The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1906-11-30
Burned Baby In A Manger.

Startling details of an amazing chile
murder, fendish and self confessedly delib-
crate, but unpunishable because, in the
eyes of the law, the infant perpetrators
cannot distinguish between right and wrong,
came to light recently at Riverhead, N. Y.
The childish motive behind the burning
to death of two-y year-old Julian Beck by
his playmates, Frank and Anthony White,
aged four and six years respectively, as
admitted by the youngsters themselves,
was to determine whether the baby or the
hay in the manger of the White barn
would burn first. Charred bones of the
baby were discovered in the ruins of the
barn two days after the fire, but it was not
until two weeks later that the awful details
of the infanticide were wormed out of the
frightened children.
For two days following the fire Mr..
and Mrs. John Beck, parents of the VIC
tim, with hundreds of neighbors, searched
the woods in the neighborhood for the lit
tie fellow, the White boys insisting, when
the fire was discovered, that the Beck boy
was seen hurrying into the thicket.
The frantic mother shrieked and raved
liked maniac during the search and when
she was told that the charred bones of her
infant were discovered in the debris she
collapsed.
The horrible details of the fire and its
fendish work are best told by Tony White,
the elder of the lads who burned their baby
playmate.
"Julian Beck and Frank, my little
brother" said Tony, "were playing out in
papa's barn, when went out with them.
We all thought that it would be nice to
see the hay burn, and | went into the
house and climbed upon chair and stole
a handful of matches from the mantelpiece,
and ran back to the barn, where Frank and
Julie were waiting.
81 told Frank that I didn't known
which would burn first, the hay or Julie,
if we put both in the feed box. Lets
see, said Frank, and as the baby did not
kick we lifted him upon soap box and
then tumbled him into the manger where
the horses eat their oats First the baby
hollered and then he didn't t. Me and
Frank then threw lot of hay into the
manger, covering the baby all over 1
struck match and threw it in the place
where the baby was, and pretty soon there
was big fire. 1t got bigger and bigger
all the time
Mamma, mamma, papa, papa, cried
Julie, but by that time the fire was so big
that we could not get Julie out. The hay
burned first, but Julie burned too. My
papa and jules papa and mamma and
Mr.. Tanning and lots of other people came
running to the barn and tried to put out
the fire, but they couldn't. Gee, but it
was big fire. 1t was the biggest fire I
ever saw. Me and Frank ran into the
woods, and jules mamma ran after us
and asked us where the baby was. We
were afraid to tell her, and we said that
he was up in the woods. The fire kept on
going and we watched it nearly all night.
Before we went to bed there were lots of
people out from the town and from every
where, and there was no more barn left.
"The first one we told about how the
fire started and that baby Julie was in the
barn and burned up and not out in the
woods, where the people were all looking
for him, was my brother Charlie. Charlie
told us that we would get the dickens and
maybe have to go to that big Jail in town.
1t was Charlie who told papa, and then we
got whipped good and hard -