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TIIE SUDAT OltEGONTAN, PORTLAND, AUGUST 13, 1922
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She Really Believes
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"It was a ease of steal or take to the
street," said the girl, tearfully.
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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
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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."
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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
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the Stories She Tells'
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Declares a Psycholo
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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-
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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
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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."