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howling maniacs and their gangster keepers that he had seen with his own eyes on a recent official visit to the downstate center at Smith's Grove.
    Looking ashen and exhausted, he reconvened the hearing a week later. "Ladies and gentlemen of the court, in forty-two years as a loyal servant of the law and of this court, I have never been asked to make as remotely cruel a decision as the one I am now compelled to make. Even as I speak I am aware that I'm struggling to keep my eyes from gazing upon the accused in this bizarre episode, for I know that if I do, I may falter in my duty. Nevertheless, absent any evidence to the contrary, absent any witnesses, absent any other person to come forth with a confession, absent any contradiction in the child's story, absent any regret on the part of the accused, and above all, absent any sense of right or wrong, which is the foundation of the law with respect to the criminally insane—I have no choice but to remand Michael Audrey Myers to the Smith's Grove Sanitarium in Warren County, Illinois, where he shall be placed in the care of a resident psychiatrist who shall report to this court regularly. His case shall be reviewed no less than twice a year, and upon recommendation of the psychiatrist the boy may be released back into the custody of his parents.
    "Although it is impossible for me to conceive a lengthy stay for Michael, whose brutal act I believe to have been the product of a passing madness that I hope has discharged itself forever from his system, I am obliged to cite the law concerning criminally insane minors, namely, that at the age of twenty-one they must be brought before a magistrate for a criminal proceeding.
    "If Michael is still at Smith's Grove fifteen years hence, he shall be brought before the court on the day of his twenty-first birthday, where he shall be tried as an adult for the murder of Judith Margaret Myers.
    "I have," he said, holding up a sheaf of papers, "prepared a list of supplementary instructions for the care of Michael at Smith's Grove, in the hope that the problems that exist in such institutions shall not damage his chances of returning to society as a normal, healthy, fully functional human being. This court is dismissed."
    He rose, and the courtroom, which was composed almost exclusively of newspaper reporters, rose with him. He pivoted and, still averting his eyes from the boy he had just sentenced to the living death of an insane asylum, passed through the rear door of the courtroom. Michael's parents sobbed as the boy was led out of the room by a stern-looking matron, and even the normally tough-skinned reporters, who had seen everything, looked wan and reflective.
    One observer, however, was unaffected. Sam Loomis, a round-faced man with a goatee and a head shaved bald, had been staring penetratingly at the accused boy. In all his years as a clinical psychiatrist, he had heard and read about such cases but had never observed one personally, and so the Myers case had interested him keenly—particularly because Loomis was the resident in charge of juveniles at Smith's Grove. Like everyone else, Loomis had been deeply touched by the angelic appearance and manner of the little boy until, as the boy was reciting the events of the evening of October 31, 1963, his eyes had happened to lock with Loomis's. The man felt a chilly forboding that almost curdled his blood . . .
    Six months had passed since the hearing, and, as required by law, Loomis now appeared before Judge Christopher in the magistrate's chambers. As they sipped glasses of port, Loomis noted how much the judge seemed to have aged. Loomis tactfully said something to this effect.
    "It disturbed me deeply then, and it disturbs me no less deeply now. It haunts my waking hours and my sleep. I don't think I've ever done anything so difficult in my life. But what could I have done? What would you have done? How is he?"
    "He is . . . fine. Of course, in my professional capacity, 'fine' must be