Chapter IV: Cases of Pathological Accusation (2)

Going into his story, as we were requested, we heard at once about the cruel conditions at home. The boy's own father had been dead for ten years and up to within three years he had lived with a relative. While he was there letters indicated that queer things were going on at home, and the step-father was cruel to the other children. The mother was afraid to tell the whole story. When the boy came home the step-father at once began pervert sex practices with him, horrible things, and John found this man had been doing deeds of the same kind with an older sister and a younger brother. It seems the step-father also beats the children and has put this older girl out of the house. Recently he has left his wife.

When we go into John's own record, with which we had already made ourselves acquainted, he tells us he does not know what gets into him, but he has run away from home no less than eleven times. He works for a while, takes his wages and then stays at a hotel. He says he has been arrested several times on this account. His mother always telephones to the police about him and that is why he is under detention now. He wishes he were at home. The next day we went into more of the details which had been liberally sketched to the judge and other officials. We now learn that the step-father is a professional thief and that stolen goods he has taken are to be found in their home. He often leaves home and perhaps takes his wife's wages--she has to work out--and just now is again living at a hotel. The family have been informed by a physician that he is probably crazy.

On a later occasion the boy told my assistant that he wished to relate the whole story of his family. He then describes how the step-father even blackens the eyes of the sister and that he has long been immoral with her. It now appears that perversions began between this man and John some two months ago, never before that. The mother is there in the house all the time and knows about and permits the step-father's immorality with daughter and son. Cross-questioned afterward, the boy (evidently remembering what he said before) states these practices with him began the night he came home three years ago, but they had been going on with his sister before that. He knows this because his mother wrote and told him about it. His uncle wrote and told her to put a stop to it, but the step-father intimidates her with a revolver.

Our notes state that one afternoon when tests were being given him, John seemed to be in an excited state and often interrupted the procedure with talking. Seen in the hallway soon afterwards he waved his hand and insisted on telling more about home conditions and about what the officers would find if they went up there. On still another occasion he reiterated the same things, giving many details.

It was about this time that John was found to give strangely fantastic and childish accounts of circumstances with which he had been connected. We transcribe his story of a celebration at a school--it is a good example of his tales.

``They had it on Lincoln's birthday and on the 4th of July, too. The teacher did not believe that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. The children said, oh yes, he did. But they did not believe it. The children all hollered and said yes, he did. Then they all run up on the platform and got to fighting about it. The teachers would not believe that Lincoln freed the slaves till an old soldier came up there and told them yes, he did do it.'' I questioned him about this matter whether it was only a play they had, or were they in earnest. ``Oh, all in earnest and they had a fight about it. The teachers would not believe that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and the children all run up on the platform and had a fight about it.''

Home conditions were next looked up by a court investigator and we came to know the mother and sister. Much to our surprise we found them to be quite self-respecting, entirely credible people of good reputation in the neighborhood. The mother is an honest hard-working woman and is exceedingly depressed about the career of this boy. The sister is a modest and unquestionably good, self-supporting, young woman. Not a word was heard against them in any way. In their distress they gave us the full story.

The parents were immigrants when young. The father died through an accident some ten years previously. The mother has kept track of the members of both families fairly well. She had a sister insane, said to have become so as the result of the menopause. The father himself had occasional attacks of epilepsy, but they were never frequent enough to hinder him working as an artisan. He was a very moderate user of alcohol. The mother has always been fairly healthy. Thinks she now has a cancer. There are no other significant points in heredity that she knows. There are three living children; a number of miscarriages came after John was born.

The pregnancy and birth were, normal. John walked and talked very early. Never any convulsions. At about two years of age he was very low with a complication of diseases. He was sick at that time for three months. Later he was operated on for rupture. The trouble with his eyes is of recent origin. When he was a young boy in school a teacher once told her she did not consider him right mentally.

There has been an exceeding amount of trouble with this boy. He was a great truant and reached only the 4th grade. When he was living with the uncle he caused much trouble, and the uncle warned her. He has run away from home twelve times, stays away perhaps two weeks at a time, and comes home ragged and filthy. He has had many jobs, but stays only a day or two at work. He steals in petty ways, takes money from home when he runs away. He is very lazy, but a great reader, especially of cheap novels.

Among the troubles with this boy is his extremely filthy talk. He has even lost one position on account of this. An aunt caught the boy in bad sex practices several years ago and told the mother. Neighbors, and earlier the school people, warned the mother that this was what was the matter with the boy. About a year ago John was found in a room with a man and other boys engaged in bad practices. The man was sentenced to a long term in the penitentiary on account of it.

