‘CROWNER'S QUEST.
THREE
ANNUAL REPORTS
EMIL DIETZSCH,
CORO S ER OF COOK COUNTY. CHICAGO, ILL.
CHICAGO :
LEGAL NEWS CO. PEINT.
1878.RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO THE CITIZENS OF COOK COUNTY, BY THE AUTHOR.INTRODUCTION.
The object of Statistics (the science which constantly gains in significance and importance) is not only to reveal certain facts by long columns of figures to the eye of the official and statesman, and to thus picture the affairs of the State, and the life, work and sufferings of its inhabitants, but principally to fathom (if possible) the mysteries and causes of those figures; thus proving the result of the facts by reflection on the same. It is further the aim of Statistics to publish those investigations from time to time, and at regular intervals, for the benefit of suffering humanity, in order that they may be met, if dangerous to public welfare; or in order to aid reforms which may benefit the people, or the administration of public affairs.
The tabular compilation of certain occurrences and facts leads us to most extraordinary and astonishing developments. They do not seem to be accidental only, but subject to certain material laws which are always repeating themselves, and yet are variable.
The celebrated astronomer, Quetelet, director of the observatory of Brussels, thus has tried to prove the natural laws which are shown by these statistics, by pointing out that the same facts and occurrrences are found in different countries, with the same percentage, in the same proportions, in the same period.
For instance, in Belgium, women over 60 years were married byVI
INTRODUCTION.
6 men below 30 years;
18 men between 30 and 50 years; and 27 men between 45 and 60 years.
The same learned professor also proves that in France, during many years, out of 100 criminals, 39 were acquitted.
It would be one of the most interesting statements which could be furnished, for the benefit of our populace, to show how many of the criminals who were delivered to the Sheriff of Cook county, have been discharged by the wisdom of courts and juries.
The enigmatical verdicts of the twelve men before the forum of the Criminal Court, have been so often repeated in these latter days, that it might be seriously considered to have the emblem of the Goddess of Justice, with the scales, which is fixed above the door of our Court House, removed, to make room for the motto cut into the stone—“ Not Guilty.5’
A statistical report of the Coroner of a metropolis like Chicago, and a district as extensive as Cook county, numbering nearly 600,000 inhabitants, may be likely to contain much which is interesting, instructive and remarkable—as the Coroner, in the performance of his functions, is enabled to observe and discover much which others have no occasion to study. Perhaps this is the most important aim of his office ; and if, therefore, my reports should by my kind readers be accepted as a chapter in the history of the civilization of the inhabitants of my district, I am at least partially rewarded for the labor and care (often so disagreeable and unappreciated), which is connected with the office as it now exists.
♦ Imbued with a sense of duty, to investigate the motives and causes, and psychological government of the facts and occurrences which present themselves to me, and also by virtue of my office, which enables me to penetrate the true life of the people, I can draw a picture for my fellow citizens ; and even if I should find only a limited sympathy,INTRODUCTION.
Vil
and cause a few influential men of the State to give attention to one or other of my remarks, by means of which perhaps much could be improved for the benefit of the people, I would be richly rewarded. I scarcely think it possible that a state, or ,even a commonwealth, could be well and efficiently conducted at the present time (when modern philosophy is so often the reverse of old primeval moral laws, as well as of customary policies, and when the overpopulation of some portions, calls for other and severer laws than those portions which are less densely settled), unless the legislators have studied (above all), the most important statistical reports of the officials of such state, in order to enact laws necessary for its future administration, or to repeal those which have become obsolete and impracticable. A German professor, Achenwall, of Goettingen, the originator of statistical reports, first called attention to their importance, and elevated them to the rank of modern science, and now the greatest attention has been paid in England, to the statistical report of the officers of state. In England as well as in France and Germany, the officials are obliged to present annual statistical reports, which are worked out in detail, to the superior office of the state ; whereupon, they are examined in parliament, or in the respective legislative bodies, whose members are usually well versed in the ; philosophy of law, and highly educated, who can accept and “ mentally digest ” , such reports, so that they often serve as the basis of future legislation.
In this country, which is blessed with liberty in its widest acceptation, it is different. Here but comparatively few wise, educated, and really gifted men go to the capitals to serve their country as legislators. Many of our legislators arrive at the capital with a “ little bill ” in then pocket, which is often destructive in its character, and which, having been framed at home, with friends in their narrow sphere of life, they generally consider, not whether it is necessary as a cog in the great wheel of the, machineryINTRODUCTION.
viii
of state, or promotive of the public good, but which they introduced only in order to satisfy the personal ambition of its author, if not in many cases to assist in the creation of a monopoly that blossoms at first in secrecy, but eventually brings destruction and disadvantage to the public at large. Late, very late, when the session is nearly over, when the law makers are already tired out with trading, haggling, and making compromises, and when the good and honest ones are discouraged, the innocent little thing slips through in the so ■ called 44 omnibus ; ” the smartness of the city lawyers has conquered, and the 44 simplicity from the country ” returns gaily, but duped, to his homestead, in order to be styled 44 Honorable ” by his neighbors, and to be enabled to talk to them about the beautiful and festive hours which he has not spent on the benches of the capitol, so that others are encouraged to act likewise when the occasion arises.
' A man who enacts laws must have the intellect and the education which is necessary to conceive the spirit of the law, for the philosophy of the law is not as easily to be comprehended as the spirit of medicine, of which the great Goethe, in his “ Faust,” (so ably translated by Bayard Taylor) says :
“ '1 o grasp the spirit of medicine is easy;
Learn of the great and little world your fill,
To let it go at last, so please ye,
Just as God will.”
But so long as there are such doctors as the one elected to the legislature from somewhere down in 44 Egypt,” who, when a member introduced a bill for compulsory ‘education, roared at him in private conversation : 44 I would shoot that man in cold blood, who would compel my children to go to school,”—as long “as such men sit in the legislature, there is an unfavorable outlook for the state.
One might be induced to address that man, who was fullINTRODUCTION.
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of medical knowledge, clear to his throat, but above which nothing had entered his brain, in the language of John Huss, uttered when he was about to be burned in Constance, on the funeral pyre : “ 0, sancta simplicitas !
My esteemed fellow citizens will pardon me that I have explained to them, somewhat at length, my views on the importance of statistical reports in general, but the kindness shown to me, and the acknowledgment on the part of the general public—which were manifested' since the appearance of my last report, have emboldened me to open, in many respects, a larger field in my present report. My views do not claim to be decisive, but only the expression of an honest opinion, in which I may be mistaken, and for which I therefore beg forbearance.FIRST AM UAL REPORT.FIRST
ANNUAL REPORT.
December 30, 1874, to December 3D, 1875.
Fellow Citizens of Cook County :
Assuming that it may be of interest to many of my fellow-citizens to obtain some definite information as to the various duties of a Coroner, and knowing it to be a fact, that a large part of the public have but very indistinct and vague ideas on the subject of the manifold branches of a Coroner’s public business, I beg to offer to the public the following review of my official action during the past year, I believe it to be the duty of a public officer, serving the people under a democratic form of government, to give public account of its actions and experiences from time to time, for only through such reports can the legislative representatives of the people draw conclusions as to the necessary changes and amendments in our laws.
There is probably not a public functionary in our system of government who, in the conscientious discharge of his duties, meets with more difficulties and greater obstacles than a Coroner ; and I am free to say, that during the short time of my official career, I have frequently found my knowledge of some technical matter essentially connected with the various functions of the office, to be quite insufifi-14
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cient. The Coroner is indeed a very “ Jack-of-all-trades ” among public officers, and in cases where there is pericutum in mom—as there is most always in Coroners’ cases— the ramifications of his manifold duties frequently reach over ¿ into the sphere of action originally allotted to other officers. Sometimes he will have to assume executive functions, like those of a sheriff, and then again act in the capacity of a judicial officer; now he will appear as state’s attorney, and then, perhaps, as a police officer; now as a physician, then as a druggist, chemist, etc. In assuming this perplexing multiplicity of different public duties shortly after my election, I was greatly encouraged by the generous benevolenee bestowed upon me by the people of Cook county, for which I am truly thankful, and in recognition of which I have not spared any efforts in using my leisure time for the perfection of my technical knowledge of matters connected with the office ; so that, after having been the Coroner for two years, I shall probably have mastered all the intricacies of the office, and shall then be fully qualified—to make room for a successor as unacquainted with the duties of the office as I was when elected.
But few of my fellow citizens and friends would like to be my constant companions in my daily excursions to all, even the most distant, parts of the county ; for they would have to visit the uncleanly hovels of poverty and destitution, as well as the haunts of the various forms of social vice. They would have to be hardened against all sorts of sickening impressions, overcome disgust, calmly bear brutality, and keep the even tenor of their way, “ unmoved by pity or indignation.”
In looking over the statistical tables compiled at the close of the year, I find the following general statistics of the Coroner’s office: From Dec. 7, 1874, until Dec. 7, 1875, there were 541 inquests all told, occupying, according to circumstances, from three or fotir hours to four days each.FIRST ANNUAL REPORT.
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Of the fifty-two Sundays of the year, the Coroner was officially engaged on forty-three. Sixty-two inquests were held after 8 o’clock p. m., seven of them after midnight.
