About Gertrude's moral evolution we got very little aid from the parents or indeed from any others. It was very evident that from earliest childhood the girl had led a mental life of which her relatives knew nothing. Naturally, the mother gave us no account of the development of the tendency to lying; she merely glossed over her daughter's deceptions. The father, who had been obliged to work away from home much during Gertrude's early years, merely knew that at about the time she left school, namely 14 years, she began to lie excessively.
Anything like a complete account of Gertrude's prevarications, even as we know them, would require much space. Some idea of their quantity and quality may be gained from the facts which we have gleaned from several sources. As might be supposed, Gertrude has established a reputation for falsification among many of her acquaintances. One friend tells how she represented herself as a half orphan, living with a hard-hearted step-mother. Demanding promises of secrecy, Gertrude told this girl about a sum which she had with much difficulty gradually saved from her earnings in order to buy needed clothes. She asked the friend to come and help her make a selection. (Now the $20 or so that was spent Gertrude had stolen. By following her strange impulse she, with danger to herself, related a complicated story to this other girl who needed to know nothing of any part of the affair.) We have knowledge of scores of other fabrications which were detected. They include her alleged attendance at a course of lectures, her possession of a certain library card, and her working in various places. For many of these stories not a shadow of a reason appeared—especially during the time we have known her she has had every incentive to tell the truth about everything.
When by virtue of our court work we first knew the case, her lying centered about her other delinquencies, but even so its peculiar characteristics stood out sharply.
Gertrude was held to the adult court in the matter of the forgery of a check, which had been presented in an envelope to a bank teller by her and cashed as in the regular line of business between the bank and the firm for which she worked. Finding the girl had lied about her age, she was held, after the preliminary hearing, to the proper court. There, in turn, she did not appear at the right time, it being stated that she was sick in a hospital. One officer knew better and further investigation showed that Gertrude herself had come to the court, represented herself as her sister, and made the false statement about the illness. A telephone call the same afternoon to her house Gertrude answered.
Months of difficulty with the case began now. Her employer and all concerned experienced much difficulty in getting at the truth of the forgery, particularly through her clever implication of a man who had no easy task in freeing himself. Even after the girl confessed herself a confirmed liar she told more untruths which were peculiarly hard to unravel. Gertrude's firm bearing, her comparative refinement and her ability made every one unusually anxious to do her justice, and to save her from her own self-damaging tendencies.
During the continuance of the case, when all her interests demanded her good behavior, Gertrude could not refrain from what were almost orgies of lying and deceit. She well realized how this would count against her and, indeed, wrote letters of apology repeatedly for her misconduct.
``Let me come and tell you all. The time has come when things must stop, therefore I feel that I must talk to someone. I have lived a lie from the day I was born until now.''
After these letters she went on making false statements which could readily be checked up. Nothing is any more curious in Gertrude's case than the anomaly of her telling several of us who tried to help her that up to the time of the given interview she had not thoroughly realized how bad it was to lie, and how she now felt keenly that she must cease, while perhaps at the end of the very same interview a reaction to a new situation would produce more fabrications. Personally I have seen nothing any more suggestive of the typical toper's good resolutions and sudden falling from grace.
The story of the forged check was fancifully embellished and ever more details were supplied at pleasure. While this matter was under investigation Gertrude stayed away from home several nights, two of which have never been accounted for. She told fairly plausible stories about going out of town, but she first should have studied time tables to make them wholly convincing. The mother, too, told that the girl had been out of town, but in this she was caught, for it was found that Gertrude had been part of the time with other relatives.
The main story of the check involved a man who worked in the same office. She stated that he made an immoral proposal to her on the basis of immunity from prosecution. After a couple of months Gertrude got round to confessing that she alone was responsible for the entire forgery and that her previous quite clever stories were not true. Her main confession was made in the form of a long letter written entirely aside from the influence of any one. In this she also stated that she had stolen money and jewelry, which was known to have been taken. There was no untrue self- accusation, except that she may have exaggerated her own tendency to falsify at a very early age. Naturally, in such a case as this, even the latest confession must always be taken cum grano salis.
Passing from the above probably sufficient account of Gertrude's falsifications as we knew them, we can take up her mental life and traits. We have had to rely on the girl herself, as we stated above, for many of these facts. She was brought up in poor circumstances in a manufacturing town in England where there had been many labor troubles. On two occasions when she was a child she had seen encounters on the street, and during one riot in their neighborhood her uncle was injured. She was considerably frightened, but, so far as we could learn, this was the only time in her life that she experienced any fear. Very early she found that stories told to frighten her were untrue, and what was said about the undesirability of certain children as playmates proved false when she came to know them. She early discovered that for self-satisfaction she would have to live a mental life of her own. There were many things which she could not discuss with her mother. In early childhood she was a great reader of novels and spent many hours lying on the bed living an imaginary life. She never discussed her ideas with any one. Later she took to more serious reading, and of recent years she has assailed many of the world's greatest problems. Particularly she tells of the influence of Tolstoi's ``Kreutzer Sonata'' upon her. During two years she has read it four times and it has convinced her of the shams of character and that people lead dual lives.
When she was about 9 or 10 years old she began talking with other girls about sex problems and up to the present time has never consulted any grown person about them. Her first information of this kind was obtained from a crowd of girls who used successfully to lie to their teachers and mothers to get out of school work. Going further into the question of this hidden knowledge of sex things, she tells us she has never worried much about the things she has heard, but she has wondered a great deal and they have often come up in her mind. She pursued the course of asking many girls what they knew about this subject and then, getting unsatisfactory answers, picked up what she could from ordinary literature. Gertrude maintains that all her dwelling upon sex affairs never aroused within her any specific desires. (Gertrude is anything but a sensuous type and it may be that her statement in this respect is true.) When she went to work she fell in with girls who talked excessively about boys and sex affairs, but at this time she had a mental world of her own and so did not pay much attention to them. Gertrude talked much to us of the possibility of her studying civil law, history, economics, and so on—it is very clear that she has really dwelt on the possibility of being a student of serious subjects.
Very willingly this young woman entered into the problem of solving the genesis of her own tendencies. She repeatedly said that she, of all things, wanted to break herself of this. She maintains she can perceive no beginnings. It seems to her as if she has always been that way. She spoke at first of this crowd of girls who successfully lied to their parents and talked to her about sex things, and we are inclined to believe that this really may have been the beginning, but later she affirms this was not the beginning and that her lying began in earlier childhood. All that she knows is that it has grown to be a habit and now ``when I speak it comes right out.'' After she has told a lie she never thinks about it again one way or another. Her conscience does not trouble her in the matter. She does not tell lies for what she gets out of it, nor does it give her any particular pleasure to fool people. She does not invent her stories, but at the time of talking to people she simply says untrue things without any thought beforehand and without any consideration afterward. To one officer she flung the challenge, ``Oh, I'm clever, you'll find that out.'' After months of effort and when it was clear that the girl for her own good must be given a course of training in an institution she quite acquiesced in the wisdom of such procedure, after a few hours' rebellion.
