The Boy Torturer Gets Caught
An illustration of the “Boy Torturer” (left) and a notice following Katie Curran’s disappearance (right).
Jesse Pomeroy had been out on parole for barely a month when 10-year-old Katie Curran disappeared from her home. Since she was last seen at Ruth Pomeroy’s shop, where Jesse worked, authorities questioned him and searched the store, though they found nothing.
Five weeks later, however, Pomeroy’s boot prints were discovered next to the body of four-year-old Horace Millen. The boy had been nearly decapitated and dumped on the beach. When police returned to question Pomeroy, they found scratches on his skin and blood on his clothes.
Jesse Pomeroy was arrested on April 24, 1874, and confessed after being confronted with Millen’s body.
Unfortunately for Jesse Pomeroy’s family, things only got worse after Ruth sold her store for much-needed cash after the arrest, and the new tenants discovered the decomposing corpse of Katie Curran in her basement. Pomeroy confessed, yet again.
His trial began on Dec. 9, 1874, shortly after Pomeroy’s 15th birthday. It ended the next day. And although the jury rejected the defense’s insanity plea, it offered Pomeroy leniency because of his age. The judge vehemently disagreed, however, and sentenced him to death.
Deeming him too young for such a fate, the governor’s office refused to sign the judge’s order of execution. After two years and three separate votes, Pomeroy’s sentence was commuted to life in solitary confinement. The 16-year-old was incarcerated in Massachusetts State Prison on Sept. 7, 1876.
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