The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-11-11
MURDER INCREASES
OVER SIX THOUSAND PERSONS
we're KILLED In 1918
DFPLORABLE CONDITIONS
United States is Probably the Home
Of More Homicides in Proportion
Than Any Civilazed Countrywide
Arms Cause 62.1 Per Cent of
he

Deaths.
Murder is on the increase in the
United States, accord 'ng to statistics
compiled by Frederick L. Hoffman
for The Spectator, an insurance publ.
cation. He says that homicides were
| never so frequent in this country as
they are at the present time, and that
the proportion Of women to men vic
tins is one to four.
MIR Hoffman found that about g.
500 persons met death by murder last
year, and that this YVES the largest
number of homicides since reliable
statistics became available in 1884,
with the exception of the panic year
| of 1907. In that year the rate went
up to S.8 for every 100000 Of the
population, while in 1913 the rate
was 81 per 100000.
The figures gathered by Mr.. Hoff-
man were meant for the use of insur-
ance companies. He made no partic-
ular effort, he said, to determine how
many of the deaths could be classed
as "justifable homicides," and how
many resulted from abnormal mental
conditions on the part Of the slayers.
He said: 1.-THE insurance companies
have to pay just the same whether
the homicide in any given case was
justifiable or not"
Mr.. Hoffman found that the vital
statistics and criminal records for the
United States as a whole were very
badly kept.
There are no general statistics as
to crime" he said, which are not
more misleading that they are in
forming. There are no general sta
tistics for the country as a whole
which afford Insight into the question
Of whether any given crime was COM
mitted by n normal or an abnormal
person. And, moreover, there are
abundant reasons for believing that
some violent deaths are returned in
coroners' reports as accidents because
of the reluctance on the part of the
jurors to establish felonious crime "
Mr.. Hoffman prepared with special
care the homicide records Of the thir-
t. most populous American cities,
both for a thirty-year period ending
with 1912 and for the year 1913.
Here is the way they rate in the
order Of their comparative freedom
from murders for the ten years. end
ed in 1912: Milwaukee, Newark,
Rochester. Minneapolis, Hartford,
Buffalo, Reading, Penn; Philadel-
phia. Baltimore, Brooklyn, Boston,
Dayton, Pittsburgh. Providence, Man
haitian and the Bronx, Cleveland,
Spokane, Washington, D. c.: Seattle,
Chicago. Cincinnati. San Francisco.
st. Louis. Louisville. Nashville. At
lanta, New Orleans, Savannah, Char
lesion. S. c.: Memphis, Tenn.
The homicides in Memphis which
attained the highest rate amounted
to 5S.3 per 100000 of the population
for the ten years average. For last
year the homicides amounted to IS
per 100000. In Milwaukee, the city
at the other extreme Of the list. there
were only 2.2 murders for each 10D,-
900 Of the population, and the in
crease for last year was 1.2 per 1O0,-
900. Charleston, S. c., lowered its
record last year from 30.6 to S0.1 per
100000, while Louisville, San Fran
cisco, Seattle, Washington, D. c.;
Providence, R. l.. and Reading, Penn,
also showed slight decreased.
In all of the other cities there we're
increases. In Manhattan and the
Bronx there were 1.473 murders from
1903 to 1912, making rate Of about
midway in the list of principal cities,
OF 81 per 100000. The gain for last
year was IA per 100000.
The urban rate for last year was
o. per 100000 of population in ex-
cess of the urban rate for 1912, While
the 1912 rate showed an increase OF
nearly 100 per cent. over the rate
which prevailed from 1890 to 1900.
In 1905 the first marked increase
since 1884 began. The rate for that
year increased to 81 per 100000. In
1906 it reached 10 per 100000, and
in 1907 it reached S.S per 100000,
the largest total yet recorded
The falling off which began in 1908
brought the record for that year
down to 81 per 100000, while in
1900 it dropped still lower, to rs per
100000. In 1910 the rate climbed to
lS.3 per 100000. in 1911 it mounted
to 8.4 per 100000, and remained
practically stationary in 1912, after
which it jumped to 81 per 100000
The lowest record scored was in 1890