At these 541 inquests, the cause of death was found to be as follows :	Suicide, 69; delirium-tremens, 12 ; railroad
accidents, 61 (56 of which took place within the city limits); accidents on elevators, 7 ; accidental drowning, 62 ; homicide, 16; infanticide, 6; explosions, 8 ; heart diseases, 47; diseases of the brain, 31 ; pulmonary complaints, 24; epilepsy, 6; burnt or scalded, 17; infantile convulsions, 13. The remainiug 84 cases resulted from a great variety of causes, the most noteworthy among which are the following :	One man died in consequence of having been bitten
by a tiger ; two persons were suffocated with escaping gas ; two children were starved to dèath ; • two persons were frozen to death, and in six cases the corpses had previously been interred, and afterwards illegally taken, for the purpose of sending them to the anatomical schools of the country. Three persons died of lock-jaw ; and three were victims of abortion ; seven died from general debility ; one with sunstroke ; twenty-one were killed by falling from high buildings; and sixteen by accidents in handling machinery. Finally—and I am sorry that in the interest of truth it is not desirable to remain silent on this subject, which is a stain upon our public morality—I have to report that in this one year there were found, within the city limits, not less than twenty> one corpses of babes, exposed immediately after birth, and twenty-eight hidden in various places. Unfortunately I have reason to believe that at least twice as many of these evidences of crime have escaped the watchful eye of the authorities. In view of such deplorable facts, one might almost wish to see our legislators fall back on the good old Roman law, the Julian leges de maritandis ordinibus, by which the raising of large families of children was rewarded, and celebacy taxed by fines. At present the indulgent consideration for the weaker sex, whichj6
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has always been a characteristic of the American people has the effect of encouraging this particular sort of crime, inasmuch as the American jurors treat this great moral disease much too mildly. Of the six women against whom there were charges of infanticide, well sustained by evidence, five were acquitted, some by the Coroner’s juries at inquests, and the others by the grand and petit juries of the Criminal Court, while only one, who had to be removed to' the hospital immediately after the deed, still awaits her trial.
In the 69 cases of suicide, 6 of the persons cut their throats with razors ; 17 committed suicide b}' hanging ; 25 by poisoning; 12 by shooting; and 9 by drowning. Forty-nine of the suicides were men, two boys, and the remainder women. Among them 26 were Germans, 17 Americans, and the remainder were distributed among a number of other nationalities, with a preponderance of Bohemians. It would lead me too far away from the legitimate purpose of this review, if I should undertake to explain these various suicides from a psychological standpoint, or investigate the curious fact that here, as well as almost everywhere, the Germans furnish the largest percentage of suicides. It does seem that the “ thymos 57 (see Plato) is particularly developed in Germans., and that they readily fall victims to psychomachy. One fact, however, will be of especial interest to the amiable lady readers, to-wit: that among forty-nine male suicides, only one could be found of whom it was actually demonstrated that it was love—disappointed, jilted love, which impelled him to end his miserable existence. Verily, the times of Hero and Leander, of Juliet and Romeo, have gone by; unfortunate enthusiasts who die for love’s sake, have become as rare as comets among the lights of the firmament, and when they do appear, alas ! derision is what they meet with more frequently than admiration and poetical glorification.
Of the fourteen persons accused of murder, and held for trial by the Coroner’s jury, a few are enjoying a brief butFIRST ANNUAL REPORT.
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rather agreeable sojourn at Joliet, but I should not be surprised to see a legislature, actuated by what seems to have become the accepted interpretation of American philanthropy towards Messieurs, the murderers, put a premium upon the taking of human lives, just as we have premiums for the killing of wolves or lynxes. This would legitimatize the “ sport ” of murdering, the punishment of which seems to have grown out of fashion.
,In the Rietz and the Wilke murder cases, the murderers are still at large and unknown to the authorities. Both crimes were committed on a Sunday. In five cases, notorious thieves and burglars, while pursued by the police, attacked the officers, and were shot and killed by the latter. A very remarkable fact is the one that, of thirty-four persons whose deaths were the subjects of Coroner’s investigations, the names could never be found out by the authorities. This might perhaps be explained on the assumption that the relatives and friends of many deliberately refrain from claiming the bodies, because they desire to evade the funeral expenses.
Among the persons who died from the effect of various poisons, those were especially unfortunate who were victims to the negligence or ignorance of physicians or druggists. There are still in this city a number of dangerous quacks and medical mountebanks, who remain unmolested in plying the nefarious trade, and a part of the public, unfortunately, is always willing to trust health and life into the hands of these pseudo-disciples of Aesculapius. A few years ago I called the attention of a law-maker to the dangerous practices of these quacks, in consequence of which we prepared, and he offered to the House of Representatives, a bill for an act to provide for the examination of physicians, and especially of druggists. The bill was lost through the obstinate opposition of a few representatives, notwithstanding its obvious utility, and its eminent necessity as a measure of protection to the lives of our citizens.
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If a city has the right to examine steam-boilers in the interest of the public welfare and safety, then certainly the State has the same right to decree that competent persons only shall participate in the sale and handling of highly active poisons and medicines. As it is, we frequently find absolute ignorance associated with brutal frivolity in this business. Proprietors of “ drug stores,” so called, frequently leave the management of their establishments to youths still in their teens, boys who ought to attend school, and who nevertheless manage “ drug stores ” with almost admirable impudence. I remember a boy of this class on South Clark street, who actually stated to a jury that it was not necessary to weigh morphine for the retail sale, and that he could tell by his eyesight “ how much he should sell for 5 cents !”
In connection with the fact that great mischief is wrought by the quackery of these ignorant men, the circumstance is worthy of note that the Board of Health is frequently obliged to issue blanks of certificates of death to persons who are enabled to make the most arbitrary use thereof in questionable cases. I know such blanks to be in the hands of unscrupulous persons who, as regards respect for law, are as totally wanting as they are in knowledge of the medical science. Thus many a mysterious corpse is silently and tracelessly made to disappear behind the walls of a cemetery without giving the Coroner a chance to investigate the cause of death, and to account therefor to the people. I have received anonymous letters on this subject, but I could not, of course, make them the basis of any proceedings, while, nevertheless, I believe that some of them contained clews to the detection of criminal deeds.
In the course of last summer, as the Coroner of this county, I sent letters to the Coroners of about 300 of the most populous and important counties of the country, requesting them to state to me the number of fatal accidents connected with the celebration of July 4, 1875, inFIRST ANNUAL REPORT.
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their respective States. I received about seventy-three answers from my good colleagues, all over the country, and these answers came from the least important, counties. A correct statistical showing of last year’s victims of the “ Fourth/’ which it has been my purpose to arrive at, could not be obtained, of course, interesting though it would have been. From the answers received, I was informed that the total number of deaths in those counties had been six. Some of the western Coroners misunderstood my purpose, and reported all fatal accidents, including those not connected with the celebration. I am, however, none the "less obliged to them for taking the trouble of answering my inquiry. The other gentlemen, especially those of New York and surroundings, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and other large cities in the East, were too busily engaged in collecting their enormous Coroner’s fees to bestow any attention upon such trifles as the subject-matter alluded to. May the Lord preserve them in health and good spirits during the time of their “ harvest/’ and may they be re-elected without opposition ! But I will humbly bow my head, and give praise to the Lord for the wisdom He instilled into the heads of the legislators who have so reduced the salary of the Coroner of Cook county,, that the only pleasure and recreation he can indulge in— is the collection of statistical material.
During the year just passed, I have, according to vouchers.,, transmitted $16,000 worth of money, jewelry, watches and: papers of value, found with deceased persons, to the persons having just claims upon the same. In a few of the: cases I still have possession of the valuables found, awaiting the decision of the proper authorities.
In conclusion, I cannot refrain from expressing my warmest gratitude to my faithful associate in office,, a man equally distinguished for learning, application, and professional fidelity, the late County Physician, Dr. Henrottn, Jr. With self-sacrificing generosity, he always assisted! me in20
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT.
the execution of my difficult and sometimes sad duties, arid his influence among all circles of society was as beneficent as his manner was confidence-inspiring and calming. The warmest recognition is also due to the officers and men of the Police Department, whose actions in the most intricate cases were always wise and circumspect.
Respectfully,
Emil Dietzsch,
Coroner of Cook County.SECOND ANNUAL DEPORT.SECOND
ANNUAL REPORT.
December 3D, 1875, to December 3D, 1876.
Fellow Citizens of Cook County:
In submitting to my fellow citizens this annual review of my official actions, at a time when the country is agitated by political complications of unparalleled magnitude, and when but little credit is usually attached to the utterances and opinions of public officers, I cannot refrain from expressing my anxiety as to its reception on the part of the public. I dare not hope that more than a few will read this communication with anything like real interest for the subject-matter, while the many will certainly pass it by with that lethargy which has become one of the chief characteristics of our day. But even the few, I apprehend, will peruse these notes—the result of experience gathered in my official career—with careless ease, prompted by the thought now so generally prevalent in regard to men in public station:	What good can come out of Nazareth?
and in the general chase after the “ mighty dollar,” my suggestions will probably soon be forgotten. The time our people are willing to devote to the earnest consideration of public affairs, such as should be expected from every good citizen of a republican commonwealth, seems to grow less
(23)24
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in proportion to the greater importance and more complicated condition of political events ; and the general apathy of the people in regard to public concerns, threateningly recalls the fate of ancient Rome, and the danger of a change in the form of our government.
