We found a nice looking and well spoken young fellow who said he was 17. Although he had been in this country only three years from Germany, he spoke English almost without an accent and did quite well with French also. He had been brought up in Hamburg. His statement added to that previously given by the lawyer aroused in us great interest concerning the constructive possibilities of the case. It seemed as if here was an immigrant boy for whom much should be done.
``I was taking up law suits, little law suits. There was a case on before Judge O. and I wanted a new suit of clothes to wear to go to court in. My sister said I could not take my brother's suit. He told me to take it and bring it home in good condition at night. My sister is supposed to be the plaintiff, but she did not make the complaint. The landlady came in and hit me three times in the head with a broom. My sister called her in and then she threw a piece of wood after me. Sister started crying, but she did not get hit. The landlady got hit. When I fell down I striked her with my head and hurt my head bad. I think I hit her with the left side of my head. The landlady made complaint in German to an Irish policeman. He could not understand. The officer did not do what the law tells because he took a complaint from a boy of the age of 6 years. He translated for her.
``The trouble started because I wanted to get my brother's suit because I wanted to appear before Judge O. to protect a party in the hearing of a case. I took a few lessons over in the Y.M.C.A. class and in a law office I read books through. I have books at home, rulings of every court. I know I got a good chance to work up because I know I have a good head for the law. My father he wont believe it, that's the trouble. I know I could stand my own expenses. I said, `Officer, wait here a minute. I'll explain how this is.' He began stepping on me. He threw me on the floor. I wanted to go out the back way so nobody would see me. He kicked me down the front way. There was a big crowd there. Another rough officer pinched my arm. At the station when the officer said this boy hit his sister, my sister said, `No, he did not hit me,' but she said it in German.
``I was in court awhile ago because father thought I would not work. I was paroled. I was trying to find a position. This man that had the rehearing said, `You wont lose anything.' He made as much as a contract with me. He said to another person in my hearing, if that fellow wins my case I will pay him $10 for it. The first case I had was in X court. I was interpreter there. I want to make something out of myself. Labor is all right, but I like office work or law work better. I tell you, doctor, if I come up before the judge I will tell him just the same story I tell you. I can remember it just that way.''
This young man told us he had graduated from intermediate school in Hamburg; in this country he had attended for about a year and a half and, in spite of the language handicap, he was in sixth grade. There is a brother a little older and an older sister. Mother has been dead for 5 years. His father is an artisan and makes a fair living.
We soon found means of getting more facts concerning this case. The first point of importance was concerning his age. It appeared that he at present was lying about this, probably for the purpose of concealing his previous record in the Juvenile Court and in other connections. There had been previously much trouble with him. He had been long complained of by his father because of the bickering and quarreling which he caused in the household and on account of his not working steadily. He had shown himself tremendously able in getting employment, having had at least twenty places in the last year and a half. He was known to lie and misrepresent; on one occasion when he was trying to get certain advantages for himself he falsely stated that he was employed by a certain legal concern, and once he tried to pass himself off for an officer of a court.
The father willingly came to see us and proved to be a somewhat excitable, but intelligent man of good reputation. We obtained a very good history before studying the boy himself. Mr. von X. began by informing us that we had a pretty difficult case on our hands, and when we spoke of the boy's ambition he became very sarcastic. He stated that up to the time when the boy left school in Hamburg he had only been able to get to the equivalent of our third grade. To be sure, it is true that Adolf had learned English quickly and much more readily than any one else in the family, and in the old country had picked up French, but ``he hasn't got sense enough to be a lawyer.''
Both the older children did very well in school, and the father and mother came from intelligent families. All the children are somewhat nervous, but the two older ones are altogether different from this boy. They are quiet and saving. A grandfather was said to have been a learned man and another member of the family very well-to-do. The mother has one cousin insane and the father one cousin who is feebleminded. All the other family history from this apparently reliable source was negative. Both the father and mother were still young at the birth of this child. The mother died of pneumonia, but prior to this sickness had been healthy.
The developmental history of Adolf runs as follows: His birth was preceded by two miscarriages. The pregnancy was quite normal; confinement easy. When he was a few days old he had some inflammation of the eyes which soon subsided. Never any convulsions. His infancy was normal. He walked and talked early. At three years he had diphtheria badly with delirium for a couple of weeks and paralysis of the palate for some months. After this his parents thought the boy not quite normal. He had slight fevers occasionally. At 9 years he was very ill with scarlet fever. Following that he had some trouble with the bones in his legs. Before he left Hamburg he had an operation on one leg for this trouble which had persisted. (It was quite significant that in our first interview Adolf had told us his leg had been injured by a rock falling on it, necessitating the operation.) Up to the age of 14 this boy, although apparently in good physical condition, used to wet the bed always at night, and sometimes during the day lost control of his bladder. Also lost control of his bowels occasionally after he was 10 years old. He sleeps well, is moderate in the use of tea and coffee, and does not smoke.
When young he played much by himself. After coming to this country his chief recreation was going to nickel shows. He was fond of music as a child. He had been a truant in Hamburg. As a young child he was regarded as destructive. The general statement concerning delinquency is that Adolf is the only one of the family who has given trouble and that the father was the first to complain of the boy to the authorities. Before he reported it there had long been trouble on account of frequent changing of employment and misrepresentations. The boy had forged letters to his family and others. In the office of a certain newspaper he once represented himself to be an orphan, and there a fund was raised for him and he was outfitted. The father insists that the boy, in general, is an excessive liar.