THE REVOLVER CRAZE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8389, 28 March 1907, Page 3

THE REVOLVER CRAZE.

|* ENGLAND'S "STILETTO." GROWING CRIMINAL USE OF THE WEAPON. . Is the revolver becoming the stil•€tto of England? The question is prompted by the recent appalling list -.of crimes committed by this cheap, easily-used and easily-procured weapon. The list might have been said to culminate in the murder of Mr Whiteley but for the fact that since then there is a case in which a young railway porter is charged with shoot'ing and wounding a girl. The following are some recent • crimes cf violence in which the revolver was the weapon used: — January 24th, murder of Mr Whiteley. January 19th, shooting of Florence? Wakeling- by John Edward Wyatt, Brixton. January 18th, suicide of T. G. Tyler, solicitor, Birmingham. January sth, shooting case in a Walmer villa. November 17th, shooting by a sailur, Spitalfields. November 7th, attempted wife murder by Allan Griffin, Croydon. November 3rd, manslaughter of James Albert Smith, in Cook's Office, Nottingham. October 29th, shooting by an Italian, Luigi Amato, Green Hundred Street, S.E. October 27th, wife murder by Thomas Hendry, Leith. September 22nd, wife murder and suicide by John Geoghegan, Dublin. August 13th, murder of three persons and suicide of murderer, Tyneside. July 16th, attempted murder at Mansfield Woodhousc. July 15th, shooting by the "Duke of Pleneuf," Brighton. ..July 10th, attempted wife murder and suicide by John Farriru, Fulham. . June 23rd, attempted murder of Helena Phillpott, by Lawrence Smith,. Paddir.gton, both deaf mutes. April 3rd. attempted murder and suicide by Isaac Swaby, Grimsby. AN IMPULSIVE AGE. The tendency of the age is, tin'tbubtedly towarcs quick decisions and /active measures. The old-time deliberate, non-impulsive habit of the Briton has been influenced by the restless energy of the day. In restless, badly-balanced minds the sense of proportion is lost in the need for instant action. Many deeds of violence, done on quite inadequate grounds are reported which never would have taken pla.ee if the perpe- ■ trator had had the patience calmly to consider whether or no his method of righting his wrong, real or fancied, was.in proportion to the offence. In many murder cases tried recently it has been shown that, the deed "had not been deliberately premedi- . tated. The murderer seems to have provided himself with a revolver so as to be ready for any emergency, just in the way the Italian seems to carry a stiletto. J Extensive inquiries made by London Daily Mail ; representatives recently revealed the surprising fact that the gunsmiths' books show a falling-off in the sale of revolvers of at least two-thirds since the Act of 1903 was passed. That Act requires •the. production of a license or other by a would-be purchaser, "while the seller has to keep a careful "record. The Act has diminished remarkably the shooting crimes by gangs of young ruffians such as those ■who made Clerkenwell infamous a few years before it was passed, but has not prevented suicide or crimes in which passion of some kind acts as the spur. There was a well-known case not long ago of a man obtaining a license to carry firearms from a Post Office, walking along to a gun shop, buying a revolver, proceeding ,-a few yards farther to an hotel smoke-room and shooting himself. The series of events occupied about twenty minutes. EFFECT OF RURAL TRAINING, A suggestion was thrown"out by a . member of a leading firm of gunsmiths that it is, as a rule, the man •who is country-bred who uses the revolver when he means to injure or destroy life. "I think if these cases were investigated," he said, "it would be found that the men cpn- - cerned had either had a country training or were in the habit of going out shooting. The pure-bred townsman knows nothing of weapons; he would . sooner use a knife or poison. But the man who has lived in the country has seen or has engaged in the destruction of animals by firearms. He is familiar with them, and hence ihis liking for the revolver." The view was supported by one of the leading detective officers, .though it struck him as being.novel. He could hardly recall a case in which ■:the man who shot to kill had not had country experience. Usually, how--ever, it was slight. The true sportoman, if he commits suicide, uses *one of his favourite guns, and .hardly ever the revolver.