Notwithstanding this general apathy to public affairs, I respectfully bespeak for the following remarks the reader’s careful attention, especially because one of the fifteen lords of Cook county, Mr. Conly, who represents the verdant pastures of Lemont, in a recent meeting of the County Board, has seen fit to cast the lustre of his brilliant mind upon what he deems to be the unimportance of the Coroner’s office. Mr. Conly seems to have but a very imperfect perception of his real position, and does not understand that with him the non possumus begins where he ceases to be a County Commissioner. What a blessed thing it would be for the State if men of the calibre of Mr. Conly, men who are and remain good and useful citizens as long as they follow their own vocation, but who, if accidentally put into a public position, immediately imagine that nothing is beyond their power of comprehension, although in reality they may not have the slightest understanding of the business of others—what a blessed thing it would be if such men could be made to understand the meaning of Horace, when he says :	“ Becitus ille qui procui negatiis, etc.’’—
t]he English of which, adapted to our case, would be: “ Happy is he, who, remote from all public business, after the fashion of our pristine forefathers, cultivates his paternal fields with his 'own Texas steers ; who is free from all desire for public spoils ; who does not care a straw for the Veteran Reform Association’s proclamation of ‘ wah,’ nor for the storms upon the irate sea; who always avoids the county building (forum), and never lingers in the antechamber of the county attorney.” .(Horace himself says: “ The antechamber of the more potent citizen,” but of course he meant county attorney, who, at least in ourSECOND ANNUAL REPORT.	25
day, certainly seems to be the u most potent citizen" extant)
In his excellent little work, “ De Officiis.written for his son, then sojourning in Greece, Cicero says: “ Nature has primarily inspired all animate beings with a desire to maintain their bodies and lives, and to resist all enemies thereto." And in another place in the same book, he says : “ That which is morally good, according to the views of the stoics, has the tendency, among others, to secure the perpetuity of human society." According to these and other philosophical axioms, the philosoph of Ikw has established general legal principles, and from them evolved a system of statutory enactments for the protection and security of human society. Considering the constant friction of conflicting interests, and the general state of mutual enmity into which mankind is driven by the great struggle for existence, it becomes one of the chief duties of the State to enforce such laws in spite of all apparent obstacles, to protect the lives of its citizens, and, in cases of accidental, sudden, or violent death, to investigate the cause, to give account thereof to the people, to utilize the experience thus acquired for the future prevention of similar cases, and, finally, to punish the enemies of society. The public officers employed in such investigations in this country and in England are called Coroners (the service is very similarly performed in Germany), the word being derived from the Latin “ corona," crown. The Coroner, then, is an officer Vho acts for the Crown in monarchical, and for the majesty of the People in republican countries, and whose importance is equal to that of a Judge or other high officer. Possibly Mr. Conly and his constituents in the quarries of Le-mont and surrounding country, disagree with the views of the wise legislators who originated the Coroner’s office. Such at least would be the indications derived from his utterances upon the office, and the equally important institution of Coroner’s juries. If he could be made to under-26
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stand the sacredness of human life, the importance of protecting it, and the guarantee of conscientious investigation afforded by the dual system of Coroner and Jury, Mr. Con-ly would probably want me to hold an inquest on his present opinions on the subject, that they might be buried out of sight, and he would perhaps agree with me in this, that men representing the people in any capacity and for any purpose whatsoever, should not be men of very limited breadth of view, but, on the contrary, men of grasping minds and considerable width of comprehension.
In his celebrated speech to the Commissioners, Mr. Con-ly further said, that the Coroner had only in twenty-four cases—in reality there were thirty-two—bound over the criminals to the Grand Jury, but of the remaining sixty cases definitely settled by the Coroner and his juries, he did not say a word. Can it be the opinion of Mr. Conly that persons found hanged should be left hanging, those drowned should be allowed to float, those poisoned to decompose, and those meeting with sudden, accidental, or violent death from various causes, left as found, without authoritative examination into the causes of death ?
This, O agricultural friend and statesman of the harvesting persuasion, would be an invitation to deeds of violence, although it would certainly be a measure of that wise economy, of which you have made yourself the champion, for at present the County generously pays the enormous sum of $1.40 for the burial of each friendless victim to accident and violence, provided* the body is not at once dispatched into the dissecting room of some institution of medical learning.
But in case your opposition to the Coroner’s office, O great and good Conly ! does not go as far as to want the bodies of the suddenly or violently deceased to be left to rot in the public thoroughfares, then let me in this connection show you a field of action for your official zeal. Arise in the council of the rulers of this county, O eloquent thun-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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derer ! and tell them that our manner of rendering unto earth what was mortal in those who in the midst of their lonely and thorny path of life were surprised by death, of those who died penniless and without a single friend in the wide world, is unworthy of a charitable and civilized community. Tell them that such persons, with no one to weep for them, no one* to protect their remains, are sent down to “ Hades” like so much carrion ; try to impress upon their minds the fact that, with every one of these unfortunates, we bury a good share of our own human dignity, and remind them of these beautiful words in “ Hamlet/’ that sound like mockery when applied to our pauper dead :
“To die,—to sleep,—
No more—and, by a sleep, to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks The flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished.”
In looking over my books, I find that 606 inquests were held during the last year,—from Dec. 7, 1875, to Dec. 4, 1876,—which is sixty-five more than during the preceding year. Among them I find the following causes of death : Murder, 32 (23 men, 4 women, arid 5 children); suicides* 55 (5 men and 8 women by drowning, 15 men by shooting, 7 women and 5 men by poisoning, 8 men and 1 woman by hanging, 1 man by throwing himself out of a window, 4 men by cutting their throats, 1 man by stabbing himself. Among the suicides, 26 were Germans, 14 Americans, 11 Irishmen, 2 Swedes, 1 Pole and I Italian.) Accidental drowning, occurring mostly during the summer months, was the cause of death in 75 cases (43 men, 9 women, and 23 children). In at least 10 cases there was a suspicion, although no conclusive evidence of suicidal intent, and in 2 cases foul play was suspected but not demonstrated, the two corpses having so far advanced in decomposition that28
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it was entirely impossible to make a post-mortem examination. If the persons in question were really the victims of foul deeds, the perpetrators will probably forever remain secure from human retribution. Accidental or intentional poisoning was shown to be the cause of death i n 7 cases (3 men, 3 women, and 1 child). Twenty-four persons (17 men, 1 woman, and 6 children) were killed by accidental falling. Four persons (1 man and 3 children) were killed by accidental o'r careless shooting. One child was killed by a falling wall, 1 man was crushed under a pile of lumber, 1 man killed by a falling stone, and I man by a falling bucket filled with coal. One man was killed by falling from a scaffolding, and 5 children were run over and killed by vehicles. Two men came to their death by falling through a shaft at the tunnel. One man and 1 child were killed by explosions. Fifteen persons (9 men, 1 woman, and 5v children) lost their lives through runaway teams. Two men were frozen to death. Five persons (4 men and 1 child) either fell from, or were crushed by elevators, and 18 persons (5 men, and 13 children) were scalded to death. Seventeen persons (10 men, 5 women, and 2 children) died from exposure. Ten men were killed by machinery, and 70 persons (46 men, 2 women, and 22 children ; 49 within and 21 outside of the city limits) by railroad accidents. Eight persons (2 men, 4 women, and 2 children) were burnt to death. Two men were kicked to death by horses. Two children died of starvation. Twelve children suddenly died of infantile convulsions. Eight persons (5 men and 3 children) died of suffocation, and 4 men of sunstroke Twenty-six foetuses were found and 4 skeletons. One infant was still-born. There were 30 cases of delirium tremens (21 men and 9 women). One man was the victim of quackery. There were 7 cases of premature birth. One woman died of paralysis, and 51 persons (34 men, 16 women, and 1 child) of apoplexy. Pulmonary diseases were the cause of sudden death in 22 cases (18 men and 4SECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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women) ; congestion of the brain in 34 cases (28 men, 5 women, and I child) ; epilepsy in 4 cases (3 men, and 1 woman). There were 3 cases of scarlet fever, 2 'of nervous fever, 6 of dyphtheria; syphilis in the case of 1 woman, 1 case of abscess, and 1 of cholera morbus. In 35 cases (30 men, 4 women, and 1 child) nothing was gleaned at the inquest regarding the name, residence, or other clew to the identification of the deceased.
In the case of a man whose spine was injured in consequence of a leap from a rapidly-moving railroad train, and who was thereby partially paralyzed, only his given name could be learned, and the fact that he owned some real estate somewhere in the city. His memory had been so much affected by paralysis that he did not remember his family name, nor could he give any information as to the location of his property. He died soon after, and the question of his identity and the property he owned will probably forever remain unsolved. In such and similar cases the re-enactment of the old regulations in relation to the Morgue would be desirable, whereby it was made the duty of the Coroner to have the remains of unknown victims to accident or violence photographed, thus furnishing the only possible means for a future identification of the deceased. I would, therefore, respectfully but urgently call the attention of the Board of County Commissioners to this important matter.
