Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-07-19
MEMPHIS BIDS FAIR
AGAIN To LEAD IN
HOMICIDE RECORD
BY s. l.. KAHN
Ueased Wire Service to The Journal.)
(Copyripht 1929

(Copyrlght, I92S.)
MEMPHIS, July 1.-THE coroner
here today he'd an inquests over the
bodies OF Mr.. and Mrs. c. G.
Nichols. Nichols, g drug clerk, met
his wife in the lobby of downtown
bank and, because she persisted in
her refusal to live with him, drew
a revolver and fired four shots into
her body. Then he turned the gun
on himself Mrs. Nichols lived for
a few hours. Nichols died imme-
diately.
There is nothing so unusual in
Nichols action except that the death
of his wife brings the casualty list
of homicides charged against Mem
rhis and Shelby county to the grand
total of fifty-seven for but little
more than the first half year, and
unless some other city has a ma
chine gun attacl1-Yon its populace
Memphis will again be assured the
uneviable position of leading the
homicide table of the country.
The homicides are all charged to
Memphis, but only 80 were commit
ted within the boundaries of the
city. The remaining 25 were slain
within the limits of the county.
BY far the greater part Of the
homicides have been solved; many
'justIfiable homicide" Verdicts have
been returned. Some Of the killings
have been heinous but in no case,
has the death penalty been imposed.
In fact no man, guilty Of murder in
Shelby county, has paid the death
penalty for several years. The last
who did was a negro who murdered
a storekeeper. In three cases so far
this year sentences of twenty years
were imposed but in the majority
of cases where convictions were OBJ
tanned the sentences ran from one
to ten years.
A series of roadside murders just
outside the city last January shock
ed the nation, and started Memphis
off for second time for the record.
in past five months the usual hot
blOoded' killings have run riot. Do
mestic difficulties then brought on
series of crimes and violent
deaths. The Nichols Staying puts
Memphis far in the lead of the
homicide column.
Thirty-five per cent OF the popula-
ton of Memphis is colored Yet
deaths of negroes lead those Of
whites here. Mayor Rowlett Paine,
in searching for an explanation of
! the killing record of Memphis and
| Shelby county, said that in nearly
| all the cases where a white person
was slain, a white was the slayer,
and that where a negro was muir
| dered, a negro usually was the muir
derer Thus it is seen that none
of this years deaths has been caus-
| ed by race friction.
Just how far the killing record
for 1928 will go is problematical.
| DR.. Frederick Hoffman's homIcIde
column in an insurance publication
| gave Memphis a homicide rate of
| GA per/100,0 900 population for 1922
and Memphis led the nation. With
| the county's homicides charged to
Memphis as they undoubtedly will
| be, the city will soon be above last
years record and it has five and a
half more months in which to bet
| ter the 1922 mark
| FIFTEEN TRAGIC DEATHS
IN MEMPHIS IN WEEK
MEMPHIS, Tenn, July lin
one week, July 8 to Is, inclusive
and incidentally in week in which
| Friday came on the thirteenth-fif-
teen tragic deaths occurred in or
| near Memphis. Sunday, July 8, the
five-months-old baby of Louis Dis
tretti, was killed Instantly by the ac-
| cidental discharge of shotgun
when, according to police, Distretti
was endeaVoring to protect his fam
| lily from a boisterous crowd
On Monday John Roe shot and
killed his estranged wife and baby
and then ended his own life. On
| the same day John Motley, Is died
| of gun shot 0unds inflicted by the
| town marshal at Wilmington, Tenn.
| the previous week. On Thursday
| w. W. Wilcox, an insurance agent,
died of injuries received that morn
| ing when he was struck by an auto
mobile.
The same day Miss Lora M ,se1ey
and John Judge, both of Memphis
were drowned at Lake View, Miss,
a few miles south or the city.
Saturday. c. c. Nichols, a phar-
maclst, shot and fatally wounded his
wife from whom he was separated
and then sent a bullet through his
own heart moment later.
Ear!y Sunday morning, Patrick
Williams, cigar maker. ended his
life by swallowing poison, according
to the police. after visiting the home
or his estranged wife and failing to
find her there.
Later in the day, four persons of
party of nine, lost their lives when
a skiff, in which they were attempt
Ing to cross the Mississippi river
near here, capsized. Those drowned
were Mrs. T. Fl. Perry, Miss Louise
Perry, IS, and Elizabeth Perry, s.
nd CN,.cnr,