The Invention of Kleptomania

The Invention of Kleptomania
Author(s): Elaine S. Abelson
Source: Signs, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Autumn, 1989), pp. 123-143
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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THE INVENTION OF KLEPTOMANIA
ELAINE S. ABELSON
is an ancient,thoughnothonorable,art.ReportsofcrimShoplifting
inal theftfromshops and stallsappeared in ElizabethanEngland.'
in midMoll Flanderswas sent to NewgatePrisonforshoplifting
London.
Sophie Lyons," a
seventeenth-century
"Light-fingered
in nineteenth-century
well-knownshoplifter
America,became a detectivestoryheroineandwrotean autobiography
thatwas syndicated
But
kind of
the
Hearst
chain.2
an
newspaper
entirelydifferent
by
in
the
late
nineteenth
and
shoplifting
appearedsuddenly
century became thesubjectofmedicalconcernand widespreadpopularinterest. This shoplifting
signaleda formofdeviantbehaviorby a new
the
middle
class,and itslocale was thatnew commercialingroup,
the
store.Such shoplifting
stitution, department
emergedfromthe
intersection
ofnew manufacturing
formsofmerand
new
capacity
in
the
context
of
consumer
chandising
burgeoning
capitalism.Moreit
was
linked
to
a
division
of
roles
thatassigned
over,
rigid
gender
activities
to
the
women,and,under rubric"kleptomaconsumption
nia,"it was used to definegender-as well as class-basednotionsof
theft.3
A. V. Judges, ed., The Elizabethan Underworld (New York: Octagon, 1965),
170-71.
2
Sophie Lyons,Autobiography
of Sophie Lyons (New York:Star Publishing,
1913).
3 There is a
of the
continuingdebate among historiansabout the formation
middle class duringthe nineteenthcentury.See, e.g., StuartM. Blumin,"The
in Nineteenth-Century
America:A Critique
HypothesisofMiddle-ClassFormation
and Some Proposals,"AmericanHistoricalReview90 (April1985):299-338;Aro J.
Mayer,"The LowerMiddleClass as HistoricalProblem,"Journal
ofModernHistory
[Signs:JournalofWomenin Cultureand Society1989,vol. 15,no. 1]
? 1989by The University
ofChicago.All rightsreserved.0097-9740/90/1501-0008$01.00
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
Kleptomaniawas a quasi-medicaltermthatevokedtheimageof
a woman of some means and indeterminate
years who regularly
storeswithouttheformaltookmerchandisefromlargedepartment
ityof payment.The legal and moralinnocenceof thiswoman,as
well as thecompulsivenatureofheractions,weretakenforgranted
by professionalsand the public alike.4 Use of the kleptomania
diagnosisto defendtheactionsofa selectgroupofwomensuggests
doctorsplayed in shaping
the distinctiverole nineteenth-century
It reflects
and givinganalyticvisibilityto gender-baseddefinitions.
as well the sociallysanctionedprivilegeofthe whitemiddle class
in the nineteenthcentury.5
Depictions of women in newspaper accounts detailing the
to the culturalstereoconformed
arrestsofmiddle-classshoplifters
Mrs.
Dora
female.
the
debilitated
of
Landsberg,forinstance,
type
was describedin theNew YorkTimesin January1899 as a wealthy
widow who was "sufferingfromkleptomania."Anotherwoman,
was defendedby her doctor,who
froma "mostestimablefamily,"
his
care
for
was
under
said she
"generaldebilityand herbrainwas
female
The
affected."6
kleptomaniacquicklybecame a stockcharacter, a popular joke. Kleptomaniacsappeared in sketches by
comediansWeberand Fields and CharlieChaplin,as well as in in47 (September 1975): 409-36; Karen Halttunen, Confidence Men and Painted
Women: A Study of Middle-Class Culture in America, 1830-1870 (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982); Daniel Horowitz, The Morality of Spending:
Attitudes toward the Consumer Society in America, 1875-1940 (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins UniversityPress, 1985). For a late nineteenth-centuryjournalist's view of
what it meant to be middle-class, see George Ade, "The Advantages of Being
Middle Class," in Stories of the Streets and of the Town,from the Chicago Record,
1893-1900, ed. Franklin J. Meine (Chicago: Caxton Club, 1941), 75-79. I am using
"middle class" throughoutthis article as a designation forthe growing number of
urban residents. A group in the process of formationby the mid-nineteenthcentury,
they were mostly native born, Protestant,white collar, business and professional
men and their families. There were, however, hierarchies within each of these
categories, and many people in economically precarious situationsfeared that social
mobility went two ways. Not limited to occupation and income, the working
definitionof this new middle class has a significantcultural component that must
include the home and its contents, residential location, levels and patterns of
consumption, child-rearingstrategies,and leisure activities.
4 See,
e.g., "Kleptomania as a Disease and Defense," American Lawyer 4 (December 1896): 533.
5 Carroll Smith-Rosenbergand Charles Rosenberg, "The Female Animal: Medical and Biological Views of Woman and Her Role in Nineteenth-CenturyAmerica,"
Journal of American History 60 (September 1973): 338; Michel Foucault, The
History of Sexuality (New York: Vintage, 1980), 1:44.
6 New York Times (January 14, 1899), p. 1, col. 4, and (January 14, 1896), p. 2,
col. 7.
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Autumn1989/SIGNS
numerablevaudevilleacts,minordrawingroomcomedies,and popular songs with such catchytitles as "Mamie, Don't You Feel
Ashamie."7Edwin Porter's1905 silentfilmThe Kleptomaniacwas
one of manymovie depictionsof this ubiquitoussocial phenomenon.8Kleptomania'spowerfulholdontheVictorianimagination
can
be tracedtotwoparalleldevelopments:therisingstatusandauthority
ofmedicalscienceandtheuniqueimportance
ofthedepartment
store
as an urbaninstitution
in thesecondhalfofthenineteenthcentury.9
It is withinthis dual contextthatthe figureof the kleptomaniac
emerged.
In July1887, the AmericanJournalof Insanitypublished the
annualproceedingsoftheAssociationofMedical Superintendents
of AmericanInstitutionsforthe Insane. Amongthe papers delivered at that meeting was one with the provocativetitle, "Are
Dipsomania,Kleptomania,Pyromania,etc.,Valid FormsofMental
Disease?"1' The author,Dr. OrpheusEverts,superintendent
ofthe
CincinnatiSanitarium,answered his own question affirmatively
but added a caveat.These maniasexist,Evertssaid, but onlyin a
dependentrelationshipto othersymptoms.In respectto kleptomania,he arguedthata "naturaldesire to accumulateexaggerated
by disease" constitutedthe realityof kleptomania,and he considered this combinationof desire and disease to be a valid mental
disorder."The case of a thirty-nine-year-old
widow withchildren
and of"good society"illustratedhis thesis.Admittedto theasylum
as a hystericwith a historyof kleptomania,this woman was
diagnosed as sufferingfrom"womb disease mania," which the
doctordescribedas "larcenyand eroticismwithhysteria."12
Withthehindsight
ofone hundredyears,we can lookwitha combinationof horrorand slightbemusementat thisand similarlate
medical diagnoses,but we mustalso keep in
nineteenth-century
7
Felix Isman, Weber and Fields: Their Tribulations,Triumphsand Their
Associates(New York:Curtis,1924), 280-81; Charles Chaplin,The Floorwalker
(MutualFilmCorp.,May 1916); MarkMelford,"Kleptomania,"
a farcicalcomedyin
threeacts,in French'sActingPlays 138 (Londonand New York:T. HenryFrench,
1888); MargaretCameron,"The Kleptomaniac,"
a comedyin one act,October30,
1901,reviewedin New YorkDramaticMirror(March29, 1902,and April15, 1905);
Gus Edwardsand Will D. Cobb, "Mamie,Don't You Feel Ashamie"(1901),in Song
HitsfromtheTurnoftheCentury,
CompleteOriginalSheetMusicfor62 Songs,ed.
