Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-03-13
pEs MONIES BOY PROVES PUZZLE
TO POLICE AND GRIM.
NoLooIsrs.
HAS PLANNED AND EXECUTED
MANY BOLD RoesERlEs
Lad With Pleasing Personality and
Chubby Face Apt Pupil in Crime
lnesndiarism His spseialty-WiII Be
Sent to Industrial School At Eidora-
Other news Of the state.

| surveillance, there lisa very small.
chubby faced. innocent looking blue
eyed Swear old boy. who is branded by
the juvenile court of Polk county as a
criminal by nature. His future home,
says this court. must of necessity be-
the reform institution for boys at Ell
dora.
Over this small tangled curled head
the best criminologists and alienists in
Des Moines have gravely shaken their
heads. Social service workers and jul
venile court officers. who have been
won over in favor of leniency Of the
law by the witchery OF his dimpled
| smile, sigh hopelessly.
For so small person Ralph Leonard
At the age when most boys are lisping
| court of Polk county has ever tackled
At the agew hen most boys are lisping
the monos yllables in the first reader at
school this boy can plan and execute
piece of incendiarism that would BATTLE
a fire insurance expert He has proved
that he could do it and because of this
mania for setting fire to dwellings the
| juvenile court has turned the boy over
to the keeping of the state.
Ralph, the most winsome OF cherubs
in features and manners, is an incen-
diarist Of the most pronounced crim1-
nal type, for he evinces no feeling OF
repentance over the outcome, says the
juvenile court after consultation with
medical experts.
Has Pleasing Personality.
To engage in conversation with this
boy, who prattles in the language OF
small boys, and yet keep in the back
ground Of memory the facts Of his last
three deeds in incendiarism, is de-
moralizing to any expression OF
| thought To hold the little pudgy
hands and realize that only recently
| these very hands held can of kero-
sene which would have been thrown
into the roaring furnace of the juvenile
court home building on East Four
teenth street had 1t not been for the
quick action of household servants, is
rather disconcerting to say the least
It is impossible to realize that those
baby fashioned hands could be directed
by a perverted mind to do great
criminal act.
His personal stoicism was displayed
later when he ATTEMPTED to destroy by
fire the home of relative where he
was taken after the performance of his
deed at the juvenile court home. He
employed kerosene to fire this resi-
dence, as he had done the other. but in
bungling his work he was severely
burned about one knee. The physical
pain did not disconcert him or change
his purpose. But failing to accomplish
that purpose, after several attempts,
the boy is said to have gone to the
room of his cousin, removed the
partially burned clothing, and donned
a new suit belonging to that cousin.
So stealthily did the boy do his work
that night the family was not
awakened and knew nothing Of his in
tent to fire the dwelling until his par
TALLY burned clothing was found upon
the bed room floor and the empty
kerosene can found near the furnace
door.
Apt Pupil in Crime.
The boy has been an apt pupil in
Upon his ability to identify certain
men higher up" will depend num-
Der of arrests by the police for house.
hold robberies in Des Moines during
the past six months. Because Of the
dizziness Of his fingers, his mental
keenness and ability to execute we'll
planned plots, Ralph has been used as
a tool for INSCRIPTIONS men, say the
juvenile court officers. In his con-
fession Of crimes the hoy is said to
have implicated a number of men not
know to the police.
According to the remarkable story
told to the court yesterday by this boy
the robberies in Des ;Moines were care
fully planned and cleverly executed
BIZ himself The method of gaining
entrance into the homes to prospect
was very simple, says the boy. Repre-
senting themselves as ash haulers
these men would visit the cellars of
the homes intended for robbery and
make q careful survey while the boy
was sent to the kitchen to win the af-
fections of the housewife. That night
the boy would be lowered into the
basement thru the coal chute and
would make his way to the front
door, which he would open for their
entrance and easy escape. This sys-
tenn was employed many times, says
the boy. He has told the police the
nicl1names which these robbers called
each other and these will be used as
clues to locate the men.
Puzzles criminolosists.
Because this boy Is such deep psy-
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