A truly shocking increase in the number of cases of murder and manslaughter is exhibited by the Coroner’s books for the year 1876. During the year immediately preceding, there were twenty-two such cases, while in 1876 this number was increased to thirty-two. The morbid sentimentalism, which in this country is rapidly becoming a recognized basis for the treatment bestowed upon destroyers of human life, the variety of excuses sought and found for them, and the fact that many of them are absolutely treated as the heroes of the day,30
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are certainly the best means to cultivate all that is beastly in human nature. The pistol and the knife are frequently made the sole arbiters of human strife, and we are rapidly returning towards that barbarous condition of affairs in which it was necessary to instruct children, almost from their infancy, in the use of deadly weapons, in order that they might easily acquire masterly skill in the handling of these amiable and useful instruments. The law which makes the carrying of concealed weapons a criminal offense, is now and will probably remain, a dead letter, and in order that the Messrs. Murderers may not come to grief for want of chances for escape, each one of them is at once granted a threefold examination of his cause. Twice twelve and once twenty-four “good men and true” sit in judgment over him, the first time at the Coroner’s inquest, the second time in the grand jury, and the third time at the trial in the Criminal Court. In some one of these instances we but too frequently find good natured and sentimental souls willing to let Mercy run away with Justice, and to allow the “native hue of resolution” to be “ sickbed o’er by the pale cast of thought!” Society is even now almost reconciled to the fact that in all important cases, when the perpetrators of cold-blooded crime should suffer relentless retribution, either our juries will not agree, or else the Gordian knot of American interpretation of law is violently severed by judicial rulings. In the former case the trials are frequently postponed until oblivion has lulled society’s demand for retribution, and in the latter case the trials are often brought to definite conclusions, which for a few days call forth expressions of the indignant surprise of the people, only to be as rapidly forgotten, for public indignation with us is a thing of remarkably short duration. The worst of this laxity in the enforcement of our criminal laws, this lenient toleration of the enemies of society, is its slow but sure tendency towards complete anarchy and lawless terror, such as disgraced the time of the French Revolution. OurSECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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legislators, lawyers, and jurors would do well to follow the advice given to the liberal gentlemen of the Austrian Reichsrath, apropos of a debate upon capital punishment by Edward von Hartmann, the well known author of “ Die Phylosophie des Unbewussten,” to-wit: to study Schopenhauer’s theory of criminal jurisprudence, who teaches and demonstrates “That the principal object of punishment is the creation of a counter-motive against future crime, and that, therefore, the reforming of the criminal is only to be regarded as secondary to the principal object of punishment, which is not to be obstructed 1 hereby.”
The pardoning power so freely exercised by our late Governor, is in direct contradiction to the above-stated principles, and encourages the rash deeds of bloodthirsty individuals. I fully agree with the sentiment once during last year written down by my friend, Herman Raster : Whenever the Messrs. Murderers begin to respect the sacredness of human life, then will it be early enough to talk of the sacredness of their lives. The records of our Criminal Court show that we have steadily progressed in the direction of leniency towards the knights of the knife and the revolver. Thanks to chanty and love of justice on the part of some of his countrymen, the twofold assassin, Rooney, is still enabled to indulge in “ the sweet habit of life,” and if in his present Tusculum, at the farm of his father, in Wisconsin, there are no convenient Dutchmen (vide W. W. O’Brien) to shoot at, he will, alas ! have to content himself with smaller game—a deplorable condition of affairs, that will undoubtedly be to him, as it was to young Siegfried, in Uhland’s famous ballad, “ Bitter and sad enough.”
Many cases of this kind that occurred during last year have not been definitely settled by the Court, and consequently I refrain from any allusion to them. But it may not be amiss, perhaps, to invite Uncle Sam to provide a new and impenetrable bandage for the eyes of his Goddess of Justice. Perchance, also, it might be proper to avoid32
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the grand jury in cases where a person has been charged with murder or manslaughter, by directly binding him over to the Criminal Court, which would not only diminish the chances for escaping punishment, but also the costs of the proceedings against the suspected person. This matter, however, I cheerfully leave to the judgment of professional jurists, for, never having studied jurisprudence myself, I am not able to say whether my suggestion is theoretically admissible or not.
In this connection, let me call the attention of the general public, as well as the County Commissioners, to the extraordinary importance of chemical analyses in the very frequent cases of poisoning. Without such analysis it is almost impossible to prove the crime of murder by poison. -1 am well aware of the fact that chemical analysis, as well as the scientific art of microphotography, now extensively employed in Europe for the purpose of distinguishing between human and animal blood, are very costly auxiliaries to thé criminal law, principally because the professional gentlemen of undoubted competence in these matters are few in number, because only men of many years’ experience and practice can be relied mpon, and because these not only employ costly instruments, but are also obliged to keep up with the continued and rapid progress with all the new discoveries, inventions, and newly-demonstrated truths, relating to their science. I am personally acquainted with only three gentlemen whom I know to be fully competent to perform lege artis, a quantitative as well as qualitative analysis in organic and unorganic chemistry, but whether any one of the scientific gentlemen of Chicago has ever made experiments in micro-photography I am unable to say. And yet there were two cases before the Coroner during the past year in which micro-photography would have been the only means of establishing crime. One of these cases was that of the old man.Rietz, who was found murdered on GooseSECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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Island, one night last year. His sons and his son in-law were suspected and arrested. Large stains of blood were found upon the clothes of one of the sons, as also upon a hatchet discovered about the premises. The prisoners claimed the blood to be that of hogs killed by him the day before, and for want of proof he as well as his brother and brother-in-law had to be discharged. In Europe, in such eases the authorities would have “ moved heaven arid earth/’ without regard to expense, in order to secure the triumph of justice, and to establish beyond a doubt either the guilt or the innocence of the suspected parties. Some of the learned gentlemen, however, whom we place in responsible legal positions, declare these scientific auxiliaries to the criminal law to be “ humbug/’ and accuse the Coroner of officiousness for recommending their employment. At the next opportunity I shall appeal to the courts for a decision as to whether it is just and proper to employ such scientific “ humbuggery,” when the question is the discovery and punishment of murder.
Among the many suicides who during the last year have ended their miserable existence, persons of German birth have again been by far the most numerous. The well-known national beverage of the Germans, lager beer, may have some influence upon their psychological peculiarities. The habitual use of beer seems to have a tendency to direct their psychological ailments inlo the form of a metamorphosis from phlegmatic ease to melancholy, and, finally, suicidal mania. This, however, is, of course, nothing but a vague supposition, and the peculiar frequency of suicide among the Germans may have psychological reasons totally different. Neither do I wish to make war upon beer as an habitual beverage, for I am myself a firm believer in the old students’ maxim, that cerevisiam bibunt homines, animalia caetera fontes.
During the first year of my term of office, there was but one among the many suicides who fell a victim to the dire 334
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passion of love. During the year just closed, the number of that class of madmen increased to four. Only in two cases, however, did the objects of “ Love’s labors lost ” show any signs of pity and remorse when they learned of the fate of those who had preferred to die rather than live without them, and in one case the faithless damsel who had caused a man to destroy his life, appeared upon the stage on the very evening after his death, probably throwing out her bait for another fool to become a victim of her charms. In the remaining case, the woman who caused the irresistible desire for death remained entirely unknown.
Napoleon I. is credited with the remark that “ From the sublime to the ridiculous there-is but one step.” Let us make the step, then, and pass from the contemplation of the tragedy of love to that of the poor fellow who blew out what little brains he had on account of the tortures to which he was daily subjected by,—his mother-in-law. Mothers-in-law have always been a great power of mischief to the world, and alas! the plague is so universal and enduring that we must despair of ever seeing it overcome. The misery caused by mothers-in-law is eternal, even as mothers-in-law themselves are immortal.
Among last year’s suicides there were unusually many prostitutes, and, be it said to the credit of these unfortunate outcasts from human society, that in no case where one of them had sought relief from the agony of a life of shame in suicidal death, was the County Treasurer asked to pay the funeral expenses out of the people’s money. I have frequently seen thesQ women gather around the coffin of an unfortunate sister, who had sought and found eternal rest for her weary soul. With expressive silence do they tenderly decorate with flowers the inanimate form of their departed friend, but hardly ever have I seen them weep. Death seems less painful after lives like theirs, and it is not difficult on such occasions to read in their weary countenances a regretful resignation to their hopeless fate. Per-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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haps they think of the time when the sun of human happiness shone as brightly for them as for their mojre fortunate sisters; when with pure and maidenly hearts and fond hopes they awaited the future; when they knew not what misery falls to the lot of those who travel the broad road; of sin. Then came temptation ! As timidly did they shrink^ at first, from the sweet words of the seducer, as did Gretcken from Faust:
“ I’m neither lady, nor am I fair,
And home I can go without your care ! ”
But the young and passionate, the trusting and inexperienced heart, believed the fair words of the heartless seducer, and the loving maiden yielded to his temptations, only to awake from a short intoxication of passion a disappointed, deserted, dishonored woman. And then came the fall downward, downward, downward, into vice and shame, into misery and despair, into the hopeless condition of an abandoned woman, from which there is but one relief,— death, merciful death !
-Who understands the terrible suffering of these women ? Who knows the agonizing thoughts, the pangs of remorse, the utter despair that must fill their minds in many a weary hour of solitude ? Society, heartless, canting, and frequently hypocritical, even, in its professions of sexual virtue, passes them by with never more than a contemptuous shrugging of shoulders, and yet these unfortunates are capable of the noblest sentiments and most excellent deeds. In my official capacity I have frequently had occasion to observe them in truly magnanimous practice of that sweetest of virtues, charity; and I have thought it proper to mention as much, to the credit of this most friendless class of social outcasts.