Worst of all, the mother says the boy is the most malicious liar she has ever heard of. They have had a frightful time with him on account of this. For over two years John has been telling bad stories about the step-father. Recently he could not stand it any longer and left the mother. He was a good and rather strict man who took much interest in the children. He tried rewards with John, but this was of no avail. The boy has destroyed the home life, but she thought it her duty to try further with her own flesh and blood. The sister is in utter despair about what John has said concerning her. The younger brother also feels great humiliation. The boy has told his worst stories about them even in their own neighborhood.

After our investigation the boy was sent to an institution for delinquents where he could have the best of treatment for his ailments. The report from there after a few months was that he proved to be an exceedingly weak and vacillating type. He was notorious for being a boy that would do anything that was suggested to him. An outlook was kept for signs of insanity, but none was noted.

Over three years later we hear that John's character has not shown any radical change as demonstrated by his mode of living. He has served at least one term in a penal institution for adults. We do not know anything further about lying or false accusations in the case.

--------------------------------------------------------------- Constitutional inferiority: Stigmata. Case 17. Mentality. Boy, age 16. Heredity: Father epileptic. Maternal aunt insane. Masturbation plus. Pervert sex experiences. Developmental: Much early illness. Delinquencies: Mentality: False accusations excessive. Dull from physical Running away repeatedly. causes (?). Stealing. Beginning psychosis (?). Sex perversions. Pathological liar (?). Vagrancy. ---------------------------------------------------------------

CASE 18

Summary: Little girl of 7 makes false charges of sex assault against boy in the same institution. She is later found to be an excessive liar and to steal.

Causative factors: (a) atrociously immoral home environment, (b) early sex experiences, (c) local irritation from active gonorrhea.

This case illustrates the fact that a young girl, who has had unfortunate sex experiences, especially if her mind is kept dwelling on sexual subjects through bodily irritation, is apt to take advantage of the stir which she knows she can make by her statements, and glibly make false accusations. The case offered no difficulties for study and can be presented in short as typical of a number of similar cases seen by us.

We were asked to see this girl a few days after she had been taken from very bad home conditions and temporarily placed in a good institution for dependent children. While there she had much upset the high-minded superintendent and her helpers by stating that an older boy in the place had sex relations with her.

She was a small, bright-eyed, vivacious child. General physical conditions decidedly good. No sensory defect. Well shaped head. Weight 55 lbs.; height 4 ft. Active gonorrheal vulvovaginitis.

On the mental side we found, although she spoke in somewhat broken English, an ardent conversationalist. With her many ideas about many subjects, she appeared decidedly precocious. We noted her also to be very defiant and self-assertive, and her tendency to lie without rhyme or reason was soon discovered. Her exact age never was ascertained, but undoubtedly it was about 7. She was in the 2d grade. At times when doing the Binet tests inhibitions would appear and she would give no answer at all even to some easy questions. Her positive responses graded her as 6 2/5 years, but undoubtedly she could have done much better had she so wished.

In her talkative way she used English very graphically, but with curious misuse of pronouns and a few other words. Considering the fact that her family spoke a foreign language at home and she had been but a short time in school this was not strange. Her lack of veracity was shown even in her assertions about her inability to understand English. At the first approach she denied her ability to do so, but later showed that she understood very well. This behavior was of a piece with her attitude shown in doing the Binet tests.

``Police bringed me. Don't know why. Cause my father run away, she don't want to stay with my mother. My father Austrian. Sometime my father talk Italian. Then God make him sick cause she talk Italian. My neck is sick. I go to Italian church and I talk Italian and God makes me sick.

``They bringed me home to-day, then they bringed me back here, then I stay here all along.'' (What is the matter with you?) ``A big boy--up in school--upstairs--don't know his name. I came Saturday. She came Saturday. She came Sunday, too. When we come to listen to music then she gave to me that disease.

``Papa is bad. She run away. She run away. She take from my mama $12--all the clothes. She got another lady. Is that your lady? Why do you write? I could write better than you because I go to school all the time. I never take money. I Catholic and Catholic can't tell lie. Well, I going to tell the truth now. I found it in bed, in paper inside. Then I give it to teacher and then I give it to nurse. I never tell lies.''

Before we had seen her this child had given some sort of description of a big boy in the institution who she said had assaulted her. There was no such person there, but her vehement statements caused much disturbance. Later she denied this to us and accused somebody at her own home. She came from miserable environment, as may be surmised from the fact that her father was a deserter and probably immoral. On account of her unreliability nothing could be done in the way of prosecuting the offender. We always felt it a possibility that some member of her own family was guilty and that was the reason she had told so many different tales about it. An owner was not found for the money which she had stolen. The person from whom she said she had taken it had not lost it. She took it under conditions when she had no chance to spend it. Her excessive lying was a continual source of trouble as long as she was kept in this institution. She was long treated in a public hospital for her gonorrhea. Since then she has been lost track of. It is interesting in this case to note that the child maintained that she belonged to a church, which made it impossible for her to tell lies. We have heard almost exactly this same assertion on numerous occasions. It is clearly made by way of affirmation when the offender covertly feels the need of bolstering up false statements.