It has been noted by many that one of Gertrude's outstanding traits is her lack of emotion. She never cries and only rarely does the semblance of a blush tinge her cheeks. She neither loves nor hates strongly. She seems remarkably calm under conditions where others storm. She says she never is frightened, that she never worries, or is sorry. She is well aware of her own ego; that she may be trespassing upon the rights of others never seems to enter her head. Certain simulations of physical ailments, which at times she showed, we could only interpret as part of her general tendency to misrepresent.
Our summary of the causative factors in this case, made, unfortunately, partly on the basis of this unreliable girl's testimony, offers the following explanation of her remarkable tendencies:
(a) There was early development of an inner life which dealt vividly in imaginary situations. This grew into a mental existence hidden entirely from the members of her family.
(b) There was early experience with successful lying on the part of others, and this as a main episode probably occurred at the time when the emotion natural to first knowledge of sex life was present.
(e) There was frequent experience with the falsifications which were her mother's frailty.
(d) For her lying there were no parental disciplines or corrections at any time, so far as we have been able to learn.
(e) The young woman shows unusually little emotion, and only sporadically demonstrates conscience.
(f) There is unquestionably marked habit formation in the case.
———————————————————————————————-Habit formation: Very strong. Case 8.Lack of parental correction. Girl, age 17 years.Early experience with lying.Development of inner life: Imaginative andhidden.Delinquencies:Excessive lying and misrepresentation.False accusations.Forging. Mentality:Stealing. Good ability.———————————————————————————————-
Summary: A girl of 14 had been notoriously untruthful for years. She had created much trouble by her petty false accusations, and her lying stood often in the way of her own satisfactions and advantages. Analysis of the case shows the girl's dual moral and social experiences and tendencies, her inner conflicts about the same, and her remarkably vivid mental imagery— all of which leads her to doubt sometimes concerning what is true and what is false.
A strange admixture of races, of religion, and of social and moral tendencies was brought out in the study of Amanda R. and of her family conditions. We were much helped in the study of this case, which has long been a source of many social difficulties, by the intelligence of certain relatives who knew well the family facts, and also by the good mental capacities of the girl herself.
Amanda is an orphan and has been living for years with relatives. She has caused them and others, even those who have tried to help her, extreme annoyance on account of her quite unnecessary lies, her accusations, and some other delinquent tendencies. The main trouble all concede to be her falsifications, which vary from direct denials to elaborate stories invented without any seeming reason whatever. Reports on her conduct have come from a number of different sources. Neighbors have complained that she has come to them and borrowed money with the statement that her family was hard up. At school she stated for a time that she had come unprovided with lunch because her people were so poor, but it was ascertained that she had thrown away her lunch each day. The lies which she told to the other school children were extraordinarily numerous and fertile; unfortunately they sometimes involved details about improper sex experiences. A long story was made up about one of her relatives having committed suicide and was told to the school teachers and others. She defamed the character of one of her aunts. To her pastor she told some outrageous falsehoods. A home for delinquent girls, where she was once placed on account of her general bad behavior, would not put up with her, so much trouble arose from her prevarications. She accused the very good people there of not treating her well because she was not of their race. All of the above is quite apart from the girl's own romantic stories which have been told in her family circle and have done no especial harm. Of these we had the best account from the girl herself.
An intelligent relative gave an account of the facts. Amanda has been tried in a number of households, but has been given up by everyone after a short period of trial. Her word is found so unreliable that in general she is regarded as thoroughly untrustworthy. This particular relative, who is most interested in her, tells us she thinks the girl is mentally peculiar. She states that in general her mind is both romantic and rambling. She constantly has the idea that her beauty will bring her a wealthy husband. She lies about other people to these relatives and about them to others. They have a comfortable home and are very anxious for Amanda to do well, and many times have had serious talks with her, all to no purpose. They themselves have attempted to analyze the nature of the girl's characteristics, and say it is quite evident that the telling of untruths with this girl is the result of quick reaction on her part. Fictions of all kinds come up in her mind constantly and are uttered quickly. It is doubtful whether she premeditates her stories. She has threatened suicide. They think she is the biggest liar that ever lived and can't understand how she can engage in such unforesighted behavior unless she is somewhat abnormal. Only once did they ever notice anything suggestive of a mental peculiarity other than her lying. Then she did talk quite incoherently and at random for a time (she is a great talker anyhow), but later she said she realized what she had done, and said not to mind her—she had just let her tongue rattle on and did not mean anything by it.
On two or three occasions Amanda has started to school in the morning and wandered off and kept going all day. She had been immoral with boys, but not to any great extent. She undertook to be religious for a time, but her sincerity was always in question. She knows the character of her own mother and threatens at times to follow in her tracks.
The racial heredity of this girl is a strange mixture. Her father was a Scandinavian and her mother colored. The maternal grandfather was colored, and the maternal grandmother was an alcoholic Irish woman and died in an insane hospital. It is possible, also, that there is Indian blood in the family. The mother kept an immoral resort and drank at times. The father is said, even by his wife's relative, to have died some years ago of a broken heart about her career. She died of tuberculosis a few years after him. Amanda was the only child. About the early developmental history we have no reliable information. The girl was taken by relatives before her mother died, but was allowed to visit her, and there was evidently real affection between mother and daughter. Long contention over religious affairs in the family led to some bickering about placing the girl.
We found Amanda to be rather a good looking girl with very slight evidences of colored blood. Quiet and normal in her attitude and expression. Slightly built—weight 93 lbs.; height 4 ft. 10 in. Vision R. 20/80, L. 20/25. Coarse tremor of outstretched hands. No evidence of specific disease. All other examination negative. The girl complains of occasional sick headaches with photophobia. Pelvic examination by a specialist negative.
On the mental side we quickly found we had to deal with a girl of decidedly good general ability. Tests were almost uniformly done well. Memory processes decidedly good— span for eight numbers auditorily and for seven numbers visually. No evidence whatever of aberration.
Results on the ``Aussage'' test: Amanda on free recital gave 12 details of the picture; on questioning she mentioned 32 more items, but a dozen of these were incorrect. Of 7 suggestions offered she accepted 6. This was an exceptionally inaccurate performance.
