For her own protection Bessie was given a trial in an institutional school. From there it was reported after a few months that her mind was found to be so continually upon sex subjects that it would be most advisable for her to remain long under the quietest conditions and closest supervision.
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Physical conditions: Local irritation. Case 16.
Girl, age 9 1/2.
Housing conditions: Crowded.
Early sex experiences: Excessive and pervert.
Parental control failure: No home, no mother.
Delinquencies: Mentality:
Serious false accusations. Good ability.
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CASE 17
Summary: Boy of 16 years, not living at home, made false accusations of excessive immorality against his own family. These involved sex perversions, and he implicated even his own sister and brother, and alleged the connivance of his mother. The main complaint was against the step-father, who he also said was a professional thief. The improbability of such stories being told without good foundation led to much time being spent on investigating the case.
As possible causative factors of the unmitigated lying we found (a) defective heredity leading to (b) typical constitutional inferiority with the peculiar states of mind characteristic of the latter, (c) poor developmental conditions through early illnesses; (d) excessive bad sex practices on the part of the boy himself. Vindictive reaction to charges of delinquency against himself might be considered a factor if his false accusations had not been made without any such stimulus a long time previously.
(According to another classification this case belongs in our chapter on Border-line Types. It is retained here because it so well illustrates pathological accusation.)
John S., an undersized boy of 16, a pitiable specimen, when under arrest for vagrancy told such a heartrending story of home conditions, with assertions against family morality, that the judge and others were moved to indignation and an investigation was started. The general feeling was that no one who was not insane could make such statements about their nearest of kin without foundation in fact.
We found a poorly developed, but fairly nourished young fellow; weight 112 lbs., height 5 ft. 2 in.; good strength for his size. Stigmata: slight facial asymmetry, ears very long and narrow, dentition very irregular—one upper canine having erupted behind the central incisors. Tattooing on the chest. Vision defective, but how much so was impossible to estimate on account of corneal ulcer and general gonorrheal ophthalmia. Gait and attitude very slouchy. In contrast to general poor development, has already full sex development and much hair over body for his age.
On the mental side we found an excitable and talkative fellow, quite coherent, and giving in no way any indication of aberration by the form or trend of his conversation. He tells us he reached the 6th grade. He willingly works on tests and we note the general result as follows: Learning and memory processes, both for logical verbal and for meaningless associations, quite good. Perception of form, normal. Power of analysis of situations mentally represented, only mediocre. Associative processes, verbal, not normally accurate. Writes good hand. Simple spelling correct. Arithmetic correct for 4th grade. Tests for several other points hardly fair to register on account of defective eyesight. On one he failed because of not knowing the alphabet in order. Suggestibility extreme, as evidenced by testimony test. In giving report on the ``Aussage'' picture, Test VI, he enumerated 12 items, 11 of them correct, on free recital. Then he gave 11 more details, all correct, on cross-examination, but he accepted no less than 7 out of 8 suggestions offered.
Information on current events is good, but on points said to have been learned at school is much mixed up. In giving responses to questions, he seized on any slight suggestion and adopted the idea. For instance, he said he had read the life of Napoleon, but could not remember to which country he belonged. When England was suggested he agreed to it. He then told various wrong incidents of Napoleon's life and death, also as suggested by the examiner. It finally came out that Bonaparte was an English nobleman who fought against France and Waterloo, was never defeated, and got sick in England. Then in the same way we get the information that this country gained its freedom from France, that Lincoln was president directly after Washington, and so on. John has read books from the library and various magazines, a considerable assortment. He knows almost nothing of even simple scientific facts, but is well acquainted with items gained from the newspapers and the theatres.