Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-07-02
TIE KLEPTOMANTAC.
By RoDR1GUEs oTToLENGUL.
copyright. 1928. by the Author.1
CHAPTER |.

began the doctor land even for many
years after l began to consider myself
successful, / often found myself with
time unengaged. Medicine is study Of
lifetime, never completely mastered
by any man, however assiduous. There
fore made it a rule to devote as many
hours as possible to reading. Thus one
afternoon, never mind how many years
ago, was sitting in my study engrossed
with new work on toxicology, when a
patient was announced, and instructed
my man to admit her. She came in
timidly and appeared embarrassed MS
to how she should begin the converse.
ton. Assuming my most encouraging
tones, begged her to be seated and to
explain to me what her trouble was.
4" Obi am not i'll. doctor, she said,
sitting down. 1t is about my father
that have come Then she was silent
again.
"She was young, but not beautiful,
and 60 most persons she might have
been unattractive. became interested
in her at once, because Idetected in her
countenance the impress of serious dis
tress. / was therefore determined to
place her at her ease as quickly as pos
sible that might gain her confidence.
Now, then, miss, said /, have no
hesitation in speaking to me, and re-
member two things-frst, that the
condolences imposed upon a physician
are as sacred as the secrets of the
priests confessional, and, second, that
g 4 - e ~,.t. 81,
you it will be necessary for you to be
perfectly frank with me. You must
withhold nothing. Tell me the symp-
toms of your fathers disease?'
oh, / don't knowl / don't know
what ails him, she replied. He was
always SO good, SO kind, but now
She stopped abruptly and, turning her
eyes away from mine, sat gazing at a
picture on the farther wall for some
seconds. l remained silent, preferring,
now that she had begun, that she should
continue at her own volition. Presently
she asked abruptly:
Tell me, doctor, can an honest man
suddenly become theft
Z" Il should think it highly improba-
BILE, replied, except of course where
there might be mental disturbance.
There is such thing, you know, as
kleptomania.
She answered me quickly:
"'Ahl You have said it-kleptoma-
MIA. That is what / wish to know
about What is kleptomania? How do
you distinguish between the kleptoma-
MAC and the common theft
NOW that she was fairly launched
upon her subject her manner changed.
Her vacillation gave way to a direct
ness of speech and close attention to my
words which showed me that she was
deeply stirred and that our topic was of
immense interest to her
The thief, said l, is morally
depraved individual, abnormally selfish,
who cares nothing for the rights of 9TH
ers where they conflict with the satisfac-
tion of his own desires, and who, there
fore, does not hesitate to appropriate to
himself the property of his neighbors,
except as his act might imperil his lib
erty.
Yes said my visitor. That is a
thief. Now describe kleptomaniac.
A kleptomaniac, said l, has a
mania for appropriating property. He
also is oblivious of the rights of others,
but he is not selfish. He steals regard
loss of the value or usefulness of the
articles taken, and he is equally I'M
mindful of the danger of mourning pun
ishment, except in some extreme forms
of the dementia, where the element Of
cunning is factor. Here the desire to
steal is allied to a sort of pleasure in
avoiding detection. 1t is this class of
cases which is hardest to separate from
the regular thief; yet the mania, as
have said, is more aggravated and there
fore more genuine. If the man happens
to be wealthy and steals let us say, bits
of old junk, it would be easy to pro-
nounce upon his diseased condition,
even though he carefully planned to
avoid detection. But should he be poor
and steal something of value only a
close study of the case by skillful
physician and careful observer could be
depended upon decisively.'
" Suppose. doctor, said the young
lady thoughtfully, that the man COM
bined your two examples-that is to
say, suppose he were wealthy, that he
carefully avoided detection and that he
stole first many useless articles and then
finally something of great value, money
let US say, in fact, thousands Of dollarsl
Would that man be-a-a-klepto
maniac-or-or-a thief-a thief with
method in his madness?'
cit was evident from the excited way
in which she asked this question that
at last we had reached the kernel of the
nut. She was describing her father.
Wishing to divert her mind for mo-
ment, l reminded her that she had not
told me her name, and she at once re-
vealed her identity. She was Miss Alice
Milton, and her father was the we'll
known merchant (The doctor here
mentioned the real name Of his visitor,
but it is too we'll known in New York
for me to use it. Therefore, as l have