I have intentionally dwelt somewhat at length upon this subject, hoping, through persuasive words and impressive recitals, to press the matters and facts above related36
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more effectively upon the attention of good and true women, who, by their charitable work in such as these, as also in other cases, will recall many of these unfortunates to a useful and virtuous life. Ladies of this country ! so well known for your beauty, grace, and refinement, and more so for your benevolence, use all your power of devotion and persuasion, try your utmost to save those of your sex who are not lost entirely, and endeavor to restore them to a good and honorable sphere of action.
One of the most deplorable cases among last year’s suicides, was that of a modern Medea, a mother, who, driven into despair either by the infidelity of her “Jason,” or by want and destitution, first drowned her two children, and afterwards herself, in the waters of Lake Michigan. The terrible mental struggle that turns a mother’s love into murderous cruelty, has been grandly illustrated by Euripides in his tragedy of “ Medea,” almost 2,500 years ago. Yet we find exactly the same symptoms of psychomachy in our own age of advanced civilization, and we shall continue to find them as long as mankind remains unchanged and subject to conflicting human passions. Not many days after that unfortunate mother had carried her two children into death, another mother fell prey to the treacherous waters of the lake, but she was drawn into her watery grave while endeavoring to rescue her two children !
But from these poetical and tragical scenes, let us return to coarsest reality, and close this chapter on 'suicides, with the bare mention of the fact that one of the most frequent as well as most secret motives for suicide, is that direst of diseases,— syphilis—“ Sapienti sat"!
And now, after having said a few kind words in behalf of those who have brought their misery upon themselves, let me also remember those*' unfortunate ones whose lives have been sacrificed by unforeseen accidents—who hâve been torn from their beloved ones, their wives and children, only to leave them in abject misery and poverty. If some ofSECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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my fellow citizens, blessed with the comforts of life, would accept my invitation to visit such places of misery, they probably would in many cases change their ideas about the condition of their unfortunate fellow beings for the benefit of the latter. Sturdy men with downcast faces silently mourn and stand beside the coffin with trembling, strong and brawny^—but, alas ! helpless and empty—hands. They think about to-morrow, having to descend the shaft, climb up to the unsteady scaffold, or venture in a frail boat out upon the treacherous lake. Very often, when in danger, their lips move in silent prayer, and in their minds they take leave *>f wife and children in their far away little cottage. How willingly and with what self-sacrifice would they have assisted the widows and orphans of their departed friend, but, alas ! they have a feeling heart; but all are partners in poverty.
In such instances we are involuntarily reminded of the “ Agrarian laws ” (leges ctgrarice) of the ancient Romans, by which public lands of the state could not be given to the patricians as leaseholds, but had to be divided among the cultivators of the soil, the bone and sinew of the people—■ the laboring class. What a manifold misery would cease to exist also with us, to what extent would the general welfare of the people be increased! My fellow citizens will certainly pardon me if I recite as a demonstmtio ad ocidos, a few cases that came under my personal observation during my last year’s official career:	Late one Saturday afternoon, think-
ing that riiy painful duties were finished for the week, I was suddenly informed by a dispatch that a laborer had been killed by the falling of a stone from a building then in course of erection on Ashland Avenue. I hurried to the spot, but found on my arrival there, that the body had been removed by an express wagon to the home of the deceased, and that the witnesses had also gone there. His home was far off on the South Side—-I think on Portland Avenue. Approaching the house of mourning, a few men, with hag-38
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gard faces stopped me, informing me in a whisper, that the body had been conveyed to rooms of another tenant of the house, since deceased’s wife was just then in labor, and anxiously all the time inquiring for her husband, whom she had sent for several times before, anticipating the speedy approach of her delivery. A physician did his utmost to appease the sufferer, and to deceive her as to the real cause of the continual absence of her husband. What was to be done ? I myself stood by helpless, for telling her the truth might have' been of fatal consequences. Soon after I was informed that she had given birth to a child, and was then sound asleep. I left with painful thoughts, for the next days could only bring a continuance of the drama. Two days afterwards she learned the true state of facts, and who. can describe the grief and despair of the unfortunate widow and mother ? Four small children, with tearless eyes, stood by her bedside, unable to comprehend the sad fate that befell them, and chewing crusts of bread given them for the purpose to keep them quiet.
Whose feelings will not be touched with those of mine, when I relate how, in the winter of last year, on a dark and stormy February night, I found in a miserable shanty near Twenty-second street bridge, a poor, abandoned woman, -a abyat her breast, and a little girl at her side, seemingly perfectly unconscious of her sufferings ? On the floor of the dark room, just before her, lay the bodies of her husband and brother, both of whom had been killed at noon in a coal yard by a falling mass of frozen coal. Neither fire nor food, not even a light, could be found, and the wretched creature was hardly able to answer my questions. In this case, assistance would have been procured at once, but the small hours of the night passed away before even the most immediate wants of the unfortunate ones could be supplied.
I could recite many instances of similar cases, but I think the above will suffice to procure for my future applicationsSECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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for immediate assistance, better attention on the part of the Relief and Aid Society and County Agent, for T shall apply only in cases where there is immediate assistance absolutely necessary.
There is never a dearth of interesting incidents of the grave, as well as the humorous kind, in a Coronor’s official life. A police officer once called my attention to the fact, that in a single panel of jurors gathered near the scene of the inquest, there were not less than five professional thieves and confidence men. I got their names, and then, placing them in line before me, I had the pleasure of gazing upon as choice a lot of penitentiary faces as were ever collected anywhere. From obvious reasons I then excused the whole lot from serving on the jury. They saw the point and—disappeared.
In two cases, bodies had to be exhumed by order of the Court. It was then shown that bodies are not rapidly decomposed in Graceland Cemetery. A corpse being in the ground for ten days, was so well preserved that a post mortem examination could easily be performed. On this occasion, Dr. Baxter’s diagnosis, doubted by some, was triumphantly sustained by the examination. The subject had not, as was expected by some, died in consequence of an abortion, but, as Dr, Baxter had previously declared, of a syphilitic tumor in the brain. In the case of the second exhumation, at the cemetery of Niles Centre, a post mortem examination could not be performed, the body being (nine days after the burial) in a complete state of decomposition. This was a great advantage for the man, Huebner, then in jail on suspicion of having murdered his wife, and then thrown her into a well. He was discharged for want of evidence, but the good people of Niles have their own opinion on the subject.
In regard to the work performed by the Coroner’s office, the books show that there was an average of three inquests for every two days, besides the execution of many writs,40
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which is not less laborous and troublesome. The distance traveled by the Coroner and his assistant, gives an average of 26 miles per day. On 39 Sundays, inquests were held. Nine inquests were held after 10 p’clock p. m. ; 61 after 6 p. m. ; and 16 before 8 a. m. Compared with the four Coroners and their deputies in New York, the Coroner of this county has to perform three times the amount of their work. According to New York papers, all of them held only 1,002 inquests, for the performance of which they divided among themselves the handsome little sum of $78,000 in fees. In this county, the Coroners office has last year been run at a total cost of $13,382.85, which is not nearly so much as the cost of the single criminal procedure against the Turner brothers.
The expenses of the Coroner’s office are as follows : Coroner’s salary, $3,000; Deputy’s salary, $1,200; Constable’s salary, $360; Office expenses, transportation of corpses, railroad fare, horse and buggy, telegraphing, and stationery, $1,323.70; jury fees, paid'by the treasurer, $7,908, in 557 cases of one day’s duration, 45 of two days’, and 4 of three days’ duration. Deduct from this the fees collected by the Coroner, to the amount of $408.85, and the total cost will appear to be $13,382.85, as above stated. This sum might be materially decreased if the law allowed the Coroner to collect inquest-fees from the railroad corporations. For two days the Coroner acted as Sheriff without being able to collect any pay therefor, because the frugally and economically-disposed County Attorney, Mr. John M. Rountree, who entertains a tender regard for the Coroner’s welfare, decreed that a little extra work without extra pay would have a beneficent tendency against that official’s increasing corpulence, for all of which he may rest assured of my lasting gratitude.
In conclusion, I will say that the condition of the Morgue is simply disgusting, and a disgrace to the community. This institution is in nowise fitted for its avowed purpose, and,SECOND ANNUAL REPORT.
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notwithstanding repeated requests and suggestions on my part, no steps have been taken to improve if, and make it as useful as it should be.
Hoping that it never may become my duty to perform anything like the services lately rendered by my colleagues in Ashtabula and Brooklyn, and that our much-tried city may be spared the misfortune of such ghastly accidents as lately befell those places, I close this review by rendering to my fellow citizens my sincere thanks for the partiality shown in my favor at the last election.
Respectfully,
Emil Dietzsch,
Coroner of Cook County.THIRD AHHITAL REPORT.THIED
ANNUAL REPORT.
December 3D, 1876, to December 3D, 1877.
Fellow Citizens of Cook County:
I have to-day the honor of presenting to you my third annual report, containing different facts connected with my office, and my own views in regard to them.
I trust that the kind reader will grant me forbearance, in case my deductions should not exactly agree with his feelings and opinions.
