Pathology of Lying, Etc.

W >> William and Mary Healy >> Pathology of Lying, Etc.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

Perhaps nothing in his remarkable history shows Adolf's
aggressiveness and peculiar tendencies any more than his
political career. He had been voting long before he was of age
and had even succeeded in getting a nomination for a certain
party position during his minority, polling a considerable vote
at the primaries. Following his defeat at election, which was at
the time when the new party showed marked weakness, Adolf told us
that he, after all, was only in the Progressive Party to wreck
it. He felt that the leaders belonged back in the Republican
ranks, and he thought he could help to get them there.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Mentality: Subnormal verbalist type. Case 12.
Man, 21 years.
Developmental: Early illness with
involvement of nervous
system.
Delinquencies:
Lying excessive.
Swindling.
Stealing.
---------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER IV

CASES OF PATHOLOGICAL ACCUSATION

We include in this chapter pathological self-accusation as well
as incrimination of others. In court work one sees many cases of
false accusation, but few belong to the pathological variety. We
have not considered those based upon vindictiveness, or
self-defense, or where any other even slight, recognizable,
normal gratification was at the bottom. We have tried to hold
strictly to our definition. Selection of the cases for this
chapter has been easier than discriminating those who are merely
pathological liars in general. It is simpler to distinguish
those who accuse others for the purpose of injury or
self-protection, or those who make self-accusation under the
influence of delusional conditions, than it is to decide upon
similar distinctions in cases of mere pathological lying.
Several authors, such as Gross, have noted false accusations made
during a short period of early adolescence, or in connection with
menstrual disturbance. Our cases corroborate these facts, but
show also that extreme false accusations may be made by girls
BEFORE puberty. Satisfactory knowledge of such cases is not
gained by learning merely that the accuser is under temporary
physical stress--it is to be noted that our material clearly
shows that there is always more in the background.

The many cases observed by us of false accusations made, rarely,
by the feebleminded and, more often, by those suffering from a
psychosis, need not be mentioned here--they are obvious in their
abnormality and have little bearing upon our immediate problem.

For the sake of illustration of the fact of pathological
accusation Case 17 is given in this chapter, but in its mental
aspects it belongs more properly under the head of border-line
cases. In our final deductions this has not been counted as a
mentally normal case.

CASE 13

Summary: An exceedingly important case from a legal standpoint.
A girl of 16 years persistently, but falsely accused her own
mother and her step-father of the murder of the youngest child of
the family. Some apparent physical corroboration was found. The
woman and her spouse were held from the inquest to the grand jury
and later were indicted. They were in jail for four months until
the case was finally tried, when they were discharged.

We studied Libby S. as a delinquent some eight months after her
mother and step-father had been acquitted of murder. These
unfortunate people had been held and tried almost entirely upon
the testimony given by this girl. It goes without saying that
they were very poor and not ordinarily self-assertive, and so did
not obtain competent legal advice. We were naturally interested
in this remarkable affair and were glad to be able to get at the
truth of the matter and bring about forgiveness and
reconciliation within the family circle.

Libby was now under arrest for stealing and for prostitution.
Her statement to us was that she had been immoral and wanted to
be sent away to an institution where she would be kept out of
trouble. She had been working in a factory. Her mother and
step-father were temperate and the latter was always good to her
and to her brother. She told about being extremely nervous when
she got to thinking about different things, and maintained that
she worried so much at times that she did not know what she was
doing. Later we learned from her of her little sister's death,
of the fact that the child was not really her sister, and that
her mother had not been married to her present husband until the
time of the trial, although for long they had been living
together. She added that she had been a witness five times in
court against her mother and step-father. A younger brother had
also testified against them to some minor extent. ``We had to
tell what we saw--we told enough lies as it was.''

Following the latter remark as a clew we went as thoroughly as we
could into the details of the whole case. No report of the court
proceedings being available we obtained what we could from the
newspaper accounts. Obviously, however, much of these was
impressionistic and unreliable. The coroner's physician
testified to many bruises being on the body, and to the bottom of
the feet being blistered. The report of what the police said at
the inquest made anything but conclusive testimony. Even from
that, the murder seemed highly improbable. It was shown that a
physician was called to the child before she died, but did not
respond. Libby testified at the inquest and later against her
mother, stating that the child had been beaten and tortured in
various ways. We also learned from other than newspaper sources
that when Libby was waiting to testify, with her mother suffering
imprisonment in the same building, the girl was nonchalantly
singing ragtime songs in the court-house corridors.

The facts about the alleged murder of the five year old child as
we could finally summarize them from various accounts, and after
hearing the confession of Libby, are as follows. This child was
an epileptic and had frequent attacks of falling, when she
injured herself, once having fallen in this way against a hot
stove. The little child engaged in extremely bad sex habits.
Indeed, Libby herself had been somewhat involved with her in
these. Once when she was ill hot bricks had been placed in the
bed, and, while unconscious, her feet had been blistered. The
child had also suffered from various other ailments, including a
skin disease which left sore places and scars. When she died
Libby first told a neighbor that the parents were responsible and
this person referred her to the police. The false testimony
began there and continued at the inquest, before the grand jury,
and at the trial. Upon thorough final sifting of the evidence in
court nothing was found in the least indicating that the child
had died from mistreatment. The younger brother had been told by
Libby to testify against the mother. There was no question but
that Libby started and continued the whole trouble, but the
unnatural fact that she was willing to make sworn statements
jeopardizing her mother made her testimony have all the earmarks
of antecedent probability.

The mother herself, in whom we gradually came to have full
confidence, informed us that the dead child had an epileptic
attack and was unconscious for several hours before she died.
They lived on the outskirts of the city and it was bad weather,
and although they sent twice for doctors, no one appeared. The
child had been mildly whipped at times in an attempt to cure her
of her bad sex habits. She had many sores from her skin trouble
and these were by some interpreted as caused by beatings.

When under our observation, and during our attempt to analyze her
career, Libby underwent a change of attitude and confessed
thoroughly and definitely that the story about the murder was
lies all the way through. For the sake of the poor little mother
we had the girl make a sworn statement to this effect. It was of
some little interest to us to note that the police account given
in the newspapers about the little child being beaten with a
rubber hose was derived from the story told by Libby. It was a
wonderfully dramatic and pathetic scene when this woman met her
daughter and the latter confessed to her lies and asked
forgiveness. All the mother could say was, ``Oh, the suffering
she has caused me! But I do want her to be a good girl.''

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 institution 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
associated 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 assure 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 attitude 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 classify 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
institution 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 sex
ideas, we are assured 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 institution 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 pawned them. The child stole from the
people's rooms where her mother worked as janitress. Later she
was truant and associated 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
institution, 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 sex 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 analysis of the behavior
could not be undertaken.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Mental conflicts: About sex 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.
Sex 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 sex
assault against a stranger. To be thought of as causative
factors were defects of environment and possibly heredity,
markedly imperfect vision, improperly obtained sex 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 assaulted 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 assault 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 glasses. 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.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21