Year: 1874

fhe Boy Butcher.


Boston intelligence states that no


murder since the horrible Webster


Parkman tragedy, has occasioned


so much excitement in that city as


the circumstances attendant upon


the trial of Pomeroy, the boy mur-


derer of little Katy Curran. In his
confession of the murder his reool-
lection of every feature of the crime


was so vivid as to leave no doubt re-
garding his sanity. Certainly none
of the usual phases of madness were


apparent in him. During the pro-


gress of the coroner's inquest, Jesse


Pomeroy told the day, hour, place and


surroundings of the murder. With


out a tremor he described the spot


where Katy Curran stood; how he


came up behind, threw his left arm


around her neck, covered her mouth


with his left hand and cut her throat


with knife which he held in his
right. No quarrel had occurred be-


tween the children; Pomeroy had


not even an imaginary wrong to


lead him to commit the horrible deed
in boyish anger. The only hypothe-
sis, therefore, upon which an ex-


planation of the boys action may


be founded is that he was the victim


of an inherited morbid influence to


kill. 1t is hardly possible that a
youth of Pomeroy's age should have


become so warped in mind through
disease incurred by his own acts.


In adults there is sometimes found
an almost irresistible impulse to
slaughter some living object, though
the desired victim may be all un-
known to the would-be murderer.
Even here this disease may be the
offspring Of the parent as much as
the child itself; but it is more fre-
quently the result Of some trans
gression of the laws of existence
independent of any progenital indu-
ences. In a mere boy, however,
like Jesse Pomeroy, We must look
to ante natal phenomena for the
causes of this morbid impulse.


Mrs. Pomeroy gave in her evi-
dence a brief sketch of Jesse's life
before and after birth. Her hus-
band was proprietor Of a butcher
shop, and, during the latter months
of her pregnancy, she frequented his
place of business almost daily. The
task Of cutting 20 pieces the
body of a butchered animal came to
have real fascination for the wo-
man, and she often assisted her hus-
band in the uncanny work which to
most of her sex Is unbearable. No
sooner after birth was the child able
to hold a knife than he manifested
an oYerweening desire to cut things. |
His especial delight was to secure a |
knife, crawl to piece of meat in
his mothers kitchen and stab the
raw lump repeatedly. When he
grew older and began to mingle sin
the outdoor sports of other children
he renewed the exercise of these
murderous propensities upon the
persons of ais associates. Two years
ago, in East Boston and in Chelsea,
be mutilated several playmates,
younger and weaker than he, and on
being formally charged with the
commission of an assault was exam
ined before legal tribunal. 1t was
then discovered that the boy was |
not devilish or depraved in disposi- |
tion, and was then acquitted. On
several other occasions he has cut or
to cut the persons of child
rem, but always in a half-earnest, |
half toying manner and never in an
ger. Here is clearly a case of morbid |
inherited from the mother,
or the result of impressions made
upon the child through the medium
Of the mother before its birth. 1t is
one phase of a distinctly marked dis
ease, but phase without a parallel,
perhaps, in medical annals.


What course to take with victims
Of this strange morbidness is q ques-
lion which must be decided. The
number who are influenced by the
disease is yearly becoming greater,
md murder by such individuals cor
,espondingly frequent. To visit
capital punishment upon one who
seems in no wise responsible for the
of the crime of murder
would be the worst kind Of legal
mistake. Imprisonment for life
would be the intensest cruelty, and
lntrammeled liberty the height Of
folly and danger to those by whom
hey may be surrounded. Many /
persons actuated by a morbid i'm
pulse to commit suicide are known 4
20 be peaceful, laW-abiding and use
'ul in al else; therefore they are
lot proper subjects for the insane Il
asylum. Some school of correction
must must be instituted where Grim
nails Of this class may be reformed. I
In most Of the subjects but the one |,
svil desire, the sole distortion, per
laps, Of the whole system, win bel
'ound to straighten and smooth out
With careful discipline under com
petent instructors who would take