HOMICIDE IN AMERICA.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 414, 21 April 1904, Page 8

HOMICIDE IN AMERICA.

ftstaalles of Crista Ist Tfcfs Caaatry sTasmtssi BrldMie* of a Terrible Tide ot Xturdeor, ~

Comparative statistics of murder should teach us some lessons of national humility, because, blink it as we may crime, and especially that of - homicide, is a pretty accurate measure of the attainment of civilization. There are about 10,000 murders a year in the United States. Mr. Robert Anderson, of London, has lately astonished his readers by stating that in the 6,000,000 inhabitants of London there are annually on the average only about 18 murders. In a sermon on crime a clergyman of one of our smaller American cities tecently stated that in his city (of about 200,000 inhabitants) -there were in the last '4lye years an average of nearly 30 homicides a yeir, ■ays American-flfelicine. Supposing, therefore, til .people would ifft become, when luaoaed hagtahJafijbY millions, it foliowb 'Clergyman's city were as large asTaondon there would be nearly 900 murdejfe> year in it, instead of But, worse is yet to come: Out of the 145 murders in five years there were only 23 convictions, and the* 1 very worst is the fact that not one of these convicted murderers suffered the death penalty! Upon one side, surely, the retort no longer holds that the doctors put their bad work beneath the ground and the lawyers hang it up above it. "so much hemp grown, so little ussd," may be pertinently quoted.