Year: 1874




| The boy Pomeroy, of Boston, has con-


fessed that he murdered the little girl


whose body was found in his mother


cellar few days ago. The deed seems


to have been performed in obedience to
those cruel and uncomfortable instincts


which led him in other cases to catch
-small children and cut and otherwise
MAIN them with knives, and in one in
| stance to torture boy to death.


He has always said, in explanation OF


his horrible conduct, that he could not
help it. He is about fourteen years of age


and has evidently pursued his course


alone. We are inclined, therefore, to be-


lieve that his explanation is true. His
story is supported by some alleged facts


which have been published in connec


ton with this latest instance of his MUIR
derous cruelty. 1t is said that his father


was butcher, and that just before he


was born his mother daily went to the


slaughter-house with her husband, where


she not only watched with pleasure the
process OF killing the cattle, but some


times took part in it herself When the


little boy was born he manifested the


same unnatural taste for blood, and one


of his boyish amusements is said to have


been to plunge a knife into pieces of
meat. The family is said to be an honest
and industrious one and the only other
child, aged seventeen years, is spoken of
as a kind-hearted and promising boy.


Ii these assertions are authentic, they
show that Jesse Pomeroy was born with
the desire implanted in his nature to
hurt something. 1t may not be judicious
to assert that he is not responsible for
his conduct. although it might be argued
that his nature received a lasting impress
before he was born from the unwise and
dangerous way in which his mother
yielded to her disordered fancy for sights
of blood and cruelty. She should have
restrained herself, or at all events she
should have been restrained or diverted
from her visits to the slaughter-house.
In the powerful and entertaining story
of Elsie Venner." DR.. Holmes has treat
ed this subject very fully, the case he has
selected being that of child endowed
with the instincts of rattlesnake
through the fright given to the mother
by one of these reptiles.


Although the case of the boy Pomeroy
does not resemble very closely those Of
Kate Stoddard, charged with the murder
of Charles Goodrich in Brooklyn, and
Mrs Dwyer, of the same city, who at
tempted to kill her husband and succeed |
ed in killing her three children, it is GER
tain that the safety of society requires |
that he should be treated as, under re-
cent statute of this State, they should be
treated In their cases the court ordered |
an inves igation as to their sanity, and |
finally directed that they should be sent |
to an asylum for the insane during life or /
until their recovery, when, we suppose, |
the indictments found or supposed to be
found against them, may come to trial |
We imagine that there is little chance of |
the recovery of the Pomeroy boy, and !
therefore the most that can be done with |
him is to put him where he cannot harm
others. In case he should be educated |
out of his murderous instincts and be
pronounced sane, there are precedents in |
the Massachusetts, practice for his trial,
although our assumption that he was
born with the characteristics which have
thus far marked his conduct if it be cor
rect, will serve as bar against his con-
viction. The lesson of his career should
not be lost on parents.-NeW York Ever-
ing Post.