Courts, Criminals and the CamorraTrain, Arthur Cheney
History
Courts, Criminals and the Camorra
Train, Arthur Cheney
Camorra; Criminals -- United States; Justice, Administration of -- United States
a woman threw her baby into the lake in Central Park, and another in
which she gave her baby poison. Besides these murders, five homicides
had been committed in the course of perpetrating other crimes,
including burglary and robbery.
Passing over three cases of culpable negligence resulting in death, we
come to thirty-seven homicides during quarrels, some of which might
have been technically classified as murders, but which, being committed
“in the heat of passion,” in practically every instance resulted in
a verdict of manslaughter. The quarrels often arose over the most
trifling matters. One was a dispute over a broom, another over a horse
blanket, another over food, another over a twenty-five-cent bet in a
pool game, another over a loan of fifty cents, another over ten cents
in a crap game, and still another over one dollar and thirty cents
in a crap game. Five men were killed in drunken rows which had no
immediate cause except the desire to “start something.” One man killed
another because he had not prevented the theft of some lumber, one (a
policeman) because the deceased would not “move on” when ordered, one
because a bartender refused to serve him with any more drinks, and one
(a bartender) because the deceased insisted that he _should_ serve more
drinks. One man was killed in a quarrel over politics, one in a fuss
over some beer, one in a card game, one trying to rob a fruit-stand,
one in a dispute with a ship’s officer, one in a dance hall row. One
man killed another whom he found with his wife, and one wife killed her
husband for a similar cause; another wife killed her husband simply
because she “could not stand him,” and one because he was fighting
with their son. One man was killed by another who was trying to
collect from him a debt of six hundred dollars. One quarrel resulting
in homicide arose because the defendant had pointed out deceased to
the police, another because the participants called each other names,
and another arose out of an alleged seduction. Three homicides grew
out of street rows originating in various ways. One man killed another
who was fighting with a friend of the first, a janitor was killed in
a “continuous row” which had been going on for a long time, and one
homicide was committed for “nothing in particular.”
This astonishing olla podrida of reasons for depriving men of their
lives leaves one stunned and confused. Is it possible to deduce any
order out of such homicidal chaos? Still, an attempt to classify such
diverse causes enables one to reach certain general conclusions. Out
of the sixty-two homicides there were seventeen cold-blooded murders,
with deliberation and premeditation (in such cases the _reasons_ for
the killing are by comparison unimportant); three homicides due to
negligence, five committed while perpetrating a felony; thirty-seven
manslaughters, due in sixteen cases to quarrels (simply), thirteen
to drink, four to disputes over money, three to women, one to race
antagonism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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