Paul Charoshand RobertA. Fremont(New York:Dover,1975),162-66.
8 Edwin S. Porter,
The Kleptomaniac(Edison studio,1905,film).
9Charles E. Rosenberg,No Other Gods: On Science and AmericanSocial
Thought(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversity
Press,1976),1-21.
10OrpheusEverts,M.D., "AreDipsomania,Kleptomania,Pyromania,
etc.,Valid
FormsofMentalDisease?" AmericanJournalof Insanity44 (July1887): 52-59.
" Ibid., 56.
12
Ibid., 57.
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
mindhowtheseexplanatory
models,builton thescienceoftheday,
also reinforced
establishednotionsaboutclass and gender.Although
and
themedicalizationofshoplifting
implieda searchfortreatment
held out the hope fora cure,therewas a mixedmessage in the diagnosisofsuch behavioras disease. On the one hand,it suggested
thatoldermoraljudgmentsof"bad" behaviorwere inappropriately
funcsimplistic,but,on the otherhand,itdefinedthereproductive
diseased. If maniascould be tracedto
tionsofwomenas inherently
the womb,as Dr. Evertsimplied,the sexualityofwomencould be
Even as itbeconflatedwithsicknessand behavioralirregularities.
came a sociallyand medicallycrediblediagnosis,kleptomaniareinscribedbeliefsabout femaleweakness.'3
The well-documentedand sensationallyreportedshoplifting
case of Mrs. Ella Castle, which unfolded in 1896, provides a
strandsof social,
microcosmof these myriadand oftenconflicting
On
October
on
and
5, 1896,Mr.
medical,
legal thought kleptomania.
and
Walter
Mrs.
and
sociallyprominentAmerican
Castle, wealthy
for
in
London
arrested
were
stealinga sable mufffroma
tourists,
Remanded to Holloway
establishment.
End
fashionable West
theirbail hearingand,
in
before
Prison,thecouple spenta week jail
and spectacleofa
ordeal
the
were forcedto undergo
subsequently,
field
had
a
daywiththecase; the
publictrial.Americannewspapers
nineteen
New YorkTimes,forinstance,ran
separatearticlesand
on
editorialson the incidentbetweenthe arrest October5 and the
release ofthe Castles fromEnglishjurisdictionon November13.14
BothMr.and Mrs.Castle were broughtto trialfourweeks after
theirarrest,but herbehaviorand past historywere the focusofthe
case. AlthoughMrs. Castle ultimatelypleaded guiltyto the shopliftingcharge,in boththe weeks beforethe trialand in court,she
was portrayednotas a thiefbut as a mentallyunstable,physically
ill woman who fromthe onset of pubertyhad exhibitedmental
"troublesincidentalto femalelife."'5Againand again pressreports
described her virtualphysicalcollapse and spoke of her as subjected to a "disease which may have temporarilyturned her
mind."'6The attendingphysicianof Holloway Prisoncalled her a
Patricia O'Brien, "The Kleptomania Diagnosis: Bourgeois Women and Theftin
Late Nineteenth-CenturyFrance," Journal of Social History 17 (Fall 1983): 65-77,
esp. 71.
14New York Times (October 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, 21, 23, and 31, November 3, 4, 7,
8 [three separate articles], 9, 10, 11 [two differentarticles], 13, 1896).
15San Francisco Chronicle (November 7, 1896), p. 1, col. 7; New York Times
(October 18, 1896), p. 1, col. 5, and (November 11, 1896), p. 9, col. 5.
16
New York Times (October 14, 1896), p. 9, col. 1.
13
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Autumn
1989/SIGNS
woman of "highlynervoustemperamentand disposition.""The
prestigiousEnglish legal journal,Law Times,seconded the diagto the "diseased conditionofthe moralnature"in
nosis,referring
thisparticularcase.'8An affidavit
fromthe Castles' familydoctorin
Californiatooknoteof"herexcessivenervousnesssincethebirthof
herchild,"and testimonials
fromAmericanfriendsrecalledthather
disorderedstateofmindhad been a "patheticsecret... formany
years."'9English medical specialistssummonedto examine Ella
Castle wereunitedin theopinionthatshe was neithermentallynor
morallyresponsibleforher crime.20
Admittinghis client's guilt
beforethe trial,Mrs. Castle's English lawyer,Sir Edward Clarke,
defendedheras a pitifulkleptomaniac:"I have had herexamined
by some leading specialistsin mentaldiseases, and have no doubt
thatthejudge will admitthathersymptoms
are such as to warrant
thedefenseofkleptomania.She suffers
frompain in thehead,from
which
complete loss of memoryand fromother irregularities,
accordingto medical science, are knownto be frequentlyassociated withdelusions.Thereis no reasonin lifewhyshe shouldhave
taken these few trumperybits of fur.... She has a well-to-do
husband,who was willingto satisfyher everywant."21
On November7, the day of the trial,Mrs. Castle appeared in
court sobbing,half-swooning,
and supportedby two uniformed
nurses. Dr. William Chapman Grigg,specialist in women's diseases at Queen Charlotte'sLying-InHospital,testifiedthat"after
repeatedexaminationsof Mrs. Castle he had formedthe opinion
thatthe disease fromwhich she was suffering
was one of those
whichare almostalwaysaccompaniedby greatmentaldisturbance
causingdifferent
manias,as kleptomania,religiousmania,etc., in
different
women." Dr. George Henry Savage, lectureron mental
diseases of Guy's Hospital and author of a widely read text,
Insanityand Allied Neuroses,corroborated
Grigg'sdiagnosis.22
17Ibid.
'1 "Kleptomania," Law Times 102 (November 14, 1896): 28; fora full discussion
of this case and the issue of moral insanity,see "Kleptomania," Atlantic Medical
Weekly6 (December 26, 1896): 401-6.
19San Francisco Chronicle (October 13, 1896), p. 1, col. 4, and
(October 14,
1896), p. 1, col. 1; New York Times (October 18, 1896), p. 1, col. 5.
'0 See,
e.g., New York Times (October 23, 1896), p. 6, col. 7; and the remarksof
Solomon Solis-Cohen, M.D., in S. Weir Mitchell, "The Relations of Nervous
Disorders in Women to Pelvic Disease," UniversityMedical Magazine (March 1897),
1-37, esp. 33.
21San Francisco
Chronicle (October 18, 1896), p. 18, col. 1.
22Ibid.
(November 7, 1896), p. 1, col. 7; George Henry Savage, Insanity and
Allied Neuroses (London: Cassell, 1884).
