Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-09-15
THE STATE OF ARKANsAs.
Crime and Pauperism.

character we bear abroad. ConVerslnS, latelV, with some gentlemen upon this subject, one o' them related several anecdotes illustrative of this. Once at the north, when in quite large company having observed that he had resi- ded in Arkansas twenty years, an intelligent la dy present ejaculated, "Ah how many persons YOU must have seen killedn' At another time, a merchant, learning that he was an Arkansan, was very an xous to sell him large lot of bowie knives. In truth they believe we all, wo- men as well as men, go laden with bowie knives and pistols, and that we kill one another when- ever we want little excitement.
 There are several reasons why these impress sions went abroad. The majority of persons coming to the State, ascended the Arkansas or White rivers At the mouths of these two rivers, to wit: at Napoleon, or Montgomery's Point; they were usually detained for longer or shorter time. These places were, for long time, the resort of desperate, reckless men; river adventures, broken down gamesters and desperadoes, not citizens of this or any other State, but congregatipg there. Among such men gambling, drinking, theft, riots and mur. der were of daily occurrence, and the tra- weller seeing these things at the very threshold of the State was led to form an unfavorable impression of us. Again, as ours was iron tier State, and, before the settlement of Cali fornia, the farther line of the far west, desper ate men driven from other States, fugtives from justice, or those, who having committed crimes fled from pursuit came to Arkansas, and could go no further west, unless among the Indian tribes. These men, bullies by disposition, and reckless from circumstances either controlled these communities into which they had forced themselves, or were resisted and killed. The want of schools, the universal habit of drinking ardent spirits, the carelessness of the future all combined to give a reckless character to the people, and disputes originating over the whisky larrel, the card-table, or at the shooting matches, were generally ended with rift shot, or hand to hand fight with knives. h -Aese days, happily now past, the bully and desperado reigned supreme Some parts of the Sta,e were iu great measure free from this class, lt a' points on the rivers and those most easy of ac- cess, had a number of them. These men have died out. They have either been killed in the affrays they provoked, or have followed the setting sun.
 Besides, in the south and southwest, these quarres, which in other States are the begin nings of long and vexatious lawsuits, are here ll,-.s led l..a al duction in majority of instances, is imme- dately followed hy recontre between the seducrr aud some near relative of his victim Tre>spasses, sanderers, al in many instances. fanc.ed wrongs, were all redre>sed at the point of the rife, pistol, and knife. Since the forma- ton of the S.ate government in 1886, there has been steady improvement in this respect. Our citizens look more and more to the law for redress and eschew the bowie knife and pistol. But the character of the crimes committed in Arkansas must be noticed Nine-tenths of our homocides are il ights, street encounters, or the result of disputes. Such things as riae-mrr ders, the burning of the corpse, the packing up boIies in boxes or casks are unknownin in Arkan- sas Assassinatious are rare When we read, we often dc, in northern papers, of whole families being murdered, the father, wife, and children for the sake of robbing the house, we are shocked at it the more because in the his tory of Arkansas such thing was never heard of. Of many murders in the State, and our position has made us acquainted with the prn- Il | ] l1.l. IL of late years, we cannot remember murder for the sake of robbery. But if such case ever occurred within the limits of the State, we apprehend that 1t will be found to be the act of some person passing through and not of citi- zen. We have been at some pains to collect facts touching the amount and character of crime in Arkansas. For the benefit of our req ders abroad it may be necessary to state that our justices of the peace have no final criminal iu- rsdiction. All misdemeanors, affrays, assaults gaming as well as felonies, subjects of indictment in the circuit court. Oyerseers of roads who neglect their duties, tresspassers, and hundred acts of omission or commission, which in the other States are tried before jus tice of the peace, or police courts are here the subject of indictments. Then, in taking the | number of indictments found in county in or der to know the real amount and character of 1 crime 1t was necessary to know the classes of crimes or mlsdemearors upon which the indict- ments were found To this end we addressed letter to the clerk of the circuit court of each county in the State requesting them to fill a | blank of the following form
 - County.
 The whole number of indictments found in the circuit court of said county during the year 1858, was
 For felonies-capital, less than capital, Gaming, Assaults and batteries, Other misdemeanors,
 Total"
 A majority of the clerks returned these pro- perly filed Where they failed or refused to do this, we have had recourse to statements furnished by udical officers and others. Our number of cases of the higher grade of crimes is correct and of indictments found for misde- meanors, will not vary ten either way from the true number.
 By those not acquainted with the working of our system, it may be objected that there are crimes of which our courts take DO coyni- zance; in other words, the different grand ju- ries do not present all the offences committed in the county To this, the answer is, that the