New-York tribune., 1922-01-08
A VOLUNTARY
JAILBIRD
r E SPENT SIX months in tv...
ja'ls--and never faced joss.T
- - He served voluntary sen..s.

without ever having felt the b.s,
Of policeman upon his shoulder Or h...
a criminal record entered against him, r,
consorted with n'drderers, slept With r.,
and ate with yeggmen lie wore prison st,;,..
and ate prison food. He slept upon rn,,s
cot, in a poorly ventilated cell, imply b.
cause he elected to do So Why?
Let George Henri Le Barr. Partisan %,
American-probabIy the best qualified man
this part Of the country to write in 1js y.
moirs chapter on "Murderers I have Nys
furnish the answer. Mr., Le Barr is ch,.
acter analyst That means that ne can ~
from the shape Of your nose and The ine =,
Jour mouth whether you beat your wife ~
;re good to your dog; whether you Drsts,
Elinor Glyn 70 Baizac.
It was because Of his Interest in crime N.
criminals, from the character ANALYSTS noir
Of view, that he elected to spend SIX month
in European prisons, going from one to h.
other, eating, sleeping and living with ne,
whose records had blackened the pages ~
half the nations % Europe, and who have
committed the most hideous Of crimes Anar.
chsts, gunmen, murderers whose crimes hays
been lifted above the ordinary by whole ehsv.
ters in books on crinlnology-these were he
men who became to lie Barr as title children
CT as open books in which he read the story
of early-life conditions that had sent then
there.
81 went to jail simply to learn the msnns.
something Of the manner, In which crn.
might be eradcated through scientific psycho.
ogy," is the technical explanation Of his vu,x
made by Mr.. lie Barr.
''In the first place." he explains, 4 found
that criminals are not inhuman IN the least
Every criminal is necessarily unbalanced b..
many criminally inclined people are at largo
You meet them on the street, in the stores and
at concerts and in the theaters. You can read
their characters in their faces i you know
how.
''No man who is behind the bars -o-day, sen
fenced for murder or manslaughter, ever COM
nlitted that crime in cool, sane state Of mind
He was unbalanced temporarily, at least.
''The first thing to do in order 10 make 4
study is, Of course, to gain the confidence Of
the criminals themselves. If you can convince
them that you are their friend, that you wan.
to help them, you will gain it, little BY little
You will find them always with human side
"a side that is moved to tears BY music Or
touched by story.
by his laughter you can tell whether a nan
is good or bad You will notice Laughter on
the street. If it is pleasant if i. imnresses
you favorably, it means generally that the nan
has good in him. And that is true IN .a'k
You hear laughter very little, but when you 1c
you can judge the character Of the man D. 1,
"Most criminals are of the brainy type. :.
character analysis we call them 'mentas $
met one of these, forced by circumstances Z
the crime that placed him where he was. Il
was a purely mental type, left withou, fathe
or mother before he was eight years cid. H
should have had an education, but he neve
learned to read or write. He was forcei i'm
work that did not fit him, and he tr;4d ons
thing after the other. Each time he fell .
little lower, and finally he became s gar-asr.
IN brawl he killed several persons.
That man was not criminal by birth but
was made such by circumstances. He was
fitted for better things. He proved that tie
man who said that if children up to ten years
Of age were all fed, clothed and trained
CTINle, pa pSIlSIU anu Insanity NS--u e-sof-
pear. knew what lie was talking about
"This is the reason that many persons s's
circumstantial criminals rather than bc-1
criminals. Of course, we do have the latt
class, and for that reason and to preven'
the class growing larger we should see to II
that men and women who are criminals o.
who are insane DO not marry.
according to the best character ANALYSIS
continued LIE Barr, "it has been scientlncais
proved that character is IS per cent Inner
tance and early environment, and 25 per eea'
due to later education and experience. II y
up to society, to the government and 70 9As
community to provide for the children anu
see that the right inheritance and the ''gn'
environment are given to them. We LOOK Ipv'
misfts and criminals as nuisances, put We W
nothing to prevent them
What environment has to do with persons
character Mr.. lie Barr knows full well IL
had his picture taken before entering upon aS
voluntary Jail sentence and afterward in
later picture showed even the contour OF u,
face changed, the expression downcass SDN
gloomy, the very lines dropping.
"When entered on the first part. OF my ss@
tence it was in little prison, where there ws's
perhaps fifty prisoners" said lie Barr las'
were sitting around, gloomy and depreSSsS
They never smiled. If / had stayed tnels :.
month under those conditions it would no..
driven me insane The first thing did Wa :
start a plee cluh At first I had q 00sSs