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
It is significant
(althoughnot surprising)thatMr.Castle, who
had been arrestedand indictedwith his wife on the shoplifting
charge,was subsequently"exoneratedfromall responsibilityfor
her pilferings."3
At the bail hearinga week afterthe arrest,when
the prosecutionstill considered this to be "a regular case of
was found
it was revealedthat"a partofthe property
shoplifting,"
the
Three
weeks
the
husband's
clothes."24
later,
prosecutor
among
declined to offerany evidence againstWalterCastle, arguingthat
even thoughthe couple "occupied one roomat the Hotel Cecil"
and Mrs.Castle's trunks"containeda museum of articles"taken
fromvarious London stores,"in not a single instance was she
so thatshe musthavedone herworkso
detectedin takinganything,
even
her
that
husband,who was beside herwas unable to
skillfully
see what she was doing."5 A tea importerfroma wealthyand
WalterCastle providedhis wife's
prominentSan Franciscofamily,
to wonder,as did Police
is
it
reasonable
and
spending money,
in
of
was
Arrow
who
charge the case, how Mr.Castle
Inspector
could have failed to notice such a vast accumulationof stolen
The prosecution'sdecision to attributethe thefts
merchandise.26
Castle
seems to have been promptedin part by
to
Mrs.
solely
but it was facilitatedby
American
embassyofficials,
pressurefrom
The
medical
theopinionsof
availabilityofthekleptomania
experts.
a
diagnosis,coupled with deep-seated but unspokenassumption
that"gentlemendon't act thisway,"made Mr.Castle's innocence
easily rationalized.27
A repressivemedicalargumentbased on the beliefthatwomen
were likelyto be physicallyand mentallyunstable,kleptomania
was partof a complexpatternof psychologicaltensionbetween
While Mr.Castle was transformed
by
Victorianmen and women.28
understanding
both prosecutorand judge into the long-suffering,
husband,Mrs. Castle was neatlypackagedas a mentallyderanged
York Times (November 7, 1896), p. 9, col. 5.
San Francisco Chronicle (October 14, 1896), p. 1, col. 1; New York Times
(October 14, 1896), p. 9, col. 1.
25 New York Times (November 7, 1896), p. 9, col. 5.
Francisco Chronicle (October 10, 1896), p. 1, col. 6. The Chronicle
26 San
(October 14, 1896), p. 1, col. 1, published a partial list of the goods found in the
Castles' trunks: "18 tortoise shell combs, 7 hand mirrors,2 sable boas, 2 muffs,2
neckties, 7 gold watches, 9 clocks, 17 valuable fans, 16 brooches, 7 tortoiseshell eye
glasses, 2 plated toast ranks [sic] marked Hotel Cecil, and a large number of smaller
articles of less value."
27 Ibid. See also the statementby James Roosevelt, secretaryof the U.S. embassy,
shortlyafterthe Castles' arrest,ibid. (October 10, 1896), p. 1, col. 6.
28Carroll Smith-Rosenberg,Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian
America (New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1986), 3-52.
23 New
24
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Autumn1989/SIGNS
womanwho,in the throesofher illness,was a skillfulshoplifter29
Her defensewas groundedin the plea ofkleptomania,
based upon
"hersuffering
froma woman'sailmentwhichwouldaccountforher
mania"; his restedon "his reputationforhonorand integrity."3
Pleading guiltyand convictedon seven countsof shoplifting,
Ella Castle was deemed mentallyand morallyirresponsibleforher
actionsand was speedily released by the Britishhome secretary
"on her husband's promiseto take charge of her."3' The couple
sailed immediatelyforNew York.
Upon herarrivalin the UnitedStates,Mrs.Castle wentdirectly
to Philadelphiato consultdoctorsat the Philadelphia Polyclinic
Hospital.A teamofseniorphysicianstreatedher,and theirdetailed
report,"The Relationsof NervousDisordersin Womento Pelvic
Disease," allows us to appraise mainstreammedical and gynecological thinkingabout the relationshipbetween womenand kleptomaniaat the end ofthe nineteenthcentury.Dr. S. WeirMitchell,
who had been lecturingand writingabout diseases ofthe nervous
systemin women fortwo decades, was called in on the case for
"assistanceand counsel,"and he became the chiefspokesmanfor
the medical team. Citinghis "long experienceof manyformsof
neurosesassociatedwithpelvic disease," Mitchellwrote,
I do not believe thatMrs.C. had any clear notionof the
natureofheracts,oroftheirconsequences,and I am of[the]
opinion thatverypositiveand long-neglecteduterineand
rectaldisease had muchto do withthedisorderofmindfrom
which she has suffered,and which is apt to be associated
withhystericalconditions.... I thinkher hysterical,
weak,
and unbalanced,but notcriminal.It is characteristic
of her
formof mental disorderthat she should show no other
obvious signs of insanitythanthe overwhelmingtendency
whichbelongs to her formofmonomania.3
29San Francisco Chronicle (November 7, 1896), p. 1, col. 2.
30 Ibid. (October
31, 1896), p. 1, col. 7.
31 Up until the 1880s
English law had been amenable to pleas ofkleptomania,but
the system of individual decisions in such cases had "worked so badly" and the
defense was pleaded in so many cases that the law had been changed. Afterthat it
was no longer possible for a middle-class woman in England to be assured of
acquittal by claiming irresistibleimpulse as a predisposing cause. A guiltyplea and
prison, or insanityand a mandatorysentence to the asylum were the choices, and Sir
Edward Clarke chose a guiltyplea, confidentthat his client would be immediately
released (New York Times [November 8, 1896], p. 17, col. 3).
32 Mitchell, "The Relations of Nervous Disorders"
(n. 20 above), 35; see also
S. Weir Mitchell, "Nervous Disorders (Especially Kleptomania) in Women and
Pelvic Disease," American Journal of Insanity 53 (April 1897): 605-6.
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
Mitchell'sdiagnosissupportedthe conclusionof
Not surprisingly,
Dr. Grigg,one ofthetrioofspecialistswhohad examinedMrs.Castle in London, who had testifiedat the trialand reportedto the
home secretary:"She is intenselyneurotic.The condition of
things-a disease of the upper portionof the uterus-is a very
ofvariousformsofmaniain women,such
commonaccompaniment
and I have seen it
as melancholia,religiousmania,nymphomania,
in severalcases ofkleptomania.It is invariablycoupled withmuch
mentaldisturbance.The conditionI discoveredis quite sufficient
to accountforanyformofmentalvagarieswhichare so well known
to affecta certain class of women (neurotic) with disordered
menstruation.Her bowel conditionwould aggravatethis."33Dr.
Solomon Solis-Cohen,the physicianin charge of Mrs. Castle's
medical care at the Polyclinic Hospital, identifiedher specific
and
medical symptomsas disorderedmenstruation,
hemorrhoids,
From physicalproblemssuch as these,the
uterineirregularities.
doctorreported,"various formsof mania in women,"including
kleptomania,commonlyappear.34
What historicalmeaning does this drama, at once intensely
personal and broadly social, hold forus? That Mrs.Castle was
playinga culturallysanctionedrole afterthe arrestseems obvious.
Her exaggeratedsymptomsofhysteriaaccompaniedby the appropriateprops in the formof concealingblack veils, smellingsalts,
and uniformedmedical attendantsmay read to us like stage
directionsin a second-rateplay,but theyconformedto an appropriatebehavioralnormformiddle-classwomen in the late nineteenthcentury.Featured prominentlyin English and American
newspapersforovera month,Mrs.Castle exhibitedeverysymptom
a respectable kleptomaniacwas supposed to possess: frequent
and menstrual
nervousepisodes,pains in thehead, loss ofmemory,
who
a
merchant
to
well-to-do
problems.Further,she was married
in
his
Mr.
wife.
his
turn,
Castle,
was said to be "verygenerous"to
and said the
professedtheproperignoranceofhis wife'sshoplifting
revelation,"even thoughhe was
evidence came as a "frightful
aware that "she had been subject at certainperiods to mental
delusionsand loss ofmemory."35
Faced withthe unsettlingphenomenonof respectablewomen
stealingmerchandisefromthe dry-goodsbazaars, physiciansexplained kleptomaniain termsoffeminineweaknessand sexuality.
The medicaldiscoursepermeatedpublic discussionas well. In an
33Mitchell, "The Relations of Nervous Disorders," 34; San Francisco Chronicle
(November 7, 1896), p. 1, col. 7.
34Remarks of Solomon Solis-Cohen in Mitchell, "Relations of Nervous Disorders," 34.
