Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology — John Shaqi
Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic PsychologyHealy, William
Science
Pathology of Lying, Accusation, and Swindling: A Study in Forensic Psychology
Healy, William
Criminal psychology; Swindlers and swindling
A woman of strength and judgment undertook to look after Inez.
The girl's personality commanded interest. In a few days she
complained more vigorously of her abdominal trouble; an operation
seemed imperative and was performed. (An account of this will be
given later.) Later the girl was taken to a convalescent home
and then to a beautiful lake resort. While here she suddenly was
stricken desperately ill. Her friend was telegraphed for, a
special boat was commissioned, and the girl was taken to a
neighboring sanitarium. The doctors readily agreed that the case
was one of simulation or hysteria. She was brought back to
Chicago and warned that this sort of performance would not pay.
After being given further opportunity to rest, although under
less favorable circumstances, in a few weeks she was offered work
in several homes, but in each instance the connection was soon
severed. Then without letting her guardian-friend know, Inez
suddenly left the city.
Inquiries had brought by this time responses telling something of
the career of Inez in the past two years, but nothing earlier.
She was the ``mystery girl'' in the Tennessee town, as she was in
Chicago. The B.'s kept a boarding-house and took Inez as a
waitress, knowing her first by still another alias. She worked
for them about a year and then went to Memphis, where she was
sick in a hospital. She had now taken the B.'s name. They were
regarded as her guardians (on the girl's authority) and they
finally sent for her again out of pity, although they felt she
had a questionable past, and they knew she had lied tremendously
while with them. Then the B.'s moved away and turned Inez over
to a respectable family. While with the B.'s Inez had been
regarded as a partial invalid; their physician diagnosed the case
as diabetes and found it incurable. In fact, the B.'s went into
debt for her prolonged treatment. Another physician, who was
called in after the B.'s left, said the trouble was Bright's
disease. At any rate, all regarded her as suffering from some
chronic disorder. Except for her extraordinary lying, of which
she made exhibitions to many, and some little tendencies to
dishonesty mixed with her lying, Inez was regarded as being quite
normal. The two other families with whom she lived for a time
found it impossible to tolerate the girl on account of her lying.
Finally, obtaining money by false representation, telling the
story of a rich uncle in Chicago to whom she was going, Inez
departed, taking with her a trunk containing valuables belonging
to the B.'s.
Dropping our chronological account of this case we may from this
time deal with it as a whole, putting together the facts as they
developed by further study of Inez herself and by the receipt of
information from many sources.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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