The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1897-06-04
CRIMINALS AT PLAY.
THE CRUEL WAYS m WHICH THEY
"AMUSE" THEMSELVES.

The Test I'm All Their Games IL the Ability
To Bear PAin-In italian Prisons Surgeons
Are Always In Demand to Patch Up the
Players"
Mario Carsrs, disciple Of Cesare
Lombroso, the Italian expert in crimi.
nal anthropology, has made q 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 IL to trip up the jumper and
let him fall heavily upon the stone pave
ment.
Criminals play leaptrog, but the OBJ
Ject of the game 10 that he who makes
the back shall rise suddenly and vio-
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 handkerchief bearing in one
corner a Jagged stone, a 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 il
he 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 physician has often to
be called in after game is over, ano
occasionally the sufferer is disabled 70,
some time.
IL has been found in those Italian re
formatories where prisoners are not
kept in sOlitaEy-senhnement that pris
oners' games are often accompanied
with hloodshed, and thRtNjt is almost
impossible to prevent cruelties This is
especially true where prisoneTS-work to.
gether, for they secrete tooh and use
them rs weapons in brutal sports
In one of these games the player has
in each hand a stick, having 6xedssu
the end : keen metallie/ point. IIaiu-
terweayos MS arms, revolving The sticks
with rapldity, and the game is Cor an
other prisoner to-thrust his head be.
tween the arms and endeavor TO follow
the revolutions of the sticks without
being wounded II usually happens that
he receives 10 or 16 wounds and comes
out with a bleeding head, whilo now
and then mortal injuries aIe received
The victim in another game has mis-
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 90 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.
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
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
anoe TO pain as an absolute condition OF
success. For example, there is the game
Of needles " One of the-players places
bis 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 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 I'm
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 exolu-
sivsly of criminals in prison, is the love
OF combat II, as is held by experts,
sports are the means Of working of the
superhuous activity Of life, it is evident
that superfiuous activity. in the case Of
prisoners, is especially powerful II has
been noted in the case Of prisoners that
there IL a prevalence OF great agility and
litheDess, which Professor Lombroso
considers a negative evidence Of mental
weakness. since it testifies 20 a greater
development Of the notorial centers at
she expense Of the other cerebral centers.
But usually tins physical energy is not
properly used in the ordinary lifs Of the
criminal and finds outlet and enjoyment
in sporta
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 70 the brutality Of
the victors thing observed among
Eavages.
Finally tho insensibility TO pain ex-
hibited in sports Of criminals proves
that such men are less acute in their
physical senses as well as less sensitive
20 the pains Of others, since what seems
to others uselessly cruel is only the
usual thi.4,, with criminals AS the
drunkard, his taste hardened by alcohol,
has need Of a stimulant constantly
stronger, so in the case Of the criminal,
he nervous system demands stimulants
90 strong that to the ordinary steady
going individual they would be actually
painful Pearson Weekly.