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Show TRAGEDY MAKES GIRL A WOMAN STARTLING CHANGES SEEN IN "VICTIM" .A - b BY nERFAV.UlD OARRDfGTON I I Author, D-tiirer and DlTDCtOT, American Amer-ican Physical Institute and ijibora-I ijibora-I tory. NEW BRCNSNVICK. N J , No . . The most Interesting person in tho Hall-Mills murder mystery, from a psycho-pat hological point of view, is 1 Charlotte Mills, daughter of the murdered mur-dered choir singer. This 17-year-old girl has been called the most tragic victim of the double murder. Scientific examination discloses startling changes. Yesterday she was a schoolgirl. Today she is a woman. Yesterday her mood and manner and tastes were of tho child, her instincts child Instincts. Today in thought anl action and dres she Is an adult. n'- does not even hav to tali; to Charlotte Char-lotte Mills to see these changes. What caused this qnl k transition? Shock, first of all- Then crlef, hotly tempered with anger. These emotions no doubt prompted her to demand the governor's help In avenging tho murder of her mother Inst tntly tho white spotlight of publicity focus-.'d upon her. TRANSITION OYKB'H;HT. iitiserv then the transition from the schoolgirl. Overnight she la tho woman of experience the transition mirrored in the modish clothes suddenly sud-denly hers; latest hats, new gowns, bangles Of extreme style at her ea"-s. silks, striking hosiery. it Is all analogous to William James" description of the groups of complexes in the human mind, each holdlnp an interest In a different thing and suddenly one of them vividly brought forward by some psychological stimulus by w'.iat James calls "the searchlight of consciousness con-sciousness thrown on that area." That Is what hnnnened to Char lotte Mills. Sudden stimuli of death, of grief, of spectacular environment came lnlo her life The excitement and publicity acted on her subconscious subcon-scious mind like water on a seed, tho subconscious blossoms suddenly flow-I flow-I crlnp and burstmj; Into activity. Dike a searchlight in the dark il- j ' lumnlatlng a single key of a type- , ' writer, 60 certain complexes of the I girl s mind would rise above the .others such as self-assertion, supo-' supo-' rlorlty, aggrandizement IN TIN: SPOTLIGHT. 1 She now thinks and talks and acts land even dresses in a totally dlffer-J dlffer-J cnt way than before. Take tho superiority su-periority complex alone. It follows Freud's theory of tho biolotrlcal or sexual basis of a woman's desire to 1 exc I other women and be more at- 1 j tractive. This Impulse or desire may be subconscious, sub-conscious, but it Is there. Orlef, ror example, may be a sincere and I honest grief, as in tho case of Char- I lotte Mills, and t find its outlet and I its climatic result in new gowns and I . silks and earrings. I XOHksBBBBV I ! Charlotte's face is free from the I lines of mental stress. Yet remember jthat sho Is now In the spotlight, and , clothes and ohow and display anl adornment may bo simply the outward Illustration of the child Instincts suddenly sud-denly blurred by woman Instincts. He-re is s girl changed into a woman wo-man by a dramatic tragedy. The reaction re-action has been startling but there is no hard and fast rule to measure such psychological reactions. |