Record of Crime and Disaster.
By J. C.
THE N. Y. Tribune of Nov. 4, has some remarkable statistics of recent crimes; those perpetrated within the last six months; accompanied with remarks which if they had emanated from some Advent believer might be viewed as colored too highly, at least by those who look with a prejudiced eye and mind upon Adventism. But no one will attribute Advent doctrines to Mr. Greeley at present, but we may view his remarks as coming from a man of the world, whose aim, and motive, and standard, are all higher than the average of political writers; his paper, though sustained by more than one writer, is all of it of his spirit; and he may be considered responsible for, if not the sole author of all leading articles published in the Tribune. This record is too lengthy for publication in the Review, and a condensation of what is contained in said article is all we shall attempt; using quotation marks when his language is copied verbatim. “Regular murders have almost found oblivion in railway disasters. But every chord of human life seems to have been stricken; and we have heard of a host of nondescript assaults upon the house of life, besides homicide, marriacide, parricide and matricide, sororicide, infanticide, familicide, patricide, attempted (here a word is coined for the occasion) viatricide, or murder of the traveler, as in steamboat or railroad accident or disaster.” Monstrous, and frightful crimes: of these, Europe furnishes the most unaccountable varieties. A Swedish priest poisons a dozen of his parishioners with the Sacrament, out of pity for their sufferings. A Dr. Pritchard, eminent as a medical writer, murders his wife by degrees with slow poisons. A “Mrs. Winsor kept a hospital for infanticide;” another “murdered the children of his mistress, for fear they would starve, omitting to kill himself.” In this country, house-burning by a girl of fourteen; highway robbery by a boy of eleven years; the publication of obscene books &c.; the defacing and misfeaturing of natural scenery; perjury by men in high stations. The assassination of President Lincoln seems to have opened a new era in crime, more atrocious than before: From April to Oct. 10, there were recorded 95 murders beside 12 homicides, 6 assassinations, 25 murderous attempts, 9 wife murders and 7 attempted ditto, 4 fratricides, 2 parricides and matricides, 2 double murders, 2 quadruple murders, 8 infant murders, 23 suicides and 8 instances of familicide. Of railroad massacre, from May 15 to Sept. 15, there were 24 collisions, 9 explosions, 6 from bad bridges &c., 22 from rotten ties, broken rails &c., 12 precipitations, and, during the year, about 100 accidents on railroads, with $30,000,000 loss of property; in all 600 persons injured, and 300 killed. Of disasters upon the water, there were 63; including burnings, explosions, collisions, sinkings, and wrecks; besides 8 additional disasters in October. Many of these were particularly frightful as to damage and loss. With the explosion of the Sultana were lost 1200, in the burning of the ship Nelson 400, with the Brother Jonathan 250, in the collision of the steamers Pewabic and Meteor 100. At sea of human lives lost about 3000. The Tribune foots up the damage to property by public disasters, placing it at about $80,000,000, and robberies at about $20,000,000 more; closing by the following remarks: “Such statistics are painful, but are not without a certain high usefulness. . . . Society should understand its pulse, commerce should feel its pocket, and the world should know what proportion crime and disaster bear to the economy of the world.”