The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-04-21
IS MURDER INCREASING ?

The Illinois State Register informs its
readers that murders are on the increase.
the number having risen from 1855 in 1887
to 6792 in 1892. The Register evidently re-
lies upon its Imagination for its facts. No
State Keeps a complete record of murders
committed within its limits. 1t is possible,
by dint of labor. to compile list of convic-
lions for murder, provided the County
Clerks are willing to furnish the Informal
ton; but it is not possible for the most in
dustrious statistieiar to determine accu-
rately the number of cases of murder which
occur in any one State within a given
period. The readers of the Register are
thus relieved from the necessity of proving
that the crime of murder cannot possibly
be increasing, as it alleges, at the rate of
200 per cent in five years, or at any other
rate.
Whether murder is more common now
than it used to be is question which can
only be discussed from the standpoint of
probability and conjecture. Though this is
an age of publicity, and newspapers en-
deavor to record every notable event that
occurs, no conscientious publicisl would I'M
dertake to say how many murders occur in
year in given State; simply because
deaths happen everywhere which are the
fruit of murder, but are ascribed to disease
or accident, and other deaths which are
supposed TO be due to murder are really
accidental If that is the case in this age
of newspapers and telegraphs, how much
more impossible il must have been to keep
count of murders in an age when the appe-
lite for news had hardly awakened and
there were few trained purveyors at work
to satisfy it'll
q A ont gotso, g.
were more frequent in proportion to pepu-
lation than they are now. Both in Euro
pean and American cities the hangman was
far buster than he is. This does Il OF neces-
sariy imply thatthe h0micidal instinct was
more prevalent then than at the present
| day; but in the old times persons accused
of murder were liable to be convicted on
general principles. whereas now tender
concern for the rights of the innocent leads
to the aCquittal of the accused in cases of
doubt. There is no doubt that human life
is rated more highly in our day than il was
in the days of our great-graEdfathers.
Education, which is far more widely diffused
than il was in those days. has spread the
habit OF self-cOntrol. Men born with
murderous impulses pause more frequently
than they did before they give them the
rein.
Most murders are committed from one OF
three causes: the desire of gain, the love of
woman or the thirst for revenge. The
| tendency of modern civilization has weak
eDed all three motives. Except among the
least intelligent class. it is evident that of
all the roads to wealth violence is the most
aTduOus and the least reliable
The growing regard for human life is
circnmstantialy proved by the appearance
of such monstrous freaks as Jack the
Ripper and the Canadian doctor who was
hanged the other day. They are exceptions
which prove the rule. History is full of
monsters, whose caTnivorous appetites it
has been the jly of gossiping historians to
chronicle; but in the old days, when gentle
men as often carved their neighbor as the
joint at dinner. their little peeuliarties ex-
cited no remark. But a couple of evenings
ago, when one of the performers in the
classic performance at the Pavilion under
took to heighten the effect of his gladiator
fight by producing blotch OF red on his
white tunic, ladies tainted. people rose in
agony, and Mr.. Harrison, looking like
surDliced crow, had to command the dead
man to rise and walk away. in order TO
Forn 800. 81