The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1904-01-09
THE DARK SIDE.
Record of Disasters for 1908 CioseH
with Crowning Horror I'm
Chicago-Crimes, Etc.


Chicago, Jan. 2.-The record of crime,
OF suicide. of disaster, of property losses.
of legal executions and lynchings, and OF
private beneficence is made up for 1908.
and 1t closes with the browning horror of
the year In our own midst. Its details
should furnish ample material for In
vestigation by students Of sociology and
criminology. political reformers, and
municipal, state ard national govern
ments.
There were S,976 crimes resulting In
death by various forms Of violence In
1903. small increase over 1902, when
there were 1884. Inc of the most sig
nificant features of this record is the
fact that 406 Of these murders were COM
mitted by thugs and holdup men, being
nearly twice as many as were committed
last year. and showing proportionately
the Increase of lawlessness.
There were 1897 cases of suicide in
1908. The following figures show the
steady increase Of self-murder: In 1899.
$40; in 1900. 6.755; In 1901, 7,245; in
1902, 1921; in 1903. 8.597. AS has been
the case during the last three or four
years, poisoning and shooting have been
the principal methods, the two number
ing 1877 out of 8.597. The ease with
which poison may be obtained accounts
for 1850 Of these cases.
The total number Of legal executions
In 1903 shows a falling of compared
with last year. being 1913, as against la
In 1902, 118 in 1901, and ITO in 1900.
There were II hanged In the south and
46 in the north. and Of these GO were
, white and 60 colored.
Lynchings numbered 104, as compared
with SO in 1902. Notwithstanding this
comparatively slight increase, an exam
nation OF the reports for several years
back shows that there were many less
lynchings in the decade just closed than
in the preceding decade. The total for
1903 includes 80 In the south and IL in
the north Sc negroes, II whites, and
one Chinaman; 102 men and two women.
The two principal alleged crimes were
murder, AZ cases; and criminal assault,
20.
The number of trains held up in 1903
vas Is, as compared with % last year.
The number of stage robberies in 1908
was 6. while that of last year was Z. The
record shows that no passengers or train
men were killed by robbers, but there
were six wounded. In 1902 one was
killed and three wounded. One roSber
was killed in 1903, as compared with
| three in 1902. The total number of trains
held up in II years is BAL: total number
of people killed. 80, and the number of
people injured (shoU. 100.
The loss of life by disasters in 1905
has been large. Shipwrecks on the ocean
and inland lakes and rivers have taken
1885 lives. Over 1000 persons have
been killed and over 5000 injured in
railroad accidents. These figures in
clude only the severely injured, and the
list Of killed is mainly passengers. The
complete returns, including those killed
and injured on electric roads. will be
much larger. as this record includes only
prominent disasters.
There have been numerous other dis
asters involving heavy loss of life Cy-
clones and rockslides in April killed 127
persons. BY cyclones and the floods at
Topeka and Kansas City In May 266 per-
sons persisted. In June there was q
series Of unusual disasters. Eighty lives
we're lost by cyclone at Gainesville,
Ca; So by flood at Spartansburg, s.
c.: 81 by cloudburst at Clifton, Ariz. !:
and 200 by a cloudburst at Heppner, Ore.
Then the country enjoyed immunity
from great disasters until Dec. 30, when
between 500 and 600 lives were lost by
the burning of the Iroquois theater-
the browning horror of the years record
at home or abroad.
The embezzlers and defaulters in 1903
got away with $6.5S6, 165, not large sum
as compared with the average of the last
SO years. Compared with this there
stands to the credit of the national gen.
crosby ard philanthropy the handsome
sum in donations and requests of s76,-
934.978, distributed as follows: To edu-
cational institutions, ~$39, $50 500; to
charities. S21 .726.31S; to religious pur-
poses. $3,996.912; to museums. art ga,-
leries. and for municipal betterments,
81 .927 800; and to Libraries, 1858, $50.