--------------------------------------------------------------- Early sex experiences. Case 18. Bad companions. Girl, age 7. Physical conditions: Local irritation. Home conditions: Father immoral and deserter. Heredity(?): Father as above. Delinquencies: Mentality: Stealing. Fair ability. Sex. Lying. False accusations. ---------------------------------------------------------------

CASE 19

Summary: Girl of 18 made accusations to officials that a lawyer for whom she worked had been immoral with her. About the same time it was found that she herself had been stealing and lying about other matters. Later, when there was reiteration of the charges, a physician's examination showed that she had not been immoral. Some months afterward she went to other officials and insisted she ought to go to a reform school. A year still later she did have sex experiences and contracted venereal disease. Her succeeding record is totally different. For several years now she has been a young woman of thoroughly good character.

In its progress, after extended exhibition of exceedingly erratic conduct, to complete stability now long observed, this case is of considerable interest. It was after some months of effort on the case by experienced social workers that we were asked to study this girl. We found no difficulty in rapidly becoming intimately acquainted with her conditions and troubles.

Physically she was a normally developed young woman of distinctly good strength, but slouchy attitude. In expression rather dull and pleasant; laughs much in rather childish way for her age. Weight, 110 lbs.; height, 5 ft. 2 1/2 in. No sensory defect. Good color.

Mentally we gave her a wide variety of tests with the result, in general, that she did well on them. She had left school at 14 years when in the 7th grade, but had not forgotten what she had learned. Her arithmetic was done very well indeed and she wrote a very good hand. The tests, which brought her abilities in many directions into play, were done almost uniformly well. Her memory processes were distinctly good and showed her capacity by her remembering logical connections as well as details. Her casuistic responses which were asked for in two moral situations, verbally presented, Test XXI, were rather vacillating, but evidently sound. It was easy for her to appreciate the intricacy of the situation.

On the ``Aussage'' experiment, Test VI, out of 15 details given as remembered from the picture just seen two were imaginary, and of 9 more items given on cross-examination two were erroneous. Her account as given was functional, not at all enumerative as in the usual childish fashion. Out of 6 suggestions proffered she accepted 4. This was a poor result for a person of her age. Her range of information was normal. Her interests while at home had been very simple; for instance, she had not been allowed to read novels nor go to theatres. In all our work on tests and in our several interviews with her we never discovered any signs of aberrational tendencies. Her social conduct furnished the only evidence of erraticism.

This young woman's mother, who is said to have been a normal person, died a few months before we knew her daughter. She had long been ill and consequently had had very imperfect control over her daughter all through adolescence. The father had been dead for several years previously; he was a storekeeper in a small way, fairly educated and non-alcoholic. No other family history of importance was ever forthcoming. There was only one other child in the family, a younger brother, who was quite normal. Outside of bronchitis during infancy it was said this girl had never had any serious disease. In the last few months there had been much complaint about suffering at the menstrual period. Menstruation began at 13 years of age and was said to have been regular until seven months or so prior to the time when we first saw her. However, this latter statement was made by the girl herself and at this stage her word was not particularly reliable.

When we began study of this case we were put in possession of the following notes made by an unusually competent social worker, extending over the previous nine months. Attention was first drawn to her when she was living with someone who had offered to give her a home while her mother was mortally ill in a hospital. She then had clothing and trinkets the possession of which she could not satisfactorily explain. It was discovered that she was lying. It was about this time that the girl told her friends that she had been immoral, and accused a man for whom she had worked of being responsible for her downfall. She had also been flirting with a married man who had been talking to her about eloping with him. It was learned that she stayed all one night at a downtown hotel, but probably alone. Further investigation showed she had stolen a considerable sum of money from an acquaintance and also a watch. Then a physical examination was made and a certificate given that the girl had not been immoral.

Much trouble was taken about the case in the ensuing year, the notes naively say, ``object being to see if the girl could not be reclaimed.'' She was given an unusually good opportunity with a sterling family. She made much trouble for them and others who were interested in her. Her mother died early in the period. On a number of occasions she left her place and stayed away all night, sometimes walking the streets. On one occasion she is reported to have gone to a certain agency, looking as if she had been recently intoxicated, and appealed to be sent to a reform school. She was taken in by the police on one occasion. We first saw her after she had been living in this good home for several months.

