ABOUT KLEPTOMANIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 181, 9 June 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

ABOUT KLEPTOMANIA.

MEN AND WOMEN WHO STEAL FOR STEALING'S SAKE. According to a dictionary definition, kleptomania is derived lroin '-wo Greek words, one meaning to steal and the other madness, and the word, as <»• whole, means ,i : orbid impulse or desire to steal. Tl.i c seems to be a good many kleptomaniacs about, (says the Scotsman) especially when crowds ot well-dressed women throng the shop? at the spring or autumn sales. In London, every now and again, the plea of "kleptomania" is put forward when women in good positions are charged with what in the case of a person in hiunb'e circumstances would be dealt with without nxsitation a« petty laiceny.

But kleptomania is not confined to London. It prevails in a greater or lesser degree n all large towns, and the writer knows ot repeated cases having occurred in Edinburgh within the past twenty years in shops and salerooms. No doubt when the offender i-; well olf and relations are able to pay for a good lawyer to piead tht> cause, and possibly a family doctor can be pue into trie box to prove morbid tendencies, the chances are a ' in favour of acquittal. At least an open scandal and a sentence ol imprisonment are aviiled, and in re ent years the accused could be put under probation. On the other hand, if there is sue}; a thing as kleptomania, one ha? n. feeling that it may affect the porr kwell as the rich, and that a poor woman who picks up a lace co'lar or »• cheap dress length may be seized with a "morbid impulse" to steal as well ah her better off sj>ter who, perhaps, tries on the trick in half a dozen establishments.

THE QUKKR THIXU ABOUT IT. The curious thing about kleptomania is that the morbid impulse seems to be accompanied by an equally morbid desire to hide the stolen article under a cloak nr in a concealed ieceptacA> about the body. 11' the absent-minded and morbid one in a tit of morbidity picks up an i trifle, one would think tiiat it would lead lior or him to walk otf with it openly. But this is never tbe c ase. The bleman who had to be v.atched by ins butler to keep him fivm stealing bis own silver spoons was, no doubt, a genuine kleptomaniac. But in cas»s where pockets or other moans of bestowing; tin; loot are provided beforehand there should I).' no (!t'?iculty in holding that incidents of this kind" are simply higlitoncd thieving.

CAUGHT IX THE ACT. Those cases r>:uli the Press through po'ice court persecutions rarely, only a percentage of them coming under police notice, l i numerous cases, if the vicitim 'f morbidity is !• r.own to belong t:i well-r >-do people, the shopkeeper simply Marges he price of tho article to her.v:.r or her hushr-nd and almost invariably the account is paid without questi >u. The writer las heard of a case wlie.'o a woman ti'ief was caught in a shop with tho stolen article secreted on lur. Unwilling to make a scene, tli.e sliepkeeper gave her the choice either to be handed over to tlitf police or to allow bis man to go home with her and make a search for other articles which had boon missed. In the end tli" erring one consented, and a considerable number of other stolen itenw were recovered.

The kleptomaniac, as 'icon liintoci above, is not al\va\> a woman. In most, cases where a man is concerned., lit' i* a hook thief or a cultured man with a taste for rare articles of vertu. ] knowon excellent authority of cases whore rare books have lieen stoLn by learned clergymen. In one case lie begun yc be suspected. A watch was set, and he was caught with a valuable book in his possession. In this case also the stipulation was made that in order to avoid a prosecution he should allow a shopman to go home with him and go through his library. It was done, ani several other valuable stolen nooks were recovered.

POLICEMEN SCEPTICAL. Opinions differ widely as to the existence of kleptomania proper. Policomen geneially are sceptical, and doctors, taken all round, are very cautious in expressing a general opinion. Tlyy prefer to deal with specific cases. "Where provision has been made beforehand to carry off the plunder, or where goods are worn or pawned or sold, it i? quite obvious that there is more of tliP thief than the maniac. Where the victim of the morbid impulse steals rv. lot of trifles of no value, or where, if

a woman, she is wealthy and could easily buy what she takes; or where, lor instance, she carries home eight or ten or a dozen articles of the same kind, and like a human magpie hides or lay? them aside without utilising them in any way, it is clear that she needs n physician rather than the judgment bar.

A high police official once aid:—"! have been called upon to investigate cases, and after inquiry have found it necessary to detain women of the highest respectability, women whose husbands were worth toO.OOO or t'tiO.OOO. Now what could induce people so situated to steal!' The strange-t part of such cases is this—that a* a rule the articles stolen were almost valueless. I have known well-to-do women piclt up and secrete a spool of cotton or a cheap lace collar, showing clearly that the desire to steal and not the value of tho property i- the ruling motive. Even George 111. was alleged to have a penchant for picking up stray guineas at the card table when he thought nobody was watching him, and loyal courtiers were said to acquiesce i;i tin kleptomania rather than expose i'.it: sacred and gracious Majesty.

A DOCTOR S OPINION. Asked whether tlioro was such :i. thing as kleptomania a doctor said ho was not prepared to say there was a. species of insanity called kleptomania. He continued :—" It is not impossible however, that a tendency to steal may lie a symptom of insanity, and perhaps the only prominent one t!i( tim-o to lie generally noticed. Ihcro are nianv cases where a tendency to steal ha> been noticed among other symptoms. Professor Huxley in one oi hi- lectures referred to a 1' rench caso where the subject, a man who had rereived a gunshot wound in the head, would go into a kind of trance, and then the tendency to steal would h< a pruominent trait. The largest (las,« of criminals, however, 1 believe are so from reasons which are within tlicii" own control."

" Isiy. S!i 111 t." about to retire from business," said one man to another. "'He's a capital < hap and well deserve" a rest. He's p'-ng to devote the remainder of his life t« doing good.'' " Really''" asked tho othe •, with n. humorous twinkle in his eye. "And who :? he—Good, 1 mran***