The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-18
MANHATTAN Is SECOND
Feuds, Robberies and Other
Features Found, While
Few Are Unexplainable.
OTHER BIG CITIES SUFFER
Great Wave of Criminality
Seems Sweeping Through
Country This Year.

There were seventy-nine murders in
New York city during the first nine
r1onths of 1920 which stand on the po-
lice and District Attorneys records as
unsolved. The circumstances sur
rounding most of them are enveloped
In mystery and the perpetrators proba-
bly, never will pay the penalty for
their crimes. The police succeeded in
ascertaining the identity of the muir
derers In a few instances, but the evil
dcnce obtained by the detectives proved
so fimsy that the prisoners either were
turned out in the lower courts or the
grand juries failed to find indictments.
Brooklyn leads the five boroughs
with thirty-six unsoived murders, or
one to each 56,173 persons in the Dor
ough. Manhattan is a close second
with thirtytwo almost five times as
many unsolved murders as have Gin
cinnati and Philadelphia, the popula-
l'Oii VI llit WV ldlltl CllltS bellle d.
most equal to that of this city's largest
borough. The Bronx had only four
s,urders in the nine months period
which the police failed to clear up. The
Borough of Queens had FIVE and Rich
irond two, one Of which is the Eckert
hcotlegging murder.
Dispatches from several cities through
out the east and central States report
a startling increase in crimes of vio-
lence. A similar increase occurred In
this city in September during which
: there were ten murders in Manhattan
alone. 1t is possible that this figure
may be reduced in the next few weeks
as II usually takes from one to five
weeks for the police to run down a
murderer
January Most Wicked Month.
Although the crime barometer as
cended during September available rec
ords show that January tops the list OF
unsolved murders with twelve. Septem-
bcr ranks second with eleven, and March
and May had ten each. June. the month
in which the mysterious murder of Jo-
seph b. Elwell. the turfman. occurred
had only five, the lowest number.
The details OF but few murders ever
reach print Very often they are the
result of a vendetta. in which the read
ing public takes little or no interest, or
of some local gang feud. the operations
OF which gang have not been extensive
enough to warrant exposition In the
public press When the person slain
proves TO be some one of Importance In
the community or the circumstances
surrounding the murder are unusual, the
details usually are given at great length
in the newspapers. But these latter
cases are comparatively few.
The unsolved murders of this year
which stand out prominently are those
Of Joseph p. Elwell. Frederick G. Ecker'
and Miss Renie Constance Hoxie Ell
well. as Is we'll known. was shot and
killed in his home, 244 West Seventeen
street. on the morning Of June II. -Four
months have passed since and the police
are said to know as much about the
crime to-day as they did the morning
the turfnans body was found. Eckeri
was slain at Old Town road and Park.
erson avenue Staten Island. on Angus,
~ Three men were arrested in connec-
ton with the murder but later they
were turned out
Miss Hoxie was brutality murdered In
her home. 70 West Eighty-ninth street
on February 2. Her body was terribly
hacked by "a fiend who left severa
valuable clues behind. The city was sc
HItdby dIOuStu ny Alt NIAht Nhthl NAY VI
Hylan contemplated asking the BoarC
of Estimate and Apportionment to offei
a reward Of $4,000 for the arrest anc
conviction OF the murderer. This was
not done, however. Neither did the police
make any arrests. The crime ac
cordingly. has been relegated to the Ions
list Of unsolved ones. where it will re
main indefinitely unless a detective
stumbles over some important clue Of
the criminal himself, tortured by hi
conscience, makes deathbcd or othei
confession that will clear up the case.
Robbery Motive in Many Cases.
Nearly half OF the unsolved murder
occurred in the public highways and thu
implements used we're knives, pistols Of
blackjacks
Highway robbery was the motive II
many cases and large number probabl,
resulted from fractional disputes ant
vendetta A few were saloon brawls. tn
number OF which has increased greatl
since the advent of the EShteent
Amendment. These latter usually ar
the kind of crimes detectives conside
easy 70 clear mp as some one lnvariaoi
knows the murderer But the numbe
OF these murders which s:ill remain Ln
solved IS surprisingly large.
Philadelphia like New York. Is in I'll
erin OF a crime wave. Between Janu
inv / and the last day of Septemhs
there were eighty murders In tie Penn
sylvania city, only Ave of which re
main unsolved. st. Louis. In the sam
period. had twenty-four murders. onl
ak Of which remain unsolved Their
were twelve homcides In Cincinnati i
the nine months. all but two OF whic
have been cleared up by the police.
In Manhattan the lower East Sid
has the greatest number OF unsolvo
murders since the beginning of 1926
Ten persons were shot and killed o
stabbed TO death In the territory bounde
roughly by East Houston. Broadway
Chambers street and the East Rive
Three murders that have puzzled the 10
lice for many months occurred fe'
blocks apart in the italian colony sur
rounding Mulberry Mott, Kenmare an
Grand streets. Harlem has seven m
solved murders. many OF which har
pened In East Harlem. where there Is
dense foreign population. The lowe
West side. taking in Greenwich Vilag'
the centre OF gang wars for many year
has seven. only two o. which were
foreign sections.
Complied From Omcial Lists.
The list OF unsolved murders which
appende/fs-vas obtained by THE HERAL
from u-prchivcs Of Or. Charles Nor