35 San Francisco Chronicle (October 11, 1896), p. 18, col. 1.
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Autumn1989/SIGNS
attemptto understandwhatwas deemed to be irrational
behavior,
doctorsand thepublicalikeembraceda viewofwomenthatlimited
themto biological dependency,to prescribedsocial roles,and to
actionsgovernedbytheemotions.The medicaland legal reactions
to the Castle shoplifting
incidentilluminatewhathistorianCarroll
and othershave similarlynoted: the close assoSmith-Rosenberg
ciationbetweenpopularideologyand medical "fact."36
We have little evidence of how women responded to this
whichattemptedto restrict
medical-sexualconstruct,
theirlives if
notrenderthempowerless.Mrs.Castle's voice and thoseofother
womendetainedforshoplifting
arenotheard,butifsexualideology
mirrored
social relations,thesilence ofthesewomenis an element
that functionsas an integralpart of what was said by doctors,
husbands,and judges.37
In theearliest,Frenchinterpretation,
was characterkleptomania
ized as the impulseofa diseased imagination
and characterizedby
theabsence ofeconomicneed. Kleptomania,
theso-calledthieving
was
in
both
and
the UnitedStates
mania,
widelyaccepted
Europe
as theimpairment
oftheindividual'svoluntary
inipowers.Although
tiallynotexplicitlygenderspecific,on bothsides oftheAtlanticthe
associatedwithwomen,specifidiagnosiswas almostimmediately
with
the
female
cally
reproductive
economy,whichwas understood
tobe theseatofthedisorder.38
Mostshoplifters
werewomen,butthe
associationofshoppingbehaviorwithbiologicalprocesses,so drain theCastle incident,was a cognitiveleap
maticallydemonstrated
thatwasdeeplyrootedintheintellectual
oftheVictorian
assumptions
period.
The Castleincidentfallssquarelywithintheongoingnineteenthcenturymoraland medicaldebate abouttherelationofinsanityto
the femalereproductive
system.Over the courseofthreedecades,
36The workof CarrollSmith-Rosenberg
has been fundamental
to our understandingof the medicalizationof deviantbehaviorsin the nineteenthcentury.In
of social structure
DisorderlyConduct,she has again underscoredthe importance
and male medical language in the determination
of behavioras disease. Other
historians,notablyJoanJacobsBrumberg,Nancy Tomes, and Regina MorantzSanchez,have movedin anotherdirection;usingclinicalcase records,theyhave
ofmedicine.In myworkI trytobridgethegap
beguntofashiona new socialhistory
betweenthe two approaches.See also WendyMitchinson,
"GynecologicalOperationson InsaneWomen:London,Ontario,1895-1901,"Journal
ofSocial History15
(Spring1982):467-84,esp. 467. BertHansenverykindlybroughtthisarticleto my
attention.
See also O'Brien(n. 13 above),66-67.
37
Foucault(n. 5 above),p. 27.
38 The literature
revealingthisassociationis voluminous.See, e.g.,Raymondde
Saussure,"The Influenceofthe Conceptof Monomaniaon FrenchMedico-Legal
from1825-1840,"JournaloftheHistoryofMedicineand AlliedSciences
Psychiatry
1 (July1946): 365-96; Theodule A. Ribot,The Diseases of theWill,trans.J.Fitzgerald(New York:HumboltLibraryofPopularScience Literature,
1884).
131
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
and criticisms
manyformulations
jostled forhegemonyat medical
recognized
meetingsand in thepages ofthevariousinternationally
medicaljournals.Despite themanydifferences
evidentin thesedeofgenderthatshowedlittle
bates,theyhad incommona construction
While manyof
variationacrossnationalboundariesand cultures.39
theargumentshingedon "whethermadnesswas at rootan organic
ofthekleptomaniacintheconstruct
disease ora psychicdisorder,"
in
distinctionsoffemale
the
the
located
disease
physical
variably
life.40
Menstrualdisorders,in particular,were integralto medical
explanationsof apparentlymotivelesstheft.What doctorsdesiginto the more specific
nated "ovarian insanity"was transformed
discourse on kleptomania.In the widely read 1884 American
edition of his textbook,Clinical Lectures on Mental Diseases,
ScottishphysicianT. S. Cloustonsingledout disturbedmenstruationas a "constantdangerto the mentalstabilityofsome women."
"It is oftenhardto determine,"he explained,"whetherdisordered
When
or suspended menstruationis a cause or a symptom."41
factor
as a contributing
Solis-Cohencited disorderedmenstruation
this
acon
his
he
based
Mrs.
Castle's
to
diagnosis
kleptomania,
medical
paradigm.
cepted
Because doctorsexpected and oftenfoundsome pathologyof
the reproductivesystem,the localizationof the disease, in this
period of still uncertainand speculativegynecology,seemed beElla Castle maynothave been totallyrepresentative
yonddoubt.42
see HenryMaudsley,M.D., "On Some ofthe
3Fora sampleofthisliterature,
Causes of Insanity,"BritishMedical Journal2 (November24, 1866): 586-90;
M. Legranddu Saulle, "The PhysicalSignsofReasoningMadness,"in the British
Journalof PsychologicalMedicineand MentalPathology2 (1876): 317-23; Alice
in
MayFarnham,M.D., "UterineDisease as a Factorin theProductionofInsanity,"
the AmericanAlienistand the Neurologist8 (October 1887): 532-47; Dr. L. G.
Hanley,"Mental AberrationConsequent upon Pelvic Disease," Clinical Report,
BuffaloMedicalJournal40-56 (March1901):672; A. T. Hobbs,M.D., "The Relation
AmericanJournalofObstetrics
and Its Treatment,"
ofOvarianDisease to Insanity,
43 (April1901): 484-91; and JohnC. Doolittle,"The RelationofPelvic Disease to
3 July1901): 294-98.
Bulletinof Iowa Institutions
Insanity,"
40RemarksofSolomonSolis-Cohen,M.D., quotingEnglishphysician,in Mitchell, "The Relationsof NervousDisorders"(n. 20 above),33. See also JohnYoung
Brown,"Pelvic Disease in Its Relationshipto Insanityin Women,"American
Journalof Obstetricsand Diseases of Womenand Children30 (September1894):
360-64; C. C. Hersman,M.D., "Relation of Uterine Disease to Some of the
Insanities,"
Journalof theAmericanMedicalAssociation33 (September16, 1899):
710.
41T. S. Clouston,Clinical Lectureson MentalDiseases (Philadelphia:HenryC.
Lea's Son, 1884),171,339.
42Two of manysmallerarticleson the connectionbetweenreproductive
pathologyand moralinsanityare ErnestH. Crosby,"The Legal AspectsofPartialMoral
132
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Autumn
1989/SIGNS
ofkleptomaniacs-shewas wealthierand moresociallyprominent
thanmostwomen detained forshoplifting-butphysiciansmade
the same connectionbetweenher mentaland physicalconditions
as theydid between those of otherwomen labeled kleptomaniac,
and the various surgicalproceduresshe submittedto under the
guise ofalleviatingthesementaland physicaldisorderswere well
withinthe prevailingmedical standardsof the period.43
Although
we have to assume thatthe Polyclinicdoctorsfoundlegitimate
physicalailments,theyoperated,in any case, because she was a
shoplifter.
By treatingher pelvic disease, theyhoped to cure her
kleptomania.
Like hysteria,
uterinedisease becamea diagnosticcatch-all.44
As
an explanatory
fromthe afflicted
model,it removedresponsibility
individualand made moraljudgmentofherbehaviorinappropriate.
