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
Notwithstanding our long record of this case and the accounts
which have been handed in to us of experiences with her in other
localities, we do not presume to know a tithe of the places Inez
has been to or lived in during the last eight years. It is more
than likely that she herself would find it difficult to give any
accurate account of her rovings. At the time we first saw Inez
her parents had not heard from her for about three years.
Shortly after this we found that she had renewed correspondence
with them and had sent them money as if she were now prosperous.
Her family have all along, in spite of her stories, been poor.
At one period she visited several cities in the southeastern
states and was at a hospital in one of them. In Charleston there
is a family by the name of B. (spelled the same as the name of
the people she was with in Tennessee). These were the people
Inez asked us to write to in an appeal, because they had long
known her and were wealthy, for a chance to get an education.
She stated they were immediate relatives of the B.'s in
Tennessee, and that she had visited them once at their fine home
in Charleston for three or four months. These people replied to
us that they had been receiving letters for years from
associations and organizations in regard to this girl whom they
had never seen. They were convinced she had assumed their name
because she had understood they were well-to-do and liberal.
``We know nothing about her education, but judge she has enough
to dupe people with; posing as poor at one time, sick at another,
and anxious for an education at another, as you inform us.''
From another correspondent with whom Inez had lived in Alabama
for a few weeks we had a marvelous tale which they heard from
her. She had told them she formerly lived in the most beautiful
part of New Orleans and when 5 years old was placed in a convent,
and then taken to a boarding-school, from which she was kidnapped
and taken to a small town in Georgia. She was later placed in
another boarding-school and there met the wealthy B.'s of
Charleston who took her home with them. While there she had to
go to a hospital on account of some infection. One day she was
thrust into a taxicab, taken on a boat, landed at another city,
etc. The B.'s of Charleston have thus figured long in her story,
and we learned from several correspondents that this kidnapping
has figured over and over as a big event in her life.
Once, years ago, Inez was taken into a private home accompanied
by a trunk, we hear, which was found to contain a considerable
amount of jewelry. This was pawned in the name of the people
with whom she then lived and was redeemed later by some one else.
Inez laid claim to the jewelry after a time, but apparently was
unable to produce anybody who could vouch that it was really
hers. Its ownership has remained unknown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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