Many a
murder in a barroom grows out of an argument over whether a
glass of beer has, or has not, been paid for, or whose turn it
is to treat; and more than one man has been killed in New York
City because he was too clumsy to avoid stepping on somebody's
feet or bumping into another man on the sidewalk.
The writer sincerely regrets that his own lack of initiative
prevented his keeping a diary during his seven years's service
as a prosecutor. It is now impossible for him to refresh his
memory as to the causes of all the various homicides which he
prosecuted, but where he can do so the evidence points to a
conclusion similar to that deduced from Mr. Nott's record.
The proximate causes were trifling--the underlying cause was
the lack of civilization of the defendant--his brutality and
absence of self-control.
With a view to ascertaining conditions in general throughout
the United States, I asked a clipping agency to send me the
first one hundred notices of actual homicides which should
come under its scissors.
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