The San Francisco call., 1896-11-22

Mario Carara, a disciple of Cesare Lom-
broso, the Italian expert IN criminal
anthropology, has, according to the Phila-
delphia Press, made special study of the
sports that criminals engage in. The in
nocent games of childhood. in the case of
criminals are tinctured with cruelty, and
sometimes accompanied by homicide.
Criminals skip the rope, but part of the
game is to trip up the jumper and let him
fall heavily upon the stone pavement.
Criminals play leap frog, but the object Of
the game is that he who makes the "back"
shall raise suddenly and violently just as
the frog mounts and throw him TO the
ground.
The criminals play blindman's buff, but
the man with the Dandaged eyes carries a
handkerchief bearing in one corner a
jagged stone, piece of hard. sharpened
, wood or bit of iron. With this weapon he
strikes those whom he pursues. Another
remarkable forrl of this game is for the
blinded one 10 be struck by one or an
other of his companions if he fails to name
the one that touches him. The penalty
is not the innocent one of the children's s
game, but blow so severe that physi-
clan has often to be called in after the
game is over, and occasionally the suf-
ferer is disabled for some time.
1t has been found in those Italian re-
formatories where prisonars are not kept
in solitary confinement that prisoners
games are often accompanied with blood
shed, and that it is almost impossible to
prevent cruelties. This is especially true
where prisoners work together, 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 interweaves
his arms. revolving the sticks with rapid
ity, and the game is for another prisoner
| to thrust his head between the arms and
endeavor to follow the revolutions of the
sticks without being wounded. 1t usually
| happens that he receives fifteen or sixteen
wounds and comes out with bleeding
| head, while now and then mortal wounds
| are received.
The victim in another game has his eyes
| bandaged and places his palm upon q
table, with fingers spread fan like. An
! other criminal repeatedly strikes between
| the fingers with pointed instrument. If
he wounds finger then the two change
| places, and woe to the man who refuses
| the exchange. The game is dangerous
| although the criminals assert that the
! wounds to the fingers are not deep or
severe, because. as they say, the metallic
points are short and do not penetrate far
grim form of philosophy.
| The sport of criminals is accompanied
| by characteristic craft. This is specially
shown in the methods in which the new
| conner is initiated into prison life. The
novics is conducted into an mproyised
court chamber, where the judges are his
| fellow prisoners. He is placed upon a
stand and gravely tried on a pretended
charge, and he has barely been condemned
when the stand is suddenly drawn away.
so that he is thrown violently upon the
earth.
Many games necessarily imply resist
| ance to pain as an absolute condition of
success. For example, there is the game
of needles" One of the players places
| his closed fists upon the table, holding
| steadily two needles, one in each hand.
the points being slightly exposed. 1t is
the game then for companion to strike
with his own fists those of the other, and
| it becomes question of endurance be-
| tween the one pricked with the needles
| and the one whose fists are beaten by the
| others knuckles. There are contests in
which the fingers and hands are wounded,
and ihe scars are an honorable distinc-
| tion.
The characteristic feature of all these
games, which are the recreation exclu-
sively of criminals in prison, is the love of
combat. If, as is held by experts, sports
are the means of working off the super
fuous activity of life, it is evident that
superfuous activity, in the case of prison
ers, is especially powerful. 1t has been
noted in the case of prisoners that there is
a prevalence OF great agility and litheness,
which Professor Lombroso considers a
negative evidence of mental weakness,
since it teshties to greater development
OF the notorial centers at the expense of
the other cerebral centers. But usually
this ply sical energy is not properly used
in the ordinary life of the criminal, and
finds outlet and enjoyment in sport.