Year: 1874

The New York Evening Post says ::
The boy Pomeroy, of Boston, has con-
fessed that he murdered the little girl
whose body was found in his mothers
cellar few days ago. The deed seems
to have been performed in obedience
to those cruel and uncomfortable in
stincts which led him in other cases to
catch small children and cut and other
wise MAIN them with knives, and in
one instance 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, there
fore, to believe that his explanation is
true. His story is supported by some
alleged facts which have been published
in connection with this latest instance
of his murderous cruelty. 1t is said
that his father is 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 cattle, but sometimes 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 q kind-hearted and promising
boy.


If 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 judi
cious to assert that he is not RESPONSE
BILE 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 disor-
dered 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," DIR. Holmes has treat
ed this subject very fully, the case he
has selected being that of child en-
dowed with the instincts of O rattle
snake through the fright given to the
mother by one Of these reptiles.


Although the case of the boy Pome-
roy 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 attempted to kill her hus-
band, and succeeded in killing her
three children, it is certain that the
safety of society requires that he
should be treated as, under o recent
statute of this State, they are to be
treated. In their cases the court or
dered an investigation as to their
sanity, and finally directed that they
should be sent to an asylum for the
insane during life, or until their recov-
cry, when, we suppose, the indictments
found or 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 oi
his murderous instincts and be pro
noupced 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 il
be correct, will serve as bar against
his conviction. The lesson of his career
should not be lost on parents.