File:Middle-grade Moral Imbecile K.jpg

Institution and photograph was taken. Rather large head, gray 
eyes, pale complexion, black hair, peculiar " grey-hound " face 
with pointed nose. Was nervous, hysterical and sensitive to ridicule. 
Obstinate, profane, sly, and untruthful. Undersized, sight and hear- 
ing acute, hands small, and quite deft with fingers. Had some 
knowledge of the 3 R's, and did very well for a time in school, his 
cleverness giving at first a pleasing impression ; but this very soon 
wore ofif. 

Passed on from school to school, and from attendant to attendant, 
he bit, tore, stole, fought, and tried the soul of every man and woman 
with whom he came in contact. He simply could not be good, dis- 
ciplining having no effect upon him. 

With a curiosity as indefatigable as was his ingenuity in accom- 
plishing a purpose, he was soon a ring-leader of mischief in the 
school until finally having reached his mental limit, he was transferred 
to one of the custodial buildings, where for a time he proved an ex- 
cellent aid in housework ; but his inordinate egotism, intolerable un- 
truthfulness, hypocrisy, and cruelty increased with time, and he gave 
so much trouble that it was thought best to retire him to a private 
room — the " Quiet." The matron, a kind-hearted woman, in her 
visits found him within a few days very contrite, declaring his inten- 
tion of being good, but at the moment she turned to leave him he 
made a savage attack upon her, seriously injuring her right arm. 

Dr. Kerlin wrote of him when 12 years old : " The end of this boy 
must be only sorrow to himself and to all who have to do with him." 
Two years later he makes the following entry : " H. has again run 
away, and the saddest thing about it is that he will come back again. 
He is so crafty and well able to convince those who have not had 
long experience with him of his innocence of purpose, as to be a 
constant source of anxiety, and we can never feel quite sure where 
he is unless we see him. He can lead our better class of boys which 
way he chooses, and, unfortunately, he never chooses the right way. 
While allowed to have the liberties of our best bovs and live among 
them, his example of successful deceit and falsehood is very injuri- 
ous. There is something fearful in his cool, deliberate plan to do 
evil. If phthisis would develop, it would be the happiest issue." 

H. was removed from the Institution in his fifteenth year, and 
drifting from place to place, he was convicted of larceny, im-

prisoned, and finally sent to an insane hospital, where he ex-

hausted the patience of all with whom he came in contact, formu- 
lating the most disgusting methods of revenge upon any whom he 
disliked. 

In his seventeenth year, exhibited by a specialist before a class as 
a moral imbecile, he was delighted at the sensation he created. Nine 
years later he suddenly appeared at the Institution, in a half-starved 
condition, his face marred with the traces of crime and his hair en- 
tirely gray. Fearing to retain him, he was fed, clothed and sent off. 
The few of his former friends whom he was permitted to see, he 
advised to remain where they were, as it was very hard to get along 
out in the world. Although expressing penitence for the past, his 
egotism yet induced him to relate to the attendants with great pride 
and bombast his various adventures, many doubtless being figments 
of fancy. 

A year later the press was filled with accounts of a shocking mur- 
der committed in another state, the perpetrators skillfully eluding 
detection. H. seeing the opportunity to create a sensation, reported 
to the authorities that while in a certain jail for some petty offence 
he had overheard two men, whose names he gave, discussing in an 
adjoining cell the details of this crime, which they had committed. 
The story investigated, proved absolutely without foundation. 
Neither he nor the men he described had ever been in the prison he 
named. Since then nothing has been heard of him. 

The seventh child born ; a 7 months' gestation ; normal labor, 
lasting but half an hour. Was fed artificially on goat's milk, but 
was a weak and sickly child. Had a convulsion three days after birth, 
and all his life was troubled with insomnia. Did not walk until 
second year. 

The mother, a strong, healthy Irish woman, but somewhat hys- 
terical, was 32, and father, an American, 36 years old, at time of H.'s 
birth. The paternal grandfather was a drunkard as was the father, 
but the latter claims to have been temperate for a year before and 
after H.'s birth. H. has 6 sisters — i feeble-minded — i brother living,