The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-17
WHAT'S IN A NAMEP
Plenty of WiIliamses, but Few
Smiths and Joneses on the Criminal
Docket.

/ Plenty of WiIliamses, but Few
Smiths and Joneses on the Criminal
Docket.
An examination of the judges docket
in the city court reveals some strange
facts with regard to the names of per-
sons who are tried for and convicted of
crimes Of one kind and another. While
it is the general impression that there
are more Smiths in proportion TO the pop
ulation than any one other name can
claim title TO. such does not seem to be
the case, as the criminal record shows a
! predominance Of the Williams family. and
a count from the city directory sustains
it pretty well.
On this criminal docket the name Of
Williams occurs the greatest number of
times, and the name of Smith, compare
lively speaking, the least. Between June,
1898, and September, 1894, nearly 700
cases were disposed of, and of these
about seven were Smiths, only four of
whom We're convicted of the crimes with
which they were charged. while there
was a Williams on nearly every page,
ana IL was rare thing that he escaped a
sentence. There was TOney and Isaac,
/ Robert, Henry, George, Scott, Aaron
| Sam, Tom, William, Joe, Romeo, Frank,
| and any number of other Williamses.
The Joneses, too, are in a very small
minority on the criminal docket, and it is
only row and then that Jones gets
sentence. He is in about as small
minority as is Smith. Williams, Thomas
and Brown are the heaviest sufferers, so
FAR as the record of the city court dis
| closes, with a decided majority in favor
OF the former. There is quite number
OF Johnsons and Greens and several Jack
sons, but nothing like the number there
is OF the other names mentioned.
II may be an interesting fact too, to
! note that many, perhaps a majority of
| the women criminals have names which
would not naturally lead anyone to sus-
pect them of crimes. There are several
| Nirginias and Angelines with an Honora
or two, Charity now and then, and
Daisy here and there The Sadies, Alices,
Leresas and Julias also come in for their
share
1t may be interesting to note in this
connection the number of persons of
these names found in Savannah. Ac-
cordlng TO the city directory the Will
iamses are in the large majority. There
are 9So Of this name in the directory For
each family five is generally counted, but
| all the names in the directory do not rep
| resent families, and it will perhaps be
fair TO multiply by three. This will give
Savannah l,164 Williamses, 7S9 Browns,
$50 each of Smiths and JOneses, about 700
Johnsons, and nearly 200 Thomases.
Figuring on population of $4,000 for
Savannah, there is ore Williams for
about every 55 people, one Smith and one
Jones for about every so people, one
Brown for about every rs people, one
Johnson for every So people and one
Thomas for about every 800. Making the
same estimate of New York or the
Greater New York, the population Of
which, at the lowest estimate, is about
| 3OD0,0oO people, it would contain about
$4,000 Williamses, 1880 each of Smiths
and JOneses, about 10000 Browns, about
$4,000 Johnsons, and about 1850 Thorn
asses. If the rule holds good there as we'll
as it seems to here the Smith and Jones
families must be exceedingly fortunate
ones so far as keeping out of trouble is
concerned.