At the same time we studied her physical and mental conditions we attempted to make some analysis of her self-orientation. She maintained then that her main trouble was because she had got mixed up with this married man. She declared he threatened her. (This was very likely from what was discovered about his character.) She had very good words for the officials who had helped her so much. She told us how she had stolen a matter of $100 or so. When we questioned her about her early accusations she said that she did tell a lot of lies when her case first was looked into. ``I thought they were too inquisitive. I thought if I told them a few lies they would leave me alone. Everybody has to know everything. I forget half of what I'm to say. I don't know why I stole that watch. I would have brought it back home if he had not taken it on me. I never told anybody that I wanted to go to the reform school. I was afraid to go home because I was afraid I would get a good scolding. I think I have told all the truth to the officers since the first. I was ashamed to tell it, that's the whole truth. That's the truth, there was no one with me this other night. I did not meet a soul I knew. I went out to the South Park. I had never been there before. Where I have been living they would not let me go out anywhere. I had to stay there Sundays and all the time. When I got out I was worse than a wild calf. Maybe if I went out oftener I would not be so bad. I am here now because I went to the police station and told them I would not go home. It was late and I was afraid to go home. I had stayed out on the street all night. One night I went home and it was all dark and I was afraid to ring and I stayed on the street all night. I was on the street all the next day too. I went to the cemetery. Late that afternoon I met a young man and stayed talking to him and a detective came along and told us we shouldn't stand there. I never did anything bad with any man. I never said so. A visiting nurse told me the dangers of life. My mother told me I should be careful. Oh, I worked for that lawyer before my mother died. I worked for him about two weeks and he did not pay me what he owed me. No, he never did me any harm. A man came along with a lady from that office and he asked me some questions and I was so scared because I thought they were going to lock me up. I guess that was the question maybe and I said, yes, but I did not know just what it was.''

It was after this that the girl gave much trouble because of queer little trickery concerning some insurance papers, and about losing some money. Her friends wasted much time in the endeavor to get these matters adjusted. The family she was with thought she was very childish for her age.

Our opinion as dictated at this time was that the girl was physically and mentally all right, but that she showed a decidedly childish reaction towards the world and was very suggestible and unreliable. We knew many more facts about her which proved these points. Our judgment set down was that she was an unstable adolescent with possibility of showing very different characteristics inside of a year or two. We noted she had a weak type of face.

She was seen four months later, after a period of having run away twice for several days at a time. On inquiry she maintains she was impelled to do it by her own feelings of restlessness and general dissatisfaction. She thought the people with whom she lived were very nice and only strict as they should be. There was some question raised about this time about the periodicity of her impulsions, but except for her own statement that it was just before her menstrual time, nothing definite was proved. On the last occasion she did pick up with a young man and was immoral with him. She stayed out in a hallway all night. A venereal disease was then acquired. This was speedily treated in a hospital and the girl was found another place. Three years have elapsed, and during the time this girl has continued under the observation of one of her old friends. She has remained steady and trustworthy, and shows no tendency whatever towards untruthfulness or evasiveness. She has lived in one good home for two years and the people are deeply attached to her.

-------------------------------------------------------------- Adolescent impulses: Lack of self-control. Case 19. Sex temptations. resisted. Girl, age 18. Lack of parental care. Deficient interests: Both mental and recreational. Delinquencies: Mentality: False accusations. Good ability. Stealing. General lying. Staying away from home. ---------------------------------------------------------------

CASE 20

Summary: A girl of almost 16 years, of attractive and innocent appearance, alleged that she had been leading an immoral life and frequenting houses of assignation. She told the story to the people of her church, who were naturally horrified and demanded a thorough investigation of the social vice problems involved. This was undertaken by the police authorities, but they failed to get any satisfactory evidence from the girl. It was later found that the story was all a myth and the girl had not been in the least immoral. Her first statements followed directly after her attendance at an emotional revival meeting where these topics had been preached about. Afterward this girl was in court many times for various reasons. She is a mild psychoneurotic type, exhibiting under stress unusual mental phenomena. She and her family have created an astonishing amount of trouble in law courts as both defendants and complainants, because their peculiar unreliabilities have not been understood.

This case has long been under observation and we have much information concerning it. It was found difficult to understand by pastors and others who had given considerable attention to various aspects of it. Annie F. was first seen by us when under custody because of her own statement that she had been leading an immoral life. We have seen her and members of her family many times since. The account of the case can best be given, not by commencing with the cross-section study as obtained at first, but by going at once into its whole connections and evolution. At first it was merely learned that we had to do with an unstable, adolescent girl who had engaged for apparently no purpose whatever in false self-accusations which would naturally blight her career.

