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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1922)
t TIIE SUDAT OltEGONTAN, PORTLAND, AUGUST 13, 1922 yjamaam 'imum - 'imimili (J mm 00 She Really Believes Ns C n Mr j d yr ce 1 T. ' 1 t V;' "V III "It was a ease of steal or take to the street," said the girl, tearfully. t. , n r - f ' Eileen and Lorraine Magnassen, children of Germaine La Pointe, who are with their father in Chicago. WHEN Germaine La Pointe, a young French woman, complete ly hoodwinked a New York city magistrate recently with a yarn about turning thief to sare her honor, the cynics smiled and sodded and said that It was just what gullible human nature de terred. But the cynics may be jolted now that .a scientist comes forward with the amas !ng statement that "she ftn't really bad." Thief and liar, as the court records show she Is. the cold and calculating psycho logical Investigation of an authoritative alienist finds that her falsehoods "are merely a series of poses that she assumes unconsciously" 'and that "she follows the suggestion of the moment" when she teals. The fact that she did thoroughly fool a police magistrate attracted the atten tion of Dr. Emily Burr, consulting psychologist of Bellevue hospital. New York city. Aware of the keen wit of the average city magistrate. Who has thou sands of cases arraigned before him each year with their limitless opportunities for the study of human nature, it was enough for a scientist to marvel at that a magistrate had been so hoaxed. She came before Magistrate Harry Howard Dale on a charge of stealing jewelry valued at $?50 from her land ' 'A hi if i i r.i milt lady. Mrs. Edna J. Brown of No. 122? Fulton street, Brooklyn. "It was a case of steal or take to the street," said the girl, tearfully. "I was brought to this city by a man in Chicago. I knew he was married, but he agreed to get a divorce and marry me and I be lieved him. Then be deserted me and left me no money and I had to steal to get money for food or go on the streets." Tall and stately, with beautiful dark eyes and delicate features, the girl made an appealing figure. A half dozen law yers volunteered to defend her, the court beamed on her, the newspaper reporters interviewed her, and someone sent her a fine dinner, steaming hot, served on a tray. And the world in a few hours read with interest the story of the girl who stole rather than lose her honor. But when the case was called for ex amination the next morning in the Gates avenue police court, Brooklyn,' Mrs. Anna Jarvlce. telephone operator of the Bronx, N. Y., stepped forward. "Your honor," she said to Magistrate Dale, "this woman is an Imposter. She is a divorcee. She was the wife of Peter Magnussen, an insurance agent of Chi cago. He divorced her and got the cus tody of her children, Eileen and Lorraine. She came to this city friendless and I took her in. She robbed me of my hus band in' return. Edward Jarvlce, my hus- 7 'i gist After Analyzing Germaine La Pointe, and Although She's a Con fessed Liar, Thief and Adventuress, "She's Not Really Bad," But a Victim of "Unde veloped Association Fibers." V i i , I ' ? 1 band, is the man whom she has been try ing to paint as preying on innocent womanhood." "Is this all true?" demanded the aston ished court of the demure defendant. "Yes," answered Miss La Pointe. "It is true. I don't know why I did it." A Psycho-Analysis of Germaine La Pointe. By Dr. Emily Burr, Ph. D., consulting psychologist, Bellevue hospital. New York. ' The secret of the success with which Germaine La Pointe put over her pose of Injured Innocence with Magistrate Dale in Brooklyn, in spite of his many years of judicial experience in dealing with clever lmposters, was really her sincere belief in the part she was playing. Germaine La Pointe is, of a neurotic disposition and is emotionally unstable; of this type she is an exceptionally con sistent example. She is very suggestible; i. e., she acts without, any deliberation upon anything whatever which is sug gested to her by persons or environment. She is actually chameleon in the way she reflects her surroundings. Her analytical ability is poor and all abstract thinking is quite beyond her. This girl isn't really bad; she is essen tially a good girl without much sense. She isn't stable in her affections, for all her emotions are superficial. In a good environment, with proper supervision, Germaine would be all right. Very af fectionate, friendly, unsuspicious and de sirous of pleasing all, she can't be judged by too severe standards, for, in order to win approval, she will do any thing anybody wants her to do. These characteristics are the ones which a "vamp" uses so successfully, and, therefore, this girl unconsciously "vamped" these judges. However, it was no thought-out campaign, ' for she is quite incapable of considering a chain of consequences which would follow a cer tain line of action. I arrived at my conclusions through the Tarxnan test and confirmed these ., .;:V 'MStW Sge t,teV: 's WM Ml l'V the Stories She Tells' v Declares a Psycholo I i. at. . Jt-;- findings by the Healy performance tests. It wonld have been impossible for her to dissemble during the tests. Under the Terman test she rates below the mental age of a person of 11 years. To be sure, many adults who are earning . their living rate no higher on this scale, but Germalne's capacity for forming judgments, her extreme suggestibility and her lack of sufficient mentality to reason and foresee consequences, keep her from following the right track. A normal child of 11 knows that it will be punished for wrong-doing, but this girl only follows the suggestion of the mo ment. She is utterly irresponsible from an intellectial standpoint. Had the prisoner been a more crafty person, when she was asked why she stole the woman's jewels, instead of answer ing, "I don't know," she would have given as her excuse her anxiety to see her lover, the great love which urged her to return to her two children, her remorse and desire to see her mother again. The first