Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-02-14
Intemperance and Crime.

In an article on this subject we last
week presented facts and statistics to
show that large majority of the crimi-
nails in our country are of Incorporate
habits. We wish to make the con-
nection between crime and the use of
intoxicating liquors so obvious that
there can be no possibility of calling
it in question. We therefore present
some additional evidence on the same
point. to which if our readers will give
candid consideration, we are sure
that not one of them will doubt that
rum and crime are as inseparabIy con-
nected as the Siamese Twins.
In 1850 there were 10000 drunk
ards in the State of New York, of
whom 1912 were convicted of crime.
At the same time, there were 2,54O.-
600 persons in the State, who were not
drunkards; and of this number only g.
$50 were convicted of any violation of
law. One out of every fifteen drunk
ards was a criminal. while only one
sober man out of every 661 was gull
ty of any breach of law. More crimes
by 222 were committed by the
10000 Incorporate than by the 2,54O,-
600 temperate inhabitants OF h e
State. Can anything demonstrate
more forcibly than these facts the &C
tive agency of intemperance in the
production of crime?
In the city of New York, the number
Of arrests by the police in the year
1864 was 54,751. Of these, 6,591
were for assaults, usually committed
under the influence of liquor, 1855
were for disorderly conduct, a little
more so than in assault cases; 6.SO2
were for "disOrderly intoxication."
that is, for fighting when drunk: and
1855 were for intoxication-in plain
English, for being so dead drunk that
they had to be carried in bv the police
Here Is sum total of 39,413 cases.
that we may safely conclude to have
been caused by the use of intoxicating
liquors Of various kinds; for if there
are any of these cases that are not
properly chargeable to this cause they
are more than balanced by the humid
red cases ofmurder and manslaughter.
or the 1866 cases of petty larceny,
the greater number of which are the
result of dram drinking.
The New York Times comments
upon these facts as follows:
every days police and criminal
reports indicate anew the great and
terrible agency of liquor in the pro-
duction of crime. In the latest of orr
local horrors-the murder of Senior
Otero in Brooklyn-the perpetrators
of the crime,-if we may infer that
those under arrest as the culprits are
really such,-first piled their victim.
and then filled themselves with hot
and strong liquor, as a necessary pre-
urinary to the commission of the afro
city. And nine out of ten of the muir.
ders that disgrace our community are
under the same Internal influence
The same thing may be said of the
lesser grades ofcriminality. In cases
Of violent assault, the assailants are
nearly always excited by liquor; and
IN large proportion of the personal
1utrages on the streets and elsewhere.
he victim or the perpetrator is a vic
Inn OF this unnatural stimulus. II is t
me OF the chief causes of domestic I
luarrels and dificulties-one of the 6
fundamental agencies of degradation
md vice. In fact, it would seem from
'ur experience, that, but for LIQUOR
md its influences, the grosser forms o
VI crime would in a great measure {
ease to prevail. The American peo. u
'le' OF all classes, are altogether too =,
luch given to the use of strong liquors %
whisky, brandy, gin, &C., and per- e.
APPS they are also getting to use too T,
Extensively heavy beers and ales.- ri
IS we have evidence every day that o.,
ley are the main source of crime a. a.
eople ought to take warning as to u
ow they touch them and to whom e'
hey offer them" st
A very important and mighty testi- m
ony on the relation between intern. OF
france and crime is that which is W
rnlshed by the declarations of.iudges le
I'd other official persons. Many of sa
e most eminent English judges have he
'oken emphatically on this subject
ord Bacon long ago said:
"All the crimes on the earth do not il'
'stroy SO many of the human race "
II alternate so much property. as he
" #
Judge Hale after twenty wears ex So
rlence and observation declared
hat II all the murders, and man
and burglaries, robberies wa
d riots, tumults, adulteries fornica~ Ri
ms, rapes, and other great enorm; dit
s, were divided into five parts four WI
'uld be found to be the resnlt of D.
DR.
Judge Champion, on the testimony fa
MS own experience and observation at
'lared that, "The common use of ter
oxlcating liquors is one of the chief
:, the chiefest of the chief causes If
, crimes, the misery, the poverty. tus
dlstresses of mankind. 1t is i'm. pub
sible to look into any circle, how. tleI
r respectable, without tracing to add