In the course of our study of this case we obtained from Amanda a very good account of her own life, deeply tragic in its details, and a probably correct analysis of her beginnings in lying. It seems that she remembers well her mother, particularly in the later visits which the relatives allowed. These must have been when she was about 5 or 6 years old. ``I know a lot. There isn't anything bad that I have not seen and heard. I try to forget it, but I can't. What's the use anyhow? When I think of my mother it all comes up again. When I was very little I would sit in a room with my mother and a crowd of her friends and they would say everything in front of me. I would see men and women go into rooms and I kept wondering what they did in there. I think I was quicker and sharper then than I am now. I think I was about 3 when I used to see them smoking and drinking. Then I used to think it was all right. I thought it was swell and that I would like to do it too. I thought about it a lot. Mother, you see, would tell me to be good one minute and the next would teach me how to swear. I remember once when I was about 7 they brought her home drunk. She looked terrible. I can close my eyes and see her just as plainly as if it is there before me. A protective society once found me and took me to their place. Then I lived with my grandfather. Mother stole me from them and then my uncle took me. I lived around in lots of places. I have done lots of bad things. . . . .
``I picture these things too—I can't help it. The pictures come up in my mind as plain as can be—not just at night, but in the daytime too. The only thing I have ever been really afraid of is the dark. Then I imagine I hear people talking. I see things too. I see whole shows that I have been to. But then, as I have said, I see them when I'm awake and in the daytime. I dream about them also. Sometimes they are so real I don't know whether I'm asleep or awake. For instance, a long time ago I read Peck's Bad Boy and I can see those pictures now just as plain as when I read the book. It is always that way about what I read. The things I read I always see in pictures. It's that way with the love stories too. I used to read lots and lots of them. I like to read about murders. I can see those too. When I read about the R. murder in the papers lately I just felt like I was there. I could see everything he did. I don't know why I like to read such things so much. It was the same way last winter. I read a story with suicide in it and someway I just wanted to commit suicide myself. I did go to the railroad tracks and stood around until the train came and then walked away. . . . .
``My aunt says that I am too attractive and that I stare at the men. Well, when she was with me a man did stare at me and I stared back at him. I could have turned my head away, but I'm not that kind of a girl. I'm a bad girl. Everyone believes me so and I might just as well be. When I was little in my mother's place I used to smoke and drink. I dream every night—often about men doing bad things. I wake up and sit up to see if men are there or if they are gone. My dreams are always just that plain. If I read a book I can sit down and imagine all the people are right before me. I can get it just by reading. If anybody speaks to me I jump, and it is all gone. When I go to the theatre or the nickel show I can come home and see the whole show over again. I have been that way ever since I could understand things. When I was small and people would tell me things I could imagine them right in front of me. Even now I will be sitting still and I will imagine I see my mother taking me up in the way she used to. When I came to see her she would rock me to sleep, and I can plainly see her lying in the coffin. Often I think I see my mother brought home drunk.
``If I have anything to recite in school I just think of it all the time. I dream a good deal about what that boy did and about these other things. I can sit and think of everything he did to me. I go to bed and I lie awake and think all these things and I can't get them off my mind and then I start to dreaming about them.
``There is always this trouble—my mother wasn't good and I can't be good. That's what people say, but, of course, that's not so. I know I start talking to girls about these things when they are talking to me. I sometimes think that things will come back—that the Chicago fire is coming back, and that slavery is coming back.
``About my lying? I don't know why I tell things like that about my aunt committing suicide—it just came into my head. Oh, I've got lots of things in my head. I never had any chance to forget. I can't forget at school. School does not interest me any more. That's why I want to go to work. Perhaps then I should be interested in something new.
``I used to tell lots of things that were not so out there at P. Sometimes I did it as a joke and sometimes I meant it. It is hard sometimes to tell just what is the truth, I imagine things so hard. I can remember lots that I've read.''
Amanda in several interviews went on at great length in a very rational way, but altogether the gist of her view of her case is to be found in the above. She told that she was a masturbator, as might be supposed. She feels she can't help this and never felt it was so particularly bad. Apparently it is a part of her life of imagination at night. She insisted frequently on the vividness of her mental content, and indeed was anxious to talk about her peculiarities in this respect. It was very apparent that she showed real understanding of the forces which had influenced her. It should be noted that we felt sure that it is not only the strength of imagery, namely, of actually recollected material, but also of imagination which is characteristic of this girl's mental make-up. This was noticeable, as we have shown above, in the ``Aussage'' Test. In our notes on psychological findings we stated that the girl has both strong emotions and strong convictions, together with her other qualities. She expressed herself with considerable vehemence, and under observation we noted changes from pleasantness to extremely ugly looks when her relatives were mentioned. It was true that she had seen immorality in other households than that of her mother, and this, of course, rendered her even more skeptical about true values in life.
It seemed clear that this bright girl had experienced so many contradictions in life that she was much mixed about it all. We might venture to suggest that the delinquency involved in lying could seem very little compared to the actual deeds with which she had come in contact. No idea that falsification was wrong was expressed by her. She had used double sets of standards in behavior all through her life. What she was urged to be and to do seemed impossible in the light of her past and its connections. Even her apparent decency belied the reality underlying her career, she thought. With all this and her vivid imagery it is little wonder that her magnificent powers of imagination had full sway and that she said and half believed all sorts of things which were not true. Then, probably, habit-formation of indulging in day-dreams accentuated the falsifying tendency.
It is too early to report on further progress of this case. For some months she has been in a school for girls where discipline and education are both emphasized.
———————————————————————————————-Mental traits: special powers of imagery Case 9.and imagination. Girl, age 14 years.Early immoral experiences: much later conflictabout them.Home conditions: unstable for many years.Heredity (?): mother immoral,maternal grandmotheralcoholic and insane.Delinquencies: Mentality:Excessive lying. Good general ability,Sex. special capacities.———————————————————————————————-
Summary: A boy of 14, supernormal in ability, coming from family circumstances which form a remarkable antithesis to his intellectual interests, is found to be a wonderful fabricator. His continuous lying proves to be directly inimical to his own interests and, indeed, his own satisfactions are thwarted by the curious unreliability of his word. The case unfortunately was not followed far, but study of it clearly shows beginnings in the early obtaining of advantages by lying, and brings out the wonderful dramatic and imaginative traits of the boy and his formation of a habit of falsification.
This case in its showing of intrinsic characteristics and incidental facts is of great interest. Robert R. for about a year when he was 14 years old we knew intimately, but after that on account of the removal of the family we have no further history of him. Intellectually and in his family and home background he presented a remarkable phenomenon. His parents were old-country peasants who just before Robert was born came to the United States. The father had never been to school in his life and could not read or write. Here he was a laborer; before immigration he had been a goose-herd. The mother was said to have had a little schooling at home and could read and write a little in her native language. In 15 years in the United States she had failed to learn to speak English. It is needless to say that our knowledge of the forebears is almost nil. Inquiry about mental peculiarities in the family brought negative answers. These parents had had nine children, seven of whom had died in early infancy. Robert was the older of the two living. We did not learn that the other child displayed any abnormalities. The mother helped towards the support of the family by doing coarse sewing.
