Pathology of Lying, accusation, and swindling Part 13

From the girl's long stories to us we may derive the following points of interest. Before her confession she was very emotional on the subject of her little sister. She dwelled much upon her dreams of the child, but proved self-contradictory about the matter of her death, as well as about her own history. Even then she began telling us what a bad girl she herself was in various ways. She said, ''I did not see Laura die, but I guess they did burn her up because her finger tips were all gone and her hands were all swollen up. Ma said she would burn her up if she did not quit wetting the bed. Yes, I used to worry about Laura awful. She always had been the trouble. I would have been a good girl if it had not been for her. I used to worry so fierce that I could not help from stealing and then when I stole I was scared to go back to my jobs. I had to have money and so I made good money by going with these fellows. I used to feel fierce about the money I took from my mother and used to put it back and then would say, 'No, I just must have it.' ''

This girl had been working at different factories and homes since her mother's trial. She confessed to thieving from stores. The stealing she had done at home was, it seems, long before the death of the little child. Libby made much of her mental states and of her dream-life in talking to us. ''I like to go to nickel shows. I saw a sad piece once and if I feel sad now I think about it and it makes me want to go to my mother. I have a funny feeling about going home. I don't know what it is. At night I dream about it and something keeps telling me to go home. I want to go to an inst.i.tution now and learn to do fancy work and to be good, and then I want to go home.''

Libby told us enough about her first father for us to know he had had a terrifically bad influence upon her. She also long a.s.sociated with bad companions who instructed her thoroughly in the ways of immorality. She described attacks in which she felt weak and thought she was going to fall, but never did. (The young child in the family who had epilepsy was no relation whatever to her.) She knew that her mother had long been living with her step-father in common-law relationship, but insisted on what was undoubtedly the truth, namely, that they were temperate and very respectable people. Libby never gave us any explanation for her testimony against her mother, but acknowledged that she herself had been delinquent earlier.

The physical examination showed a normally developed girl: weight 108 lbs.; height 5 ft. 3 in. Well shaped head and rather delicate features. Her teeth showed a defective line in the enamel near the gums on the incisors and the cuspids. Bites her finger nails. Slight irregularity of the left pupil. Careful examination of the eyes in other ways entirely negative. Prompt reaction of pupils to light. No sensory defect of importance.

Knee jerks active. Heart sounds normal, and all other examination failed to show defect. Complained of frequent headaches, but these were not of great severity. After information from the mother we felt that Libby's feelings of weakness and tremblings were probably of the hysterical variety.

During the period in which we had Libby under observation she showed more or less emotional disturbance, but even so we were able to a.s.sure ourselves that her mental ability was fair. We did not expect good results from formal education because in her case it had been very irregular. Many of our ability tests, however, were done well, but she failed where she was asked to demonstrate good powers of concentration and attention. We noted that she showed a very eager att.i.tude toward her work, but was nervous about it. Always pleasant demeanor.

Most significant results were obtained on the ''Aussage'' or testimony test. After viewing our standard picture she volunteered only 8 details in free recital. On cross-examination she gave 21 more, but no less than 7 of these were incorrectly stated. Then she accepted the 4 suggestions which were given her. This result from a girl of her age and ability was exceedingly poor.

We never found any evidence whatever of aberrational mental conditions. Our final diagnosis was ''fair in mental ability with poor educational advantages.''

It should be definitely understood in considering this case that even to the time of our last interview with Libby, after she had acknowledged her own extensive prevarications, we had evidences of the unreliability of her word. In giving details she never made any special effort to tell the truth, whether it was in regard to the date of her father's death or any other immaterial detail. We were inclined to cla.s.sify her as a pathological liar, as well as a case of pathological false accusation. Her traits as a liar and a generally difficult case have, we learn, been maintained during her stay up to the present time in an inst.i.tution for delinquent girls.

From the fairly intelligent mother, who cooperated well with us, we obtained a carefully stated developmental history. During pregnancy with Libby the mother was run over by a bicycle, but was not much injured. The child was born at full term and was of normal size and vitality. Instruments were used, but no damage was known to have been done. Libby walked and talked early. A couple of times when she was an infant she had convulsions, but never after that. From 7 weeks until she was 3 years old there was constant trouble on account of some form of indigestion. For a time at that age she was in the hospital, but the mother was never told exactly what the trouble was. Her stomach was large.

