First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt: Homicide in Chicago, 1875 - 1920

by Jeffrey S. Adler

Between 1875 and 1920, Chicago’s homicide rate more than quadrupled, making it the most violent major urban center in the United States—or, in the words of Lincoln Steffens, “first in violence, deepest in dirt.” In many ways, however, Chicago became more orderly as it grew. Hundreds of thousands of newcomers poured into the city, yet levels of disorder fell and rates of drunkenness, brawling, and accidental death dropped. But if Chicagoans became less volatile and less impulsive, they also became more homicidal.

Based on an analysis of nearly six thousand homicide cases, First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt examines the ways in which industrialization, immigration, poverty, ethnic and racial conflict, and powerful cultural forces reshaped city life and generated soaring levels of lethal violence. Drawing on suicide notes, deathbed declarations, courtroom testimony, and commutation petitions, Jeffrey Adler reveals the pressures fueling murders in turn-of-the-century Chicago. During this era Chicagoans confronted social and cultural pressures powerful enough to trigger surging levels of spouse killing and fatal robberies. Homicide shifted from the swaggering rituals of plebeian masculinity into family life and then into street life.

From rage killers to the “Baby Bandit Quartet,” Adler offers a dramatic portrait of Chicago during a period in which the characteristic elements of modern homicide in America emerged.

Genres: History, American History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2006

About the author

Jeffrey S. Adler is Professor of History and Criminology at the University of Florida.

Reviews

[Chris Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

me when i kill my best friend to prove how much of a man i am (i won and lost)

🥹

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chicago’s reputation as a violent city did not begin with the machinegun-toting gangsters of the Twenties. The bootleg wars bloodied Chicago in the eyes of the world, but Jeffrey S. Adler’s book proves that the husky, brawling “City of Big Shoulders” was the most violent urban center in the United States long before Al Capone and Bugs Moran went to war.

First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt is a study of Chicago homicide between 1875 and 1920. After analyzing over six thousand murder cases, Adler presents conclusions demonstrating how immigration, poverty, industrialization, and other social factors affected not only the levels but also the types of violence.

According to Adler, drunken brawls were a major cause of violent death during the 1875-1890 period. Poor, single men relied on physical aggression to attain elevated status among their peers, with sometimes deadly results. When saloon culture waned and these men married, the domestic sphere became the new proving ground for their masculine identities. Spousal homicides rose when abusive husbands reacted to defiance by murdering their wives, and battered women used deadly force to protect themselves. Levels and types of violence were also affected by immigration and racial factors, as evidenced by the Black Hand terrorism and race riots.

For me, the book’s well-researched arguments made it a worthy read, but a word of caution to those whose tastes run toward lighter fare: this is not an anthology of murder cases like Lesy’s Murder City. There are a few case studies put forward to bolster Adler’s conclusions, but First in Violence, Deepest in Dirt is primarily a sociological text, emphasizing statistics and trends more than case and killer profiles. There aren’t even any photographs except on the cover, although there are charts and graphs aplenty.

If it were ever possible to make sense out of violence, Adler has come the closest to doing so.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an excellent book that takes a look at the sociological causes of crime in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. The book includes interesting case studies and covers a variety of "popular" crimes that occurred with frequency in Chicago while examining what these crimes meant to the people who perpetrated them and Chicagoans as a whole.

[David Eppenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible and, at times amusing, history of murder in late 19th and early 20th century Chicago. A must read for anybody involved in big city criminal justice.