About the developmental history we had the assurance that it was entirely negative as regards serious diseases. Pregnancy and birth were said to have been normal. For long, Robert had been very nervous and frequently slept an unusually small number of hours. Sometimes he would go to bed very late and get up early. Although he was a very small boy he was accustomed to drinking six or seven cups of coffee a day. No suspicion from any source of other bad habits or of improper sex experiences. The boy's home was clean and decent. The father was accustomed to celebrate once a month or so by getting intoxicated, but otherwise was a well behaved man.
On physical examination we found the boy in fair general condition, although very small for his age. Weight 80 lbs.; height 4 ft. 7 in. Well shaped, normally sized head. No prematurity or other physical abnormality. Somewhat defective vision. No complaint of headaches. All other examination negative. Regular sharp features. Much vivacity of expression. A nervous, alert, responsive, apparently frank and humorous type. Speech notably rapid.
Our acquaintance with this boy on the intellectual side proved to be a great treat. He was only in the 4th grade. His retardation was the result of having been changed back and forth from foreign-speaking to English schools and having been sent away to an institution for truancy. In spite of his backwardness Robert had a fund of remarkably accurate scientific and other information which a mature person might envy. We found our regular series of tests were all done unusually well, except those which called for foresight and planfulness. It was interesting to note that when a problem in concrete material was given that required continuous thoughtful effort he proceeded by a rapid trial and error method and without the application of the foresight that many a slower individual would show. He consequently did not always make a good record.
It seems an important fact that on the ``Aussage'' Test this exceedingly bright lad gave a fairly good detailed narrative account of the picture and proved himself not in the least suggestible, but he added a number of items which were not seen.
It was in the field of general information, obtained from a really wide range of reading, that this young boy shone. We found that he remembered an unusual amount of history he had read, that he had a lot of knowledge picked up from the newspapers, and that he had digested considerable portions of scientific works. He described correctly the main principles involved in the use of telescopic and other lenses, he knew well the first principles of electricity, and he could draw correctly diagrams of dynamos, locomotives, switchboards, etc. We noted he had read books on physiology, astronomy, physics, mechanics, etc.
It seems that neither his school nor his home offering him much intellectual satisfaction, he had frequented the public library, sometimes being there when he was truant from school, and staying there in the evening when his mother supposed he was out in a street gang. In regard to his selection of reading: he had perused novels and books on adventure, but ``I wanted to read something that tells something so that when I got through I would know something.'' He copied plans and directions, and with a hatchet, hammer and saw attempted at home to make little things, some of which were said to have been broken up by the parents. The boy had much in mind the career of great men who had succeeded from small beginnings, and he spoke often of Benjamin Franklin, Morse, and Bell, all of whom had started in the small way he had read of in their biographies. Robert had not been content with book knowledge alone, but had sought power-houses and other places where he could see machinery in actual operation.
Our acquaintance with Robert began and continued on account of delinquencies other than lying. He had run away from home at one time, he had stolen some electrical apparatus from a barn and was found in the middle of the night with it flashing a light on the street. He also had taken money from his parents and had threatened his mother with a hatchet. After much encouragement and help he yet stole from people who were trying to give him a chance to use his special abilities, and he began various minor swindling operations which culminated in his attempt to arrest a man at night, showing a star and a small revolver. Before we lost sight of him Robert had gained the general reputation of being the most unreliable of individuals.
Given splendid chances to use his special capacities, his other qualities made it impossible for him to take advantage of them. His wonderful ability was demonstrated in the school to which he was sent; there the teacher said that if she had the opportunity she really believed she could put him through one grade a month. His mental grasp on all subjects was astonishing and he wrote most admirable essays, one of the best being on patriotism. But even under the stable conditions of this school for six or seven months the boy did not refrain from an extreme amount of falsification and was much disliked by the other boys on account of it.
Robert had continued his lying for years. At the time when we were studying his case his prevaricating tendencies were shown in the manufacture of long and complicated stories, in the center of which he himself posed as the chief actor. These phantasies were told to people, such as ourselves, who could easily ascertain their falsehood, and they were told after there had been a distinct understanding that anything which showed unreliability on his part would militate against his own strongly avowed desires and interests. After special chances had been given this boy with the understanding that all that was necessary for him to do was to alter his behavior in respect to lying, on more than one occasion new fabrications were evolved in the same interview that Robert had begged in fairly tragic fashion to be helped to cure himself of his inclination to falsify.
A great love of the dramatic was always displayed by this boy, which may largely account for the evolution of his lying into long and complicated stories. When truant one day he boldly visited the school for truants, and when under probation, after having fallen into the hands of the police two or three times, he impersonated a policeman. The latter was such a remarkable occurrence and led to such a peculiar situation that much notice of it was taken in the newspapers. The incongruity between apperception of his own faults and his continued lying, considering his good mental endowment, seemed very strange. One day he sobbed and clung to my arm and begged me to be a friend to him and help him from telling such lies. ``I don't know what makes me do it. I can't help it.'' Over and over he asserted his desire to be a good man and a great man. This was at the same time when some of his most complicated fabrications were reiterated.
No help was to be had from his parents in getting at the genesis of this boy's troubles; we had to rely on what seemed to be the probable truth as told by the boy himself. It is only fair to say that in response to many inquiries we did receive reliable facts from the lad. My assistant also went into the question of beginnings and was told at an entirely different time the same story. Robert always maintained that his lying began when he was a very little boy, when he found out that by telling his grandmother that his mother was mean to him he could get things done for him which he wanted. Later it seems he used to lie because he was afraid of being punished or because he did not like to be scolded. We found there was no question about the fact that his parents never were in sympathy with his library reading and his attempts to learn and be somebody in the world. At first, then, there seemed to be a definite purpose in his lying. At one time he pretended to be hurt when taken in custody and thought because of this he would be allowed to go home.
On many occasions this boy made voluntary appeal to us, describing his lying as a habit which it was impossible for him to stop, and implored aid in the breaking of it. Up to the last that we knew of him he occasionally made the complaint to strangers of mistreatment by his family, which in the sense in which he put it was not true at all. The dramatic nature of his later stories seemed to fulfill the need which the boy felt of his being something which he was not, and very likely belonged to the same category of behavior he displayed when he attempted to impersonate a policeman in the middle of the night, and to pose as an amateur detective by telling stories of alleged exploits to newspaper reporters. A long story which he related even to us, involving his discovery of a suspicious man with a satchel and his use of a taxicab in search for him, was made up on the basis of his playing the part of a great man, a hero. When we ran down this untruth (it was long after he had told us what a liar he was) it seemed quite improbable that he had suddenly improvised this story. It was too elaborate and well sustained. Later, when the boy again tragically begged to be helped from making such falsifications, he said the incident had been thought out some days previously and it seemed an awful nice story about the things that he might do. Daydreaming thus masked as the truth.
