WICKEDEST CITY IN THE WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 23

WICKEDEST CITY IN THE WORLD.

CHICAGO'S CRIME RECORD. Murder, manslaughter, blackmail, bribery, and corruption are the order of the day In Chicago, the worst city in the world. In 1900 there were five murders to every 100,000 citizens; to-day there are ten. More than a murder a day has been com* milted in Chicago for two years. There la nothing like it in any modern civilisation. " "

What would the law-abiding citizen of Britain feel like if he were planked down in streets where it Is unsafe to walk alone, not knowing whether the next man to him is a gunman or a thief,, and himself the object of suspicion? Glance for a moment at the returns of the arrests for intoxication in American cities for* last year. The figures for Chicago show the astounding total of 92,880 arrests as against 5*9,581 for London, and 12,017 for New _ork, and remember that the population of Chicago is only 2,700,000, as against London's 7,500,000, and New York's 6,020,048. IU no. year have the number of convictions for drunkenness in the largest cities Of England ever approached those from Chicago, In 1923 fof the whole Of Scot land, which has a population of nearly five millions, there Were Only 10,712 convictions!. A glance over the headlines in any American newspaper for one day Will reveal startling things about Chicago, where every conceivable form Of crime seems to flourish. Here is the record of a typical day:— The body of a well-dressed Italian is found in a ditch, tbe skull broken in several places by blows, Tbe body has evidently been thrown from a passing motor oar, and the blows on tSe skull are so severe that it is Impossible to tell whether there are any bullet wounds as well. The police suppose that the man may hate been killed either in an Italian murder feud or in bootleggers' warfare. The manager of a restaurant chases a bandit along the street, tiring as he runs, pedestrians scurrying into doorways or flattening themselves against wails as the bullets whirr past them. The bandit had entered the restaurant and at the revolver's mOtith had forced the manager into an inner room. Then he proceeded to rifle the cash register.

Motor Maniacs. Another restaurant owner is robbed of £ 23, the day's receipts, by two armed men in a motor car. There is a perfect epidemic of motor car accidents, due to motorists* ignoring the speed regulations or driving carelessly. The president Of A labour group runs down and kills a child of three -_a is arrested for manslaughter j a woman of T5 dies from injuries received in a street smash; several pedestrians Are killed While crossing the road. Policemen were appar ly busy all the previous day raiding gambling and vicious tesortg. At one house a pettir. party was interrupted, and eighteen men and five Women were arrested - on charges of disorderly conduct. The headquarters Of a Singing club yielded, seven more delinquents. We learn that the Chief Of Police has issued an order that all known gangsters and gunmen are to be arrested on sight, Ahd that any persons believed to be carry ing concealed weapons are to be searched. A glance at some of the lurid headlines tells the rest of the day's story {-** Police at sea in search for Johnson killers. More victims reveal loan sharks' tactics. Ward Worker shot to death: cast in ditch. police hunt mail robber with ftTVooOdois. Mystery veils boys' reported death in river, Double hanging due to-morrow. And so day by day it goes on, ana the city's newspapers are a catalogue of crime. MX Joseph McCabe, Who Was in Chicago last month, has thus described his impressions of the worst city in the World :—