The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-11-15

or attempt to commit any crime or INSIDE
meanor not amounting to felony.
In New Hampshire. Granddaughter.
without design to effect death, not being
murder nor excusabie or unsuitable homi-
eide. shall be OF the first degree when per-
petrated oy person engaged in the COM
mission OF any offense, or when committed
oy Two or more persons, or by person
bearing deadly weapon, either openly or
concealed, or when perpetrated in cruel
or unusua, manner. or by means OF any
deadly or dangerous instrument"
In New York and Minnesota, "horili-
eide is granddaughter in the first degree
wnen committed without design to effect
death, either by person engaged in COM
uniting or attempting to commit misde-
meanor affecting the person or property
of the person killed or of another. or in
the heat of passion, but in cruel or I'M
usual manner, or by means of a dangerous
weapon"
In New Hampshire and Dakota, man.
slaughter in the second degree is defined
by exclusion.
In Florida. Wisconsin. Kansas and Mis-
souri,. man.laughter in the second degree
Is the killing of q human being, without
a design to effect death, in a heat of pas
sion. but IN cruel and unusual manner"
In New York and Minnesota, "homicide
is manslaughter in the second degree
when committed without design to effect
death. either by q person committing or
attempting to commit trespass or other
invasion of q private right. either of the
person killed or of another, not amount.
ing to q crime; or in the heat OF
passion, but not by a deadly weapon
or by the use of means either cruel
or unusual; or by any act, procurement,
or culpable negligence of any person
chapter. does not constitute the crime OF
murder in the first or second degree, nor
manslaughter in the first degree"
In Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri aud
Kansas. manslaughter in the third degree
involves the use of a dangerous weapon.
In Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri and
Kansas, involuntary killing in the heat of
means neither cruel nor unusual, is man
slaughter in the fourth degree.
This statement of the law of homicide
does not, of course, purport to be COM
plete. 1t is believed to be accurate SO far
as it goes.
In the code of the several states may be
found many other provisions which limit
and illustrate the application in practice
of these general principles. Many of the
codes contain explicit provisions defining
the guilt and penalty of dueling, of crimi-
nal abortion resulting in the death of the
mother or child, ETC.. and are very specific
in the matter of the liabilities of common
carriers. of owners of factories, of dealers
In highly inilamnable or explosive SUBJ
stances, ETC., in case of loss of human life
resulting from negligence.
The entire number of fractional senten-
ces for homicide was 2O3, or a little more
than So per cent. These fractional sem
fences represent imprisonment to the
amount, in the aggregate, Of 102 years ten
months. They were imposed by the courts
in the following states: Pennsylvania.
So; New York, As; Alabama. II; Mary
land. 8; Texas. 6; illinois and South Da-
kota, each 5; New Jersey, Kansas. Ken
Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan. Wis
consin, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas
and California. each 3; Massachusetts, In
diana, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and
Colorado, each 2; Maine, Rhode Island,
District of Columbia, North Carolina,
South Carolina. Florida, Ohio, Montana,
New Mexico, Idaho and Oregon. each 1.
The 1880 prisoners sentenced for less
than ten years were given 6.537 years; the
1,43S sentenced for ten and less than
twenty years were given Is. 134 years and
two months; the S45 sentenced for twenty
years were given 26,011 years and eight
months.
in the group last named was thirty years.
nine months and thirteen days. Taking
into consideration the average ages of the
prisoners when convicted and their
natural expectation of life, these sentences
were probably good deal worse than sem
fences for life would have been.
1t is popularity supposed that the preva-
lence of crime is chiefly due to inadequate
punishment, and that the remedy for it is
to be found in harsher laws and more
rigorous administration of them by the
courts. Ii this were so, then there should
be less homicide, relative to the popula-
ton, in the South Central division than
in any other. The percentage of
sentences for twenty years and over, is
there greater than in any other division,
and the average sentence pronounced by
the courts is longer. In these respects the
Western division stands almost side by
side with the South Central. Yet the "a.
ito of prisoners charged with homicide to
the total population of these divisions is
much higher than elsewhere; it is more
than double the ratio Of the other three
divisions taken together. The lowest av-
erage sentence is in the North Atlantic
division, where there are also the fewest
death sentences. except in South
Central. and yet the ratio of
prisoners charged with homicide
in the North Atlantic division is less than
charged with homicide i'll Rhode Island,
where the death penalty has been abol-
ished, is lower than in any other state in
the North Atlantic division, except In
Massachusetts,. The number OF execu-
tons in 1899 as reported by the sheriffs,
was relatively largest in the Western divi-
sion. where it was lin LIS, 095 of the popula-
ton. Yet it was in this very division that
the ratio Of prisoners charged with homi-
eide was also greatest. The next largest
ratios of executions to the population were
in the South Atlantic Il in POS, 99S) and
South Central q in 2l5, 1851 divisions. Yet
these are the divisions in which are also
found the largest ratios of prisoners
charged with homicide. 1t is frequently
said that lynching takes place where the
Law Is not executed. and that it Is designed
as protest against the inefficiency of the
courts. But the sections in which there
are the most executions are those
in which there are also the
most lynchings. The number of
executions and of lynchings reported by
the sheriffs in the Southern states is
identicaiy the same. 1t is further to be
noted that the largest number, both of
executions and OF lynch,ngs, is in the
sentence for homicide IS the longest, and
where the percentage of long sentences
imposed by the courts is the highest.
Ignorance IS a cause of crime. Never
theless, 6s.51 per cent. of all prisoners
charged with homicide have received the
rudiments of an education, in English or
in their own tongue. and 3 A per cent.
have received a higher education. Igno-
rance of a trade is a cause of crime, But
10 So per cent are returned as mechanics
or apprentices and much larger number
have the necessary skill to follow mechan-
ical pursuits. Idleness is a cause of
crime. But 1921 per cent. were EN-.
ployed at the time OF their arrest.