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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Crime / Religion / Books Youth Pastor Watch: 1866 Edition

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 1:01 PM

Horatio Alger? Does everybody know this already?

Church records uncovered after Alger's death indicate that stories had begun to circulate concerning his conduct with two teenage boys in the parish. These were investigated and proved to be true.

In letters now housed at the Harvard Divinity School, Brewster church officials wrote to the hierarchy in Boston, complaining "that Horatio Alger, Jr. has been practicing on [the boys of the church] at different times deeds that are too revolting to relate." Nevertheless, they are related: "gross immorality, and a most heinous crime, a crime of no less magnitude than the abominable and revolting crime of unnatural familiarity with boys ... which he neither denied or attempted to extenuate but received it with apparent calmness of an old offender — and hastily left town on the very next train for parts unknown."

In 1866, after the Brewster incident, Alger moved to New York City, which proved to be a turning point in his career. He was immediately drawn into the world of impoverished young bootblacks, newspaper boys, and peddlers. He spent much time with young men and often ate his meals and slept at the Newsboys' Lodging House. He also invited boys to his small apartment in a boarding house.

No word on how old the church boys were—18 isn't 13, after all—but town leaders in Marlborough, Mass were concerned enough to debate dropping Alger's name from their annual family street fair.

Comments (7) RSS

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He pulled them off by his bootstraps.

Posted by Sean Nelson, Emeritus on October 13, 2009 at 1:30 PM

"... hastily left town... for parts unknown..."

But not parts unfamiliar.

Huh. I always thought he seemed a little too focused on the downtrodden and vulnerable, not to mention pretty much exclusively the XYs.

Posted by rob!

on October 13, 2009 at 1:55 PM

now that everyone involved is dead, i can find this hilarious.

Posted by Max Solomon on October 13, 2009 at 2:42 PM

His stories always have some scene where the hirsute ne'er-do-well overpowers and ties up the honest young lad, later followed up by a kind police officer tenderly carrying the boy out of the place of imprisonment and loosing his bonds.

Posted by Yeek on October 13, 2009 at 3:09 PM

Huh. I'd heard that Alger was a hypocrite because he married his money, didn't earn it.

Posted by Amelia on October 13, 2009 at 3:13 PM

Well, anybody who reads Gawker knows this already...

Posted by Loonesta on October 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM

@5, heck, last I heard (some thingie I read in the 80's), the vast majority of his tales didn't involve some kid working hard and saving his money and being entrepeneurial, nope, mostly just suffer virtuously, keep suffering, and voila! Daddy Warbucks ex machina! A wealthy sponsor saves the day!

Posted by CP on October 13, 2009 at 9:02 PM