Post Civil War Crime Wave in New England?

[ralph124c]

I read once, in Otto Bettman’s “The Good Old Days-They Were Terrible” that rural New England experienced a major crime wave in the 1870’s-I haven’t been able to find much on this.
I suppose that the post-Civil War period was pretty unsettled, as we had millions of ex-soldiers trying to get back into the civilian economy.
Are there any good references that talk about this?

[samclem]

ralph–perhaps a good starting point would be to search under the correct spelling of his name–Bettmann, not Bettman.

[Nametag]

Ah. Was he writing, perhaps, concerning the recent carnival of crime in Connecticut?

OJOL77: Situs Judi Slot Tergacor - Link-in-bio

[mhendo]

You can search Bettmann’s book on Amazon.com, and as far as i can tell, he made no specific mention of rising crime rates in rural New England.

From Chapter 6: Crime:

The lawlessness of the 1860’s through the 1890’s, wrote criminologist Cesare Lombroso “is an American phenomenon with no equal in the rest of the world.” Statistics of the period—if not entirely reliable—appear to substantiate his claim. In this period the crime rate rose 445 percent against a population rise of 170 percent. Dominating the record was, of course, the West, where the gun-happy barbarity was damned by observers both foreign and native for producing a “great dismal swamp of civilization.” The lawlessness of the cities was less romanticized, but its perils were even greater to the common citizen.

New York was known as the world’s center of crime, earning the title with an extravagant toll of murders, assaults and robberies.

p. 87

The chapter goes on to talk about street crime, juvenile delinquency, and efforts at policing, focusing mainly on cities. I couldn’t find any specific reference to rural New England.

I swear, ralph, i sometimes picture you sitting in front of your computer saying to yourself, “I wonder what dimly-remembered factoid or wild speculation i can get the folks of GQ to look up for me tonight.”