St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-10-01
The Pistol and the Knife, and South
ern Civilization.
Boston Journal.

Mr.. H. V. Redfield, well known
journalist, and very careful observer,
has prepared and published volume,
through the Lippincott's of Philadel-
phia, upon "Homicide North and
South" His purpose has been to col
lect facts and statistics illustrating the
relative prevalence of crimes of violence
in the Northern and Southern states.
He has conducted his inquiry without
prejudice and without malice, and his
book is not made up of random and
general assertions, but of carefully as
certained facts and multitude of de-
tails regarding particular cases. Most
people, except those who deliberately
blind themselves and others to the
truth, understand that in the South hu-
man life is held much more cheaply,
and the wantOn taking of it is punished
much less surely and severely than in
the North. Even the leading Southern
journals, though at times they under
take to show that Northern states have
as bad record i'll this particular as the
Southern, in their more candid inter
walls admit and deplore the evil, and
make abOrtive efforts to awaken public
sentiment against it. Mr.. Redfield is
himself a SOutherner-at all events he
has spent most of his life in the South
and perceiving how serious is the curse
of lawlessness which affiicts that sec
ton, he has simply set himself to as
certain its relative extent and its
causes, and to suggest remedy. He
disclaims any political motive, and the
class of hOmicides with which he deals
have no morefo do with politics than it
has petit larceny in New York. 1t is
purely as a social question. question
of morals and civilization, that ne deals
with the subject. The leaders of Opin-
ion at the South will wholly misinter-
pret his book if they do not accept the
disclosures which it makes as Il warn
ing, and do all that lies in their power
to remove the curse which menaces the
prosperity of their section and prevents
its progress.
Summed up in word, Mr.. Redfeld's
statistics show that the number of hO-
micides in the southern states is pro-
pOrtlonately greater than in any cOun-
try on earth which is rated as civilized,
and that the number of hOmicides in
the South since the war reaches the
enormous aggregate of at least 40, 600
Il rate which if continued through a
generation, would equal the destruction
of life in great war. In the states OF
Texas, Kentucky and South Carolina,
in the year 1873, for example, fail
one for comparison, because there were
no unusual disturbances-there were
734 hOmicides. During the same time
there were 522 persons severely wound
ed by shots and stabs. Estimating that
| fifteen per cent of these died-a very
low estimate-the number of homicides
in these states in one year amounts tC
812. Assuming this as the average
| the number of hOmicides in these three
states since the war would be 1880
and the same proportion of hOmicidei
| to population in the other Southern
states would make the aggregate sine,
the war about $4,000. There are some
states, such as Virginia, where the rate
is less and there are some, such al
Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas
where the rate is higher than in Soutl
| Carolina and Kentucky. Texas has un
dOubtedly higher rate than any othe
Southern state. Throwing off ten thou
sand on this score we should have fort,
thousand lett as the aggregate at th
lowest estimate. Making now com
parative statement, Mr.. Redfeld find
that in Texas in 1873, there were NOR
homicides than in the ten states c
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connect
cut, New York, Pennsylvania. Michiga
and Minnesota, with an aggregate pop
ulatiOn of nearly seventeen millions
In Kentucky there were more homi
cides than in the eight states of Maine
/. New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachr
sets, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Penn
sylvania and Minnesota, with an aggrt
!, gate population of nearly ten million
! In South Carolina there were MOI
hOmicides than i'll the eight states
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ma
sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticu
J Michigan and Minnesota, with an a.
gregate population of about six mi
lions. At the rate of slaughter prevail
ing in these three southern states, theI
, would be in New England over 900 b,
: micides annually-which is more tha
have occurred for l8 years. That is
t say, the population of these three stat
} kill one another at rate about lSC
per cent greater than do the populate
2 of New England. In '78 there were 2
homicides in Kentucky, while the nun
ber in Massachusetts, with populate
l greater by 100000 than that of Ke
tucky, was only 90. In the South, the
, is, Mr.. Redfield argues, precisely Il
, condition of things which, in s0cie
properly organized and governed, wou
make murder exceedingly rare. ct