The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-11-10
CRIMINALS AT PLAY.
fhE CRUEL WAYS IN WHICH THEY
"AmUSE" THEMSELVES.

n cal anthropo,ogy, has made specia
}. study 81 the sports that criminals en-
A gage IN. The innocent games Of child
!. hood, IN the case Of criminals. are tine
. turod with cruelty aud sometimes ac
eompanied by homicide.
Criminals skip the rope, but part oi
the game is TO trip up the jumper and
: let him fall heavily Iron the stone pave.
|. nent.
/ Crim'rNis play lcapfrog. hut the oh
4 ,ect OF the game is that he who makes
the back" shall rise suddenly aud vio-
lently just rs the frog mounts and throw
him 20 the ground
The criminals play blind mans buff,
but the man with the bandaged ewes
carries handkerchief bearing in one
corner Jagged stone. a piece of hard
sharpened wood or bit of iron. With
this w-aPat he strikes those whom he
pursues
Another remarkable form of this
game Is for the blinded one 10 be struck
by one or another of his companions if
he fails 10 name the one that touches
him. The penalty is not the innocent
one of the children's game. but blow
SO severe that physician has Often TO
be called in after game is over and
occasionally the sufferer is disabled for
some time.
1t has been found in those Italian re-
formatories whore prisoners are not
kept III solitary confinement that pris.
oners games are often acVumpaDied
with blcodshed, and that it is almost
Impossible TO prevent cruelties. This il
especially true where prisoners work to-
gether, for they secrete tools and use
them as weapons in brutal sports.
In one Of these games the player has
| In each hand "a stick, having Fixed in
the end keen metallic point He in.
terweaves his arms, revolving the sticks
with rapidiiy. and the game is for an
other prisoner to thrust his head be.
tween the arms and endeavOr TO follow
the revolutions of the sticks without
being wounded. 1t usually happens that
be receives 10 or is wounds and comes
out with bleeding head, while now
and then mortal injuries are received.
The victim in another game has his |
eyes bandaged and places his palm upon
a table, with fingers spread fanlike |
Another criminal repeatedly strikes be.
tween the fingers with a pointed instru.
ment III he wounds finger then the
two change places, and woe To the man
VINO refuses the exchange. The game is
dangerous, although the criminals as
sert that the wounds TO the fingers are
not deep or severe, because, they saw.
the metallic points are too short and 90
not penetrate far, II grim form Of phil
osophy
The sport of criminals is accomnanied
by characteristic craft This is especial. |
~ shown IN the methods in which the
newcomer Is initiated into prison life.
The novice Is conducted into am impro-
'ised court chamber, where the Judges
are his fellow prisoners. He is placed
apon stand and gravely tried upon
pretended charge and he has barely
been condemned when the stand is sud
ienly drawn away, so that he il thrown
upon the earth. n
Many games necessarily imlly resist
nee to pain as an absolute condition Of
uccess. For example. there is the game
Il needles. One Of the players places
Ils closed fists upon the table holding !.
readily two needles, one in each hand. '
he points being slightly exposed 1t is
ne game then for companion TO
trlke with his own fists those of tbe
ther ana becomes question of endur-
nee between the one who il prickod
nth the needles and tho one whose fists
hQnfOn "a b,, 80. /
Ihere are contests in which the fin W
ers and hands are deeply wounded. ;
nd the scars arc an honorable distinc. "
on. :,
The characteristic feature Of all these
imes, which are the recreation cxclu-
vely OF criminals in prison, is the love
combat. If, as is held by experts. =.
'orts are the means Of woi king off the
perhuous activity Of life. il is evident
lat superfluous activity, in the case If
lsoners, Is especially powerful. lt has VI
en noted in the case Of prisoners that In
ere is prevalence Of great agility and re
'heDess, which Professor Lomhroso III
Insiders negative evidence, of mental | Y,
eakness, since it testifies 10 a greater dr.
velopment Of the notoral centers nc
expense of the other cerebral centers.
1t usually this physical energy is not
operly used in the ordinary life Of the
minal and finds outlet aud endowment I'M
sports in,
Another characteristic Of the games III
criminals is the admiration shown m,
physical force, manifested in the To
cility with which the vanquishod in D.,
IN sports submit to the brutality of ''
victors, "a thing observed among
ages l
Finally the insensibility to pain ex. La
'ited In sports of criminals proves pc
It such men are less acute in their pei
vsical senses as well as less sensitive AM
the pains Of others, since what seems
others uselessly cruel is only the s
al thing with criminals As the are
nkard, his taste hardened by alcohol. c;o
need Of a stimulant constantly NJ
niger, so in the case of the criminal, -''
nervous system demands stimulants u
strong that 20 the ordinary steady
ng individual they would be actually no'
nfuL Pearson Weekly. Iiar
Cal
A.