Los Angeles Herald, Volume 34, Number 184, 3 April 1907 — REFORMED BAD BOY GOES WRONG [ARTICLE]

REFORMED BAD BOY GOES WRONG

Incorrigible Lad of Toledo. Whose Brain Waa Repaired by Sur. o«ry, la Now Worse Than Ever

Special to Tim Bmld,

TOLEDO, April 2.-After one of life befoii " mar boy, Harold iinriey ever befell any boy, Harold Hurley, tho pioneer brain surgery subject in Lucas county, has been taken to Lancaster reformatory to be reformed In the old

Tho Hurloy case oxcltod Interest which extended from no W York city to the golden west. Hurley's ra«o was believed by officials nnd ntirg>'oim to have demonstrated that an operation on the brain wns n. speedy and permanent method of reformation. The hypothesis that crime wns caused by brain pressure \\s\n followed In Hmi ley's .asc by two operations, Thoskuii was trepanned nnd portions of the hrnln removed. Tho. first operation, npparently, transformed tho hoy. instead of a noisy, vicious, vulgar llttlo runaway, he became a quiet, docile obedient Child, with tastes and ambitions exactly opposite to his former inclinations.

Strikes Head on Stone

One day he was swimming, nnd In diving struck his head upon a stone hidden by the waters. He suffered a relapse Into his former bad habits and was aßain taken to the hospital, Where his skull wns again opened and tho brain treated. Then Harold was good again and for some time continued to be a model boy.

But a short time ago the lad manifested symptoms of his primary bad condition nnd soon became more lncorrlgiblo than over. He ran away from home, lied, swore and was in truth and fact as bad a boy as the worst. Tho juvenile court officials could do absolutely nothing with him, his father had chased him from one end of town to tho other and had even tied tho lad up, but without avail. The boy developed wickedness to a remarkable extent and one day he was brought Into tho Juvenile court and placed under obsorvation. He showed no signs of Improvement, so he was sent to Lancaster.

Hurley's case seems to have demonstrated that while brain surgery Is a temporary success, the natural condition of tho brain reasserts itself after a time and that a normal mind is not a pure mind. It waa argued in Hurley's case that a normal brain would engender no evil, but juvenile court officials are becoming convinced that a mind may bo normally bad and that brain surgery ie too sudden a change. Reformation hereafter in Lucas county will be attempted along lines of mental training and by a change of environment rather than by brain surgery.