Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-04-08
Through theW Wall
CLEVELAND MOFFETT
c.,y.,.h.. 1909. b, .. App,..oa . Co.

I and Groenet at once by association Of
ideas said Cream" the Judge said
Smoke" GroeAer replied fire." the
Judge said t'early," Groener said
.late;" the judge said water" Groe-
ner answered river" the Judge said
tobacco" Groener answered pipe"
And the intervals varied from four
hfths of second to second and
fifth. which was taken as the prison
er's average time for the untroubled
thought process.
Hes cleverv' reflected Coquenil.
Hes establishing slow average"
| Then began the real test, the judge
going deliberately through the entire
list, which included thirty important
words scattered among seventy unim-
portant ones. The thirty important
words were:
L, Notre Dame; 2, eye hole; 8. watch
dog; 4, photographer; s, guillotine; 6,
Champs Elysees; Z. false beard; 8,
Brussels: 8, Gibelin 10, sacristan; II,
Villa Montmorency; II. Raoul; 10,
dreams; IA, auger; Is, jiu jitsu; 16,
detective; II, Brazil; 1S. canary bird;
10, fire; 20, red sky; q, assassin; %,
boots; %, Mary; "a, coaching party.
Is, Japanese print; 26, charity bazaar;
~, footprints; Is, Margaret; 20, red
hair; 80, Fourth Of July.
They went through this list slowly
| word by word, with everything care
fully recorded, which took nearly an
| hour; then they turned back to the
beginning and went through the list
again, so that to the hundred original
swering words, most of which proved
to be the same, especially in the sew
enty unimportant words. Thus both
times he answered darkness" for
eight" "tea" for coffee" and o'clock"
for watch" There were few ex-
ceptions, as when he answered ''salt"
for sugar the first time and Sweet"
for Sugar the second time.
It was different. however, with the
important words, as Hauteville point
ed out when the test was finished. In
over half the cases the accused had
answered different words in the two
Questionings.
''You made up your mind, Groener,"
said the judge as he glanced over the
sheets, "that you would answer the
critical words within your average
time Of reply, and you have done it,
but you have betrayed yourself in an
other way, as knew you would. In
your desire to answer quickly you re
peatedly chose words that you would
not have chosen If you had reflected
longer; then in going through the list
a second time you realized this and
improved on your first answers by
substituting more innocent words.
For example, the first time you an
swered hole when said 'auger,' but
the second time you answered ham
mer.' You said to yourself, Hole is
not good answer because he will
think am thinking of those eye holes,
so I'll change it to hammer" which
means nothing And when / said
watchdog you answered first scent
and then tall when l said Brazil
you answered first ship and then
coffee You tried deliberately to get
as far away as possible from associa-
tons with the crime"
mot at ALL" contradicted Groener.
81 made the changes, because every
word has many associations, and fol-
lowed the first one that came into my
head. When we went through the list
a second time did not remember or
try to remember the answers / had
given the first time.''
''Ah, but that is just the point" in
sisted the magistrate. ''In the seventy
unimportant words you did remember
and you did answer practically the
same words both times. Your mem
ory failed only in the thirty important
words. Besides, in spite of your will
power, the test reveals emotional dis
turbance. 1t is true you kept your
answers to the important words with
in your normal tone Of reply, but in
at least five cases you went beyond
this normal time in answering the N,-
important words"
'The words are unimportant, and so
are the answers"
"Then explain this. You were an
swering regularly at the rate Of one
answer in second or SO when sud-
denly you hesitated and clinched
your hands and waited four and two
Ill Ills ScCOuuS UC4OIc duSWcIAS 4S0Iu.
err to the simple word hat"
81 was bored"
The magistrate leaned nearer. Eyes.
and perhaps you were inwardly dis
turbed by the shock and strain Of an
swering the previous word quickly
and unconcernedly. l didn't warn
you Of that danger. Do you know
what the previous word WASP"
mo"
'It was guillotine!"
'Ah?' said the prisoner. absolutely
impassive
''And why did you waver and wipe
your brow and draw. in your breath
quickly and wait six and one-fifth
seconds before answering violin when
I gave you the word 'musicY"
I'm sure ]. don't know" Groener
stared at the judge.
"Shall I tell you why, Groener? It
was because your heart was pounding,
your head throbbing, your whole men,