As an older child she was subject to fits of anger when she could not have her way. She never had anything that was suggestive of epilepsy. Twice she fainted, but once was when she came home half frozen one winter's day. At 11 years she had pneumonia.

She menstruated at 14 years.

The heredity and family history in this case is of great interest. Libby's mother went to work for her first husband's family in the old country. At about that time this man's first wife died, but he had previously left her. He came of a good family, he was himself, however, a hard-drinking man. He left two children by his first wife with his parents and came to this country with Libby's mother. Here they lived in a common-law marriage relationship for many years, and two children (one of them Libby) were born to them. The man continued to be a terrible drunkard and was probably insane at times. He once bought a rifle to kill his family. He was notorious for his great changeableness of disposition. Sometimes he would be very pleasant, and then quickly be seized by some impulse when he would grind his teeth, become very angry, and use vile language.

Even when sober he would go along talking to himself and people would follow him on the street to hear what he was saying. He threatened often to kill his wife. He deserted her at times for months together. He only partially supported his family and his wife worked as a washerwoman. She left him once, but later went back to him.

In evidence of the character of this man and his wife we have seen several statements from reliable people. The man's son by his first wife came to this country and lived with them. He found his own father impossible--a terribly bad man who was continually fighting at home. He himself urged his step-mother to break up the home on account of the way in which she was abused. He made a statement of this fact under oath. (It is only fair to say in this whole connection that these people all came from a part of Europe where what we call a common-law marriage is an ordinary relationship.) It was from the language of her father that Libby first gained acquaintance with bad s.e.x ideas, we are a.s.sured by the mother. After a terrific time of stress Libby's mother was rescued from her miserable conditions by the man who later lived with her and finally married her, and who has supported her and been true to her ever since. He is a sympathetic man of good reputation.

Libby's maternal grandparents died early and her mother had to begin very young to support herself. All that we know of the mother's developmental history is that she had some sort of illness with convulsions once as a child and is said to have been laid away for dead. She has brothers and sisters who are said to be quite normal. She knows her own relatives and her first husband's, also, and feels very sure there has been no case of insanity, feeblemindedness, or epilepsy among them.

Libby's moral history is of great import. She became definitely delinquent very early in life. At 13 years she had already been in an inst.i.tution for delinquent girls in an eastern State and the superintendent writes that she was notorious for disobedience, lying, and stealing. She was placed there twice, besides having been returned once after an escape. When she was 6 or 7 years of age she began thieving. She took things from her mother's trunk and p.a.w.ned them. The child stole from the people's rooms where her mother worked as janitress. Later she was truant and a.s.sociated with immoral girls. In Chicago she stole a bracelet and a ring from a down-town store, wearing the bracelet later. She took $15 from a neighbor's house. She went to saloons in company with an immoral woman, and at least on one occasion she had been drinking. At 12 or 13 she was known to be ''crazy about boys,'' but probably was not immoral then. The mother insists that the girl, resembling her father in this, is most changeable in disposition. Long before the trial for murder her pastor had urged the mother to put the girl away in an inst.i.tution, but the mother's heart was too soft. (It seems strange that all this evidence of the girl's own bad character and unreliability, which was readily obtained by us, was not utilized at the time when she first made the charges of murder.)

The mother's explanation of Libby's behavior is that it was spite work. However, that is, of course, unsatisfactory. The mother not long previously earnestly had warned the girl against pursuing her downward path and had stated she must be sent away again if she did not do better. Libby then was doing pretty much as she pleased, for the mother, who was all along a frail woman, sick much of the time, had really no control over her daughter.

Another feature of the case that is interesting came out in the fact that Libby herself had neglected the little epileptic girl who died. When the mother was ill in bed Libby had refused to properly care for the child. To some extent she also engaged in bad s.e.x practices with the little girl. Libby never gave us the slightest indication that her false testimony was incited by spite. Anyhow, she involved the step-father, who she always insisted had been very good to her. The motive undoubtedly is not so simply explained. A really deep a.n.a.lysis of the behavior could not be undertaken.

--------------------------------------------------------------- Mental conflicts: About s.e.x experiences Case 13.

and own Girl, 16 yrs.

misbehavior.

Bad companions: Including father.

Home conditions: Notoriously bad in early life.

Heredity: Father alcoholic, brutal, and perhaps insane.

