A YOUNG FIEND
It is generally believed in Boston now that the Governor and Council will eventually commute the sentence of Jesse Pomeroy to imprisonment for life. Common people who read the newspapers have a vague sort of information concerning this young fiend’s exploits, but probably very few of them, if called upon, could mention a single case of cruelty except the murder of the boy Millen, for which Pomeroy is now under sentence of death. A list of Pomeroy’s crimes appears in the Boston Globe of Saturday. On Feb. 21, 1872, Pomeroy assaulted Tracy Hayden, stripped him naked, tied him to a tree, broke the bridge of his nose, and inflicted other serious injuries; on July 4, 1872, he stripped, gagged and beat Johnny Balch, and washed salt water in the wounds; in September, 1872, he tied Robert Gould to a telegraph pole, and cut him about the head with a penknife; in August, of the same year, Harry Austin, George Pratt, and Joseph Kennedy were maltreated in the same manner. These crimes all preceded the murder of Katie Curran, which was discovered after the Millen murder, but occurred before it. Perhaps the career of this boy Pomeroy has been sufficiently moralized upon; it has now become a subject of study for the pathologist and the metaphysician.
(Jesse Pomeroy was 14 years old when he was sentenced to death. He was 16 when his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died in prison in 1932 at the age of 72. –Ed.)
NATIONAL NEWS
Judge Nelson, of the United States District Court, gave an opinion at Winona Tuesday affirming the constitutionality of the Civil Rights act.
On Thursday, the day appointed by Gov. Hardin, of Missouri, for fasting and prayer for relief from the grasshopper scourge, the ‘hoppers gathered up their traps and sailed over into Kansas.
While the tax on whisky in this country is 90 cents per gallon, in Great Britain it is $2.83 per gallon. But what better could you expect of a “blasted monarchy” whose aim is to crush out the liberties of the people?
While there is a wide diversity of opinion among the newspapers concerning the precise meaning of the President’s third-term letter, there seems to be a very general belief that it will completely remove him from the field as a candidate for renomination.
(Grant considered running for a third term, something that had never happened before, but vetoed the idea. The whole affair is the origin of the Elephant and Donkey symbols of the Republican and Democratic parties that are still used to this day. –Ed.)
Last week’s Le Sueur Courier comes to us with a thrilling editorial “leader,” headed: “The Grasshopper Raid.–A Determined and Successful Fight–Over 99 Bushels in Three Days!” The village authorities offer a reward of 20 cents per quart to June 10th and after that 15 cents per quart for all grasshoppers caught within the limits of the town. The County Commissioners of Blue Earth county are also after scalps, and offer a reward of 10 cents per quart of grasshoppers.
Up to noon Tuesday 2,500 bushels of grasshoppers had been caught in Blue Earth county and paid for.–The price has been reduced to five cents per quart, and the ‘hoppers are leaving. The war will be continued until they all clear out or are exterminated.
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