The times., 1899-02-12
STATISTICS OF Crime
IN THE CAPITAL CITY
Advantage of Washington Over
Other Towns.
Theory Advanced by Students of
Crimlnology.
what Chief of Police Sylvester Has
to Say on the Subject-irrests
on sundays.

and its cleanliness is physical and moral.
Much has been written about the morals
of this city-much that is exaggerated
much that is unreliable, and some that /;
! false. Statements concerning the morality
or the immortality of Washington are bu,
opinions of certain writers, and the cpin-
ions are the results of the experience OF
those writer's. A person can, in Washing
ton, as in any other great city. get almost
| any experience desires. If an author de-
sires to find wickedness he may. He may
| construe that which is innocent as wicked
An author may or may not be a just OBJ
| server; he may not give the correct weight
| 10 what he sees or hears. He may over
| draw one observation and underyalue an
| other. If he is not mathematically honest,
and few men are, he will see most OF what
he inclines to see and least of what he does
| not wish to see, So criticism on the
morality or immortality of the people of a
city is but the opinion of the critic, and he
will always ground his critique on the
premises that his own standard of morals
is the true one.
The Value of Statistics.
Measured by the statistics of crime.
Washington appears to have an advantage
over other cities. But even statistics af-
ford no certain test of the goodness or the
wickedness of q city. An act which is q
| misdemeanor in one city is lawful in an
| other. Then in all American cities. police
statistics are based on arrests and not on
| convictions thus great deal depends on
the activity of the police department as
| to whether city shall appear moral or
| otherwise. One city may have an active
| a
slothful one. A police department in a
given city may be ambitious one year and
unambitious the next. Then. again. police
statistics are based on the number OF
| criminals caught. and not on the number
uncaught- Thus the number of arrests
will be high in a city where the criminal
| classes are ignorant and the law officers
wise, and low in city where the erimi-
nal classes are wise and the law officers
| stupid.
Theory of Students of Crime.
The theory of students of crime is that
| the percentage of criminals to abiding
| citizens is low in cities where the en-
| ployment of the citizens is fixed and steady.
where the liquor habit has comparatively
small hold on the people, where the float
| ing population is small. and where families
live apart, instead of together, as in tene-
| ments.
According to this theory, Washington
should be good city, and there are some
police statistics which seem to bear this
| out.
During the year 1898, according to the
| last report of Major Richard Sylvester,
| there were fifteen murders, five of which
were charged to white and ten to colored
criminals. The number of known murders
committed in the District each year since
snII q. a..
10; 1887, 10; 1888. is; 1889, II; 1891,
L 1892. Il; 1898, II; 1894, 10; 1895, IL;
1896, s; 1897, 10; 1898. Is. The murders
during 1898 were five in excess of those in
the preceding year.
On this subject Major Sylvester has the
following TO say:
The District does not stand alone in
this respect, crime of this character pre-
yafling throughout the land in all large
cities This increase in crime can in large
| measure be attributed to the hard times,
| which prompted robbery and murder; to
drink, the result of dependency, and to
the pe:tsct abandon which, follows the in
dividual crazed by the condition of the
times. This reasoning may not appear
plausible to the average writer. but it is
the same that has been advanced every
where by police authorities"
Crime in the District.
On the subject of crime generally in the
District of Columbia, Major Sylvester in
his last annual report said:
"Thirty-four cases of 'housebreaking in
| the daytime were reported, IL arrests be-
| ing made upon this charge. In other words,
| 7 more persons were apprehended by the
| police on this specific charge than were
| reported to the police by citizens and 9TH
ers. During the year 1887 there were 35
such cases noted on the record of arrests.
Three hundred and seventythree cases
of grand larceny were reported during the
| year, 13S arrests being made: while in
| 1887, Ia arrests were made, a falling OFF
of So.
Petit larceny always has and always
| will prevail largely in this Jurisdiction
| During the past year 2.6I3 cases OF first
| offence petit larceny We're reported to the
department and ,G25 arrests followed
while the preceding year 1886 arrests were
| made, showing greater activity on
the part of the authorities. OF those ar
rested during the past year upon this
| charge, l0i5 were convicted. while Sl2
shared the same fate the year before. a
| showing largely to the credit of the men
engaged in the work.
Larceny From the Person.
Larceny from the person is a separate
offence in the District of Columbia. and
during the year 2O3 of such offences were
reported. 10G arrests being made, as against
II arrests the year preceding. These fig
ures speak favorably for the efficiency of
| the service.
Highway robbery complaints were made
in 20 instances, 10 arrests being made dur
| ing the fiscal year. while but were re-
| corded the year preceding.
| In 1897, % cases of embezzlement were
made against parties by the police, while
| during the past year 2S cases OF conviction
followed 90 arrests for this offence OF
which 60 complaints were made. This
| character of crime has increased year by
| year with the stringency of the times, and
| the offence is one which requires most ac-
tive and intelligent work to secure con-
| viction.
False pretences is n kindred crime and
| increases correspondingly with the diff
culties which encompass the individual
who earns an honest livelihood. Ffty-five
such cases were entered upon the books
and So arrests were made under the Law
during the year; while during the preced-
| ing year 10l arrests were made. of which
| 67 were sustained by the court
A Favorable Comparison.