Delinquencies: Mentality: False accusations. (Extreme case.) Fair ability.

Stealing.

s.e.x immorality, etc.

CASE 14

Summary: A girl of 13 during the last year or more had been lying excessively and in uncalled-for ways. She also obtained money by misrepresentations and had made false charges of s.e.x a.s.sault against a stranger. To be thought of as causative factors were defects of environment and possibly heredity, markedly imperfect vision, improperly obtained s.e.x knowledge, and a distinct mental conflict.

We were asked to study this Emma X. on account of the various social issues involved in her case. Her family found her beyond control; she had been expelled from school; by her false accusations she had created much trouble for the police in her home town; officials of a public welfare agency found her altogether difficult to understand. We obtained an account of the case from several sources, including the mother.

The trouble with her had begun about a year previously. She had been notoriously untruthful, and had forged a relative's name to the extent of obtaining $40--in small sums. Emma remained out late in the evening sometimes, and on three occasions stayed out all night. The first time this happened she came home scratched and untidy and told a sensational story which led to much newspaper notoriety. She said a man took her to the woods--this was in the summertime--and kept her there all night. A loafer in the town, who was arrested the next day, she positively identified as the one who had a.s.saulted her. This man was later discharged in the police court, however, because he abundantly proved an alibi, and because by this time the girl's story had become so twisted that even the mother did not believe it. A physician's examination also tended to prove that no a.s.sault had been attempted.

After this Emma was known to sleep one night in a cellar coal-bin. In stealing and general lying she became worse until with a change of residence to an uncle's home she improved for a time. It was after a little backsliding that we saw her.

The mother frankly tells us that the girl's mind must be affected; otherwise how could she act as she does. Emma has complained frequently of headaches and of a little dizziness.

She has lately been lonely for a sister who went away. For the last two years Emma has not seemed altogether well; she has been nervous. A time ago she had for a friend a girl who spoke too freely with men, and her mother stopped the companionship. This other girl has a sister in the Industrial School. Emma's mother does not know of any definite harm done by the companionship.

During the pregnancy with Emma the mother had a rather hard time for a while on account of the severe illness of another child.

The pregnancy began when the mother was still nursing a baby.

However, when Emma was born she proved to be a healthy and normal child. Birth was normal. No convulsions. First walked and talked at the usual age. She was a fat child until 8 years, and then, after an attack of pneumonia, she began to ail somewhat.

At 10 years tonsils and adenoids were removed. The mother had no knowledge of Emma's defective vision. Emma started to school at 7 years, but at 13 had reached only the 5th grade.

There are 8 living children in the family; one died in infancy.

There has never been much illness among them. Most of them did well in school. The family physician says the boys show a ''queer streak,'' but nothing, evidently, at all well defined as compared with the career of Emma, whom he characterizes as a ''moral pervert.'' The mother is a well-meaning, hard-working, moderately intelligent woman of about 45. She is said to be somewhat slack in her household, but perfectly honest. The father is desperately alcoholic and peculiar at times. It is not known that his aberrations are ever shown apart from his drinking. Years ago he was in a hospital for the insane for several months as an alcoholic patient. The trouble with this girl is said to have led him to drink again. Both parents were from immigrant families. It is positively denied that there are any cases of insanity, feeblemindedness, or epilepsy on either side. Some other members of the family are known to have better homes.

On the physical side we found a small child for her age; weight 81 lbs., height 4 ft. 9 in. Nutrition and color fairly good.

Vision about 20/80 R. and 20/60 L.; never had gla.s.ses. Crowded teeth. High Gothic palate. Regular features. Expression peculiarly stiff with eyes wide open. Flushes readily. With encouragement smiles occasionally. Other examination negative.

Tonsils, and probably adenoids, removed three years previously; formerly had trouble with breathing through the nose. Complains much of frequent frontal headaches. Says she gets dizzy often in the schoolroom.

Our ''psychological impressions,'' dictated by Dr. Bronner, state that at first we found Emma very quiet and diffident, possibly somewhat shy and timid. At best she did not talk freely, only in monosyllables as a rule. She appears rather nervous. She says she thinks of lots of things she does not speak of. Emma smiles in friendly enough fashion, and later became more at ease, and more talkative. She was rather deliberate in work with tests.