———————————————————————————————-Environmental maladjustment: Case 10.incongruity between Boy, age 14 yrs.supernormal ability and homeconditions.Innate characteristics: nervous, active,dramatic type.Stimulants: excessive use of coffee.Mental habit-formation.Delinquencies: Mentality:Lying excessive. Supernormal in ability.Petty stealing.———————————————————————————————-
Summary: An orphan girl of 10 had been in several institutions and households, but was found everywhere impossible on account of her incorrigibility. The greatest difficulty was on account of her extreme lying which for years had included extensive fabrications and rapid self-contradictions, as well as defensive denials of delinquency.
We were asked to decide about this girl's mentality and to give recommendations for her treatment. We need take little space for describing the case because the facts of development and heredity and of earliest mental experiences are not known by us. The case is worthy of short description as exemplifying a type and as showing once more the frequent correlation of lying with other delinquency, and especially with sex immorality.
We found a girl in good physical condition, small for her age, but without sensory defect or important organic trouble. Hutchinsonian teeth. High forehead and well formed features. Expression old for her years and rather shrewd, and notably unabashed. No evidence of pelvic trouble. Clitoris large. All the other examination negative.
Mentally we found her rather precocious. Tests well done. Reads and does arithmetic well for her age, in spite of much changing about and other school disadvantages. No evidence whatever of aberration. The examiner noted that she seemed a queer, sophisticated child, laughing easily and talking fast and freely. Evidently tries to put her best foot forward. Cooperates well on tests.
On the ``Aussage'' test this little girl did remarkably well both as to the details and general ideas expressed in the picture. Absolutely no suggestibility shown. The examination was made before our later methods of scoring this test, and the inaccuracies were not counted, but even so the positive features are of interest, namely, the good memory and non-suggestibility .
We found this youngster all along to be evasive, shifting and self-contradictory, even on vital points. She glibly stated anything that came into her mind, and ideas came very rapidly. She told us stories that with a moment's thought she must have known we could discover were false.
This child was a foundling, and was adopted by people whose family was broken up by death when she was about 6 years old. By the time she was 8 years old she was expelled from school and was generally known as an habitual liar and a child who showed most premature sex tendencies. She then went much with little boys and was constantly in trouble for stealing as well. Occasionally good reports were made of her, but sometimes she was stated to have a perfect mania for taking things. A number of people who have tried to help her have spoken of the elaborateness of her verbal inventions. At one place she destroyed letters and took a check from the mail and tore it up. She talked freely of sex affairs to many people, particularly to women, and showed evidence of intense local feelings. At one time she expressed great desire to be spanked, probably from a sex impulse. One intelligent person reported her as being simply animal-like in her desires. In a country home a thoroughly intelligent woman was unable to cope with her and she was finally delivered into the hands of an institution.
Through dearth of reliable information about the antecedents in this case we were unable to make a card of causative factors. It is sure, however, that the pathological lying and other delinquencies sprang from a background of congenital defect, probably syphilitic in nature, of lack of early parental care, of precocious sex desires, and sex experiences.
In the school for girls, where this unfortunate child remained for four years, it is stated that her tendencies to prevarication were mitigated, but never entirely checked. Her school record was decidedly good; she was regarded as a bright girl, and advanced rapidly to the eighth grade. She was tried again in the world midway in her adolescent period with the most untoward results. She found temptations offered by the opposite sex irresistible and began a career of misrepresentation concerning her own conduct. Through her lies, proper oversight was not given in the home which received her once more. Pregnancy ensued and again she had to receive institutional care.
Summary: An extremely interesting case showing strong development of a tendency to swindling on the part of a young man of curiously unequal mental abilities, a subnormal verbalist. Pathological lying in this case quite logically developed into swindling. The main behavior-tendencies of this individual closely follow the lines of least resistance, the paths of greatest success. As a matter of fact, the use merely of his general subnormal abilities would never have led to as much advancement as he has enjoyed. His special capabilities with language have brought him much satisfaction at times, even if they have also led him into trouble. An astonishingly long list of legal proceedings centers about this case, illustrating very well the urgent need for cooperation between courts.
Adolf von X., now just 21 years old, we, through most unusual circumstances, have had more or less under observation for a number of years. Correspondence with several public and social agencies has given us close acquaintance with his record during this time, and earlier. Our attention was first called to Adolf in New York, when he was a boy under arrest in the Tombs. A fine young lawyer, a casual acquaintance of Adolf's through court work, asked us to study the case because he felt that perhaps grave injustice was being done. Before his arrest the boy, who seemed to be most ambitious, had been about the court rooms looking into the details of cases as a student of practical law. He had attracted attention by his energy and push; he earned money at various odd jobs and studied law at night. At this time the boy was under arrest charged with disorderly conduct; he had beaten his sister in their home.
We found a nice looking and well spoken young fellow who said he was 17. Although he had been in this country only three years from Germany, he spoke English almost without an accent and did quite well with French also. He had been brought up in Hamburg. His statement added to that previously given by the lawyer aroused in us great interest concerning the constructive possibilities of the case. It seemed as if here was an immigrant boy for whom much should be done.
``I was taking up law suits, little law suits. There was a case on before Judge O. and I wanted a new suit of clothes to wear to go to court in. My sister said I could not take my brother's suit. He told me to take it and bring it home in good condition at night. My sister is supposed to be the plaintiff, but she did not make the complaint. The landlady came in and hit me three times in the head with a broom. My sister called her in and then she threw a piece of wood after me. Sister started crying, but she did not get hit. The landlady got hit. When I fell down I striked her with my head and hurt my head bad. I think I hit her with the left side of my head. The landlady made complaint in German to an Irish policeman. He could not understand. The officer did not do what the law tells because he took a complaint from a boy of the age of 6 years. He translated for her.
``The trouble started because I wanted to get my brother's suit because I wanted to appear before Judge O. to protect a party in the hearing of a case. I took a few lessons over in the Y.M.C.A. class and in a law office I read books through. I have books at home, rulings of every court. I know I got a good chance to work up because I know I have a good head for the law. My father he wont believe it, that's the trouble. I know I could stand my own expenses. I said, `Officer, wait here a minute. I'll explain how this is.' He began stepping on me. He threw me on the floor. I wanted to go out the back way so nobody would see me. He kicked me down the front way. There was a big crowd there. Another rough officer pinched my arm. At the station when the officer said this boy hit his sister, my sister said, `No, he did not hit me,' but she said it in German.
``I was in court awhile ago because father thought I would not work. I was paroled. I was trying to find a position. This man that had the rehearing said, `You wont lose anything.' He made as much as a contract with me. He said to another person in my hearing, if that fellow wins my case I will pay him $10 for it. The first case I had was in X court. I was interpreter there. I want to make something out of myself. Labor is all right, but I like office work or law work better. I tell you, doctor, if I come up before the judge I will tell him just the same story I tell you. I can remember it just that way.''