During this period, 555 inquests have been held, in the following cases:	Murder and manslaughter, 28; of
which there were 10 Americans, 12 Irishmen, 4 Germans, and 2 Swedes; 10 persons were killed by shots from revolvers, 9 by assault, 5 by stabbing, and 5 by poison'. Sixty-six persons committed suicide, among them 13 women. According to nationality, there were 18 Americans, 29 Germans, 8 Irishmen, 6 Scandinavians, 1 Frenchman, 1 Chinaman, and 3 unknown. 25 of these suicides traveled into eternity by shots from revolvers, 7 by cutting their throats, 2 by drowning, 10 by hanging, and 22 by poison. I shall refer to the causes of suicide hereafter. There were drowned, 65 person's ; died from results of abortion, 2; accidentally shot, 5; slain and crushed, 18;
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burned, 3^ scalded, 14; accidentally poisoned, 5; killed by falling" from houses and stairways, 30; killed by kicks from horses, 2; by explosions, 3; suffocated, 7; run over by wagons, 16; by street-cars, 6 (none of which were killed on the North Side); run over by railroad trains, 56 ; killed by a mad steer, 1 ; “ found dead ” and “ sudden death,” 199.
The post-mortem examinations in the latter class of cases, developed the following causes of death: uteral hemorrhage, 4; hemorrhage of lungs, 3 ; general debility, 6; apoplexy, 22 ; heart-disease, 38; inflammation of the lungs, 4; diseases of the brain, 6 ; convulsions from different causes, 26; peretonitis, 1 ; inflammation of the brain,
1 ; tuberculosis, 15 ; old age, 6; inflammation of bowels, 3 ; scarlet fever, 6; diphtheria, 2; delirium tremens, 22; epilepsy, 9 ; etc., etc.
After this detailed review of my official labors, I now beg leave to present to my fellow citizens my observations during the year.
The discharge of the official duties of the position is in its nature connected with so many unpleasant actions and manipulations, which have often to be attended to in most inhospitable regions and localities, that the Coroner may be permitted a cheerful discussion of his recollections, in which he may try to present (for others) a pleasant aspect of his office, which he might idealize and poetically express. In this I rely upon the kind forbearance of my fellow citizens, which I have had to claim several times before, but they will here please consider that my term of office expires next fall, and that after this they will no longer, probably, be molested with similar attempts on my part. It is a sad sign of the times that the details of this report actually show an increase of murder and manslaughter. There are, however, more influences tending towards the promotion of such bloody deeds (amongst our rising generation) than to their decrease. Above all, it is the leni-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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ent sentences of juries which nearly extinguish the fear of punishment, and the slow and tiresome manner of their proceedings, the indefinite postponement of important trials—for the shrewd lawyers well know that with the lapse of time the excitement and exasperation of the people over a bloody deed, committed with astonishing brutality and infamy, will abate. To this must be added the hair-splitting business (sophistries) about the spirit of the existing laws, on the one part, and the most ridiculous word-catching on the other, which often gives to the criminal advantages which are most dangerous to society.
The right of self-defense is in itself manly, noble, practical, and worthy of a free people who have attained a high degree of civilization ; but it embraces one danger, viz. : that a line can scarcely be drawn, because it is very indistinctly defined in the code where the right to oppose an adversary with a deadly weapon commences. There has been much sinning against the right of self-defense. We hear daily of most exciting murders and bloody stories from all parts of the country; we become excited and irritated by the same, yet most of them “ pass away in the sand ” before the respective courts, and the defendant generally passes from the trial quite unmolested, or he regains golden freedom after a short imprisonment. Those who in other countries would justly be called murderers, and tried as such, escape but too often free and unconvicted on the pretense of self-defense, or ridiculous technicalities in the proceedings have saved him ; and once more the man with the sign of Cain on his forehead hurries through the streets of the city, but after the grass of one spring has grown over his dark deed, his former friends, who first glanced at him reproachfully, greet him again. Soon he is again accepted into the community of the citizens, all is forgotten and everything is lovely; for, by this miserable modern philosophy, which more and more gnaws at the safety of humanity, everything is visited and morally dishonored by this dangerous lethargy.48
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The only comfort for true and sublime justice, is in the fact that the criminal also has a conscience, and should he even roam restlessly away, to “ where the mere stone of creation stands,” the consciousness of his guilt will be his faithful companion. It follows him like his shadow; it spurs him and torments him, and tears him' sleeplessly from his couch, upon which he has thrown himself in anguish, then leaving him to remorse.
The wise and feeling man who could frame and enforce laws, by means of which the increasing degeneration of our youth could be met, would indeed render the greatest and most sublime service to his fellow-citizens and to his country.
Above all, compulsory eduation should be made a law of the land, and strictly enforced. Thousands of our boys and girls, who would in the future become good citizens, strict fathers, and conscientious mothers, are now lost to the State, because it rejects them by not giving them the necessary education. In a republic in which every citizen has the right to cast his vote for every important measure, upon which measure he has to exercise his judgment, it cannot be a matter of indifference to the State whether the discrimination of such citizen is influenced by intellectual immorality or stupidity, for unscrupulous people make good use of this intellectual poverty, and the State runs the risk of at last becoming a sacrifice to anarchy. Compulsory education has everywhere produced the most beneficial results, and only through enforced education are the future citizens of a state brought to that height of political standing which is so necessary to a nation that desires to govern herself and regulate her affairs in every direction.
Further, what is taught, and how it is taught, in the high schools, as well as in the common schools, is of the highest importance to the State and to the moral education of the man, without which nothing great, tolerant and humane in the nation can be stimulated and accomplished.THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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Little attention has been paid anywhere in this country to didactics, and in my humble opinion, at least, our art of teaching, or our method of teaching, still lacks this character, which would be most suitable to our political and social circumstances. The American boy is in his normal character a high-minded, bright, and, on an average, a highly gifted being. Out of this excellent material great and glorious men could be produced if pedagogy were, to a higher degree, cultivated. In the halls of .the senate, on the benches of the legislature, in the courts, upon the professors’ chairs, and finally in the workshop and the log cabins of the country, there would undoubtedly be many more high-minded and learned men to counsel, teach, labor and plow, if the educators in our schools taught didactically, with more logical reference to the circumstances under which we live. But there are few genuine pedagogues who, from love of their profession, become teachers, and who only live for their profession. If there were more true, faithful pedagogues, who would be earnest and sincere in their care of the youths entrusted to them, they would above all introduce the study of the history of the world and natural science. In a young country that has only a short history, and which is not too rich in great motives and episodes, it is necessary to make use of the great classical, historical events of other nations, in order to make an impression upon the youthful mind, and assist the formation of the pupil’s character. “ Great examples prompt great deeds,” says Seneca, and if the future citizen of a great republic could be taught the histories of the Roman and Greek republics, and of the classic age, such noble examples as are fouild there would here and there fall upon fertile soil, and could not fail to produce good results.
The direction toward natural science usually’awakens in impressive children an interest in the things which are nearest, and which present themselves to their eyes. This 4THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.	5 I
“ Miserable’5, and say to them at the skirt of the forest: See, boys, that tree yonder, with the rough trunk, and those indented, curved toothed leaves, is an oak ; its fruit is an acorn that grows from a little cup. If you press this cup between the second and third fingers and blow in it, it will give a sharp whistling noise like a locomotive. That tree over there is a beech, which affords us such pleasant shade; come, let us recline beneath it, and beneath its refreshing shadow we will count the stamina of this flower, to ascertain to which class it belongs, according to the system of Linnaeus. Do you hear that bird sing yonder? Who can tell me what bird it is ?
This, and many other things could be done for the recreation of soul and body in the idle days of summer. But, instead of this, all stay at home, and allow the pure soul of the youth to be polluted year after year on every street corner by those sensational and ugly pictures, in which fist, revolver and dagger play the leading role. Thus the mind of the child is slowly but surely exposed to a putrid psychological process of fermentation, the effect of which can scarcely ever be eradicated. If to this is added the destructive penny literature (dime novels) which in secrecy blooms all over the country, and in all kinds of forms and colors is introduced into the children’s corner, the measure of dangerous influences upon our youth is full, and a continually increasing per centage are first brought to the sheriff, and later, their victims fall into the hands of the Coroner.
The last report of our honorable sheriff exhibits the appalling truth that the cells of our jails are filled to overflowing with youthful criminals. It is to be regretted that he has not also informed us how few of these youthful criminals have ever been to school, and how many of them have grown up not much better than brutes, leaving their parental roof, and wandering around the streets nomadlike and without care, until at last, degenerated in body and mind, they have wrapped their morally wrecked life-form52
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in the invisible toga of a murderer’s candidacy. Of the eighty-three persons that were bound over to the courts by the Coroner’s jury during my terms of office for murder and manslaughter, only twenty-nine have been sent for punishment to the Illinois penitentiary, as I learn from a report of the clerk of that institution, made expressly for me. Of these, one has to serve 21 years; two, 14 years; two 10 years ; one, 6 years ; three, 5 years; six, 2 years, and five, 1 year. Four of these have been discharged, and one has been pardoned and let loose upon the community. In most of these cases the wise jury has fixed the penalty, whilst in the others the Coroner’s jury must have been entirely mistaken in its investigation, for what has become of those who were good enough to blow out another man’s life in a merry humor (caused by whiskey) ? Probably they have been politically escorted out of jail, with the apology that the authorities had taken the liberty of depriving them of their liberty. I should not wonder if some fine day they make their appearance before the courts, entering an action for false imprisonment. “ There is nothing new under the sun,” says the learned Ben Akiba.
If, with this fact in view, our fellow citizens should feel induced to more readily respond to the call of the sheriff or Coroner, who perhaps once in his life-time may call upon them to sit on a jury, they would perhaps not have so much reason to complain of the sad results of our criminal trials, as hitherto it has been next to impossible to fill the jurors’ bench, except with the lowest class of our citizens. One who thus neglects his duty as a citizen, has no right to complain when the blindness of justice is suddenly removed.
