A GRUESOME RECORD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 16, 1896

A GRUESOME RECORD.

THE following, with the above title, from the San Francisco Examiner of January 6, needs only to be prefaced by a passage or so from Holy Writ to constitute a telling sermon on the signs of the times:—

The appalling list of murders chronicled in 1894 has been surpassed by that of the year just closed. The Chicago Tribune, which collects the yearly statistics of crime in the United States, has just published the list for 1895, and the figures are enough to startle the law-abiding people of the country. The total of murders has swollen from the 9,800 of 1894 to 10,500 in 1895.

The causes of slaughter are set down thus: Quarrels, 4,813; unknown, 2,466; jealousy, 1,136; liquor, 684; by highwaymen, 441; infanticide, 269; resisting arrest, 232; highwaymen killed, 159; insanity, 101; self-defense, 104; strikes, 18; outrages, 49; riots, 28.

The rapid increase of murder in the United States is one of the most distressing facts in our history. The figures are worthy of deep consideration by every man who is interested in the welfare of the country and his own safety. The recorded homicides for ten years run:—

1886 .................................................... 1,449 1887 .................................................... 2,335 1888 .................................................... 2,184 1889 .................................................... 3,567 1890 .................................................... 4,290 1891 .................................................... 5,906 1892 .................................................... 6,791 1893 .................................................... 6,615 1894 .................................................... 9,800 1895 .................................................... 10,500

This awful record of slaughter, a record that shows an annual loss of life by knife and pistol equal to the loss by almost any of the great battles of history, is an indictment of our civilization. It is a record that can not be matched out of Armenia or the brutalized regions of Darkest Africa. There is no part of the civilized globe in which human life is so little regarded, and the taking of it so lightly condoned, as in the United States of America. Beside the annual murder record of 150 to 200 that is found in England, or even the 2,500 to 3,000 murders that are found in Italy, the record of the United States is a national disgrace and humiliation.

The cause of this shocking state of affairs is not far to seek. No thoughtful person who considers the facts can avoid the conclusion that the outbreak of slaughter is to be charged to the manner in which the laws against murder are administered. The legal machinery for the punishment of murderers has practically broken down, the arm of justice is bound, and the man who has killed another is in less danger of punishment than the man who has stolen a purse.

If we turn to the record of hangings, we find an indication of what is the matter. The number of legal hangings in 1895 to balance the 10,500 murders was just 132—the same number as was recorded in 1894. But figures can give only a faint idea of the breakdown of the machinery of the criminal law. When it is remembered that of the 132 men hanged few were receiving punishment for crimes committed in 1895, the small deterrent influence of the laws may be more justly estimated.

It is hardly possible to apportion the blame for this condition of affairs. The whole administration of criminal justice, from the trial jury to the appellate court, appears to be in a conspiracy against the laws. The prosecuting officers delay the trial until the recollection of witnesses grows less positive, courts rule out testimony, jurors are reluctant to find a verdict against a murderer if he wears a good suit of clothes, and if a verdict is rendered against the criminal, an appeal to the higher court insures another year's lease of life, and perhaps a new trial, that is almost certain to bring an acquittal.

How this state of affairs is to be bettered we confess we do not know. Such bodies as the Code Commission and the Legislatures of the states may profitably give time and effort to sweep away the legal snares and fill up the legal pitfalls that line the way for the officers of justice, that delay the trial and deny to the state the right to present evidence to the jury. But when jurors show an inclination to sympathize with the murderer and not with the murdered, and courts seek every opportunity to nullify the laws that have been passed against the crime, it is to be feared that a change in the written law will not avail much nor for long.

Let the text come last. Says the prophet Isaiah in speaking of the time when the Redeemer is about to “come to Zion:” “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.” Isa. 59:14, 15. See verses 19, 20.

Says the apostle Paul: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:1, 13.

In the days of Noah the Lord said, “The earth is filled with violence.” Gen. 6:13. Jesus said, “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:37. Does not the sermon fit the texts?