If kleptomaniawas underthe controlofbiology,doctorsreasoned,
thekleptomaniacwas physicallydefective,butnotevil. In a period
whereselfcontrolwas the ideal, such dysfunctional
behaviorwas
Doctors
easilylabeled disease, "the symptomofwhichis crime."45
labeled Mrs.Castle a kleptomaniacbecause in theirview she had
lost the powersof reason; she sufferedfromhysteriatriggeredby
Mania,"Physicianand Pharmacist12 (December 1879): 157-60; and George H.
Roche,"Some Causes ofInsanityin Women,"AmericanJournalof Obstetricsand
Diseases ofWomenand Children34 (December 1896): 801-6.
4 Mrs. Castle underwentthe
followingtreatment:"The sphincterani [was]
dilated, the fissures cauterized ...
the ulcers treated ...
and the hemorrhoids
clamped and cauterized.The uteruswas curettedand then the trachelorrhaphy
performed
by denudationofthe cicatricialtissueand suturingwithsilkwordgut."
Remarksby SolomonSolis-Cohen,in Mitchell,"Relationsof NervousDisorders,"
31. Fora sampleofmedicalthinking
and thepracticeofgynecology
in thisperiod,
see W. B. Goldsmith,M.D., "A Case of Moral Insanity,"AmericanJournalof
Insanity40 (October1883): 162-77;B. D. Evans,M.D., "PeriodicInsanity,
in Which
the ExcitingCause Appearsto Be the MenstrualFunction-Reportof a Typical
Case," Medical News 62 (May 20, 1893): 538-40; Eugene G. Carpenter,M.D.,
"Pelvic Disease as a FactorofCause in InsanityofFemalesand Surgeryas a Factor
of Cure,"Journalof the AmericanMedical Association35 (September1, 1900):
545-51; Doolittle;and Hanley,672.
44For a discussion of uterinedisease as a
diagnosticcatch-all,see SmithRosenbergand Rosenberg(n. 5 above),332-56; BarbaraSicherman,"The Uses of
Diagnosis:Doctors,Patientsand Neurasthenia,"
JournaloftheHistoryofMedicine
32 (January
1977): 33-54, esp. 41.
5For the connectionbetweenso-calleddysfunctional
behaviorand crime,see
H. Tristram
Engelhardt,
Valuesand theConcept
Jr.,"The Disease ofMasturbation:
ofDisease," in Sicknessand HealthinAmerica:Readingsin theHistoryofMedicine
and Public Health,ed. JudithWalzerLeavittand Ronald L. Numbers(Madison:
Universityof WisconsinPress, 1985), 18; "Moral Mania," AmericanJournalof
Insanity27 (April1871): 445; Ely Vande Warker,
M.D., "The RelationsofWomen
to Crime,"Popular Science Monthly8 (November1895): 2; New York Times
(December26, 1905),p. 4, col. 5.
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
This understanding
of her illspecificphysiologicalmalfunction.
ness fiteasily intoa whole storehouseofpopularassumptionsand
as
prejudices.WeirMitchell'sdiagnosisofElla Castle's shoplifting
theresultofuterinedisease was textbookperfect:sexualitywas the
rootoffemalebehavior.46
the diagnosisof
Beyondits implicationsoffemaleirrationality,
to
a
social
concern
about
middle-class
conkleptomaniapointed
duct.Medical expertise,everso compatiblewithpopularnotionsof
femalecharacter,
allowed and even encourageda court,representa
a criminalact intoa
ing theoretically
impartiallaw,to transform
in
another
instance
and with another
What,
physical symptom.47
well
was labeled
have
been
called
criminal
conduct
couple, may
disease. Dr. Arthur
Conan Doyle capturedthetwinelementsofthe
case in a letter to the London Times imploringthat paper's
interventionon behalf of Mrs.Castle: "If there is any doubt of
moralresponsibility,"
Doyle wrote,"thebenefitofthedoubtshould
certainly be given to one whose sex and position ...
give her a
double claimto ourconsideration.It is in the consultingroomand
notto the cell thatshe shouldbe sent."48
Doyle's letterillustratesthatculturalassumptionsaboutfemale
sexualitywent hand in hand with cultural assumptionsabout
middle-classwomen. While neurologistsand asylumsuperintendents were workingout meaningsand classificationsof specific
ofkleptomania
formsofmentaldisease, thepopularunderstanding
was framedin termsconsistentwith commonly
(aka shoplifting)
understoodgender stereotypesand social concerns.The public
discussionof the mania,not unlike the scientific,
was, in fact,an
and
on women,on class, on role definitions,
extendedcommentary
on the dual questionsabout sicknessand health.
A similarculturaldiscoursewas takingplace in France,where
this"curiousand frequentformoftheft"had eliciteda greatdeal of
popular attentionand was the object of several medical studies.
Frenchmedical investigators,
notablyPaul Dubuisson, described
in detail the departmentstore environmentat the turn of the
46 Medical literatureon female disease was largely the source of these popular
prejudices. See Mitchell, "Nervous Disorders (Especially Kleptomania) in Women
and Pelvic Disease" (n. 32 above). For an earlier but essentially similar view, see
V. H. Taliaferro,M.D., "The Corset in Its Relations to Uterine Diseases," Atlanta
Medical and Surgical Journal 10 (March 1873): 683.
47 San Francisco Chronicle (October 14, 1896), p. 1, col. 1, and (November 8,
1896), p. 18, col. 3.
48 Ibid. (November 10, 1896), p. 1, col. 4 (my emphasis).
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Autumn1989/ SIGNS
twentiethcentury.49
In an attemptto understandand systematize
the relationshipbetween illness and theft,Dubuisson soughtto
demonstratethe existence of "that special follywhich seizes a
womanthemomentshe crossesthethresholdofa greatdepartment
store."50
But his argumentsrationalizedthe traditionaland defined
narrowlythe foundationof female activity.Withinthis highly
restrictive
model, women and departmentstoreswere seen in a
symbioticrelationshipin whichthestoresfilledan elementalneed
forwomen.It was notthattheyneeded tobuyanything,
Dubuisson
but
that
needed
the
and
the
wrote,
they
atmosphere
sightof "all
thosebeautifulthings."51
AlthoughAmericandoctors,if notmerchantsand lawyers,certainlywere aware of the diagnosisof kleptomaniaby the French
physicianC. C. Marc,whichhad appearedin 1840,kleptomaniaas
a formof middle-classshoplifting
did notbecome an issue in the
United States until the late 1870s.52There was no discussion of
49Paul Dubuisson,"Les voleusesdes grandsmagasins,"Archivesd'Anthropologie Criminelle16 (1901): 1-20, 341-70. (Note, "voleuse" is the feminineformof
thief.)See also RogerDupouy,"De la kleptomanie,"
Journalde PsychologieNormal
et PathologiqueAnn6e2 (1905),404-26.
50Dubuisson,16.
51Ibid., 343; Thomas Byrnes,ProfessionalCriminalsof America(New York:
Cassell,1886),31-32; "Editorial,"NewYorkTimes(December26, 1905),p. 6, col. 3.
52 C. C. Marc,a Frenchforensic
specialistand physicianto Louis-Philippe,was
togivetheword"kleptomanie"scientific
amongthefirst
recognition.
Buildingupon
earlierinterpretations,
Marc definedit as "a distinctive,irresistibletendencyto
steal"and thoughtsocial class and educationallevel ofthekleptomaniac
important,
as well as certainbiologicaldeterminants.
For a fullerexplicationof Marc, see
O'Brien (n. 13 above), 70; see also George L. Shattuck,"Kleptomania,"Atlantic
Medical Weekly6 (December 26, 1896): 402-6. The New YorkWorld(March31,
to a "shoplifter's
1872),p. 6, col. 3, referred
kleptomaneouspropensities."This is
thefirst
citationthatI could findin a New Yorknewspaperspecifically
mentioning
kleptomania.By the 1880s,however,middle-classshoplifters
were regularlyreferredtoas kleptomaniacs.
