The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-05-25
BOY OF XTEEN is
A moral LU I'M. !
1ncorrigable and Is Placed in
Jail as q Last
Remedy.
Remedy
Especial to The TImes-Dispatch.)

Especial to The Times Dspa tch.)
RALEIGH, N. c., May 24.-"for Gods
sake mother, don't have me locked up
\ in the dirty filthy jail, I will do anything
YOU say and come right home" It was
the sixteen -year-old son OF, Rev. J :. y.
Edmundson, q Baptist evangelist, speak
ing, and he was at tho telephone In the
office of the Wake county sheriff lie
had asked the privilege OF calling up
his mother on the phone before pelns
carried, to a cell In the Jail. The sheriff
had told him that inasmuch as his moth
or could no longer bears,h his outrageous
conduct there was nothing to do but
put him In Jail until he felt that he could
behave HIMSELF
The boys father was away from home
and 1t had been decided that while he IS
apparently sound Of mind, there IS an
inordinate desire for money that came
upon him ut intervals and to satisfy
this "craze'' he would for the minute
resort to any means to obtain 1t.
It was about q month ago In New
York that the young man attempted TO
forge the name OF Chas. r. Johnson. OF
this city, and the endorsement OF the
American Tobacco Company on check
and was gotten out of the clutches OF
the law through the intercesson or
friends.
He was brought homo and within a
: Is.
and some others to notes In tho effort
to procure goods from stores SO that ne
might pawn them for money. This TOO,
was smothered over without prosecution.
Two days later the boy was found IN
the basement OF his home here partlnliy
unconscious from what he declared was
an attempt to take his own life. lie was
brought around all right and had mnde
all manner OF promises to his mother
when 1t was discovered that he had taken
from the house a quantity of his fathers
best clothes and was paWning them 10
dealers OH Wilmington Street, all this
too, after his attempt at suicide, as ne
claimed and In the face Of tho promises
he had made to his mother. This was
the last straw and a friend OF me fanny my
| went before tho authorities and sWore out
a warrant for his detention in jail as OF
| unsound mind.
In reply to the pleadings OF the boy
| tho mother told her son that she llau
done all In the world she could for him,
but II the sheriff would let him OF on
| her sny-so. she was willing for him TO
| come home again for another trial How
| ever the sheriff told the boy that he md
| in his hand warrant for his commits
ment to jail and there was nothing for
| him to do but to lock him UP until some
| process was set in motion to release
him. With this the boy was carried
along to the jail and locked up.
Tho case Is n remarkable one IN that
physicians who have examined the boy
pronounce him Of sound mind, but that
Judging from his conduct, there must he
times when he Is seized with q crazed
desire to obtain money and this leads
him to commit offenses for which he
should not be held crimnally responsible.
| sible,
The boy vii be kept In jail until his
father returns to the city and some steps
can be taken to get him In some instltu-
| ton where he can be treated In the hope
of correcting this defect, be It Of tho
mind or tho character.