A view of the Charlestown Navy Yard with Boston in the right background, c. 1870s.
Around Charlestown, children reported being beaten and sexually assaulted by a larger boy. They said he had lured them away with the promise of sweets and then violated them, disfiguring their faces and genitals with a knife and pins. His description was published in The Boston Globe.
In these descriptions, Ruth Pomeroy recognized her son, who was called “The Boy Torturer” and “The Red Devil” by newspapers. Quietly, she moved her family to South Boston. But in August 1872, a boy was found tortured on the beach. And another was found beaten, raped, and tied to a telephone post in September.
One victim told authorities that the perpetrator had a marbleized eye, which quickly led to the arrest of 13-year-old Jesse Pomeroy. Facing six years at the State Reform School in Westborough, Pomeroy’s mother managed to get him released within months.
But the consequences proved tragic and macabre on March 18, 1874.
Comments
0 comment