This young man told us he had graduated from intermediate school in Hamburg; in this country he had attended for about a year and a half and, in spite of the language handicap, he was in sixth grade. There is a brother a little older and an older sister. Mother has been dead for 5 years. His father is an artisan and makes a fair living.
We soon found means of getting more facts concerning this case. The first point of importance was concerning his age. It appeared that he at present was lying about this, probably for the purpose of concealing his previous record in the Juvenile Court and in other connections. There had been previously much trouble with him. He had been long complained of by his father because of the bickering and quarreling which he caused in the household and on account of his not working steadily. He had shown himself tremendously able in getting employment, having had at least twenty places in the last year and a half. He was known to lie and misrepresent; on one occasion when he was trying to get certain advantages for himself he falsely stated that he was employed by a certain legal concern, and once he tried to pass himself off for an officer of a court.
The father willingly came to see us and proved to be a somewhat excitable, but intelligent man of good reputation. We obtained a very good history before studying the boy himself. Mr. von X. began by informing us that we had a pretty difficult case on our hands, and when we spoke of the boy's ambition he became very sarcastic. He stated that up to the time when the boy left school in Hamburg he had only been able to get to the equivalent of our third grade. To be sure, it is true that Adolf had learned English quickly and much more readily than any one else in the family, and in the old country had picked up French, but ``he hasn't got sense enough to be a lawyer.''
Both the older children did very well in school, and the father and mother came from intelligent families. All the children are somewhat nervous, but the two older ones are altogether different from this boy. They are quiet and saving. A grandfather was said to have been a learned man and another member of the family very well-to-do. The mother has one cousin insane and the father one cousin who is feebleminded. All the other family history from this apparently reliable source was negative. Both the father and mother were still young at the birth of this child. The mother died of pneumonia, but prior to this sickness had been healthy.
The developmental history of Adolf runs as follows: His birth was preceded by two miscarriages. The pregnancy was quite normal; confinement easy. When he was a few days old he had some inflammation of the eyes which soon subsided. Never any convulsions. His infancy was normal. He walked and talked early. At three years he had diphtheria badly with delirium for a couple of weeks and paralysis of the palate for some months. After this his parents thought the boy not quite normal. He had slight fevers occasionally. At 9 years he was very ill with scarlet fever. Following that he had some trouble with the bones in his legs. Before he left Hamburg he had an operation on one leg for this trouble which had persisted. (It was quite significant that in our first interview Adolf had told us his leg had been injured by a rock falling on it, necessitating the operation.) Up to the age of 14 this boy, although apparently in good physical condition, used to wet the bed always at night, and sometimes during the day lost control of his bladder. Also lost control of his bowels occasionally after he was 10 years old. He sleeps well, is moderate in the use of tea and coffee, and does not smoke.
When young he played much by himself. After coming to this country his chief recreation was going to nickel shows. He was fond of music as a child. He had been a truant in Hamburg. As a young child he was regarded as destructive. The general statement concerning delinquency is that Adolf is the only one of the family who has given trouble and that the father was the first to complain of the boy to the authorities. Before he reported it there had long been trouble on account of frequent changing of employment and misrepresentations. The boy had forged letters to his family and others. In the office of a certain newspaper he once represented himself to be an orphan, and there a fund was raised for him and he was outfitted. The father insists that the boy, in general, is an excessive liar.
Further inquiry brought out that other people, too, regarded Adolf as an extreme falsifier. The principal of a school thought the boy made such queer statements that he could not be right in his head. In the office of a clerk of a court he represented himself to be employed by a certain legal institution and demanded file after file for reference. Everybody there was friendly to him at first, but later they all changed their attitude on account of his unscrupulous and constant lying.
Physically we found a very well nourished boy, rather short for his age. Weight 121 lbs.; height 5 ft. 1 in. Musculature decidedly flabby; this was especially noticeable in his handshake. Attitude heavy and slouchy for a boy. Expression quite pleasant; features regular; complexion decidedly good. A North European type. Eyes differ slightly in the color of the irides. Noticeable enlargement of breasts. Well shaped head of quite normal measurements; circumference 54.5, length 18, breadth 15 cm. No sensory defect, nor was anything else of particular interest found upon examination.
The mental study, particularly the testing for special abilities, has been of very great interest. Fortunately for the scientific understandings of the problems involved we have been able to see Adolf many times at intervals and to check up previous findings. Our first statement will be of the results obtained at the earliest study of the case.
When we first saw Adolf, although he talked so intelligently, we asked him to give us some evidence of his educational ability, and to our tremendous surprise he failed to be able to multiply simple numbers or even to do addition correctly. There was no evidence of emotional upset, but we waited for further testing until we had seen the father, that we might be sure of the school history. As mentioned above, we found that the boy had entirely misled us.
We then entered upon a systematic study of the boy's abilities and found some strange contrasts. Perceptions of form and color were normal. Given a very simple test which required some apperceptive ability, he did fairly well. Given simple ``Construction Tests'' which required the planful handling of concrete material, Adolf proceeded unintelligently. He showed no foresight, was rather slow, but by following out a trial and error procedure and with some repetition of irrational placing of the pieces he finally succeeded. Moderate ability to profit by trial and error was shown, but for his age the performance on this type of test was poor. On our ``Puzzle-Box,'' which calls for the analysis of a concrete situation, a test that is done by boys of his age nearly always in four minutes or less, Adolf failed in ten minutes. He began in his typically aggressive fashion, but kept trying to solve the difficulty by the repetition of obviously futile movements. On a ``Learning Test,'' where numerals are associated in meaningless relation with symbols, Adolf did the work promptly and with much self-confidence, but made a thoroughly irrational error, inasmuch as he associated the same numeral with two different symbols—and did not see his error. His ability to mentally represent and analyze a simple situation visually presented in our ``Cross Line Tests'' was very poor. In this he failed to analyze out the simple parts of a figure which he could well draw from memory. This seemed significant, for the test is practically always done correctly by normal individuals, at least on the second trial, by the time they are 10 or 12 years of age. A simple test for visual memory of form also brought poor results.
As an extreme contrast to the above results, the tests that had to do with language were remarkably well done. A visual verbal memory passage was given with unusual accuracy, also an auditory verbal passage was rendered almost perfectly. Considering that the former has 20 items and the latter 12 details, this performance was exceptionally good. Also, the so-called Antonym Test, where one is asked to give as quickly as possible the opposite to a word, the result, considering his foreign education, was decidedly good. Three out of twenty opposites were not given, apparently on account of the lack of knowledge. The average time was 2.3 seconds. If two of the other time-reactions were left out, which were probably slow from lack of knowledge, the average time would be 1.6 seconds for 15 opposites. This shows evidence of some good mental control on the language side. Motor control was fair. He was able to tap 75 of our squares with 2 errors in 30 seconds, just a medium performance. A letter written on this date contains quite a few mis-spelled short words: ``My father Send me to This Court for The troubels I had with my sister,'' etc.