On the physical side we found a rather slight girl, however, of normal development. Weight 102 lbs.; height 5 ft. 3 in. No organic defect was ever discovered. Neurological examination showed as follows: No tremors. Tendon reflexes normal. Conjunctival and palatal reflexes absent. The sense of pain to pin pricks was almost nil on the arms, and diminished on the face. Strength poor in the arms even when there was evidently great effort made. (Several of these functional findings, however, have varied from time to time in the ensuing years.) Hearing normal. Ocular examination showed hypermetropia 1.5 D. R. and L. with marked astigmatism. Fields and color vision normal. Left pupil about twice the size of the right. (A competent oculist could find no evidence of organic affection of the nervous system correlated with this.) Shape of head normal. Bowels regular. Appetite capricious. When first seen was anemic, but later color was very good. Temperature was taken regularly, but no significant observations made. Petite, pretty features, and unusually beautiful eyes. Complaint of frontal dull headaches, soreness of scalp, cold hands and pain ``about the heart.'' Menstruated at 15 years, then much irregularity for two years. Several badly carious teeth and great crowding in a narrow upper dental arch.

This girl was several times observed during a period of about 5 years. She developed into an unusually attractive young woman, showing at times various mild nervous disturbances as well as character difficulties. Only occasionally has she worn the glasses which corrected her errors of refraction. During this time she has not been severely ill. She has a palpable thyroid which has hardly increased in size. When last seen she was notable for a very clear skin, good color, and bright eyes. Conjunctival and corneal reflexes much diminished. Palatopharyngeal reflexes quite absent. The headaches are said to have persisted during all the time we have known her.

We have repeatedly attempted to summarize the mental status and functionings of this young woman, but our findings on tests and otherwise have been irregular and diverse. She reached 6th grade at 14 years, but had been absent much on account of sickness. When first seen we found that she was already fond of Lytton, Scott, and Dickens, and that she was a great reader of the daily newspapers, dwelling much on accidents and tragedies. What we say about her ability must be based upon the best that she has demonstrated. Often when seen she has been in some mental state which has prevented her from doing, or being willing to do, the best that is in her. She writes a good hand, does long division promptly, and reads well. Her association and memory processes have been proved normal, but given a task to do she is prone to show inhibitory pauses and other phenomena which interfere much with a satisfactory result. She has some little reputation of being able to give long, almost verbatim accounts of sermons which she has heard, but the accuracy of her report we have not been able to verify. She gave the antonyms of twenty words in average time of 1.4'', which is a good record. There was one failure, but that was quite typical. At the end of 20'', which is beyond the time of failure, she gave ``unhappy'' as the opposite of ``happy,'' adding that she had thought of that before, only she did not speak it out. Her tests for psychomotor control were miserably done. She was rapid in movement, but absolutely inaccurate and did not follow instructions. However, we felt that even this did not indicate her full ability, for she had capably held a position in a millinery establishment where she was required to show manipulative dexterity. Perhaps the best statement of her performances is that she demonstrated great irregularities from time to time, and even at the same examination in her work on different tests.

On account of her peculiar testimony against herself, her memory processes and especially her performance on the ``Aussage'' test the case seemed of great interest. We found, as we stated above, in various ways that her abilities to remember, when at her best, were normal, but using the ``Aussage'' picture we obtained only 6 details in free recital; she was sure that was all she saw in the picture. Then on cross-questioning she mentioned 9 more items correctly, and gave 8 others much altered from the truth. No other item was added, but her report on these was almost illusional in its incorrectness. Of 5 suggestions offered she accepted 2 of the least important, refusing the others entirely. This was a remarkably poor result for a girl of her age, but may not be indicative of her best abilities even on this type of work. Our final opinion was that she was not clearly subnormal in native ability.

Annie has grown somewhat more stable as the years have gone on. Following our first acquaintance with her we have known this girl to make serious false accusations against others (vide infra) and to again damage her own reputation by alleging herself to be pregnant when she was not. Her word in other matters all along has been found somewhat unreliable, but there has been no extensive weaving of romances such as those indulged in by typical pathological liars. Our original diagnosis of this as a case of pathological accusation upon the basis of mild hysteria we have seen no reason to change. Both Annie and other members of her family are representatives of a most important type for court officials and all other social workers to understand. A great deal of trouble has been caused in several religious congregations by the unusual character of the behavior of these people. Also the number of times they have been in courts for various reasons is astonishing.

