Evening star., 1924-08-03
MOTHERS HAUNTED
BY MURDER TRIAL
a
Criminal Tendencies of Loeb
and Leopold lnstiIl Fear
for Children.
IMAGINE GRAVE FUTURES
But All Depends on Dreams Be-
coming Realities, Psycholo-
gist Here Explains.
IMAGINE GRAVE FUTURES
BY IT. II. HENRY.

My heavens, is Billie going to turn
out to be such a character? Just this
morning he was playing Indian, run
ming around like a fiend with a wooden
tomahawk and shouting that he was go
ing to scalp Johnnie Jones. And then
yesterday he tied a can to the dogs
tail-that boy just delights in every
thing bloodthirsty"
Many a Washington mother has
asked just that question since read
ing the analysis of the character of
Richard Loeb, confessed ring leader
in one of the most brutal murders in
hte annals of American crime, as CIV
en- by DR. William A. White, superin-
tendant of st. Elizabeth's Hospital,
at the boys trial yesterday.
What saved me from becoming a
murderer like that?"
This is the question that more than
one man, grown cynical and weary
after long struggles with the world,
has asked himself in the past two
days, as he recalls trifle sadly the
glorious days when he forced hap
less souls to walk the plank from
the deck Of his pirate ship, scourge
of the green seas behind the barn,
while he stood with folded arms,
kerchiefed head, saber in teeth,
ScoWling, terrible, mercilesS.
For most part males of the species
have passed through, in some degree
or other, much the same mental ex-
perience as that which DR.. White at
ributed to Loeb.
Differing Paths of Life.
Somewhere the life lines of boy
dreamers separate. One becomes, for
example, a Government clerk. The
other becomes a cold -blooded MUIR
derer. One becomes a Napoleon. The
other Richard Loeb.
The situation. as interpreted by two
schools of psychology, was explained
by one foremost psychologists in the
United States to reporter yesterday
and it is given here, due to the inter-
est and anxiety aroused by the Chi
cago trial.
First. how much should a boy
dream? If your own curly-headed
little rascal communes with imagi-
nary pirates. master criminals or
bloodthirsty Indians instead of help
ing mamma like a good boy, is he abb
normal? This depends. perhaps, on
the extent of his dreaming, but psy-
chology has not yet discovered a
measuring stock for boys fantasies.
1t is doubtful, according to the
psychologist interviewed, whether
dreaming in itself constitutes abnor-
mality. even if it is excessive. The
abnormality consists, rather, in fail
ing to get a proper adjustment be
tween his dreams and reality. This
Is where Loeb failed.
Good and Bad in Dreams.
Dreamers, said this man, have
caused most of the trouble in the
world-and most of the progress. The
very reality of the dream world in
which they move prevents them
from taking advantage of opportuni-
in hair
The dreamer seldom reaches and
stays at the halfway mark. He either
goes to the top or fails. The kaiser
Very often the dreamer kills him
self in the reality of his dreams.
Such instances are those of the poor
artist who starveS in an attic desper-
ately striving to reach an ideal art
rather than get a job on a farm and
eating three squares day, or the
man who continually loses jobs be-
cause he cannot endure the short
comings of his bosses when compared
to his own real ideals" as to how
things should be done"
If your boys relations with life are
normal-if he comes in contact with
other boys, has his share of hard
knocks and faces his share of practi-
cal problems which he cannot refer
1 to somebody else-the chances are
good that he will orient himself and
4 his dreams to the actual in a way
that Will prevent tragedy.
Loeb Excessive Dreamer.
Loeb. naturally an excessive
E dreamer, was subjected in youth to
4 circumstances which tended to ex-
aggerate the reality of his dream
life. First illness and then nagging
governeSS restrained natural boyiSh
n impulses. He grew into state of
mind where murdererS, master crimi-
nails and detectives of the dream
\ world he had built up about himself
became far more real than the actual
characters of the world in which he
lived Actualities became unrealities.
When he murdered. it appears from
the testimony, he was acting the
character of one of his own dream
s. creations.
The lad who shows more of a ten
dency to dream than his companions
depends greatly on making the right
adjustments, but the matter is sc
Il complicated that probably no expert
Il in the world could tell just what