Highest Murder Rates in U.S. Found in Memphis, Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis, 1915

“If You Are Interested in Murders, Read This,” from The Day Book, Chicago, Dec. 23, 1915

New York, Dec. 23—Murder rate in U.S. has now climbed to 8.6 persons killed each year in every 100,000 of population, according to an article written by Frederick L. Hoffman for the number of the Spectator which will be issued today. That is to say, about 8,000 residents of the country are murdered each year.

Mr. Hoffman has the murder rates of 30 cities, having in 1914, the last year with which he deals, a population of 17,416,540 and he averages results obtained from these figures for the whole country. New York city as a whole is omitted from the tables he supplied.

The highest murder rate for any year was that of 1913, when 8.7 persons were killed for every 100,000 people in the country.

Memphis leads all cities. There the murders in 1914 amounted to 72.2 persons for every 100,000 persons in the city. Charleston, S.C., is second with 33.3.

Chicago had in 10 years 1,955 murders, the average murder rate there being 9.3 persons in every 100,000 population.

Most of the southern cities stand well at the top of the list. After the two cities named come Savannah, with a 10-year average of 28.4; next is Atlanta, with a 10-year average of 26; New Orleans, 25.3; Nashville, 24.3; Louisville, 16.6; and St. Louis, 12.9. Following are San Francisco with 11.8; Cincinnati, 11; Seattle, 8.1; Spokane, 7.8; and Washington, 7.5.

Manhattan and the Bronx together are 16^th in the list of 30 cities. The rate here is 6.1, or less than the average.