The history of physical and mental development merges closely with the story of evolution in the moral sphere, and all can be given together. On account of the mother having long been dead and the father being the peculiar man that he is there is some question about the truth of some of the details which have been given us, but we have reason to believe that the main facts are true because they have been held to be the truth in the family circle generally and were not merely given to us. Verification of details would be very difficult because the family are distributed between Europe and America, and no relatives outside the immediate family are at hand. The mother was in excessively poor condition at the birth of Annie. She had miscarriages preceding and following. It is stated that the diagnosis of malaria was made and that the mother had convulsions both before and after confinement. At the birth the prolonged labor and instrumentation were not known to have done any damage. As an infant Annie is said to have been frail, but not to have had any definite sickness or any convulsions.

However, at about Annie's fifth year there began a long list of illnesses. She had scarlet fever severely and also a number of other children's diseases. At 8 years she had an attack of muscular jerking, and then had a number of successive attacks until she was 14 years. At one time she was in a public hospital for three weeks on account of this. It was stated that this was chorea, but of course we can not be sure on this point. Annie was always regarded as a very nervous child; she was frequently a somnambulist until she was about 12. She is very nervous before the onset of menstruation. Of recent years she has been an excessive user of tea-- at times before we first saw her she is said to have had 12 cups of tea in a day. At times she was then suffering from sleeplessness, and was wont to feel tired in the morning. As a young child she had severe night fears, seeing terrifying shadows upon the wall.

On account of her illnesses and her general nervous condition, Annie was very irregular in her school attendance. However, she reached 6th grade. As to the family opinion of her mentality we hear that they have regarded her as being an odd type, not lazy, but irritable, hateful, and moody by spells. Her memory is said to be most irregular, sometimes exceedingly good. The other children find it difficult to get along with her because she slaps them so much. At times she swears. At the time of the revival meeting, shortly before we saw her, she is said to have come home from church in an hysterical state. When in custody she was in rather a dazed condition. Where she was detained they say she acted as if she were stunned. Her memory did not seem at all clear, nor has it ever seemed other than confused about the events immediately surrounding the main episode of her career. She maintained she could not remember just exactly what she had said, and her account of it contradicted that of her father.

As we afterwards learned from the church people, it is undoubtedly a fact that her notions of self-accusation came from a Sunday School session in which her teacher repeated what had been talked about in the revival meeting concerning the scarlet woman. A day or two afterward the girl told that she herself was ``a scarlet woman.'' She told it first to the teacher, was then taken to the pastor, when she reiterated the story, and the police authorities were called in. Of course her story implied lack of home guardianship and consequently the whole affair was handled for some days by the police alone, after the girl had given a very detailed description of her immoral life. By the time we saw the father it had been ascertained that this girl had never been away from home a single night in her life and probably had never been in the least immoral sexually.

It is necessary to have knowledge of the heredity and environmental background to understand this case. Almost nothing is known of the maternal family. After losing his first wife, the father was twice remarried, and even the third wife has divorced him. He had a brother who, after going insane and killing two laborers, committed suicide. His grandmother, and probably also a cousin, were insane. Two of his sisters were of a nervous and hysterical type and said to have attacks of aphonia. A child by his second wife is epileptic. This man gives us a long account of his own defective heredity and of his own physical ailments. He does not recognize the fact, however, that he also is mentally below par. We have seen him on numerous occasions and known of his great activity in the courts, and have attempted to size him up. He is undoubtedly a constitutional inferior, in poor general physical condition and subject to episodic mental states. One would be inclined to call him a semi-responsible individual with mild delusions, defective reasoning ability, great energy in self-assertion, and of combative disposition. This latter shows itself in his voluble emphasis on the alleged ill treatment of himself and family, even by his wives. He is never physically violent. On account of false accusations, whether delusional or not, he got at least one pastor into a peck of trouble, and, strangely enough, his wives have been involved in some other church embroilments when his own character was called severely into question. On one occasion we were interested to enumerate an astonishing list of people and organizations which, he stated, had treated him and his family unfairly. It seemed to us that during the last two or three years he must largely have lived in the courts to carry on his transactions there. His concern for his daughter seemed genuine and her delinquency led him to seek the law more than ever. Some of the good people who have become interested in his affairs tell us that his is the strangest story they have ever heard. His veracity is often in question. On more than one occasion with us he has dwelled on his nervous states, and on the fact that he is subject to times of mental confusion, but he defends his own judgment and actions on all occasions with great vigor.

This most erratic father has nearly always sided with Annie and offered excuses for her under all circumstances. However, she has stated that he was most difficult to live with on account of his quarreling at home and general bad management of the household. We know that at times he has been a seeker of newspaper notoriety. From his conversations with us and with others we know that his mind dwells much on sex affairs and these things are frequently discussed in the home. There has been much turmoil and quarreling in the family circle, at least with the last two wives. On several occasions the family have had to appeal for aid from the charities because none of them succeeded in making a living. Annie alleged she was taught shop-lifting by the second wife--we regard this as being possibly true on account of the woman's general reputation, the fact that they were desperately poor, and that she drank at times.