See, e.g.,New YorkTimes(January
18,1882),p. 8, col. 6;
and New YorkTribune(December 23, 1883), p. 6, col. 1. For earlierusages in
medicalliterature,
see AmericanJournalof Insanity2 (January
1846): 275: "This
promptshimto actionby a kindofirresistible
while he eitherretainsthe
instinct,
mostperfectconsciousnessof its impropriety,
and horrorat the enormityof the
conductto whichit would impelhim,and withdifficulty,
restrains
himselfor gives
totheimpulsewhichurgeshimon. Examples-Cleptomania,
way,as in desperation,
or propensityto theft."JohnC. Bucknill("Kleptomania,"AmericanJournal
of
Insanity19 [October1862]: 148-49)also citesMarcas theoriginator
ofthetermand
refersto itsuse in theLondonTimes(April1855). The OxfordEnglishDictionary
tracesthefirst
public use ofthetermto theNew MonthlyMagazine,vol. 28, no. 15
oftheterm,see theNew YorkWorld(March31,
(1830).Fora popularinterpretation
1872),p. 6, col. 3.
135
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
forexample,in theuproarthatfollowedRowlandMakleptomania,
cy's arrestofthe sociallyprominentNew Yorkfeministand philanthropist,Mrs. Elizabeth B. Phelps, in December 1870.53Charged
withstealinga smallpackageofcandyin R. H. Macyand Company
and summarily
arrested,ElizabethPhelps became a cause celebre.
had notyetbecome synonymous
"Lady" and "shoplifter"
terms,so
the idea thatMrs. Phelps could standaccused ofso tawdrya crime
was inconceivable.The letter-writing
public and theeditorsofvarious newspapersand journalswere unanimousin theircondemnationofthe Macy employeeswho had precipitatedthe eventand of
thepolice who,itwas charged,had draggedMrs. Phelps away.The
highlyvocal criticsoftheincidentneverentertainedthepossibility
thatthe lady mighthave been guiltyas charged.In thisfirstpubin a dry-goodsbazaar,class was the
licized incidentof shoplifting
issue.
single
By the late nineteenthcentury,shoppinghad become partof
women'slifeand women'swork.Witha modicumofaffluenceand
increasingamountsof freetime,urbanmiddle-classwomen integratedthe dual roles of work and leisure into new patternsof
behaviorand became the shoppersso disparagedby contemporary
journalists.In 1873 even the feministWoman'sJournalaccepted
the new role definitionand advised its readers,"Next to mental
shoppingis now the business of life, and a most
improvement,
bewildering and exhausting business it is....
Strong is the char-
acterdemandedforwise shopping!"54
Increasinglyunderstoodas "thechiefdiversionofladies,"shoppingbecame somethingwhichbothmen and womensaw as being
In
as innateand naturalas anyotherfemalephysiologicalfunction.55
oftheVictorianworld,shoppingbecame a woman's
theasymmetry
naturalpublic sphere.By 1904,R. H. Macy and Companyclaimed
ofwomen
ithad 150,000dailycustomers;estimatesoftheproportion
Althoughmen
amongthesecustomersrangedas highas 90 percent.56
53New Yorknewspapers were full of the details of the arrestof Mrs. Phelps. See,
e.g., the New York World (December 25-28, 1870); the New York Sun (December
26-27, 1870); the New York Daily Tribune (December 26-29, 1870); New York
Commercial Advertiser (December 27, 1870).
Woman's Journal (April 26, 1873), p. 135, col. 2.
55 Dry Goods Economist (February 6, 1892), 112; Dry Goods Reporter (June 7,
1902), 31; "Shopping,' Living Age 251 (December 22, 1906): 758-60.
56R. H. Macy & Co. (no signature) to Mr. Paul Kyle, Flushing, New York (July6,
1904), R. H. Macy Collection, Baker Library,Harvard Graduate School of Business
Administration,box 4, doc. 3375: "You are perfectlysafe in making the assertion that
about 150,000 persons visit the establishment of R. H. Macy & Co. daily." Estimates
about the percentage of shoppers who were female vary, but for the generally
136
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Autumn1989/SIGNS
werecertainly
notexcludedfromconsumption
choices,womenwere
theprimary
consumers,and it was specificallyto themthatdepartmentstoresdirectedtheirappeals.57
Free access withinthestoreswas thecriticalappeal. Perhapsfor
the firsttime,a womancould "circulateon her own, unattended,
withoutinterference
fromanyoneand withoutrenderingaccountto
anyone." The freedomof the store environmentwas not often
duplicatedin otherareas ofa woman'slife.Even child care often
was provided.The Fair,a popularChicago store,builtan in-store
could accommodatetwo hunparkand playgroundthatreportedly
dredchildrenwhile theirmothersshopped.58
Far morethansimplya new and excitingshoppingmilieu,the
Gilded Age dry-goods
bazaaralso provedto be an acceptablesocial
locationforthe middle-classwoman; it was a protectedspace in
whichshe could eat lunch,have tea,meetherfriends,rest,writea
letter,and browse. The New Yorktradejournal,the Dry Goods
Economist,citedan unnamedstorethatassuredwomencustomers
in1902,"Youmayroamourfloorsunquestioned,withoutbeingurged
undulyto buy ... ourplace is to entertainyou."59
Manyaccountsof
describe
women
shoplifting
wandering aimlessly throughthe
recognizedfigureofabout90 percent,see DryGoodsEconomist(June13,1896),16,
(February27, 1897),65, (February4, 1899),4; Ladies HomeJournaladvertisement
in Dry Goods Economist(April3, 1897),8; Dry Goods Reporter(January
21, 1899),
37.
57
Womenmake it clear in theirdiaries thattheirhusbandswere involvedin
consumerchoices.See Clara BurtonPardee,Diaries, 1883-1938,New YorkHistorical Society,New York,entriesJune1883,November1888; see also JoanM. Seidl,
"Consumers'Choices: A Studyof Household Furnishing,1880-1920,"Minnesota
History48 (Spring1983): 183-97. Nevertheless,male customerswere still very
muchthe exceptionin nineteenth-century
stores.Clerksat Marshall
department
Field & Co. called menwho taggedalongwiththeirwives "MollyHusbands."See
Lloyd Wendtand HermanKogan,Give the Lady WhatShe Wants!The Storyof
MarshallField & Company(New York:Rand McNally,1952),277.
58DryGoodsReporter(July5, 1902),61; Dubuisson(n. 49 above),17; anyhistory
oftheAmericandepartment
storementionsthefreeentryprinciple.See, e.g.,Wendt
and Kogan, 32, 34. Henry E. Resseguie ("AlexanderTurey Stewartand the
Developmentof the DepartmentStore,1823-1876,"BusinessHistoryReview39
[Autumn1965]: 310-11) notesthatwhen HarryG. Selfridge,generalmanagerat
MarshallField & Co., establishedhis American-style
storewithfree
department
entryforall, in Londonin 1902,he was "severelycensuredby Londonmagistrates
forhis alleged encouragement
of shoplifting
in doing so." See also Dry Goods
Economist(November5, 1892), 30-31: "Britishdry-goodsstoreshave no goods
openlydisplayedor on counters.... The bane ofthe Americanstores,the kleptomaniac,is scarcelyknownhere and the forceof floorwalkers
and inspectorsis
small."
correspondingly
59Dry Goods Economist(March15, 1902),75.