While awaiting trial Adolf, stating that he was desirous of doing so, was given ample opportunity to study arithmetic. After a few days he told us unhesitatingly that he now could do long division, but he utterly failed, and, indeed, made many errors in a sum in addition. He had acquired part of the multiplication table.
Study of his range of information brought out some curious points. He told of some comparative merits of law schools, had some books on home-taught law, and was a great reader of the newspapers. In the latter he chiefly perused reports of court cases. He was quite familiar with the names of various attorneys and judges. He could give the names in contemporary politics, and knew about sporting items. His knowledge of the history of this country was absolutely deficient, but he does not hesitate to give such statements as the following: ``The Fourth of July is to remember a great battle between President Lincoln and the English country.'' Again he makes a bluff to give scientific items, although he has the shallowest information. When it comes to athletics, much to our surprise, we hear that our flabby boy is a champion. Of course, he knows some of the rulers in Europe and by what route he came to New York, but he informs us that Paris is the largest country in Europe.
Adolf says he plays a very good game of checkers, that he had played much, but on trial he shows a very poor game, once moving backwards. When purposely given chances to take men he did not perceive the opportunities.
We asked him to analyze out for us a couple of moral situations, one being about a man who stole to give to a starving family. He tells us in one way the man did right and in another way wrong. It never is right to steal, because if caught he would be sent to the penitentiary and would have to pay more than the things are worth, and, then, if he was not caught, a thief would never get along in the world. The other was the story of Indians surrounding a settlement who asked the captain of a village to give up a man. Adolf thought if he were a chief he would say to give battle if the man had done no wrong, but on further consideration states that he would rather give up one man than risk the lives of many, and if he were a captain he would surely rather give this man up than put his own life in it. He thinks certainly this is the way the question should be answered.
On our ``Aussage'' or Testimony Test Adolf gave volubly many details, dramatically expressing himself and putting in interpretations that were not warranted by the picture. Indeed, he made the characters actually say things. On the other hand, he did not recall at all one of the three persons present in the picture. He accepted three out of six suggestions and was quite willing to fill in imaginary details, besides perverting some of the facts. This was unusually unreliable testimony.
Our impressions as dictated at this time state that we had to do with a young man in good general physical condition, of unusually flabby musculature, who showed a couple of signs that might possibly be regarded as stigmata of inferiority. Mentally, the main showing was irregularity of abilities; in some things he was distinctly subnormal, in others mediocre, but in language ability he was surprisingly good. No evidence of mental aberration was discovered. The diagnosis could be made, in short, that the boy was a subnormal verbalist. His character traits might be enumerated in part by saying that he was aggressive, unscrupulous, boastful, ambitious, and a continual and excessive liar. In the exercise of these he was strikingly lacking in foresight. This latter characteristic also was shown in his test work. The abilities in which he was overbalanced gave him special feelings of the possibility of his being a success and led him to become a pathological liar. From the family history the main suggestion of the causation of the mental abnormality is in illness during developmental life, but neither ante-natal nor hereditary conditions are quite free from suspicion.
At the time of this first trial Adolf maintained a very smart attitude and tried to show off. He had succeeded in having two witnesses subpoenaed in order to prove that he did not hit his sister, but on the stand it came out that one of them was not there at all, and the other, who was a little girl, stated that she saw Adolf hit some one. Just why the boy had these witnesses brought in was difficult to explain. Perhaps he had the idea that some one ought to be called in every case, or perhaps he thought they would be willing to tell an untruth for him. His statement in court did not agree with what he had told us and was utterly different from what his sister stated. It came out that he had struck her on a number of previous occasions. It was shown clearly that the boy was a tremendous liar. The case was transferred to the Juvenile Court and from there the boy was sent away to an institution for a few months. After the trial his father said in broken English, ``To me he never told the truth.''
Just after his release the family moved to Chicago and Adolf soon put himself in touch with certain social agencies. He found out where I was and came to see me, bright, smiling, and well. He had gained eight pounds during his incarceration. He wanted to tell all about his life in the institution and because we were busy said he would come the next day. He did not do this, but a few months later came running up to me on the street with a package in his hands, saying he was already at work in a downtown office and was doing well and going to night school. Five years more would see him quite through his law course. A few months after this he applied at a certain agency for work as an interpreter and there, strangely enough, some one who knew him in New York recognized him. He, however, denied ever having been in court and produced a list of twenty or twenty-five places where he worked and gave them as references. It is to be remembered that at this time he had already been brought up in court at least three times, that he had been on probation, and been sent away to an institution.
During the last four years we have received much information concerning the career of Adolf, although his activities have carried him to Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, and other towns, in several of which he has been in trouble. He has very repeatedly been to see us and we have had many opportunities of gauging his mental as well as his social development.
His family continued to live in one of the most populous suburbs of Chicago and Adolf maintains that his residence is there, an important point for his political activities which are mentioned later.
What we discovered in our further studies of Adolf's mental condition can be told in short. We have retested him over and over. (When he has been hard up we have given him money to induce him to do his very best.) There are no contradictions in our findings at different times. Once, in another city, in connection with his appearance in court, Adolf was seen by a psychiatrist who suggested that he was a case of dementia precox, but nothing in our long observation of him warrants us in such an opinion. His mental conditions and qualities seem quite unchanged in type during all the time we have known him, and instead of any deterioration there has been gradual betterment in capacities, certainly along the line of adjustment to environment. His wonderful ability to get out of trouble is evidence of these powers of adjustment, as is also, perhaps, his keen sensing of the utility of the shadier sides of politics and criminal procedure.
In work with numbers Adolf is still very poor. He is unable to do long division or multiplication, and cannot add together simple fractions. Addition he does much better, but even at his best he makes errors in columns where he has to add five numerals. He now can do simple subtraction such as is required in making change, but fails on such a problem as how much change he should get from $20 after buying goods costing $11.37. His memory span is only six numerals, and these he cannot get correctly every time.
After numerous attempts to mentally analyze our simple ``Cross Line Test,'' with much urging and extreme slowness he finally succeeded at one time in getting it correctly. As stated above, this is a test that is done with ease usually by normal individuals 12 years of age. On our ``Code Test,'' requiring much the same order of ability, but more effort, he entirely failed. For one thing, he has never known the order of the alphabet either in English, German, or French. Our ``Pictorial Completion Test,'' which gauges simple apperceptive abilities, he failed to do correctly, making three illogical errors.
