The Washington times., 1913-12-13
MURDER RECORD
SHOWS A DECLINE
Rate Per 100000 for 1912 Is
81, Against 8.4 for 1911,
Thirty Cities Included.

The annual murder record for the
United States, while showing a slight
Improvement over previous Reports,
still suffers by comparison. accorains
to statistics of homicides published in
the Spectator. Compilations made by
Frederick l.. Hoffman show that there
were 1,3A homlcides in thirty large
cities OF this country in l9l2, rate OF
81 per 10000 of population.
Similar records for 1911 were S.4 per
10000. There is corresponding de-
crease in the relative numDer OF sui
cldes. equivalent to 0s per 10000, or
Al per cent The highest homicide
record reported occurred in 1907, when
the rate was S.S per 10000, and the
lowest rates were in 1891 and 1897. when
AZ per 10000 was the record:
OF the large American cities, Mem
phis. Tenn, with eighty-eiSht homi-
cides, shows a rate Of 643 per 10O,0OD,
an increase over 1911 of 1l.6 IL Is ex-
planned that suburban murders are
counted in with the city percentages.
The Manhattan and Bronx record
does not show the same Improvement
that the average suggests. There were
1856 homicides during the years, rate
of 6.s per 100000. or an increase OF Ia.
For the ten years ended in 1911 there
were 1854 deaths Of 4 homicidal ma
ture, with a rate of 5.4 per 10000.
The high rate OF homicide shown by
Memphis is carried out when the cities
are taken by geographical groups. OF
the thirty cities cited those Of the
Southern group reported AL homicides,
an increase of As in it's rate of 202 per
100, 0uo The Eastern cities had the low
est rate, 416, or 46 per 10000. while
the Western group showed 10.S and the
central group SO per 10000. All these
rates showed an increase over the aV-
erage for ten years.
OF special interest in the tabulations
Is the inclusion OF record kept by
the Chicago Tribune of the causes of
hornicides from 1908 to 1912. According
to this 4S.9 per cent Of the whole num-
Der was caused by quarrels, while IN
per cent. Liquor is given as the
cause of s.S per cent of the total while
murders by highwaymen caused 8.5 per
cent of the deaths. Jealousy, incident
ally. was responsible for the same per-
centaGe.
To Reading. Pa, is given the dis
tinction of having no homicideS com
riitteC within its limits in 1912. while
in Philadelphia there were only twenty
tine homicides. a rate of Is per 10000.
For the ten years ending in 1911, Hart
ford. Conn, had the lowest number of
homicide deaths, twenty-six, although
Milwaukee showed the lowest rate. 1.9
per 10000. The largest number of
deaths from homicide in the ten years
is shown by Chicago, with a total OF
Ito.
In support OF its comment on the un-
favorable record Of this country, com
PARSONS are made with the homicide
records in foreign cities. In Italy, es-
pecialIy. where it is generally assumed
that human life is held cheaply, the
rate for the latest year available, 1870
is 3.4 Per 1oD.GD. A five year average
shows rate of SO: In other words. to
every 100 homicidcs in the United
States there arc only 66 in Italy.
LoEdon. including only the city prop
er. shows q fiv" wear AVERAGE of 1.3l per
10000. as compared with the same av-
erage for New York of 60. In Paris, in
1910. a rate of So was recorded. The
city of Copenhagen. Denmark. is shown
as the safest European city. with a re-
cord in 1910 of only one homicide, and
& five year rate Of 045.