The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-26

heavily on the ground, Of the prImi- tive struggle for supremacy, of the heat which explains, if 1t does not jus tlfy, these cruelties, not trace re- mains There is only vile and cruel instinct lying in ambush, evidence of the moral anomalies of the criminals, or whose natures these games give faithful reflection.
 Duplicity shows itself In the manner In which they do the honors of their abode to any newcomers, naturally ig- norant of the habits of the place. Sev- eral games are contrived for this pur- pose; in the one called le debat (the de- bate) the newcomer is conducted be- fore an improvised tribunal and a cloth is laid under his feet. The tribunal Judges his faults, real or imaginary and the moment his inevitable condem- nation is pronounced the cloth Is sud denly pulled away, and he falls heavily to the ground
 So in the game of smuggling, the newcomer is taken on the back of companion who pretends to have bale Of goods, and to try and pass the cus- tom-house officers, but his companions (asr good officers) stop him at once, and ask him what he has in his sack. When the conventional answer has been given "a bag of nuts" after short discussion all the smugglers and officials set upon the new conner and overwhelm him with merciless blows from their clinched fists. The same characteristic duplicity is found again in another pleasantly of more com | nlir1fp6 nat11rA npIIn11v ch r6 the uninitiated.
 In certain seats pierced with holes a l needle with a long thread is introduced into one of the holes, the thread re- tained in the hand of another When the newcomer is seated, the thread is suddenly frightened, of course with the effect of driving the needle often deep- ly into the flesh.
 In other games the power of support ing pain is an absolute condition of su- premacy.
 Thus one of the players places his | closed fists upon a table holding in I each hand a needle tightly clinched in | such way that only the points stick l up. The other player then rains blows on the doubled fists with his own l clinched hands, and the game is to prove who can support the pain the l longer, the one who is struck or the 1 one who gets pricked
 | Besides in another way they under 1 take to show in their own persons 1 similar analogy, for they have habit | from pure bravura-of literally hacking | their fingers by deep incisions, making | oblique cuts on the forefingers, some | times taking out three-cornered pieces | of flesh so as to leave an empty space, | and these scars-in their society-are 1 considered as much a source of pride and ornament as in ours are the
 wounda received in battle.
 l While an Indian fakir was exhibiting l in the theater at Turin, and was show l ing the insensibility to pain produced l by a special state of fascination tor 1 hypnotism), the young men of neigh
 boring prison showed the same results l without any special preparation, pierc- ing the tongue, the cheeks, the arms | and the fingers with needles. The prin- | cipal factor in all these games, which
 are almost exclusively the only games l played by criminals is the love of fight | ing for the sake of fighting. and seek | ing to wound and receive wounds, of | ten dangerous ones. If play is consid- | cred as arising from the overflow of an
 activity required by life it is evident 1 that in criminals this activity is spec l ially matured.
 | It has been already remarked regard ing them that they have an agility and
 a suppleness in their movements which
 is abnormal, and which testifies to a high development of the motive cen
 ters and often the central centers
 And often this physical energy (not l approximately utilized in their lives) finds outlet in their games The tri- unph of brutal physical force and the
 admiration 1t excites among themselves
 are both of course phenomena common
 to the life and in the psychology of
 criminals, and in reality constitute a
 retrogresson to the primitive state of
 civilization which is characteristically l manifested in the docility with which l they submit to the brutality of the vic-
 tor. Even in their games they ac-
 knowledge the supremacy of physical 1 force and the "droit du plus fort'' of the muscles.
 The popular French proverb has al- l ready told us that "jeux de mains, est l JSuX ue VlldlHS lOHly a LOW IeliOW | uses his hands instead of his wits)
 The Camorrists have a pleasantly in | which declaration of love is some- l times mixed up with wounding the ob- ject of their affections. When their
 mistress tries to withdraw from their
 dominion they mark her on the face
 with a little gash, in such manner,
 however, as not to disf1gure her. This
 is considered as jest and proof of
 their love.
 Games, therefore, take a prominent
 part in criminal activity, as we have already shown them to do in animal
 and savage life; and as with them it
 often passes beyond the border in the
 case of criminals. We find proof in the
 case of the criminal, cited by Macdon-
 aid, who began throwing snowballs at
 an old woman, and then. excited by | her cries, put stones in them, broke her 1 arm, wounded her head, and never stopped till some one arrived upon the
 scene It is in reality the fact that
 criminals feel less themselves, that they are unable to understand the suf- ferings of others and commit acts
 which appear to us so uselessly cruel. It is like drunkard whose taste is vi-
 tiated by the abuse of alcohol and who l always experiences a craving for a still stronger stimulant; their nervous