The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-12
MuaDzzs ANp NuRDERERs.
etatis:'cs Show That durcan Liss I:
Lightly Regarded il TAis Country.

Lightly Regarded il This Country.
From the Philadelphia Press.
No civilized country N the world Is as
anentaoly careless in the collection Of
criminal statistics as the United States. and
IN a few cities OF 100000 Or over are stats
tics Of ell kinds as loosely recorded and as
Earelessly collected. II Is Consequently diff
tBcuit, II not impossible, to say accurately
| whether the tact that in the last ten years
! there have been tfty-four murders whose
| perpetrators are unknown, and fifteen where
/ the night OF the murderer prevented trial
indicates either relatively large number Of
murders IN this city compared with the rest
OF the country, or a iooser administration of
| Justice than exists in other states and cities
In all probability II indicates neither
The showing made OF the luna enged muir
ders" IN Philadelphia of the last ten years
gives an average OF about six murderers a
| year who have gone altogether free Of
| Justice. Some Of these would undoubtedly
prove not to be ''murderers," even in the
loose popular use of the term, and on the
other hand the number would be increased
II all the cases in which trial has failed to
| convict murderer were added. Taking
six year. this is about one-seventh Of the
total number OF honicides and abortions
followed by death discovered In this
years inquests vera held on 1856 homi-
cides and 81 abortions, in all 1871 It
would be unfair. however, to conclude that
anything ike one i'll seven OF the attempts
on life In this city escape Justice. The num-
Der of arrests in the last four years by the
police under the heads of abortion, assault
with intent to kill, mansaughter and MUIR
der-all OF which fall under the broad term
murder" were: Abortions. 81 assault
with intent TO kill, 657; mansaughter, 50, ,
and murders, l40-a total OF Oil. or 227 In
each of the last four years. Excluding as
saults with intent TO kill, for which arrests
are made in most cases when the victims
survive. there are left 254 murders, or 63
year.
Taking the coroner's inquests and the po-
lice arrests together it may fairly be said
that each year of the last four has seen
from fifty to sixty murders" in this city,
and about $50 Inurderous assaults. If from
five to six persons out Of the fifty or sixty
who yearly commit murder-and the 100
who attempt lt--escapa all detection or
punishment by concealment or flight, this
cannot be considered a dsproportionate
showing, with all the facilities for escape
which exists in this country-facilIties
which render the task Of the police and the
prosecuting authorities Inconceivably
harder than In any European countries.
1t must be remembered, III passing upon
all criminal statistics in this country that
murder is for more rife in the United States
than in Northern Europe. commands more
popular sympathy, and offers consequently,
greater difficulty in conviction. The man
who hung his watch on a lamppost in
Broadway the other day, and, after three
hours found it still hanging there, would
have probably lost il in London; but the
chance that in quarrel he would have had
revolver drawn on him would be i'm
measurably greater in New York than in
the English metropolis. We have pointed
out that there were in this city
probably from fifty to sixty murders a year
in the past four years. and probably
through the last ten years. England and
Wales, with about rwenty-eight times the
population of Philadelphia, aud-a fa1rer
comparison-au urban population ntne-fOld
larger, had ISL murders in lS6S-'69, aud 100
in lSS7-'SS. In 1881 all Englaud-with
9,300,0O0 people i'll cities and %, 300, 600 Ia
rural districts-had twelve arrests for muir
der, against nineteen in Philadelphia last
year; fifty-one for rnauslaughtsr, against
seventeen here; TAT attempts TO murder,
against 1853 here, aud fifteen cases of iu-
fauticlde against five arrests for abortion
here.
1t is to!erably certain that all crimes we're
followed up in England. 1t is less certain
here. In other words, in 1890, with popu-
the violent crimes Of all England and
Wales with nine times its city population
aud ii rural population, besides. twenty-five
times as large. Even France, in 1886, with
100000 in great cities and 100000 in
small towns and rural districts. had but IA
convictions for murder, but twenty seven
of which were capital. In 1887 this city,
which had then bare sixth of the urban
and forty-third of the total population of
France, had forty-nine homicides, according
to coronerS' lnquests, and 25S arrests for
murders and attempts at murder.
This state in 1886 had one-third the city
population of France, and approximately
one-tenth its rural inhabitants, but it sent
to the penitentiary 1877 convicts, against
1900 in France, or over one-fourth as many.
aud 81 convictions for murder against IA
in France; but. while only one person was
executed in this state, q were condemned
to the guillotine in France.
These figures, which are less often in
sisted upon than they should be- must con-
vince every American that human life is
but lightly regarded in this country, and
its murders far exceed in number countries
like France, England or Germany, and are
matched only in countries like Italy. Nor
is the relative position of Pennsylvania as
favorable one as one could wish. The
murders in this city arc less than in
New York. but the murders In both
states outside of the large cities of
each are greater in this state than in our
northern neighbor. This is, of course due
to the large foreign population of our min
ing districts. In the six years ending in
1878 the number of feonious homicides IN
Pennsylvania was S43, an annual average
OF 30. AS H. v Redfleld pointed out, how
ever, in his Homicide, North and South"
If murders were common here
as In South Carolina there would
have been over 600 annually,
and 700 if life had been as freely taken here
as in Kentucky. In short, the state and
Philadelphia have from seventh to an
eighth as many murders as occur in south
ern states, i'll proportion TO population. Yet
the number here is far larger than it should
be, or would be, if the laws we're more rig
erousiy enforced aud the offense of carry
ing concealed weapons WAS punished as it
should be.
a BIG LILY.