With concrete material she did better than with tasks more purely mental. She succeeds eventually with nearly everything, but is slow. She seems anxious to do well, but acts as if unable to rouse herself to any great effort. She is quite inaccurate in arithmetic, and only fair in other school studies. Emotions normal. In many ways appears normally childish. Her interest in fairy tales and in the type of make-believe plays in which she engages with her younger sisters seems mixed with her wonderment in regard to s.e.x life. There is a distinct tendency to day-dreaming.

In reviewing the results of tests the only peculiarities to be noted are a definite weakness displayed in the powers of mental representation and a.n.a.lysis (she failed on Test X, usually readily done at 12 years), and a rather undue amount of suggestibility and inaccuracy in response to the ''Aussage'' test (Test VI). The latter, naturally-to-be-supposed important test in a case where lying was a characteristic, showed a result that belonged to the imaginative, inaccurate, and partially suggestible type. Many details of the picture were recalled correctly, but a few were manufactured to order, and 4 out of 7 suggestions were accepted.

About the general diagnosis of mentality there could be no doubt; the girl had fair ability, but there had been poor educational advantages on account of extremely defective vision. No signs of mental aberration were discovered.

Our attempt to try to help Emma decide why she got into so much difficulty resulted in a most convincing discovery of beginnings.

We found a keynote to the situation in asking her about the companionship which the mother had said she had broken up. It seems that Emma had for a year, quite clandestinely, been familiar with this family. She apparently now desired to reveal the results of the acquaintance. Long ago the older sister, at present in a Reform School, boasted of her escapades with boys.

Emma states that she herself never talked of these topics with her mother, who had said that girls who don't do such things should not talk about them. But Tessie, the younger sister of the delinquent girl, says many bad words about boys. These words and ideas about them bother Emma much. They come up in her mind, ''sometimes at night and sometimes in the day.'' She even dreams much about them and about boys. ''I seen the girls do bad things with boys. It is in the dream, it was in the house, in the front room on the floor.'' Emma says she never saw it in reality, but Tessie had boys in their front room when she went there, and then came running out when she heard Emma coming. She wonders just what Tessie does. Boys never bother Emma, but all these ideas bother her. ''Then I think that the boys are going to do it to me.'' In school she cannot study for this reason. ''Sure, when I start to study it comes up. I just think about what she tells me, Tessie. She tells me she liked to do these things with boys.''

This little girl in the couple of interviews we had with her gave vent to much expression of all this which had perplexed her, and she really seemed to want help. She was very willing to have her mother told. She went on finally to say that the delinquent girl had taught her long ago about masturbation and that she thinks of it every night in bed. She can give no explanation of why she runs away and why she falsely accused the man. She says it was not true at all what she said about him. She thinks she would behave better if she were less bothered about the things which those girls taught her. Emma says she questioned a young woman relative who did not tell her any more than her mother did.

Regarding her diversions Emma says that she likes reading, especially fairy tales. She reads mostly Andersen's Fairy Tales.

She enjoys dressing up as a grown lady and playing make-believe.

She particularly likes to go to bed early and lie and imagine things. She imagines sometimes that she is grown up and married and has her own home and children.

The neglect, through ignorance, of the several genetic features of Emma's case was quite clear. The mother was made acquainted with the facts, which her little daughter then affirmed to her, and she promised to alter conditions. We insisted on attention to Emma's eyes and general physical conditions, on removal from neighborhood a.s.sociation with these old companions, on the necessity for motherly confidences, on watchfulness to break up s.e.x habits, and on the development of better mental interests.

Through relatives in the home town it seemed there was some chance to get these remedial measures undertaken.

A year and a half later we can state that a certain number of our suggestions were followed out. The mother gained a better understanding of the case and there were some, although not enough, environmental changes. The father's mental condition has been much better, perhaps because he has largely refrained from drink, and consequently family affairs are more stable. The girl herself is said not to be doing perfectly either in school or home life, but to be vastly improved. We have obtained no definite statement concerning whether she now lies at all or not, but it is sure that Emma has engaged in no more egregious types of prevarications and in no more false accusations. Competent observers think the case is fairly promising in its general moral aspects if environmental conditions continue to improve.

--------------------------------------------------------------- Mental conflict. Case 14.

Improper s.e.x teachings. Girl, age 13.

Bad companions.

Home conditions: Lack of understanding and control.