Tot's murder needs justice of kind served in 1934 case

The monstrous murder of 5-year-old Isabella Sarah Tennant, allegedly by a "trusted" family friend and helped by another teen is making headlines across the country. It also brings to mind the case of the Little Dillingers – Bruno Salek and Stanley Pluzdrak – who terrorized Niagara Falls in 1934.

At 17, Pluzdrak remains the youngest person to die in the electric chair in New York, and believed to be the only active Boy Scout to be executed anywhere in the country.

The hapless duo shot and killed a Buffalo cop following a botched robbery attempt that netted them exactly nothing. They’d stuck up a movie theater manager, thinking that the metal box he was carrying held the night’s receipts only to discover later it was merely a toolbox the guy was using in the course of routine maintenance.

No one today would suggest that killer kids are nothing but homicidal little maniacs the rest of us might be better off without, but things were different – some might even say better – back in 1934.

I’ve been covering crime for the past 35 years. And I’m not interested in blaming outrages like the one that happened to Isabella on our permissive society, violent movies and television shows, video games, suggestive rock lyrics or a lack of comprehensive educational and social services programs.

I don’t want to hear how badly the alleged perpetrators’ mommies treated them growing up.

If a court determines they are guilty of what the police say they are guilty of, it’s time to rewire Old Sparky and send these monsters to Sing Sing post haste. I’d pull the switch myself.