Article A: The Daily Mercury

The Daily Mercury

Young Boy Tragically Murdered
Boy killed by those he called friends

-Kate Hodgson, Journalist May 1, 1944

London--On April twenty-third, on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, a young boy was tragically beaten to death by his so-called friends and classmates. Nine-year-old Simon Callaghan was mistaken for a fleshy pig and slaughtered brutally around a roaring cookfire.

The group of schoolboys (ranging in age from five to twelve) were chanting and dancing around their cooking fire on the beach when they started play-acting the killing of their pig. Callaghan was not part of this disturbing circle of evil; the boys did not know where he was. Soon, however, he came crashing out of the spiny shrubs nearby and burst into the middle of the circle. The boys were so caught up in their bloodthirsty chant and blinded by evil that they did not realize that the thing that they were beating on was actually their skinny young classmate.

"He was crying something about a dead man on the mountain," said Maurice Buchard, ten. "We all ignored him, mainly because we were pretending he was the pig."

The pig was their dinner food and the boys liked to reenact the hunt. Callaghan was their unintended victim that night, and he paid dearly for it.

"Young people these days just cannot be trusted to take care of themselves and behave civilized," said Mrs. Joanna Smith, a neighbour of Callaghan's London family. "It's a tragic thing that occured, and the naughty children must be punished for their terrible crimes."

Witnesses of Callaghan's murder, who realized what was going on, said that Callaghan was beaten with wooden sticks, stoned, and bitten. He was also pushed over a ledge.

They were chanting "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!"

Only those who are truly sick-minded and disturbed would murder their own classmate like that. These young boys most obviously need mental help.

The British schoolboys were stranded on the island because the plane taking them over to Canada crashed. They were being evacuated from London, and came from schools including St. James' Private College, Eton College, and Bransmith Primary School.

Callaghan attended Eton College, and was part of the choir there.

London.