Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1896-09-26
CRIMINALS AT PLAY.
THE CRUEL iWAVs IN WHICH THEY
"AMUeE" THEMSELVEa


TO Bear Pain I'm italian Prisons sarxoon,
Are Always ON Demand to Patch Up IN.
''Players.s
Mario Carara. disciple Of Cesars
Lombroso. tho Italian expert In crimi.
nal anthropcaogy, has made q special
study Of the sports that criminals en-
gage IN. The innocent games Of child
hood. in the ease Of criminals, are tho
tured with cruelty and sometimes 40
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 OBJ
ject Of the game is that he who makes
the back" shall rise suddenly and vfo-
lently just as the frog mounts and throw
him to 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 a bit of iron. With
this weapon he strikes those whom be
pursues.
game is for the blinded one to be struck
by one or another Of his companions ~
ne fails TO name the one that touches
him. The penalty is not the Innocent
one OF the children's game. but a blow
so severe that a physician has often TO
DE called IN after game is over. and
occasionally the sufferer is disabled for
some time.
= -
tormator1es where prisoners are not
Kept In solitary confinement that pris-
oners' games are often accompanied
with Dloodshed, and that It is almost
impossible to prevent cruelties. This IN
especially true where prisoners work to-
getner' Tor they secrete tools and use
them as weapons in brutal sportz
In one OF these games the player has
In each hand stick, having fixed in
the end a 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
oelng wounded 1t usually happens that
he receives 10 or 10 wounds and comes
out with a bleeding head, while now
and then mortal injuries are received.
Inc victim In another game has hig
eyes bandaged and places his palm upon
a table, with fingers spread fanlike.
Another criminal repeatedly strikes be-
tween the fingers with pointed instru-
ment- If he wounds a 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. grim form Of phil
osophy.
The sport Of criminals is ACCOMPANIED
by characteristic craft This is especial
u shown in the methods in which the
newcomer is initiated into prison life.
The novice is conducted into an fmpro-
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 snd-
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 is
the game then for a companion to
strike with his own fists those of the
other aud becomes 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 I'm
gers and hands are deeply wounded.
and the scars are an honorable distinc-
ton.
The characteristic feature Of all thea
games which are the recreation exolu-
slvely OF criminals in prison. is the love
or combat. If, as is held by experts.
sports are the means of working off the
supertuous activity Of life, it is evident
that superfiuous activity, in the case OF
prisoners, is especially powerful. IL has
been noted IN the case of prisoners that
there is prevalence of great agility and
htheness, which Professor Lombroso
considers negative evidence of mental
weakness, since it testifies to greater
development Of the notorial centers AZ
the expense of the other cerebral centera.
But usually this physical energy is not
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 shown
for physical force, manifested in the
docility with which the vanQuished In
such sports submit to the brutality OF
the victors, a thing observed among
savages.
Finally the insensibility to pain ex-
hlblted in sports Of criminals proves
that such men are less acute in their
physical senses as we'll as less sensitive
to the pains Of others, since what seems
to others uselessly cruel is only the
usual thing with criminals. AS the
drunkard. his taste hardened by alcohol,
has need of stimulant constantly
stronger, so in the case OF the criminal.
the nervous system demands stimulants
so strong that to the ordinary steady
going individual they would be actually
painful -Pearson's Weekly.
Did Not Beam ON Him,