File:High-grade Moral Imbecile A.jpg

and II years old when entering the Training School. A sweet pa- 
thetic face, and engaging manners. Articulation and vocabulary 
good ; could read, write, and cipher. Within a few days after ad- 
mission ran away to witness a parade in Philadelphia, and upon being brought back wept bitterly at the thought of his father know- 
ing of his misdemeanor. His parents are rehgious, respectable Ger- 
mans ; the father a superintendent of a mill. At 12 years of age, tiring of school routine, was allowed to work 
with gardener part of the day and to enter the music class. Learned 
cornet very quickly, but his teacher makes the following record of 
him : " He is quick to understand but there is an undertone of deceit 
in his character. He is not as open and straightforward as I would 
like to have him." 

A few months later on account of bad behavior was removed from 
school entirely, and put to work out of doors. His father then de- 
termined to give him a trial at home, but there he proved so lawless 
and unmanageable that his parents begged for his return. They 
report L. as simply unbearable ; disobedient, quarrelsome with his 
brothers and sisters, and the boys in the neighborhood, and brutal 
and disrespectful to parents. Indulged in screaming spells, and 
vile and profane language. Refused absolutely to return to the 
Institution, and was brought back by a policeman. Here defiant, 
vulgar, dishonest, sly, deceitful, dissatisfied, he lost interest even in 
his music and accomplished nothing in school. Ran away persis- 
tently and no disciplining seemed to affect him in this particular. 
At times he could be very attractive, and his innocent face was 
most misleading. After some months, responding to the influence 
of a teacher, he paid more attention to his music, and was generally 
more orderly, improving mentally, and growing more quiet. He 
never laughed, rarely smiled ; sat much apart from the others, look- 
ing into space, apparently dreaming. There were reports of cruelty 
towards smaller boys from time to time, but no proofs ; and he took 
care that there should be none. A change of teachers in his six- 
teenth year brought new developments and his true nature again 
asserted itself. His new music teacher makes the following note : 
" I do not know what to say about L. I cannot understand him ; 
he seems such a mixture of good and bad. Plays very well on the 
cornet, but is noisy and disobedient." 

From this time on, there was marked mental improvement coupled 
with moral deterioration equally marked. In music, in military ex- 
ercises, and in manual work he advanced. Learned a trade and 
really did excellent work in both tailor and carpenter shop ; but 
absolutely unreliable and undepcndable, he grew daily more treach- 
erous, brutal, and cruel, openly terrorizing the smaller boys. Rea- 
soned with and disciplined, he hardened under kindness and became 
restless under restraint. Both punishments and rewards were tried 
with negative results. An egoist, absorbed in dreams, his one am- 
bition was to win a name as a professional prize-fighter ; his one delight was posing before a mirror stripped to his waist in the atti- 
tude of Corbett, who was his heau ideal. 

Constantly plotting mischief, and usually clever enough to cover 
his tracks for the time, he organized a plot to attack an attendant 
to whom he had taken a violent dislike. Dominating his club he 
made the lives of many boys miserable, and punished severely boys, 
as large as himself, who refused to obey him ; would use the most 
violent language towards them and would even spit in their plates. 
During the last years of his school life, homicidal impulses devel- 
oped strongly, and his career in the Institution culminated in a brutal 
attack upon a boy whom he one evening waylaid, and without provo- 
cation, knocked down, and holding his head between his knees, spat 
in his face, choked him, rained blows upon head and face, and at- 
tempted to gag him. Immediately after, he wrote letters of apology 
to both the boy and myself, and then ran away. 

After fruitless endeavors to obtain work, he returned home, but 
as before his presence there proved intolerable, and the safety of his 
family demanded his commitment to an insane hospital. There un- 
der stricter discipline he did excellent work for 5 years, until with 
his usual cleverness, he managed to escape. A few days later, meet- 
ing him on the street, he greeted me most effusively, telling me that 
he had secured an engagement in the city. Fairly well clad, but dirty 
and unshaven, his childish beauty and engaging manners had given 
place to an expression of brutality, and a coarseness of demeanor. 

The next day I received the following letter from him : 

" My friend Dr. Barr: I was real pleased to see you in a way, and 
sorry, because I felt ashamed of myself. I send my apology for 
telling you a falsehood, but the circumstances that im in I felt that 
I had to. To tell the truth, I ran away from the Insane Hospital 
about a week ago. I'm not stopping at home. Iv got to hunt my 
bed up, when night draws on, the way I do I walk out in the coun- 
try, rather than go to these bug houses where these tramps go. Last 
night I was walking along Willow St. to catch a freight I was at- 
tacked by three bums, well I fixed two of them, the other one ran 
for dear life. Then, when it was all over, the man in blue came 
along, but I said nothing and walked as fast as I could. I wish I 
was a detictive. I could hunt up many a clue. I often feel sorry 
that I left Elwyn. Will you please take me back again or give me 
a job. I would be of big help to you in the band. Theres one thing 
I have a good report at the Hospital. Please answer. 

" Your friend,