Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1904-12-02
HOMICIDE IN THIS COUNTRY.


Homicide is the result of carrying con.
cealed weapons The miserable habit is
growing to such an extent that the most
thoughtful minds Of the Judiciary and others
OF the United States are attracted by Its
enormity. Locally Judge Henderson is
welding the strong arm Of the law with Be-
verify at the present term OF Court against
those criminals who are convicted of the
crime, 70 suppress this habit, and 10 give
human life protection. Annexed is an ad.
dress upon the subject by learned Ala
baman, which is Of interest:
Judge W. II. Thomas, Of Montgomery,
Ala, read at the recent Congress Of Arts
and Sciences at St. Louis an interesting pa
per on the homicidal propensity Of the peo-
pie Of the United States. This propensity
the Judge terms "lndlvidualism," and thinks
that il results from impatient desire for indi.
vidual power"-a disposition TO have ones
way in defiance Of law. Homicides in the
United States are 1898 per million Of popu-
lntion, against Q. SO per million In Canada,
10. is in England and IA 90 in France. In
New England the homicides are 234 per
$4,000 Inhabitants, against IA IL per $1,000
In the States Of the Pacific coast. The col.
ored race furnishes proportion ately over FIVE
times as many cases OF homicide as the
whites In the light OF this fact the rate OF
II. 10 homIcides per $4,000 Of population in
the South is not surprising In the South,
the Judge notes, "the negro does not kill the
white man, nor the white man the negro, so
often as the negro kills the negro" The
presence OF the negro is not, however, the
whole explanation Of high homicidal rate,-
seeing that the highest rates are In the Pa
ciic States, where the percentage OF negroes
Ia very small. Without our negro popula'
ton our rate of homicdes per million would
still be three Zines that Of England and five
times that of Germany Our immigrant
population is not, II is found, as homicidal
as the native.born. Nevada has the highest
rate Of homicides; Vermont the lowest
Urban populations, it appears, produce less
homicIdes than the rural districts Texas
produces one-tenth Of all our homicides, but
the rate is higher in Arizona, Nevada and
Montana. Illiteracy does not govern 10 this
matter, since California, with few illiterates,
has higher rate Of homicide than Ala
bama or Mississippi. Similarly Maryland
has fewer iliterates aud more homicides
than Virginia, and Rhode Island has high |
er rate of homicide than Kentucky.
Not only is our "Individualism" exces
siyely developed in the line OF murder, but |
IL is growing rapidly. In 1850 our prison |
ers were but 10 each 3,443 Of population,
but in 1870 the rate was to each l LII, and |
In 1890 it was TO each 757. The demo-
cratic form Of government seems 10 have
nothing 10 do with the rate Of homicide, but
inefficient administration seems TO have q
great deal to do with it. In Canada, right |
by our side, homicides are under 10 per
million of inhabitants, while our rate is
l29 3 per million; but in Canada seven
eIghths OF those convicted of murder were
sentenced 10 death" The small rate in
England and the countries of the Continent
has perhaps the same explanation. "lndi
vIdualisn" would not sssert itself perhaps
sc freely in killing if the moose or guillotine
were the sure sequel. Between 1880 and
1890 the increase OF arrests Tor homicide in
the United States was 90 per cent, while the
population increased but 95 per cent. 1t is
to be feared that between 1890 and 1900 the
increase of homicides was even greater.