The result on the Binet tests are most interesting. From years of experience with them we ourselves have no faith in their offering sound criteria for age levels above 10 years. Adolf goes up through all of the 12-year tests (1911 series) except the first, where he shows suggestibility in his judgment of the lengths of lines. In the 15-year tests he fails on the first, but does the three following ones correctly. Two out of the adult series are done well—those where the definition of a word is required and the statement of political ideas. Two or three of his specific answers are worth noting: ``Honor is when a person is very honest. It means he will never do what is wrong even if he can make money by it.'' ``Pleasure is when everything is pleasant, when you are enjoying yourself.'' Adolf tells us that the king is head of a monarchy, he has not the power to veto, and he acquires his position by royal birth. In contrast to this he says the president is the presiding executive of a republic, he has the power to veto, and he gains his position by election. It is perfectly clear in this case, as in many others, that the Binet tests show very little wherein lies the nature of a special defect or ability. Adolf's capacity for handling language has grown steadily. He has been reading law and knows by heart a great deal of its terminology. In a short conversation he talks well and is coherent. The aggressiveness which is ever with him leads him to stick to the point. He has had very little instruction, his pronunciation is often defective and he does not know the meaning of many of the longer terms with which any lawyer should be acquainted. He speaks fluently and has now long posed, among other things, as an interpreter.
Our final diagnosis after all these mental tests is, that while he could by no means be called a feebleminded person, still Adolf is essentially subnormal in many abilities—we still regard him as a subnormal verbalist. Probably what he lacks in powers of mental analysis has much relation to the lack of foresight which he continually shows in his social career. His lying and swindling have led him almost nowhere except into difficulties.
Adolf has been steadily gaining weight, although he has grown only an inch and a half in these years. He is stout and sleek-looking and as flabby as ever. He has not been seriously ill during this time. Whereas before he used to be untidy in dress he now gets himself up more carefully.
The following are examples of Adolf's conversation and show many of his characteristics: (Soon after he came to Chicago we spoke to him of his progress.)
``The other day I met a fellow and he says, `How long have you been in this country?' and when I says four years he says, `You're a liar. There never was a fellow I ever heard of who got hold of the language and was doing as well as you are in four years.' '' A few months later he tells us he is selling goods on commission and descants on how much he can make: ``That's `Get-rich-quick-Wallingford' for you. There's Mr. A. and Congressman X., they started out from little beginnings just the same as me. I'm going along their line.
``Do you know I got sued by the Evening Star for libbel. That's what I got for testifying in that case. I tell you what I would like and that's vice investigation work.''
At another time: ``Well, doctor, I am general manager for my brother's business now. He's got a bottle business. There's money in that, ain't there? I was down in court to-day. I tell you, there was a fellow who got what was coming to him. It was a case before Judge H.—assault and battery. He was fined $10 and costs—all amounted to about $30. Well, I had a little dog and I tell you I have a heart for animals just the same as persons. He kicked the dog and I told him not to do it and he says, `You're a liar,' and then he ran down stairs and pushed me along the stones over there. I called the police and they did not come for about three quarters of an hour.
``I'm studying law. Taking a correspondence course. They give you an L.L.B. It's a two years work and you get all the volumes separately,'' etc. ``Then we have a slander suit. A neighbor called my sister dirty names. I am going to file a $5000 slander suit. I would not let that man call names like that, and then he's got about $5000 in property.
``Some people are down on me, but I tell you I have been a leader of boys. We got the Illinois championship—you know, the boy scout examinations. There was an examination on leaves. I was their leader. I had 9 boys up and there were 117 leaves and every boy knew every leaf. Of course I told them or they would not have known. Some people are down on me for what I do for the boys, but I tell you I've been in court and I've made up my mind I will help other kids. Sometimes kids can be helped by talking to. Then there is me. I won the boxing championship this year.'' (At this period I enquire about his prowess and the recent encounter with the young boy who dragged him over the stones. With a blush he says he never was any good at real boxing or real fighting.) ``I'm this kind of a fellow. If they let me alone I'm all right, but if they start monkeying with me something is going to happen. When you start a thing don't start it until you can carry it through. These people that started with me were not able to do that.''
Later it came out that the alleged fighting with the boy is all in Adolf's mind. He tells us, without noticing any discrepancy, that no complaint against this boy, who he said had been already tried and fined, would be received by the police authorities, nor will they issue a warrant.
Within the last year or two there has been almost complete cessation of Adolf's attempt to become a lawyer. At an earlier time he came to us with a speech written out in a book. He was going to recite it when a certain case came up in the Municipal Court. As a matter of fact we heard that the boy said nothing on the occasion. At various times we have heard of his getting mixed up in different ways in a number of cases. Once he succeeded in giving testimony in a notorious trial. His own account of his interest in the case is shown in the following:
``Doctor, you remember that X. boy and that Y. boy. Judge B. is going to try them. They are down in the S Station and they are going to stay there unless they sign a jury waiver and they can't do that. They are only 15 years old—I got their ages—it cost me $1 to get their ages and I am going to be there when they are being tried.'' (The statement of the ages is untrue.) ``It ain't right to keep these boys down there. They look pale. They don't give them anything but black coffee. I'm going to represent them boys. You know, doctor, I'm working in three places now—holding three jobs. Two days in the week I work for the A's, two for Mr. B.—he ain't exactly my boss—and then for myself. The A's pay me $6, Mr. B. pays $3, and then I make $7 or $8 myself interpreting. I'm saving it up to go to law school. In three years I graduate. They are going to hold it up against them boys, their records, and I am going to deny it. It ain't right. I was talking to the detective that arrested X. and I says to him, `Look here, you took the knife. What right have they got to take in one fellow without the little fellow?' I want to represent this case myself.''
Adolf has worked for law firms and aided at times as an investigator of criminal and vice situations. Occasionally he has been much worried about his own court record. He did not want it to stand against him. He thought he could get his sister to swear that he never quarreled at home. Shortly afterwards he served a short sentence for stealing from a law firm. Later he came in and said he had a job in the legal department of a large concern and that he had changed his name because he believed his old name was ruined. ``I'm determined to be a lawyer. Ever since a little fellow I have wanted to be—ever since I have had an understanding of what the law means. I used to play court with the other little ones and talk about law.'' At this time he wanted a little loan. He had become particularly interested in philanthropic work and thought he could do something on the side about that—perhaps become a leader of boys, or help the unprotected in some way. Adolf was really employed now to investigate cases by some lawyer. About this time he had been wearing a badge, impersonating an officer of a certain philanthropic society.
For long this young man was concocting all sorts of schemes how he might work in at the edge of legal affairs, as an interpreter, a ``next friend,'' an investigator, etc. More recent activities have taken Adolf away from the field of his first ambitions and he has tried to use his talents in all sorts of adventuresome ways. The accounts of his lying and impostures belong logically together, as follows.