The father has the ability to make a very good presentation of himself, to use the best of language and he has had musical training enough to be able to give lessons. Annie herself has taken many lessons in music.

The after-history of this case is instructive. Almost none of our suggestions were taken when our first diagnosis was made. Two years after we first saw Annie she was placed in an institution for delinquents, then having run away from home, ``picked up'' a man on the street and stayed all night in a hotel with him. At the institution the girl became very nervous and behaved badly and the authorities decided it was a poor place for her. The father, who at first wanted her placed there, very soon decided that she should be removed. It is very likely his attitude had something to do with her behavior there.

About this time Annie worked in a millinery shop where she proved herself quick and skilful. There she told stories again defaming herself. She said she had had a baby and went into complete details, such as giving the name of the nurse who had taken care of her, and so on. On account of this she was discharged. Later she told us she related these stories to get even with her father, for if there was ever a hell on earth it was living with him.

About three years after our first study of Annie, the father himself brought a complaint against her of untruthfulness and general unreliability. This was at one of the times when he was complaining bitterly of other people. It seems he had lately tried to restrain her from leaving the house and she had cut his head open with an umbrella. It was evident she had started downhill again, and she was placed in a Rescue Home. She now repeatedly told people she was pregnant and made charges against some man, but these soon fell through because a little detective work showed she was corresponding with a boy and had very likely been immoral with him and others. She was then making an attempt to lead a dual life, maintaining she wanted to save some of the unfortunates with whom she was placed, while at the same time entering into various escapades with them and others. At this period a suicidal attempt was reported, but we never had satisfactory proof of the genuineness of this. Annie was now regarded as being excessively delinquent.

A few months afterwards, when the young woman was in one of her better moods and wished to do well, we made a few vocational tests on her. We found her quite unfit for the position of telephone operator which had been suggested for her. Psychomotor control appeared then decidedly defective. However, there was great improvement on work done on intellectual tests two or three years previously. Although she had developed physically (she now was a particularly good looking young woman) we felt she was quite unfit for work which demanded steady effort. One trouble all along was the fact that she did not wear her glasses. We advised then, as we had advised at first, a quiet country life for Annie and the other members of the family. The constant stimulus of city conditions was too much for them.

Again our advice was not taken and some months later the father came to us with the story of extreme poverty, some recent attacks of unconsciousness on his part, separation from his third wife, and the information that Annie was about to become a chorus girl.

Even a final consideration of the general diagnosis in this case which has been so long observed by us does not seem to justify our including it among our border-line mental types. Application of the term constitutional inferiority seems a priori warranted by the family history and yet we have no proof that her physical and mental conditions as enumerated above are not the result of her many early illnesses and the excessively erratic environmental conditions, rather than of causes which existed at birth.

On account of the peculiar inhibitory phases which arose nearly always during observation, we never relied merely on the results of laboratory tests for our judgment, and her success in some social situations has proved the wisdom of this. Our earliest feeling that we had to do with a temporary and mild psychosis was perhaps justified, but further observation of her has led us to see clearly that she is not to be considered as a deeply aberrational type. Could she ever have been free from the extraordinarily upsetting home conditions one could have gauged much more accurately her mental capabilities. As time went on, the moral difficulties, which were largely induced by family conditions, led to mental as well as moral upsets which could be considered as little else than normal reactions to the situation. Her conduct lapses, under the circumstances, are no indication of any mental breakdown. On the contrary, it is clear by our own examinations and the accounts of other observers that she gradually has showed greater mental stability.

(Since writing the above, we have had, by chance, the opportunity of getting some important information about this case from an entirely new source. A person who knew the family many years ago corroborates the father's remarkable story of antecedents. The father himself remains in about the same state of social incapacity. Annie, now married to a young man with a long criminal record, has a child. Her word has recently been found absolutely unreliable, and testimony lately given by her in court concerning her husband was grossly false when it would seem that her interests and welfare demanded her testifying the truth concerning his non-support.)

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Mentality: Psychoneurotic. Case 20.
Heredity: Extremely defective. Girl, age 16.
Developmental conditions: Defective antenatal
conditions. Difficult birth. Earlier neurosis.

Physical conditions: Earlier dental defects.
Defective vision, usually uncorrected.
Stigmata of eyes.
Stimulants: Excessive use of tea.
Home conditions: Highly erratic and unstable.
Many bad influences there.
Excitement and suggestion from revival.

