Louis S______'s identity has not absolutely been proved but evidence seems to point to the fact that Louis S______ who is now at V. I. S. is the same as [Richard M. Walton] born to [Dora Clifford] in the Mass. State Infirmary, Tewksbury, Mass., March 6, 1914. The reason that we are uncertain as to his identity is that the movements of [Dora Clifford] are uncertain between the time at when she left the Reformatory in Mass., November 24, 1914, and the time that we find her in Searsburg, Vt. where [Edith] was born October 11, 1919. At the time [Edith Carson] was born [Dora] was living with [George Carson] and had with her a little boy who appeared to be about five years old. She called this little boy Louis S______.

Louis was a very pretty child with very fair complexion, very light hair, and blue eyes. There was no outward evidence of colored blood. [Dora] stated that this child's father was Louis S., but no one had ever been able to show that [Dora] ever lived with or had any connection with Louis S______. Louis S_____ Sr. died in Bennington, Oct. 24, 1918 and it is thought that [Dora] stated that he was the father of her child because she thought that since S____ was dead there would be no comeback and she did not care to have it said that her child had colored blood. However, a recent letter from Mr. Fred W. Horton, Town Clerk Readsboro, Vt. states that [Dora] did live with Louis S_____ in Readsboro for a short time. He also said that a child was born to [Dora] while living with Mr. S_____ but he could get no dates of birth.

The following history assumes that Louis S______, now at V. I. S., and [Richard M. Walton] are one and the same.

[Richard M. Walton] was born in the State Infirmary at Tewksbury, Mass. March 6, 1914. His mother had been transferred to that institution from the Women's Reformatory at Sherborn, Mass. on Feb. 16, 1914. His mother had been committed to the Women's Reformatory at Sherborn, Mass. on Dec. 9, 1913 on the charge of adultery with [Richard Abelstone]. The commitment was made from North Adams where the house in which [Dora] and [Abelstone] and [Dora's] three children, [Mabel, Gertrude, and Molly], had been living. [Richard Abelstone] (or [Abel Stone]) claimed both [Richard M. Walton] and [Dora's] third daughter [Molly Walton] as his children but [Dora] stated that [Molly] was [Walton's] child.

On April 27, 1914 [Richard] returned to the Women's Reformatory at Sherborn with his mother, where he remained until [Dora] was discharged on November 24, 1914. He then is believed to have gone with his mother to the home of her parents, Mrs. and Mrs. [James D. Clifford] in Readsboro, Vt.

In the meantime, [Richard's] three half‐sisters, [Mabel, Gertrude, and Molly Walton] had been committed to the S. D. P. W. of Massachusetts in whose care they have remained ever since.

Nothing is known of [Richard M. Walton] and his mother between Nov. 24, 1914 and the fall of 1919 when [Dora] was found living with [George Carson] in Searsburg Mountain. She had with her the child whom she called Louis S_____.

[Dora] undoubtedly never married [George Carson]. Both had been married before and neither had secured a divorce. Three children were born to [Dora] and [George]. These of course were half‐siblings of Louis S_____. They were: ‐‐ [Edith, Robert Charles, and Elizabeth Carson]. [Elizabeth] died on August 21, 1922.

[George] and [Dora] and the three of four children lived in the most primitive fashion in Searsburg where [Edith] was born, Woodford, where [Robert Charles] was born, and Bennington, where [Elizabeth] was born. The family lived outside of Bennington near a stream which would have been beautiful if it had not been used for the village dump. The whole family lived in a tiny one room shack which was so filled with things collected from the dump that it was difficult to conceive how any one could crawl into the house.

Louis's early environment must have been abominable, not only his physical environment but his mental environment. The family had attracted attention for some time but no action was taken until the birth of [Elizabeth] brought the case very strongly to the attention of the Red Cross in Bennington. On August 7, 1922 Louis and his half‐siblings [Edith and Robert Charles] were committed to the temporary care of the Red Cross Nurse, Miss Dora Clark of Bennington. The immediate cause of this was the fact that on that date their mother [Dora Clifford Walton Carson] was committed to V. S. S. as feebleminded.

Miss Dora Clark immediately took steps to have the other two children committed to the V. C. A. S. and this was done On October 22, 1922, but Miss Clark kept Louis in her care because she had secured for him an excellent home with Mr. and Mrs. Judson G. in Shaftsbury, Vt. These people were wonderful to Louis while he stayed with them and were fond of him and were very patient with him.

Louis was always a very pretty child. He had a rather delicate and refined looking face, blue eyes) and light hair. He was very friendly and was sometimes almost too affectionate.

While at this free home of Mr. and Mrs. G. his language and conversation showed that his mind had been steeped in filth. His vocabulary had an excess of words having to do with delinquency, punishment, jail, and sex. His language and mental content was filthy and very limited. He was absolutely untrained. He wet himself day and night and did not control his bowel movements day or night. He was active and helpful and not at all lazy. He was lovable and so was given a chance in his foster home longer than his behavior warranted.

On December 7, 1922 Louis was committed to V. I. S. as incorrigible. Before his commitment on August 30, 1922 H. E. A. gave Louis a mental examination. His C. A. was 8‐6. His M.A. was 7. His I. Q. was 82. In January, 1923 H. A. S. of V. I. S. gave Louis a mental test and found his I. Q. to be 93. Up to September, 1922 when Louis was 8 1/2 years old he had never attended school.

When H. E. A. gave him the mental test on August 30, 1922 he was able to do the work in year 7 with the exception of drawing the diamond and his attempt to make this drawing was very poor indeed. He was able to describe pictures very well but was lacking in words to use in the names of things. For example, he said the Indians and three boys were swimming in a boat. He said they were plowing the boat with sticks. He gave a very good description of the post office but insisted that these people were in front of a jail. He could not read but noticed the letters over the post office and said, "See, those letters spell jail."

Later Louis became more and more of a problem at V. I. S. He was found to be a sex pervert. In 1926 at the age of 12 he improved as to sex practices and other bad habits, but he could not read and was doing poor work in Grade 3. He was later demoted to Grade 2. He still remained attractive and appealing.

On November 17, 1925 when Louis was eleven years old he was given the Haggerty Intelligence Test, Delta 1. His M. A. was 6‐11. At that time he was doing some work in Grade 3A and other work in Grade 3B.

Miss Lyons of V. I. S. gave him the Binet Simon Test on May 19, 1926. His I.Q. was 78, his M. A. was 9 years, and six months.

At V. I. S. Louis is in a cottage where be is treated very kindly and where the people are interested in him. His school teacher is much interested in him and helps him.

In December, 1920 Louis S_____ was examined by the psychiatric unit sent to Vermont by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. His I. Q. was found to be 74. Dr. Chamberlain felt that there was much hope for Louis although he was of course of low grade mentality. He thought there was much hope because Louis was very cooperative and spoke spontaneously about wishing to correct his bad habits.

According to his V. I. S. record he was committed by the Bennington Municipal court, Dec. 7, 1922 and admitted Dec. 9, 1922, for the rest of his minority. He was a delinquent child. It is recorded that his hair is light, his eyes blue , his complexion light, that he has a long scar on his forehead and a deformed little toe. He was 5', 5" tall and weighed 58 lbs. He was born in Granville, N. Y. November 16, 1914. His parents are listed on this record as ‐‐‐‐ S_____ and ‐‐‐‐ [Clifford]. He was 8 years old and in the second grade. His religion is protestant. He had three siblings, [Robert, Edith, and Elizabeth]. He could give not information about his family. He does not know where his father or mother are at present.