Crime and Suicide Statistics
The following published statistics of crime and suicide for the year just ended, should be taken note of by people who entertain the belief that society in these times is on the up grade, advancing by a process of evolution toward a state of moral perfection:— Unofficial statistics of the year show that the number of murders and suicides in this country has greatly increased, and that there has been a decrease in the number of legal executions, compared with the number of homicides. The homicides and deaths by violence total 9,212, as compared with 8,482 last year. The startling feature of the record is the increase in the number of murders committed by highwaymen, being 582, against 464 during 1904. Four years ago the number was only 103. The record of self-destruction is one of the most deplorable of the year, the number of prominent men being much larger than hitherto. The total is 9,982, an increase of 542 over the list of the preceding year. The steadiness of the increase is indicated in the following table:— In 1899, 5,340; 1900, 6,775; 1901, 7,245; 1902, 8,597; 1904, 9,240; 1905, 9,982. The legal executions numbered one hundred and thirty-three, of which fifty-one were in the North and eighty-two in the South. Seventy-three were negroes, fifty-nine white men, and one a Chinaman. Showing the relative changes of murders and executions, it may be said that in 1885 1,808 murders were reported, while the number of hangings was 108, while this year 133 were hanged or electrocuted for 9,212 murders committed. The number of lynchings was sixty-six. Of the total number lynched sixty-five were negroes.