Delinquencies: Mentality: Self-accusations. Abilities irregular, Running away. and as above. Sex affairs. ---------------------------------------------------------------

CASE 21

Summary: This case illustrates the fact that pathological lying and accusation may arise first during a period of special stress. A young woman of 19, after illegitimately becoming pregnant, was found home after home by a charitable organization. In each place she made false accusations of immoral proposals against some one in the family or neighborhood. This created much trouble and lost her several good homes. Her lies persisted after an abortion had been secretly produced, but it is to be noted that she now, as a sequel to the operation, suffered from irritative pelvic conditions.

A short statement of this case will suffice to bring out the point that during a period of social and mental upset pathological lying and accusation may be first indulged in. We studied the case of a young woman of 19 who had been the source of much trouble in a certain locality on account of her false accusations. She was taken in hand by a charitable organization and found a home, after she had become pregnant at a wedding feast where alcoholic stimulants flowed freely. There was then no one to look after her but an invalid father. She was placed with an estimable family. In a short time she made the shocking announcement to the wife, and to others, that the husband had made immoral advances to her. He was a man of excellent character and of course this could not be believed. She was then placed on a farm, where she showed erotic tendencies and insisted that one of the helpers about the place wanted to take liberties with her. She was observed flirting and making advances to thrashers and others. She had to be found a new home, and this time it was in a city, where new accusations were made against a delivery boy. After this the young woman made off and shifted for herself for a time, and succeeded in getting some shady character to produce an abortion on her. Later, she again came to the official attention of the social agency by reason of making new accusations. From the date of her impregnation to the time we first studied her, a period of about 10 months, she had made serious accusations against many. When her lies were told in a new environment they, of course, always made new trouble. Each time, however, the girl herself was the loser. Her real partner at the wedding feast had early deposited several hundred dollars for the expected infant.

We found a strong, normally developed young woman of rather attractive appearance for the grade in society from which she came. No sensory defect. Diseased tonsils. Complained of constant suffering from pelvic conditions, perhaps induced by the abortion. However, being such a strong type she has been able to get about well and do her daily work. When we saw her she was employed in a factory.

The question put to us was concerning her mentality. She came of a Slavic peasant family, had been in this country only 6 years, and her relatives spoke only Slavic. She had been to school but a very short time, either in the old country or here. Because of the language difficulty, the giving of many tests, such as those in the upper years of the Binet system, could be regarded as most unfair. However, the simpler language tests she did fairly well, especially those where she could understand the commonsense questions. In regard to her acquirement of English, she has done better than her relatives, who continue to live in a neighborhood where their own Slavic dialect is spoken. When it came to dealing reasoningly with concrete situations, such as those presented by our performance tests, this young woman did comparatively well--quite above the grade of the feebleminded. Our diagnosis, then, was that she could best be regarded as poor in ability or possibly subnormal as compared with our general population, but as correlated with her peasant type she was probably normal.

From the standpoint of aberration one could find no evidences of anything but eroticism and a constant tendency to deviate from the truth. About the affair of the abortion she showed herself unexpectedly shrewd, maintaining that she had had to work very hard carrying stones when a new silo was being built on the farm, and at her next menstrual period she had flowed for a week or so, and that was all there was to it, except that she had been suffering from pains continually since. (The charitable organization knew she had visited the office of a notorious abortionist.) She smiled much in a silly way when in the company of men; she proved herself easily led. Taking it altogether, there was no reason for considering her insane, or as being in any way a psychopathic personality. She showed no stigmata of degeneracy.

There was no opportunity to get a satisfactory family history. Many of the relatives were still in the old country. A sister and brothers have been known in the neighborhood where this girl lived, and are said to appear quite normal in their simple ways of living. They are of the peasant type and good laborers, but given to occasional indulgence in feasting with alcoholic embellishments. From the sister we learned that this girl had passed through a sickly childhood and had been most irregularly brought up on account of the illnesses of her mother. She was not known as a liar when younger. Her short school record showed nothing of value for diagnosis. What happened to this girl was no great exception; among these people, we know from their own accounts, free and easy sex relationships are common. We are advised that it was long ago known that this girl was going with bad companions.

In this case we advised gynecological and other medical treatment and segregation in a reformatory or industrial school. The young woman could be regarded as nothing else than a dangerous person in any community. Even when being brought to us she had endeavored to flirt with a conductor on the train. A fair diagnosis could only be that she was, for the present at least, morally irresponsible.

This case has been only recently studied and no further report can be given. It is cited in illustration of the fact that was not clearly brought out by our other cases, namely, that a period of stress may be very definitely the exciting factor in developing pathological lying and accusation. This stands out particularly clearly in this case because the young woman had, prior to the wedding feast, been a good worker and had given no trouble in the community.