Changing The Perception Of Crime...!

This probably was the first time the public had read accounts of this type of crime.

Strange, but I just never thought of crimes of this magnitude taking place this far back! Guess this might be the forerunner to the types of sprees we read about every day!

It had to be very shocking to the folks back then, where as now days we are almost immune to the terrible ways that man can treat his fellow men! I'm afraid to say that we have almost reached the point where we can't be shocked by anything! Parents killing toddlers, children being raped and abused, spouse beatings and killings, old folks being attacked and beat and robbed...the list goes on and on!

You have to wonder when there is going to finally be an end to it all. I'm just surprised that God hasn't just wiped the slate clean and started over! At the rate we are going, before long the bad guys will have done away with the decent folks and then they will have to start in on each other!

Feb 3, 1780:

Early American mass murder changes common perceptions of crime

In one of the most famous crimes of post-Revolution America, Barnett Davenport commits an awful mass murder in rural Connecticut. Caleb Mallory, his wife, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were killed in their home by their boarder, Davenport.

Davenport, born in 1760, enlisted in the American army as a teenager and had served at Valley Forge and Fort Ticonderoga. In the waning days of the war with the British, he came to live in the Mallory household. Today, Davenport's crime might be ascribed to some type of post-war stress syndrome, but at the time it was the source of a different sociological significance.

On February 3, apparently unprovoked, Davenport beat Caleb Mallory to death. He then beat Mallory's seven-year-old grandchild with a rifle and killed his daughter-in-law. Davenport looted the home before setting it on fire, killing two others.

His shocking confession was the basis of much soul-searching for the fledgling nation's press. Many books were written about the crime, and the perception of murderers began to change in America. Until then, crime was most often seen as the result of common sinners losing their way. But Davenport's crime and its portrayal to the public caused people to perceive criminals as evil and alien to the rest of society. To some degree, this view has persisted through the years.

I just don't know anymore, I really don't! Lots of spoiled fruit in our family tree! Bad thing is, from bad fruit you get bad seeds! Scary!

Let's have our coffee out on the patio. Too nice to stay inside this morning!