When Charles Whyland was shot oh Thanksgiving Day, at the St. Elmo, in the heart of the city, I had to travel the next day from 9 o’clock A. m. till 3 o’clock p. m., in the business portion, before I could find twelve good citizens who were willing to serve as jurors at the inquest. The numberTHIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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of professional jurors will increase as long as the intelligent members of the community shirk all such duties, and soon we shall read in the city directory : “ John Brown, X., Clark street, Juror.” Either, as in south Germany, it should be a great honor to be a member of the jury, which honor is only bestowed upon decidedly honorable citizens, who have to act ungrudgingly, or else the jury system should be entirely abolished, for it will in these enlightened days become more and more difficult to find jurors who are not informed upon the murders which occur in their county, and who have not formed more or less of an opinion upon this or that, which is so recklessly claimed by some of the shrewd lawyers of the country as an objection.
That we have to complain of eleven more suicides than in the previous year, furnishes food for much study. Five of them two years ago sent themselves by poison or well-aimed shots into Hades, where they suffer eternal torment, from the memory of lost happiness. They suffered from broken hearts!! Five this year threw themselves out of despair into the arms of death, which they doubtless believed extinguishes everything. They suffered from broken banks. Who is more to be lamented ? To which do we owe the most pity ? To both equally, for both were infinitely unhappy. The former felt themselves suddenly bereft of love, which gave to their life and being such precious nourishment, and with which they adorned their future so splendidly that they could not live without it; the latter were suddenly deprived of those hard-earned means of existence, for which perhaps they had worked and suffered want year and year, in order to provide in the future a better existence for themselves and families. All their feelings and thoughts were directed to this one point, which so entirely absorbed them that, when suddenly the beautiful vase, filled with their brightest hopes, was dashed to pieces, their determination to commit suicide was formed, and the deed committed.54
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Generally, in cases of suicide, one of two invariably corresponding verdicts is rendered by the Coroner’s jury. One names as the cause of the act, “ temporary insanity ” ; the other, “ a broken heart.”
In the first instance, according to the doctrine of “ psychiatry,” the gradually growing idea of suicide arises from the brain, in thé other from the heart—the one from the capacity to think, the other from the capacity to feel. But other outside circumstances and inner dispositions must co-operate in order to drive the. sick man (who becomes more and more disgusted with life) to the decision to commit self-destruction. The causes of the sickness are various, and often arise from innate rudeness, physical derangement, religious enthusiasm, extravagant sense of honor, fear of punishment, and from many other causes.
Insanity, however, always precedes suicide, even if the preparations for the commission of the deed have been made with great ¿are and the consumption of much time. Then there is method in the madness, as in the case of the suicide at the Palmer House, who, to make sure, killed himself in five different ways, and who needed nearly one day to complete his preparations. The most forcible reason for suicide is found in the checking of any natural impulse. By natural impulse, we mean a certain something or feeling by which man is driven to act with his entire force. There are physical and mental natural impulses. Hunger and thirst are physical impulses. Sense of honor is a mental impulse. From the attainment of, or else from the checking or interfering with, these natural impulses, either satisfaction or dissatisfaction arises. Dissatisfaction grows finally into passion, and in the struggle of passionate aspiration for a long fixed aim, at last occurs (if the outside circumstances are adverse to the struggler, and if his inner disposition be favorable,) the effect which produces suicide. Thus, perhaps, it may be easily explained why suicide is more frequent among Germans than any other nationalityTHIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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in the country. The capacity for feeling seems to be more strongly developed among them, and if to this be added adverse outside circumstances, which must often be ascribed to the ignorance of the English language, and to the unaccustomed manners and usages of this country, they will more frequently become suicides than others.
Many excellent things have already been written upon suicide. Since the ancient times, the greatest thinkers and philosophers have partially condemned, partially approved, and some even praise it; the greatest poets have glorified it in their works, and made heroes of those who committed suicide—immortalized their act, as it were. The ancient Greeks, amongst whom suicide occurred but very seldom, condemned it generally, from political and moral standpoints, and yet Socrates, one of their greatest philosophers, quaffed the hemlock-filled goblet and destroyed himself. Xenophon insists that Socrates willingly caused his death by his violent speech before his judges, in order to die a martyr, and thus give more power and weight to his doctrines, though he had often spoken against suicide himself. Aristotle and Epicurus are against suicide, though they admit that it is excusable under certain circumstances. The Romans were more inclined to suicide. Cicero advocates it under certain circumstances. Seneca speaks of it enthusiastically, and advises rather to kill one’s self than to watch the strength of the body gradually decay. The suicides of Lucretia and Cato were glorified and praised as something great and extraordinary, in the speeches of excellent men. As to our later philosophers, Spinoza excuses suicide as an act depending on outside circumstances and inner impressions. His doctrine—that the human soul has no free will—obliges him to do this. Kant speaks indignantly of suicide, and says man makes himself a monster by its commission. Fichte most decidedly supports and explains Kant’s doctrine on this subject. And so the other great philosophers of our time, with those of the lastTHIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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century, have risen for and against suicide, according to their inclination towards the material or idealistic view. But, whatever may be said about it, this much is certain : that even if we knew the most effective measures and the best justified reasons to prevent suicide, we scarcely would have the opportunity to apply them in case of necessity, for he who wants to commit suicide rarely confides his purpose to those who are intimate with him. In a majority of the cases that have come under my observation, the determination appears like a flash of lightning, so that I was convinced in these cases that, a few minutes before his act, the suicide had scarcely thought about killing himself. I could give most striking examples of that which is here claimed, by persons who have watched and talked to suicides a few moments before their death.
This much is established, and cannot be disproved: that love for thousands of years has claimed its victims; for Lucian, the Greek poet and satirist, tells us that Charon (while counting the dead brought in by Hermes) said that out of 1,004 souls, seven had committed suicide from unhappy love, and among them was the philosopher, Theagenes.
As, according to Goethe, “ blood is a peculiar sap,” so, also, love is a demoniac power, with which we should not trifle. Edward von Hartman says on this subject:	“ No
year elapses in which, everywhere, there are not a great many suicides and double murders, caused by unhappy love. The many existences crippled by love (especially among women) prove clearly enough that love is no comedy, no romantic farce, but a very real power,—a demon which ever and anon claims his victims.” Shakspeare has eulogized and idealized suicide in “Romeo and Juliet,” Goethe in “ Werther,” Schiller in “ Cabal and Love,” and the latter has even glorified political assassination in hfs “ William Tell,”—a great comfort, perhaps, to those former Southern “ Poets of Revenge,” who eulogized the assassi-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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nation of Lincoln. Other poets whom I cannot mention here, have glorified suicide, but, in order that I may not' be suspected of advocating it from business motives, I will now close the theme.
“ Let it be enough of the cruel play.”
But to one thing more I might be permitted to here call attention. From my observation the ennui and dolce far niente, which is so frequently felt by women in hotels and boarding-houses while their husbands are out at business, and the many hours of the day which they must spend in the lonely rooms without children or real occupation, are very often the first, but significant circumstances, to prompt suicide. In not less than four cases in the past year this could be most clearly demonstrated. Jealousy, dishonor, and homesickness were the causes. To me, and to German-Americans in general, it has always been incomprehensible and enigmatical that in this country marriage should not be invariably connected with the commencement of housekeeping, and the foundation of a charming and attractive family life, which blesses man and wife. Boarding-house life resembles the nomadic gypsy, who pitches his tent at a different spot every day, and who leaves the place of his short abode as cheerfully as he entered it. But how different is it in a self-made, self-owned home! Proudly the busy wife looks upon their possessions ; she hurries through kitchen, cellar, and garret; everywhere there is something to do; merrily the unpleasant hours of separation fly away while she is working; and when at last, in the evening, he returns to his home, tired out from the hard work of the day, she flies into his arms; everything is done for his comfort, and he finds rest and happiness for soul and body where the chosen of his heart has made everything so pleasant and comfortable. There no thought of mistrust enters his mind; there no doubts torment him; and, highly blessed, he develops himself by means of a well-founded and sub-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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stantial family life into an active, useful, and respected citizen of the State, becoming a link in that mighty chain which connects all, for the life of the State is only a large family life.
