What better place to begin to relive the year 1914 than in 1913. Every December, year-in-review lists are in vogue, and 1913 journals are no exception.
Of the more tantalizing stats, the Detroit Free Press reports some record-breaking highs in "necrology" (obituaries) in the Detroit area for 1913. In particular, there were 569 lives lost violently; 106 suicides (both numbers a bit higher than the national average); a doubling of drownings, homocides, and automobile deaths (which, for the first time, exceed injuries by any other vehicle, horse-drawn or otherwise); and a rise in train and miscellaneous fatal accidents (including drinking poison mistaken as medicine).
Just to put the stats into perspective: Detroit in 1913 is already a prospering manufacturing center and is about to get more so thanks to the coming boom in the automobile industry. The city has been growing by 3,000 people a month for a few years, and has reached 80% of its 2010 population, but packed into 1/3 of the space.
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| The most popular method of offing oneself was carbolic acid (a disinfectant, readily available at pharmacies, that causes severe chemical burns and Oscar-worthy death scenes--think "drain cleaner" from "Heathers"). |
Just to put the stats into perspective: Detroit in 1913 is already a prospering manufacturing center and is about to get more so thanks to the coming boom in the automobile industry. The city has been growing by 3,000 people a month for a few years, and has reached 80% of its 2010 population, but packed into 1/3 of the space.