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
stores,killingtime,goingfromcounterto counterand floorto floor
seeminglywithoutany particulardestinationbut fixatedby the
"new wildernessof goods."60
Merchantswere acutely aware of this new phenomenonand
obviouslyencouragedit; ultimatelytheybecame dependentupon
to
it.Withnewspaperadvertisingand windowdisplaysinsufficient
fillthe big storeson a day-to-day
basis, crowdshad to be manufactured,if not to view specificmerchandise,thento become themselves a part of the aestheticsof the stores.Mullenmeister,the
in MargreteBohme's 1912novel,TheDepartmentStore,
proprietor
ofthe crowdsofthe plainlycurioushe expects
speaks confidently
to lure intohis monsternew bazaar: "The best and mosteffective
is attractions,whichperhapsseem to have nothing
advertisement
to do withthe business,but which draw greatstreamsof people
into,or even only throughthe house. Once we get them in, the
buyingcan take care of itself."6'
Althoughtherewas a never-endingbarrageofjournalisticridicule and medicalcomplaintaboutthe dangersofnovel readingfor
ofdesire
idle women,therewas littleoppositionto the stimulation
within the "more controlled"dry-goodsstore.62In the toiletry
the scent literallyfilledthe air. "Keep the atomizer
departments,
the
going," Dry Goods Economistadvised readers.6Attheopening
of Wanamaker'son AstorPlace in 1896, the New York Tribune
reporterwas overcomeby the displayofsilksin the greatrotunda.
"New weaves and designsofexquisitecoloringand qualitywereon
everycounter,and thewomenwho strayedintothisspotwere,"like
the reporter,"loathe to leave it."64Many observersnoted what
historianRosalindWilliamshas called an "inescapable spectacleof
60See, e.g., New York Herald (October 10, 1895), 1. Ehrichs invited "ladies who
are not prepared to purchase to come in and examine the goods," Dry Goods
Economist (January2, 1897), 37, and (September 11, 1897), 61.
61
Margarete Bohme, The Department Store: A Novel of Today (New York:
Appleton, 1912), 110-11. For a description of one of these attractions,a huge silver
statue of Justice originally displayed at the Chicago World's Fair and subsequently
installed in Brooklyn's Abraham & Straus, see Brooklyn Eagle (November 5, 1893),
p. 24, col. 6; for a historical discussion of this phenomenon, see Hugh Dalziel
Duncan, Culture and Democracy (Totowa, N.J.: Bedminster, 1965), 113.
62 For the effectsof sentimental literatureon women, see Mary T. Bissell, M.D.,
"Emotions versus Health in Women," Popular Science Monthly32 (February 1888):
506; Dry Goods Economist (March 10, 1900), 21. See also Dee Garrison, "Immoral
Fiction in the Late Victorian Library," in Victorian America, ed. Daniel Walker
Howe (Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Press, 1976), 154-59.
63 Dry Goods Economist (August 3, 1893), 49.
1.
64 New York Daily Tribune (November 17, 1896), p. 2, col.
138
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Autumn1989/SIGNS
massconsumption"in late nineteenth-century
stores.65
department
Womendid nothave to buy,buttheycould notignorethedazzling
sensual impactofthe environment.
Some women chargedwith shopliftingaccused the storesof
toomuchfreedom:theybecame "overexcited"and over
permitting
stimulatedin thelargestores;theycould notrefrainfromhandling
things,and no one botheredthem.Everythingled to temptation,
shopperscomplained,the salespeople were eitherdisinterestedor
too busyto be ofreal service,and therewas a "deplorableliberty"
to toucheverything.6
The tensionbetween traditionalvalues, particularly
the postof
and
the
more
ponement gratification,
newer,
compellinggospel
of consumptionled manywomento feartheirown impulses.7In
thestoresencouragedan abandonmentin consumcreatingfantasy,
ers thatproduced behaviortroublingin its implicationsforboth
moraland social restraint.
The temptationto possess found instantexpressionon the
storesellingfloor.In a worldwhereseeminglyeverydepartment
could
be
thing
bought,impulsebuyingbecame endemic.The press
reportedinnumerableincidentsoftheexcesses ofwomenwho sent
merchandisehome withno intentionof keepingit or who ran up
huge store bills despite theirhusbands' refusalsto pay forthe
goods.The Dry Goods Economistrelatedthe tale of"a prominent
citizen" who was sued by an unnamedstoreforfifteenhundred
dollarsworthof toiletarticles,soaps, and perfumespurchasedby
his wife.The man defendedhis actionby denyinghis responsibilityin theaffair,
sayinghis wifehad become "possessed ofa passion
forsuch luxuries."68
Yet in a very real sense women were only
65RosalindWilliams,Dream Worlds:Mass Consumptionin Late Nineteenthof CaliforniaPress,1982),
CenturyFrance (Berkeleyand Los Angeles:University
265.
6 Dubuisson (n. 49 above),342; Dry Goods Economist(March15,
1902),75; a
twentieth-century
Englishstudyofshoplifting
suggestedthatin a fewcases sexual
excitement
was a contributing
factor(T. C. N. Gibbensand JoycePrince,Shoplifting [London:InstitutefortheStudyand Treatment
ofDelinquency,1962],72-73).
See also Michael B. Miller,The Bon Marche:BourgeoisCultureand the DepartmentStore,1869-1930(Princeton,
N.J.:PrincetonUniversity
Press,1981),205-6.
67 New YorkTimes(November
3, 1889),p. 10,col. 1, is one ofthe manyarticles
thatspeaks of women's derangementas a resultof the fatigueand anxietythat
accompaniedtheirshopping.
68Dry Goods Economist
(September28, 1901),53. This was one ofa numberof
similarcourtcases. For an earlierview of womenand overbuying,
see R. Heber
Newton,The Morals of Trade: Two Lectures(New York:Whittaker,
1876),76: "If
womeninsistupon keepingup appearances,thenhusbandswill verylikelyfailto
pay or failin paying.Cabinetministerswill notbe the onlymen ruinedby their
wives."
139
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
followingthe rules of the game; successful retailingassumed
femalesusceptibility,
and merchantsreliedon theirabilityto break
down self-control
and rationalpatternsofbehavior.In succumbing
to the lure ofthe merchandise,shoppers-boththose who bought
and thosewho stole-were doingwhattheywere expectedto do.
Observersof these women, whethersocial scientists,policemen,ortradespokesmen,seekinga wayto explainand understand
called them,almostunthinkingly,
kleptomaniacs.Docshoplifting,
torsand lawyersused the diagnosisofkleptomaniatojustifywhat
theyunderstoodto be women'sessentialnatureand allottedsocial
role.Storemanagers,detectives,and thecourtsall workedwithina
framework
thatcast kleptomaniaas botha disease and as a typeof
antisocialbehaviorby womenofa certainclass. Casual references
to kleptomaniabecame partofthe dailyvocabularyin department
stores,police stations,and courtrooms.69
For
Women,in turn,used the diagnosisin theirown defense.70
an
middle-class
women,kleptomaniabecame acceptableword,
many
ifnot
even a magicalword,and a label thatevoked understanding
when
Women
themselves
called
kleptomaniacs
genuinesympathy.
thephysicalinabilitytobypass
temptation,
theyspokeofirresistible
attractive
an object,a counter,ora particularly
display.Accordingto
woman told court
newspaperreports,one twenty-seven-year-old
and
thatshe was a kleptomaniac "vainlysoughtto resist
authorities
to steal."She added that"she had pains in herhead
thetemptation
at timesduringwhich she was subjectto the disease." The report
ended withthenotation,"The police were inclinedtobelieve Miss
Degler's story."71
frommanysources-professional
Storeslostmerchandise
thieves,
clerks,deliverymen,and others-butonlythe middle-classfemale
shoplifterwas thoughtto be actingout of a medical disability.A
ofthesewomenwereexcusedeitherin thestoreor
largeproportion
in the courtroombecause they claimed to be kleptomaniacsor
because theycited generalmalaise and physicaldebilitywithout
usingthelabel. WhenMiss Degler complainedofpains in herhead
she was, not
attheverytimesshe was subjectto fitsofkleptomania,
unlikeMrs.Castle's lawyer,definingthedisease forthe layperson,
femaleillness and shoplifting.
conflating
69In a New York Times article (April 11, 1895), p. 8, col. 1, two formerpolice
detectives noted "the cloak of kleptomania has been stretched out very thin,
sometimes, in the test of compassionate friendsand relatives." See also Benjamin P.