How gladly would that Chinaman whose pigtailed head was turned by that frivolous girl from the Emerald Isle, have created for himself such a happy family life. He had already collected the different articles which make up the furniture, stove, bed, and larder, and had saved a handsome sum from the delivery of immense quantities of clean shirts, collars, and sheets from his laundry (an institution like many others which, to the satisfaction of many lazy housewives, have sprung up from the ground like mushrooms), in order to surprise his betrothed shortly before the marriage ceremony. Longingly he looked forward to his wedding-day, when he could lead home the one he preferred above all the daughters of the Celestial Empire, in order to share with her the soft boiled rice and fat-fried rat. Then suddenly he learned the sad news, that she to whom he had confidently intrusted his hard-earned coins and greenbacks had left for parts unknown, without leaving a trace behind her. That black, magnificently-braided pigtail, those almond eyes, and that broad Mongolian nose, could not finally win her ; blushingly she followed the footsteps of her red-haired Pat from Limerick, and left the outwitted Celestial to his unutterable woe. For him there was no consolation. Rats, rotten eggs, and Maybugs, formerly his favorite dishes, he left untouched, and, with gloomy thoughts about his misfortune, he resolved to die. Saying a last prayer to the primitive God, Taiki or Buddha, he locked himself in his room, threw himself upon the untouched bridal couch, with his face turned to the East, and shot himself with the usual bullet from a revolver, in the abdomen, which, according to the views of a spirrituo Frenchman, is the seat of all evil, for all evils come from the stomach, as a result of bad digestion.THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
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‘ Shortly after, when at the desire of a family of this city, I exhumed the body of a lady who had died under peculiar circumstances, I accidentally discovered the grave of the unfortunate Tshin Fo. After the custom of his country, his friends had placed plates and vessels of all, kinds around the grave, in the belief that the spirits of those who leave this world, need some food upon the long journey into the unknown regions of superior happiness or temporary condemnation. Happy Tshin Fo; I thought, who seems to have understood the teaching of Buddha, thou didst kill thyselfby thine own hands deliberately (honorably, according to the views of thy people), in order to complete the sooner the circle of thy life, and to-enable thee to enter the place of thy destiny—the twenty-sixth heaven of heavens. “ Peace to thy ashes.” But to thee, false Christian girl, who broke his heart and stole away into thy hiding-place, to thee I would give the advice of Hamlet to Ophelia : “ Get thee into a nunnery, Bridget,” and there do penance according to the doctrines of thy church whilst thou art living, and seek comfort from thy guilt by confession.
J wonder how that man would feel, who was dead in Evanston, if he were resting there where the bones of Tshin Fo are lying. But he has made his resurrection, I hope, to the satisfaction of his wife, whom I once had to address in the language of Mephisto :
“Your husband is dead, and sends you greeting.’,
This is the story:	It was a bright, beautiful day of
spring. The sun arose so bright and promising from the blue waves of the lake, that I could not help soliloquizing on my way to the office :	“ O, would that there were a case
in the country.” I know it was sinful and not Christian-like to wish that ,a man should-die-there, but when one’s only choice in business is between dead bodies, one is apt to wish for them (if possible) in the country in summer, and in the unpleasant days of autumn and winter, in the6o
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city and close to the office. (I do not by this wish to be understood as desiring the death of any of our beloved County Commissioners. May God forbid this.)
But to continue :	On entering the building I was greeted
by my ever-busy “ Figaro,” Hoffman, with the promising words, “ A case at Evanston!—run over by the railroad cars; shall I get the horse?” “Yes,” I answered; “this suits me well, that I might go out, and not see death, but awakening—the awakening of nature. So, quick! harness the faithful steed and bring it here.” When I thus spoke of awakening, I did not know what significance the words would have for me. We drove away, stopping on the road at Rosehill to refresh ourselves at Baer’s with a glass of foaming brown beer, for in the ban of Evanston the Cerberus of total abstinence keeps guard. Gambrinus, nor Bacchus, nor the frightful child of our age, Knight Rot-Gut, have entrance there, and they are each arrested with the command of Richard III., “ Stand back, my Lord ! ”
Yes, my esteemed fellow-citizens, recuperation is often needed, and I am too old and orthodox a Lutheran, whose ancestors have for more than two centuries preached the doctrine of Luther in Worms, Frankfurt, and Nuremburg, not to live in accordance with the great reformer :
“ He who loves not wine, women, and song,
Will be a fool his whole life long.”
Out in the depot of the Northwestern Railroad Company, at Evanston, lay the body of a poor, ragged fellow, who had been run over and terribly mangled by a train. Those around said:	“ His name is N. N.; his wife lives
in the city on the North Side; they are poor people, and he earned a precarious living for himself and family”—and more of that kind. The inquest was duly held, the horrible remains were brought into as decent a position as possible, and I had to perform the sad duty of informing the widow of the death of her husband, which (as above) asTHIRD ANNUAL REPORT.	61
tenderly as possible. The grief of the worthy lady can easily be imagined. She at once drove to the place of the accident, identified the body as that of her good husband, and had it buried in the village graveyard. That was the last of the matter, as I supposed ; but who can describe my astonishment when, two days later, a man stepped into my office and greeted me in this remarkable manner: “ Hallo, Coroner, I am the man over'whom you held an inquest the day before yesterday, and I was buried in the graveyard at Evanston, and have now arisen from the dead.” I was about to exclaim, “ All good spirits praise their Lord,” but he had already stepped up to me, and grasped my hand, when I felt that it was really flesh and bone. He then said, “ Be of good cheer, Coroner, it was only a little case of mistaken identity between me and the dead man, whom I must closely resemble, for even my dear wife did in her joy,” or, as he instantly corrected himself, “in her sorrow mistake that poor mutilated fellow for me. But I want the County to refund me the expenses I have incurred in burying an unknown man, and I wish you to certify that it was not me but another man that was buried.” As I was thoroughly convinced of that, I gave him a certificate, and directed him to the Finance Committee of the Board of County Commissioners, who at that time were very doubtful of the truth of this story.
Yours Truly,
EMIL DIETZSCH,
Coroner of Cook County.TYNDALE ON CORONERS.
A EEPLT.
I cannot permit the present occasion to pass without referring here to a very clever essay, displaying great technical knowledge and learning, entitled “ Notes on Coroners,” from the facile pen of Mr. Theodore H. Tyndale, which appeared some time ago, in the third number of “ The American Law Review,” published by Messrs. Storey and Hoar, Boston. The writer there lays pitilessly bare the obvious defects, insufficiency and uselessness of this time-honored institution. In my first and second Reports, it is true, I have elucidated at greater length the various labors and responsibilities of a Coroner, calling attention to their importance, always provided that they were recognized and invested with a certain logical sequence on the part of the Legislature. As the facts happen, however, to be otherwise, the office now lacks that independence and authority which are indispensable to its efficiency, and it collapses, therefore, like a theory predicated on false premises. But while the office exists under the laws of the State, it is not necessary to enlighten the masses in regard to its shortcomings, for I think it unwise to bring any institution, however imperfect, into disrepute with the public, until there is something better to put in its place, and this can only be effected through the State Legislature. So long, therefore, as the public continues to expect Coroners to discharge
(62)TYNDALE ON CORONERS: A REPLY.
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their functions, I shall consider it my sacred duty to make the best of the office, and to enhance its reputation—though to what extent (considering the almost permanent untena-bility of the position) I shall succeed in this, my respected fellow citizens must be left to decide hereafter for them selves.
Were a Coroner, who has just written and printed his annual report for the information of the public, to read the Tyndale essay (which is the work of a man who has thoroughly mastered the history of jurisprudence), he might well exclaim, “ Dificile est Satiram non scribere!' Much as I am tempted to do so, I shall nevertheless endeavor to preserve my gravity, since the subject, after all, involves matter worthy of an exhaustive discussion.
That the Coroner’s office in former days far exceeded that of -our own days in dignityand importance, Mr. Tyn-dale’s essay has made perfectly clear to my mind. In the progiess of time the Coroner came—at least in this country—gradually to be relieved of his duties and.responsibilities, while others better suited to a new state of things, were substituted for them—probably with a view of rewarding men for services rendered to party.
I11 Shakespeare’s age, the heirs of the suicide occupied a very trying position, because the dead man’s estate lapsed to the Church, which is proverbial for its capacious stomach, and it was no doubt on this account that the Bard of Avon lashes the Coroner’s jury in Hamlet, through the mouth of the grave-digger, for by their verdict it is shown and explained that the water, and not Ophelia herself, was to blame for her death. Consequently,'Ophelia’s heirs were not robbed of their inheritance by the sophistry—a so-called sophismata heterozetoseos of the sapient Coroner’s jury (who are even now-a-days not always quite so stupid as they look), and the Church was, in this instance, forced to “ grin and bear ” it—a disappointment over which spiteful folks will have no little rejoiced.64	TYNDALE ON CORONERS: A REPLY.
It is downright absurdity (as already pointed out by me in last year’s report) to bring a prisoner whom a Coroner’s jury has found guilty of murder or manslaughter, before the Grand Jury, for the crime has then already been prima facie established, and all is ready for the final trial in the criminal court. Instead of this simple proceeding, the prisoner is first examined by the Coroner’s jury, then dragged for another examination before the Grand Jury—all of which not only greatly increases the expense, but causes a waste of time, which is entirely unnecessary. One of the conse-. quences of this strange dual, orjconcurrent jurisdiction, is that it tends to bring the Coroner’s authority into contempt, if not to make it ridiculous. Thus, for instance, while the Coroner’s jury has the power to dismiss a prisoner charged with manslaughter, provided they believe that the act was done in self-defense, the dignified Grand Jury may ignore the finding of the Coroner’s jury, have the man re-arrested, and the whole proceedings gone through again from the very beginning.
These, and a good many more shortcomings, as well as the blunders constantly committed by the legislative committees whose business it is to define the ^.Coroner’s functions—bear their legitimate fruit in the inconsistencies and conflicts of authority which call so loudly for correction at the first opportunity. But these corrections should not be adopted until the ablest lawyers, assisted by a few coroners, have first carefully considered and approved of them. We have had a surfeit of this constant tinkering with the laws—these incessant repealings and amendings of statutes—which is often the work of a single limb of the law, and by which the original meaning of acts may at last be completely lost out of sight. The “ corpus juris civilis ” is thus often changed into a “ corpus juris apokalyptici”