In the year 1891, the following case occurred in Berlin. A young man,
not yet eighteen years old, had in three cases undressed boys, and
performed improper acts on them. Then he misused and bound the boys. The
youth, who had previously been convicted of theft, was on this occasion
sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for an offence against (sexual)
morality. At Liegnitz, a few years ago, a pupil-teacher was sent to
prison for three months, because he had lured little boys to a remote
field, and there had mishandled them by beating them with a
walking-stick. The court held that these acts had been performed under
the influence of the sexual impulse, resulting from a sadistic tendency.
About two years ago, a teacher of the pianoforte committed suicide in
Berlin, because he had been accused of ill-treating children, apparently
owing to a sadistic tendency. The children were nine or ten years old;
he had undressed them and then flogged them. The matter had, it seemed,
been kept secret for a long time, until the parents of some of the
children discovered traces of the ill-treatment, and this led to the
charge being brought. A case which attracted considerable attention
occurred in Berlin in the year 1896. A man, supposed to be a Russian
prince, entered a well-known saddler's shop in the Potsdamerstrasse,
asked to be shown some dogwhips, and, on the pretext of wishing to try
their quality, persuaded some boys employed in the establishment to
allow him to try the whips on their persons. The boys were handsomely
paid for this, and the practice went on until the head of the firm
intervened and forbade it. Whilst some regarded the matter as a joke,
others expressed the suspicion that it was a case in which the rein had
been given to sadistic tendencies. A similar case was that of the
author, X., which occurred in Hamburg a few years ago. X. was acquainted
with a woman named Y., who lived in Berlin. The latter's son, eleven
years of age, was sent to reside with X. for educational purposes; and
without proper cause, but under the pretext of educational necessities,
this lad was severely mishandled by X. The boy was frequently taken from
his bed, stripped naked, and then struck with a switch. The boy's mother
stated that her boy had been put under the care of X. because the lad
needed severe discipline, being untruthful and dishonest. Further
charges were made against X. of various indecent acts against the boy.
Teachers and others, who were acquainted with this boy, deposed that he
was well behaved and not untruthful, and that he had in no way merited
such punishments as had been inflicted on him. A very remarkable case
was reported six years ago, from one of the minor German principalities.
Here, children who had been sentenced to imprisonment were pardoned by
the Prince, on condition that they submitted to a whipping; and the
remarkable feature in the case was that not only did the Prince make a
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