Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-10-18
|OUTSlDE POINT OF VIEW,

Written for tho Tlmes-Republlcnn

Recently the state OF Connecticut mas.
had a case of crime of more than usual
interest to those who are studying de-
lgeneracy as we'll as to those who are
more or less disciples of the creed OF
heredity. Environment philosophers
seem to have received a body blow, asl
the history Of the Cross boy is told in de-
tail. OF it the Hartford Courant says
leditorially:
The case of the boy Cross, who Isl
shortly to be hanged in Connecticut for
the murder of an aged woman whom he
had attempted to violate, continues to
be a fruitful theme of discussion in New
England. A sentiment of indignation
on the one side at the horrible nature of
his crime justifies his hanging, while on
the other side, aitho there is no attempt
to belittle the awful nature Of the deed,
there Is a we'll defined doubt whether 1t
issin the interest Of justice that the state
should take his life.
That this young criminal is degen-
crate and one of the most pronounced
type does not admit of doubt. He is
clearly the victim and product of hered-
|ity. The evidence produced at his trial.
which the prosecution made no attempt
to contrOvert, showed that his father
was an epileptic, drunkard, and weak
minded. The mother was a drunken
prostitute, also epileptic and weak
minded, tried to murder her husband,
and died drunk in the streets. The
grandmother and aunts on the mother's5
side We're all epileptics, drunkards and
prostitutes, her grandfather died in an
insane asylum, and her brother also died
crazy. The fathers brother was an
|epileptic and weak-minded and his
grandfather was also subject to epilep-
sy
With such an ancestry what was the
outcome: "A boy who, when a mere
baby. manifested his cruelty in tortur-
ing flies and other insects. who as he
grew to be a youth was a victim of de-
lusions and Authorizations sleep
walker, and a. subject OF Unconscious:
spells He wac weak minded. He would
lie when the truth would have been to-
shis advantage He vas thief and
stole without any apparent sense Of
smoked cigarets excessively He vac
abnornally cruel. Apparently he had
no, even a glimmer of moral sense and
withal was a rank physical coward.
Such was the product Of this degraded
y
family
Other papers give the same evidence.
so that we have plainly stated the fact
that. for at least three generations the
public calmly looked on, while vice re-
produced ita kind AT last the offspring
of insane. epileptic, drinking, murder
Gus. immoral. diseased and weak mind
ed men and women commits crime
that enables the state to5end HE career.
AT last death. legal death. stops the
propagation of what the world now calls
sdegenerates But even as conservative
IA source az the Courant objects to this
removal of this specimen OF humanity
1T says:
To assume that such creature sa
morally responsible for his crimes is IL
logical in the extreme. for the moral
sense does not exist In him. 1t can not
be possible that he is to be executed in
a spirit of revenge, for that implies bar
barism. The only justification for his
strangling is the theory8that 1t may act
az deterrent. But whom Wilt deter?
Certainly not other degenerates. il there
are any more Of them III Connecticut. IL
is doubtful whether 1t will deter those
who are not degeneratea While there ia
no hope of saving him from the gallows,8
for the supreme court has declined to-
Interfere and the board of pardons hag
refused TO commute his sentence IL
would seem, under the circumstances,
that the ends of justice would have
been satisfied IL he had been confined
ITO prison for life. Pending the time
when society shall have discovered come
way of treating criminals of this hope
less class and protecting itself against
their degenerate impulses, it might
make compensutionfo for its failure by re-
moving them to any place where they
can be rendered harmless Perhaps,
however. our civilization has not yet
reached that point where II can solve
such difficult probuem or coolly con-
slider the relationship Of hereditary de-
generacy to crime and its punishment
1t does not seem to occur to the crimi-
lnologists of the east, only ina few out
spoken articles that the end sought i.e.s
the reproduction OF degenerates, can in
a large number of cases be ended only
when the sentiment il developed neces-
sary for legal action. The remedy is the
Iemasculation of the male criminal OF this
type when certain criminal practices
CE0lsS1NSiCA aIO lSeS piOteil. -SI-e
tain II Is that If surgical operations had
been legally performed on this boy
grandfather and grandmother the state
|of Connecticut would not now be dis
cussing what should be done with the
Cross boy 1t can be assumed that other
lhereditec degenerates are still living az
the result of the union between insane
men and immoral women Of the Cross
family. AS they come before the bar5of
justice or the board Of insane comlnis-
sioners again will be offered learned
treaties on heredity and degeneracy.
And condition exists here in Iowa no
whit differing from what Connecticut
has and permits. The writer was told
the following facts by the mayor OF an
Iowa town: Ascertain disreputable wom-
an OF the town, drunkard and the
mother OF two Legitimate children, In
duced half-witted epiieptic man OF
half her age to apply for marriage IL
Genre. uniting them In the bands Of holy
matrimony. It was secured from the
proper authorities who had fun know
ledge Of both OF the parties concerned
and they. We're married BY minister OF
the gOspel. The license authorities and
the mtnietef both satisfied their ofllciai5
|coneciences BY the theory that the par
ties were living ethers anyway, and
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