In Bresler's second group he places the false accusations of alcoholics, paranoiacs, querulants (whom he calls a sub-class of paranoiacs) and sufferers from head injuries. Besides these, he here classes the false accusations of children.
The third class is so rare that it receives almost no discussion.
Longard[19] reports an interesting case of a chronic liar and swindler, a man who on account of the peculiarities of his swindling was placed under custody for study. Upon detention he went into convulsions and later seemed entirely distracted. He was then 24 years old. Investigation of his case showed that his abnormalities dated from early life and were probably due to the fact that in childhood he had a bad fall from a height. When he was 23 he had served six months on account of swindling. At that time he had been going about in the Rhine country dressed as a monk, begging things of little worth, such as crucifixes, candles, medals, etc. His pious behavior and orderliness gave him a good reception. He sometimes took money or begged it in order to read masses for poor souls. In one village he said he had come to reconnoiter for a site to build a hospital. Some cloister brothers in one place took him for a swindler and decided he was overwrought religiously, and that he really thought he was what he wished to become. He was studied at length in prison where he had one attack of maniacal behavior and tried to hang himself. The physician there thought him a simulator. He was excused from his military service because of stomach trouble. At that time mental abnormalities were not noticed. After this he again acted the part of a monk, wandering through France and Germany, living in monasteries, and being helped along by different organizations, Protestant as well as Catholic. He was arrested in Cologne when discovered to be a fraud. He lay four days in jail apparently unconscious and then appeared stupefied and staggered about. When questioned he responded, ``I am born again.'' He spoke mostly in Biblical terms and was fluent with pious speeches. He was found quite sound physically. He ate a great deal and was known to take bread away from other prisoners at night. He was sentenced for 15 months for swindling. He himself related that in youth he had seen many monks and had become possessed of the idea of being one. He was a sex pervert.
[19] ``Ein forensisch interessanter Fall. Pseudologia phantastica.'' Allg. Zeitschrift f. Psych. LV, p. 88.
The author considered this not a pure case of simulation; the patient was an abnormal being, none of his keepers thought him normal. His entire appearance, his excited way of speaking, his gestures and play of features were all striking to a high degree. His method of going about begging was unreasonable; he gained so little by it. His tendency to untruthfulness stood out everywhere. He imitated the pious as he chattered without aim. The man had lived himself into the role of a cloister brother so completely that he was not clearly conscious of the deceit. The author thinks the case presents some paranoiac features with a pathological tendency towards lying. Thus this pathological liar presents the phenomenon of a mixture of lies and delusions.
From the Zurich clinic of Forel several cases of pathological swindling have been reported at length.[20] It must be confessed that the success of much of the misrepresentation cited in these case histories seems to be as largely due to the naivete of the country folk as to the efforts of the swindlers themselves. Two of the cases were clearly insane and were detained for long periods in asylums after their study in the clinic. But even so, it is to be noted that one of these when absenting himself from institutional care succeeded in going on with his swindling operations. The third case was regarded as that of an aberrational individual with special tendency towards lying and swindling, but the opinion rendered did not end in the man being held as insane. He was simply regarded as a delinquent, and after serving his sentence he went his old way. These cases are interesting to one who would learn the extent to which swindling among a simple minded population can be carried on.
[20] ``Gerichtlich-psychiatrische Gutachten aus d. Klinik von Prof. Forel in Zurich; f. Aerzte u. Juristen, herausgegeb. von Dr. Th. Koelle.'' Stuttgart, Encke, 1902.
From French sources we have not been able to collect such a wealth of material as we found in German literature. One study by Belletrud and Mercier[21] compares favorably in elaborate working out of details with the work of German authors. A Corsican boy, from childhood moody, fond of adventure, inclined to deception, had attempted suicide several times before he was twenty years old. He was married at that time and went to France, where he was employed in several towns. His life following this included an immense amount of lying and swindling. He had a mania for buying costly antique furniture and jewelry which he obtained on credit. He frequently disappeared from localities where he was wanted on criminal charges, and changed his name. He wandered through Italy, Tunis, and South America. Returning to France he was taken into custody and mental troubles were noted. He showed delirium of persecution and was removed to a hospital for the insane. Experts studied him for a year before they could decide whether he was insane or merely simulating insanity. Finally they thought he was not simulating. A few months later he escaped, went to Belgium, Italy, Corsica. Turning up at a town in France under an assumed name, he was arrested again and elaborately examined. At this time he had frequent attacks of unconsciousness and frothing at the mouth. At times he was melancholy. Summarizing the case, the authors say that the psychic peculiarities of the patient were congenital, and included habitual instability of character with defective development of the ethical sentiments, and tendency to deceit and swindling. Epilepsy here is, of course, the central cause of mental and moral deterioration.
[21] ``Un cas de mythomanie; escroquerie et simulation chez un epileptique.'' L'Encephale, June 1910, p. 677.
From a pedagogical point of view Rouma[22] tells of the marvelous stories of a five-year-old boy in the Froebel school at Charleroi. His stories were generally suggested by something told by the teacher or other pupils. He referred their anecdotes to himself or other members of his family and greatly enlarged upon them. He also made elaborate childish drawings and gave long accounts of what they meant. Going into the question of heredity Rouma found this boy's mother very nervous; the father was a good man. She had worked steadily at the machine before his birth. Two of their children died with convulsions; of the two living, one was well behaved, but weakly. Rouma's case had stigmata of degeneracy in ears, palate, and jaw. Tested by the Binet system, he did three out of five of the tests for five years satisfactorily. He was easily fatigued, refused at times to respond, said he had been forbidden to reply, said he would be whipped if he did. In school he was always poor at manual work, wanted to be moving about, to go out of classes on errands, was always calling notice to himself in a good or bad way. He paid very little attention to his lessons, played alone or with younger children, leading them often into mischief. It was found that he got much of his material for stories from his older brother who told him of robbers and accidents. From his good father he got the form of his tales, because the father was wont to tell him stories with a moral.