reason which she gave, that she stole rather than become immoral, was made up on the spur of the moment in response to the judge's kindly atti tude. She could not back it up by a continued performance. - Speak of her lover and she will tell you: "I love Mr. Jarvlce mors than any human being in the world." Bring up the subject of her two chil dren: "I love them more than anything in the world. If I could only feel their curly heads once again against my cheek, the little darlings!" Discuss her mother: "No one has ever filled my mother's place in my heart. I love her more than anyone else in the world." The girl is simply following the sug gestions made to her. She wishes to please and say the proper thing. As a matter of fact, while her voice may ring emotionally with any of these statements, and would easily deceive anyone who heard them separately, they mean, noth ing. She never attempted in any way to affect a meeting with any of these be loved ones. These are simply a series of poses which she assumes unconsciously. They do not lap in any way. In one she sees hex dear mother whom she loves devot- Iff - .7 V Mrs. Anna Jarvis, who says Miss La Pointe stole her husband after she befriended her. edly yet she ran away from home at the age of 16 and has not seen her mother since, she says; the second re gards her darling little children she de serted them because their father would not permit her to dress them in silk socks, but bought the five-and-ten store variety instead the third, her lover whom she loves more than anything in the world this has proven a mere sur face attachment. v After the scene in court when Mrs. Jarvlce accused her, she changed abrupt ly from the Innocent, sweet-faced, young girl into a vindictive, threatening woman. Later, when this attitude was criticised, she remodeled her role and affirmed that she felt no resentment against Mrs. Jarvlce, and was sorry for her and would do anything any time she could befriend her. Germaine has been accused of con tinually telling untruths. This is also unconscious. She does not think before she speaks. Everything is on the surface and all depth of feeling is lacking. She has been called extravagant and her expenditures would justify this re mark, but her so-called extravagance is due to the fact that she has only a limited cumber concept. In reacting to tests for a 9-year-old child she is unable to make change and her sense of values is quite below normal. In appearance Germaine La Pointe is all right in every way. She is a sweet, appealing little thing, refined and ex tremely neat about her person. Like all. persons of her type, she uses words glibly, her linguistic powers are good, though her occasional grammatical er rors show that she has not very much education. When she says she did not think when she took the jewelry and other things, it is quite possible that she is speaking the truth. This is Just the sort of thing peo ple of her type would do. They make snap Judgments and never think of the consequence. It was not callousness that made her rob the woman who had be friended her, it was an action on the spur of the moment. It is a pathetic case. There is a defi nite link missing in her powers of action and judgment which nothing can replace. Because of this she does not reason clearly, and her continuous lying shows r Germaine La Pointe, on whose acts psycho-analysis puts the complex ion of irresponsibility. she has a poor rententtive memory, and she does not draw deductions from previous experiences. With kindly, good, sympathetic people, she will be a sweet, obedient young woman; treated harshly, she will exhibit the contrary spirit. She Is of a type that can be ruled by kindness alone. The Modern Girl Has Gone Mad Over Athletics. (Continued From First P&ffS.) exclusively. She recently did the 100 yard dash in 12.1 seconds. And Geral dine Bundy, Ethel King, Ella Stringham, Fanny Rubinstein, Theodora Ellis and Susie Smith of Oakland, Cal., have also donned the regulation togs. Out-of-Door Girls Aided. The Camp Fire Girls' organization has also contributed much to the athletlo prowess of women. Archery has re ceived a great boom since the girls re vived it. Helen Hargett, Kathryn Jack son and Igobord Williamson, middle west champions of the bow have reached amazing expertness with the winged shaft. But such authorities as Dr. Woll be lieve that women have gone too far. "Women are constituted differently from men," he said. "They have cer tain organisms which are simply unable to stand strains such as men . sometimes undergo. And she has situations and duties in ' life which require a different sort of adjustment of nerves and muscles than men. I am all for the out-of-doors girl; I am glad to see women so very much interested in physical develop ment. But they should avoid games that entail sudden shocks or heavy strains." German health authorities evidently dissent from this belief, for they have es tablished systems of training for girl students in the public schools which is quite as comprehensive as any ever ap plied to male students. A decrease In the national birth rate led the govern ment to revise and broaden the course in physical training for women. Now they are claiming that Germany has advanced farther than any other nation on earth in giving its women the proper physical training. Russian Royal Family "Canned." Union Pacific Magazine. A teacher who believed in keeping her youngsters in touch with the march of events was beginning a lesson on the revolution in Russia. "Now, who can tell me what the ruler of Russia used to be called?" she asked. "The czar," bellowed the class. "Right! And what was his wife called?" "The czarina," two or three ventured. "Good," said the teacher. "Now, I wonder if you know what the czar's chil dren were called?" There was a long pause, then one little voice piped up: "Czardines." Watch Your Step! ( "A charge of $6 this month for candy! You must thing I have money to burn." "I might reasonably think so, as I ob served that you-had a bill of $30 for Havana cigars."
