The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1896-10-06
CRIMINALS AT PLAY.
THE CRUEL WAYS IN WHICH PHEY
"AMUsE" THEMSELVES.

Inc lest IN Al Aheii thlhea IL tha AoAtNy
to Bear Pain Ia italian Prisons Surgeons
Ar Always In Demand Go Patch Up the
players"
Mario Carara, a disciple Of Cesare
Lombroso, the Italian expert in crimi
nal anthropology, has made a special
study Of the sports that criminals en-
gage in. The innocent games Of child
hood, in the case Of criminals, are tine
tured with cruelty aud sometimes &C
companied 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 pave
ment.
Criminals play leapfrog, but the ob.
ject Of the game is that he who makes
the 'baok" shall rise suddenly and VIC
lently just as the frog mounts aud throw
him to the ground
The criminals play blind mans buff,
but the man with the bandaged eyes
carries a handkerchief bearing in one
corner jagged stone. piece Of hard,
sharpened wood or bit of iron. With
this weapon he strikes those whom he
pursues
Another remarkable form of this
game is for the blinded one TO be struck
by one or another of his companions if
he fails TO name tho 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 "a game is over, and
occasionally the sufferer is disabled for
some time.
1t has been found in those Italian re-
formatories where prisoners are not
kept in solitary confinement that pris.
oners' games are often accompanied
with bloodshed, and that it is almost
impossible to prevent crueltieH This is
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 stick, having fixed in
the end keen metallic point. He in
terweaves his arms, revolving the sticks
with rapidity, 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
he receives 10 or 1G wounds and comes
out with n bleeding head, while now
and then mortal injuries are received.
The victim in another game has his
eyes bandaged and places his palm upon
table, with fingers spread fanlike
Another criminal repeatedly strikes be-
tween the fingers with a pointed instru-
ment IL he wounds finger, then the
| two change places, and woe TO the man
who 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 say
the metallic points are too short and do
not penetrate far, a grim form of phil
osophy.
The sport Of criminals is accompanied
! by characteristic craft. This is especial
ly shown in the methods in which the
newcomer is initiated into prison life.
| The novice is conducted into an impro-
vised court chamber, where the judges
are his fellow prisoners. He is placed
upon stand and gravely tried upon a
pretended charge, and he has barely
been condemned when the stand is sud
| denly 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 ID
the game then for companion "a
strike with his own fists those of the
other and becomes a question of endur-
ance between the one who is pricked
with the needles and the one whose fists
are beaten by the others knuckles.
There are contests in which the fin
gers and hands are deeply wounded,
and the 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
superhuous activity of life, it is evident
that superfuous activity, in the case OF
| PAAoehNAAI - NapNSAoA4y BbntAAuAs Az hh7
been noted in the case of prisoners that
there is a prevalence Of great agility and
litheness, which Professor Lombrosc
considers a negative evidence Of mental
weakness, since it testifies TO greater
development Of the notorial oenters al
the expense Of the other cerebral centers.
But usually this physical energy is moi
properly used in the ordinary life of the
criminal and finds outlet and enjoyment
in sports.
Another characteristic Of the games
of criminals is the admiration showI
for physical force, manifested in th'
dccility with which the vanquished il
such sports submit TO the brutality o.
the victors, thing observed among
savages.
Finally the insensibiity 20 pain ex
hibited in sports Of criminals proye
that such men are less acute in theil
physical senses as well as less sensitive
TO the pains of others, since what SEEM
10 others uselessly cruel is only tn,
usual thing with criminals AS tn
drunkard, his taste hardened by alcohol
has need Of q stimulant CONSTANT,
stronger, so in the case Of the criminal
she nervous system demands stimulant
so strong that TO the ordinary stead,