Criminals At Play

Mario Carara, a disciple of Cesare Umbroso, the Italiaii expert in criminal anthropology, has mado a special study of the sports that crimináis engage in. The innocent games of childhood, in-the case of crimináis, are tinctured with cruelty aud eometimes accompanied by homicide. Crimináis skip the rope, but part of the game is to trip up the jumper aud let him f all heavily upon the stone pavement. Crimináis play leapfrog, but the object of the gamo ig that he who makes the "back" shall rise suddenly and violeutly justas the frog mounts and throw him to the ground. The crimináis play blind man's buff, but the man with the bandaged eyes carries a handkerchief bearing in one corner a jagged stone, a piece of hard, sharpened woed or a bit of iron. With this weapon he strikes those whom he pursues. Another remarkable forin of this game is for the blinded one to be struck by one or another of his companions if he faiis to name the one that touches him. The penalty is not the innocent one of tho children's game, but a blow so severe that a physiciau has oftea to be callecl in after a game is over, and occasionally the suiïerer is disabled for sonie time. It has been fonnd in those Italian reforrnatories where prisoners are not kept in sojitary confinement that prisoners' games p.re often accompanied With bloodsi.ed, and that it is aimost imposeibJo loi revent cruelties. This is especially tri'u whero prisoners work together, fer Uiey secrete tools and use thern as weapons in brutal sports. In one of these sranies the nlnvpr haa - o "■■■ Jr 7 mj in each hand a stick, having fixed in the end a keen metallic point. He interweaves his arms, revolving the sticks with rapidity, and the game is for auother prisoner to thrust his head between the arms and endeavor to follow the revolutions of the sticks without being wounded. Itnsually happens that he receives 15 or 16 wounds and comes out with a bleeding head, whiJe now and then mortal injuries are received. The victim in anotber game bas his eyes bandaged and places his palm upon a table, with n'ngers spread fanlike. Another criminal repeatedly strikes between the fingers with a pointed instrument. If he wounds a flnger, then the two change places, and woe to the man who refuses the exehange. ïhe game is dangerous, although the crimináis assert that the wounds to the lingers are not deep or severe, because, they say, the metallic points are too short and do not penétrate far, a grim form of philosophy. The sport of crimináis isaccompanied by characteristio eraf t. This is especially shown in the methods in which the newcomer is initiated into prison life. The novice is condneted into au vised court chamber, where the judges are his fellow prisoners. He is placed upon a stand and gravely tried npon a pretended charge, and he has barely been condemned wheii the stand is suddenlydi'awn away, so that heis thrown violently upon the earth. Many games necessarily imply resistance to pain as an absolute coudition of success. For exaiuply, ther&is the game of "needles. " One of the playera places his closed fists upon the table, holding steadily two needles, 'one in eaoh hand the points being slightly exposed. It is the game then for a companion to strike with his own flsts thoso of the other and becomes a questiou of endurance between the one who is prickec with the needles and the one whose fists are beaten by the other's knuckles. There are contests iu which the flngers and hands are deeply wounded, and the scars are au honorable distinction. The characteristic feature of all these games, which are the recreation exclusively of crimináis in prison, is the love of combat. If, as is held by experts, sports are the means of working off the superfluous activity of life. it is evident that superfluous activity, in the case of prisouers, is especially powerful. It has been noted in the case of prisoners that there is a prevalence of greatagility and litheness, which Professor Lombroso considera a negative evidence of mental weakness, since it testifies to a greater developmcnt of the notorial centers at the expense of the other cerebral centers. But usual ly tbis physical energy is not properly used in the oidinary Hfe of the criminal and finds outlet and enjoyment in sports. Another characteristic of the games of crimináis is the admiration shown for physical force, manifested in the docility with which the vanquished in snch sports submit to the brutality of the victors, a thing observed among savages. Pinally the insensibility to pain exhibited in sports of crimináis proves that such men are less acute in their physical senses as well as less sensitive to the pains of others, since what seems to others nselessly cruel is only the usual thing with crimináis. As the drunkard, his taste hardened by alcohol, has need of a stimulant constantly stronger, so in the case of the criminal, the nervous systera demands stimulants so strong that to the ordinary steady going individual they would be actually painful. -