Pathology of Lying [70]
feelings of the possibility of his being a success and led him to become a pathological liar. From the family history the main suggestion of the causation of the mental abnormality is in illness during developmental life, but neither ante-natal nor hereditary conditions are quite free from suspicion.
At the time of this first trial Adolf maintained a very smart attitude and tried to show off. He had succeeded in having two witnesses subpoenaed in order to prove that he did not hit his sister, but on the stand it came out that one of them was not there at all, and the other, who was a little girl, stated that she saw Adolf hit some one. Just why the boy had these witnesses brought in was difficult to explain. Perhaps he had the idea that some one ought to be called in every case, or perhaps he thought they would be willing to tell an untruth for him. His statement in court did not agree with what he had told us and was utterly different from what his sister stated. It came out that he had struck her on a number of previous occasions. It was shown clearly that the boy was a tremendous liar. The case was transferred to the Juvenile Court and from there the boy was sent away to an institution for a few months. After the trial his father said in broken English, ``To me he never told the truth.''
Just after his release the family moved to Chicago and Adolf soon put himself in touch with certain social agencies. He found out where I was and came to see me, bright, smiling, and well. He had gained eight pounds during his incarceration. He wanted to tell all about his life in the institution and because we were busy said he would come the next day. He did not do this, but a few months later came running up to me on the street with a package in his hands, saying he was already at work in a downtown office and was doing well and going to night school. Five years more would see him quite through his law course. A few months after this he applied at a certain agency for work as an interpreter and there, strangely enough, some one who knew him in New York recognized him. He, however, denied ever having been in court and produced a list of twenty or twenty-five places where he worked and gave them as references. It is to be remembered that at this time he had already been brought up in court at least three times, that he had been on probation, and been sent away to an institution.
During the last four years we have received much information concerning the career of Adolf, although his activities have carried him to Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, and other towns, in several of which he has been in trouble. He has very repeatedly been to see us and we have had many opportunities of gauging his mental as well as his social development.
His family continued to live in one of the most populous suburbs of Chicago and Adolf maintains that his residence is there, an important point for his political activities which are mentioned later.
What we discovered in our further studies of Adolf's mental condition can be told in short. We have retested him over and over. (When he has been hard up we have given him money to induce him to do his very best.) There are no contradictions in our findings at different times. Once, in another city, in connection with his appearance in court, Adolf was seen by a psychiatrist who suggested that he was a case of dementia precox, but nothing in our long observation of him warrants us in such an opinion. His mental conditions and qualities seem quite unchanged in type during all the time we have known him, and instead of any deterioration there has been gradual betterment in capacities, certainly along the line of adjustment to environment. His wonderful ability to get out of trouble is evidence of these powers of adjustment, as is also, perhaps, his keen sensing of the utility of the shadier sides of politics and criminal procedure.
In work with numbers Adolf is still very poor. He is unable to do long division or multiplication, and cannot add together simple fractions.
At the time of this first trial Adolf maintained a very smart attitude and tried to show off. He had succeeded in having two witnesses subpoenaed in order to prove that he did not hit his sister, but on the stand it came out that one of them was not there at all, and the other, who was a little girl, stated that she saw Adolf hit some one. Just why the boy had these witnesses brought in was difficult to explain. Perhaps he had the idea that some one ought to be called in every case, or perhaps he thought they would be willing to tell an untruth for him. His statement in court did not agree with what he had told us and was utterly different from what his sister stated. It came out that he had struck her on a number of previous occasions. It was shown clearly that the boy was a tremendous liar. The case was transferred to the Juvenile Court and from there the boy was sent away to an institution for a few months. After the trial his father said in broken English, ``To me he never told the truth.''
Just after his release the family moved to Chicago and Adolf soon put himself in touch with certain social agencies. He found out where I was and came to see me, bright, smiling, and well. He had gained eight pounds during his incarceration. He wanted to tell all about his life in the institution and because we were busy said he would come the next day. He did not do this, but a few months later came running up to me on the street with a package in his hands, saying he was already at work in a downtown office and was doing well and going to night school. Five years more would see him quite through his law course. A few months after this he applied at a certain agency for work as an interpreter and there, strangely enough, some one who knew him in New York recognized him. He, however, denied ever having been in court and produced a list of twenty or twenty-five places where he worked and gave them as references. It is to be remembered that at this time he had already been brought up in court at least three times, that he had been on probation, and been sent away to an institution.
During the last four years we have received much information concerning the career of Adolf, although his activities have carried him to Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, and other towns, in several of which he has been in trouble. He has very repeatedly been to see us and we have had many opportunities of gauging his mental as well as his social development.
His family continued to live in one of the most populous suburbs of Chicago and Adolf maintains that his residence is there, an important point for his political activities which are mentioned later.
What we discovered in our further studies of Adolf's mental condition can be told in short. We have retested him over and over. (When he has been hard up we have given him money to induce him to do his very best.) There are no contradictions in our findings at different times. Once, in another city, in connection with his appearance in court, Adolf was seen by a psychiatrist who suggested that he was a case of dementia precox, but nothing in our long observation of him warrants us in such an opinion. His mental conditions and qualities seem quite unchanged in type during all the time we have known him, and instead of any deterioration there has been gradual betterment in capacities, certainly along the line of adjustment to environment. His wonderful ability to get out of trouble is evidence of these powers of adjustment, as is also, perhaps, his keen sensing of the utility of the shadier sides of politics and criminal procedure.
In work with numbers Adolf is still very poor. He is unable to do long division or multiplication, and cannot add together simple fractions.