Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1900-01-12
An AspersIOn Answered.

Under the famboyant heading "Is Yer
mont the Great Murder State' the Essex
Junction Record published last week a
sensational article, which had for its foun-
dation the remark of gentleman riding
on train" to the effect that Gas com
pared with population Vermont has more
murders than other states of the Union"
The Record then went on to state that
in the past five years "Vermont has had
enacted within her borders IS murders
some of them most foul and revolving, and
committed in, as a rule, law-abiding COM
munities."
To make out this list the Record puts
down the shooting of man in Swanton
who assaulted an officer; mystery in Gro
ton which not one person in ten supposes
to be murder; case of manslaughter in
which the prisoner furnished an instru-
ment for procuring an abortion and the
victim died while trying to use it; killing
by girl who was pronounced insane; and
five cases of manslaughter, which may be
very different from murder.
Three prisoners are now serving SEN
tences in Vermont state prison for two
murders, and four persons charged with
murder are in custody. 1t will be seen by
this statement that the Records claim of
10 murders in five years is manifestly un-
fair
At the close of its article the Record
asks: WAS the positive gentleman correct
in his statement that AS compared with
population Vermont has more murders
than other states of the UnionP"
Vermont, if we may Judge by the num-
Dor of persons found in the prisons by the
census in 1890, was then one of the least
criminal of all the states. Only Iowa,
West Virginia and the two Dakotas had
fewer persons in the prisons than Vermont.
The proportion of prisoners to a million of
population was
Vermont, 8O2
California, 2S13
Massachusetts, 1886
New York, 1912
New Hampshire, S53
This includes prisons of all grades ex
cept juvenile reformatories. In Arizona
there were 4193 prisoners, or would have
been if it had had a million people and
maintained its rate.
The number found in prison and serving
sentence for, or charged with, murder in
1890 averaged approximately for the
United States, one in 1880 population;
Vermont, one in 2s, 900 population.
The statutes in the different states vary
so much in defining murder, manslaughter,
and the different degrees of each that moth
ing very satisfactory can be got out of the
census reports, under the head of murder,
for comparison, but computing the num-
Der serving sentence in prison for, or
charged with, 'criminal homicide" in 1890
the record was:
Vermont, one to $4,000 population.
United States, one to $500 population.
California, one TO 5000 population.
Texas, one to 5000 population.
New Mexico, one to 5000 population.
Massachusetts, one TO 10000 population.
Delaware, one to $4,000 population.
District of Columbia, one to $4,000 popu-
lation.
Maine, one to $4,000 population.
New Hampshire, one to IS, 800 population.
New York, one to $4,000 population.
Connecticut, one to II, 800 population.
Rhode Island, one to $4,000 population.
Illinois, one to $500 population.
Kentucky, one to 1900 population.
Tennessee, one to 5000 population.
Alabama, one to 4,5O0 population.
Louisiana, one to 8, 400 population.
The Record will do better TO continue
advocating the lynching of rapists than to
besmirch one of the most peaceful and
law-abiding states OF the Union on the
strength of the statement of a positive
gentleman who used his hat for a mega
phone "while riding on a train from White
River junction to Essex Junction"