The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-12-31
BOY MURDERER'S FIRST
DAY IN SING SING
New York HeraldA

s-ce mad found its way through sr~s ted
| windows and stone tagged corridors into
| the ElOmy cells of the state prison here
/ Alexander Stewart the boy convict
3Woke this morning and faced the first
long succession of days stretching out
through months anG years, but the child
I showed no sorrow, no regret, over the
So small did the 14-year-old boy look in
ms eel, No liz l. in the isolation ward
that the keeper could hardly see him
when he carried breakfast to him No
Siaq cry Of comrades at play greeted the
tttue Fellow : ears as he stepped TO the
S-AteC door OF his cell and looked at the
b5-~e walls which are to be the horizon
( OF his life until long after he reaches
Silence was everywhere about him. and
no sounds reached his ears save the soft
Tread OF the keeper The quiet cell would
nave Deen a place of terror to most bows
as It has been TO men. but Stewart was
not afraid No memories of the Young
life he had destr .yed haunted his mind,
city of his Situa ton.
IL was a pitiful sight to see the little
( tfnH"Wi whose place seemed out on the
~ above the big prison, where other
bOESs who have not committed crimes
run about free as the air moving about
the cell In his cell in his i'll fitting clothes
One of the prison tailOrs is bU-v TODAY
making a. new suit for the youngest pTiS-
pre- n the place This suit viii mt the
boy when he puts it on this afternoon.
but II VIII be of the same striped cloth
lpitt brands the wearer as a felOn.
save the keeper, who occasionally walks
5A ms door ana peers IN at him as one
Ioohs AT = bear = cub iu 2 cage. The boy
was hungry when the keeper at Z O'Clock
passed a portion of hash, bread and cot
Iee through the bars, and he ate every
He viii get no candy in the prison. and
The Cigarettes he smoked on the train
VIII be the last he viii enjoy in many
ye2"=. When he gets older the warden
viii give him a pipe and tobacco. the
only luxury the prisoners have. Stewart
Ndi ne Kept ln the isolation ward for two
weeks. in solitary confinement. until the
prison authorities are satisfied he has
no cOnta giOus disease
Young Stewart enjoyed q little variety
IN the dun monotOny of his life TODAY
Tor, UesldeS the visit of the warden. he
was photographed and measured by the
~eSt't--H system IL viii be different to-
morrow and the following davS for two
weeks, Tor he. will not leave his cell, ex-
ce9t 10 exercise a little ia the corridor,
Where a keeper viii watch him every
moment of the time.
Alec" Stewart enjoys the odious dis
tinctiOu of being the youngest prisoner
ever transferred from the TOmbS to Sing
sing. Only his youth saved him from
a brutal and premeditated murder. He
Is so thoroughly degenerate that those
who have studied him fear that there
IS no hope OF reformation.
one OF the most famous merchants and
Un3nclers Of the century, Alexander T
stewart, Is said to have been related to
the boys father The merchant nTince
WHO left no lineal heirs, was claimed as
kin by many Stewards in ireland and
in SCOtland-mainly worthy persons who
had remained III the humble station from
which he had risen
His death was the signal for long fights
IN the courts me prolonged litigation
resulted in favor Of the benefciaries
under his will but the many cousins
caused FeNau0uS Go'-z-s. Among these
httg2uts We're the grandparents of the
little murderer who was yesterday sent To
sing Sing The grandfather, who lived
- vi II fne Ell
HouaiTe cousin german. The boys fa-
amer, VINO Is consequently a second cousin
was not activeiy enSaged in the scramble
Tor ing property, having no money 10
~ ia bringing suit.
Assistant District Attorney Mcintyre
mace these comments on the case
The boy is unqUestiOnably of the Grim
inal tyDe mentioned by LombrOsi. Nor
Geau and Ferri. He is Enthusiastically of
occasions he has committed crime-once
when he was between II and u years old
which. TO nv mind. is a certain Indication
of . criminal propensity
The born criminal always OutTages so
Ciety d a very early age. The cCaSiOnaI
crime and the crime Of passion do not. as
a rule. occur before manhood. and rarely
or never lead 10 relapse.
several years ago. out Of 1922 persons
convicted of crime before tribunals i'm
Europe. less than per cent of these Grim
inals We're under the age OF Is.
These are criminals by propensity and
born such. They relapse again into crime
after progressive degeneration The Dre-
ooci0us criminal always has a relapse.
There is lack. or weakness. of The
moral sense which fails 10 withstand
crime. and this bows offense was the
outcome Of an instinct or tendency al
ready existing ian him. This young slayer
is a me tvpe for the criminal sOciologist
10 study
II fear he cannot be reformed, since he
is ike rhat kind OF criminal who. through
moral sickness. commits his first crime
in childhood. then prison associations de-
bfIitate and corrupt him morally and ply
stcalIv. subject him 10 Impulse and he
becomes cIrOnicallV prone to crime. A
relapse invariably follows;
For societV'S sake. the sentence ought
TO he severe OF all the homicide cases
of which I have had charge. that boys
case is the most extraordinary
For SocietN's sake. and out of q sense
of Justice TO the people, ! had to request
that severe sentence be imposed in order
to protect society and take this young
criminal cut of It's midst TO prevent the
reiauSe that must certainly follow. and
save the people of this government great
trouble and large sums Of money
There was q family in England IN the
early part of last century. whose men,
bers were born with morbid prOpensities
toward the commission of crime. One
committed z crime in his youth He
was sentenced to a period Of ten wears in
prison He came out and married. The
issue of that marriage all became Grim
inals-
about IL belonging in some wise to the
blood of the youth who was sentenced to
prison ali of whom became criminals and
have cost the English government about
eGaOo0 since the time that the youth
mentioned was liberated from an English
"a most painstalIine examination was
made Gomez rniug the boy S mental con- |