AMERICA'S LATEST CRIME.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 53, 4 March 1925, Page 8

AMERICA'S LATEST CRIME.

JUVENILE POISONS FOUR,

Following closely on the "jazz girl's" murder of her mother in San Francisco, comes another juvenile crime of a most extraordinary nature in which Alsa Thomson, seven-year-old Lucretia Borgia, by her own confession, pois6ned and killed at least three persons.

This youthful criminal also resides in California, this time in Los Angeles, where murder mysteries are extremely common.

Alienists and juvenile authorities long schooled in handling child delinquency believe the little girl was the victim of auto-suggestion. She has been questioned time after time, and has not once deviated from the story she told, at the outset of her confession.

"Alsa is a perfectly normal child mentally," one of the examining alienists said. "She is neither too bright not too dull for her years. She is entirely lacking in emotion, however."

Illustrating this lack of emotion was her story of feeding ground glass to her baby sisters.

It is neceseary to recount the child's story in detail to show the part v autosuggestion may have played in her crimes—if she actually did commit them, as some are inclined to disbelieve some part of her confession. Two years ago, when only five years old and living with her parents at Dauphin in Manitoba, Canada, Alsa's mother warned her never to put broken glass in her mouth —that it would cause death. Within a month, because her little twin sisters, aged two, cried in the night and "bothered her," the diminutive seven-year-old girl, according to her confession, fed them ground glass in their breakfast food. Both died.

Two years ago her parents moved from ■Canada to Los Angeles, where they separated. Seven-year-old Alsa went to board with Mrs. Alice Steele. One day the little girl saw the latter placing ant paste about the cupboard. She was warned not to touch it —that it would poison and would kill her. Shortly thereafter, according to the child's own confession, she placed ant poison in the food of Miss Nettie Steele, daughter, of Mrs. Steele, because the young woman had scolded her. Her third alleged poi-soning victim also died.

Several weeks ago Alsa changed her boarding place to the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Platt. Mrs. Platfc warned the litle girl boarder that the battery operating the radio contained a poisonous solution. A month ago, according to the child's confession, she surreptitiously removed aome' poisonous solution and fed it to the whole Platt family in their breakfast coffee. All became deathly ill, but this time medical aid saved their lives.

Late in January Alsa quarrelled with another little girl playmate. Again, according to her own confession, she resorted to poison in the radio battery box. The- little girl victim also died.