was be-
yond his control. and told the authori-
ties that he should be placed beyond
the reach of future victims until matu-
rity might develop what was lacking in
this part Of his moral nature.
The striking similarities In the cases
of Henderson and Pomeroy are the ex-
citation of the crimes by trashy litera-
ture: their enticing their victims 10
lonely spots; their selection of victims
younger and weaker than themselves
their confessed enjoyment of the suf-
ferings and death struggles of their
victims; their attempts 10 conceal their
/ crimes. their retention of self posses
sion when confronted. and their utter
lack Of motive beyond the same diabol-
zeal appetite for enjoying human suf-
ferinE.
Scientific criminologists have record
of few cases of juvenile crime APP
preaching these in brutality. In most
instances such cases are not recorded
under the names of the criminals. let
ters or numbers being used to indicate
the persons concerned. The case is on
record OF an Iowa boy, II years old,who
early one morning Went TO the bedroom
of his grandparents and shot them both
| while they slept Seeing his grand
father struggle. he finished the old
gentleman with an axe. His brag to
! his playmateS was that he did It all
alone But even in this case there
was a slight motive beyond the sheer
enjoyment Of suffering. The old peo-
pie, by forbidding him something, had
done him an alleged injustice.
Two children, one - and the other 10,
having spite against a little comrade of
/ only I. met him In an out of the-was
place. threw him into a deep pit and
stoned him to death. Here again there
was some motive beyond cruelty. as
also In the case Of a boy of Is who
stabbed his comrade in the heart be-
cause he refused to pay a debt owed
| him for a game
The most conspicuous example or
the juvenile murderer in hisory appears
to have been Caligula, afterward the
Roman emperor Gains Caesar Galigula,
who having been reared in his father :
camp among the soldiers, at the age OF
10 had a slave cast into an oven and
roasted to death for some slight offense.
Even Nero, noted for cruelty above all
other characters in history, was gener-
Gus and genial In youth, though pos
sessed of IA savage temper when highly
angered.
Criminologsts trace the evolution Of
murderous instinct from the stages Oh
saNagery when every man was forced
IL regard every stranger as his enemy
The question then arises whether
youthful degenerates, such as those in
question, are results OF a character re-
version to the cannihal or lower animal
or victims Of unfortunate environment
in childhood. Some eriminologists are
Of the opinion that a great proportion
of those now leading peaceful lives
were born murderers-that their lives
were artificially changed through
youthful rearing. The natural murder
Gus instinact is shown by infants who
/ instinctiVely bite or strike their nurses
or parents. Such infants, ii is said
would hesitate none the less We're they
4 sure their attacks would cause dealt
/ at the moment of anger