Eldridge and William B. Watts,Our Rival the Rascal (Boston: Pemberton, 1897),
28-29.
70New York Times (June30, 1894), p. 1, col. 6, and (January2, 1906), p. 15, col. 1;
Boston Globe (December 8, 1897), p. 4, col. 4.
71 New York Times (June
30, 1894), p. 1, col. 6.
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More thangenderwas involvedhere. Kleptomaniawas a concept constructedupon culturalassumptionsabout gender,particuand generativephases of women,
larlyabout the irresponsibility
butitwas also a class concept.Onlymiddle-classwomenseemedto
sufferfromit; stealingby membersof otherclasses was simple
theft.One Paris newspapersuggested,not altogetherfacetiously,
thatthedefinition
of"thief"shouldbe "a kindofkleptomania,
but
of the lower social class," while the definitionof "kleptomaniac"
should remainas it had always been, "a kind of thief,but of the
betterclass."72
In 1882, Ellen Sardy,a "well-dressedmiddle-agedwoman of
in the SixthAverespectableappearance,"was caughtshoplifting
nue storeofSimpson,Crawford,
and Simpson.She tookthreepairs
of stockingsand fivepieces of silk,of considerablevalue in the
1880s. Sardywas released when her lawyeradmittedthe larceny
but"asked clemencyon thegroundsthattheprisonerforsometime
pasthad been ofweak mindand was notalwaysresponsibleforher
actions."73
The Sardycase was probablynot the firstsuch plea in
New YorkCity,but it seems to be the firsttimethe courtaccepted
the excuse and the definitionof the middle-classshopper.The
release ofthe accused opened the way fora floodof such pleas.
Doctorsand lawyersin the 1880s defendedwomen like Ellen
Sardybysayinglittlemorethan"she is a respectable,well-connected
A womanfromSandusky,
lady,butevidentlya kleptomaniac."74
Ohio,
whowas pickedup forshoplifting
inEhrich's,appearedincourtwith
a Dr. AugustineDausse ofWest22d Street,in New YorkCity.The
doctorclaimedshe was "a reputablewoman,thewifeofa judge ...
and at presentunderhis care forspecial medical treatment."
The
womancontendedshehadnorecollectionoftakingthemerchandise
as chargedand "no objectfortakingthem,as she is able to pay for
she wants."Forthejudge,theimplicationwas clear:the
everything
lady was a kleptomaniac.The case was dismissed.75
The views ofChief InspectorThomas Byrnesofthe New York
City police departmentalso conformedto the popular medical
understandingof kleptomania.In 1889, when two well-dressed
womenof"apparentrespectability"
werearrestedforshoplifting
in
72L'Oeuvre
(une 7, 1925), cited in A. Anth6aume, Le roman d'une epidemie
parisienne, la kleptomanie? (Paris: Librarie Octave Doin, 1925), 90. The basic
organization of buying and selling in the department store is indicative of these
understandings about class and role difference among women. See Dry Goods
Reporter (February 1, 1902), 5; (February 6, 1904), 57; (August 15, 1903), 45.
73New York Times (January18, 1882), p. 8, col. 6.
74 See,
e.g., the case of "A Well-dressed Female Shoplifter,"New York Times
(November 8, 1883), p. 8, col. 2.
75Ibid. (February 4, 1886), p. 2, col. 6.
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Abelson / INVENTIONOF KLEPTOMANIA
McCreery'sand broughtto New York'scentralpolice headquarters,
Byrnes interviewedthem. Three years earlier,he had written
ProfessionalCriminalsofAmerica,and in ithe had singledoutthe
middle-classshoplifter,
whomhe called a kleptomaniac,
forspecial
notice. "These women," he wrote, "were so carried away by
admirationof some trinketor knicknackas to riskhome, honor,
everythingto secure it."76Now, threeyearslater,Byres made a
public statementdefendingthe arrestedwomen in theirplea of
kleptomania."He believes,"reportedthe Times,"theyare kleptomaniacsand are no morelegallyresponsibleforthesetheftsthana
lunaticwould be forassaultand battery."77
Byrnes'sunderstanding
ofkleptomaniawas, by thistime,sharedby a wide segmentofthe
public.
The explanationofferedin thecase ofa Mrs.Henryvon Phul,a
womanfromNew Orleans,reflectedthis
wealthyfifty-two-year-old
has been
A
understanding. spokesmantoldthejudge that"thefamily
Phul
the
Mrs.
von
left
and
to
asyluma few
only
subject insanity,
she has
monthsago. Whenin one ofherfitsofmentalderangement,
term
the
no controloverheractions."78
"kleptomania"was
Although
not used, the courtdeclared Mrs.von Phul ofunsoundmind,her
Neiin thisinstancetakingtheformofshoplifting.
moralperversity
was exceptherthiswoman'sbehaviornorthecourt'sinterpretation
tional.Whethermentallyhealthyortrulyinsane,Mrs.vonPhulwas
partofa sociallydeterminedview ofwomenand madness.
Such a broad acceptanceof the kleptomaniadiagnosisis plauof the commoncultural
sible only if we recognizethe centrality
the veryreal power of
and
difference
understandingof gender
the
late nineteenthcentury,
of
climate
expectations.In the cultural
womenwere
middle-class
few
of
a
the excessivebehaviorpatterns
ofthegroup.
and
constitution
ofthe
deemed representative
fragility
the
female
of
This determination
imageand
hingedon a distortion
their
ruled
theassumptionthatwomenwere totally
biology.For
by
its
on
intent
class
women and a middle
preserving privilege,
disease thus became a defense. Weir Mitchell understoodthis
76
Byrnes (n. 51 above), 31-32. Byrnes's language followed French reasoning
almost word forword; see, e.g., Dupouy (n. 49 above), who describes those women
whose ordinary sensibility and will are overcome by the desire for an object:
"Reason is subsumed by desire ... conscious will is diminished" (410-11).
77
New York Times (March 27, 1889), p. 2, col. 5.
78
Ibid. (January8, 1892), p. 10, col. 2. Belief in the persistence of inherited
insanity was strongin the second half of the nineteenth century;see I. Ray, M.D.,
Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity, 5th ed. (Boston: Little Brown,
1871), 173-74.
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Autumn1989/SIGNS
when he wroteofMrs.Castle's guiltyplea in the English
perfectly
court:"She is now undera stigmafromwhichit will be difficult
to
This
involves
the
escape....
[guiltyplea]
longexplanations; plea
ofinsanitywould have involvednone."79
Instabilitywas thoughtto be rootedin woman'snature;therefoundsuchreadyacceptance.
fore,itis easyto see whykleptomania
It servedbothas explanationand excuse. Had shoplifting,
defined
as a formoffemaledelinquency,notbeen interpreted
as illness,it
would have to have been understoodas crime,and the possibility
thatrespectable,middle-classwomencould "sinkintosucha moral
the esteemand love oftheirbestfriendsfora
cesspool and forefeit
bottleofcosmetic"was unthinkable.8
Departmentof History
PrincetonUniversity
"Relations of Nervous Disorders" (n. 20 above), 35.
Woodhull and Claflins Weekly(March 18, 1871), 4-5.
79 Mitchell,
80
143
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