The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-10-09 00:00:00

A ROMAN "MYSTERY."

Under the above heading, an Occaaional Correspondent of
The Times, under date, Rome. Sept. 25, gives the following
account of a "mystery " which has caused great excitement
in Rome :

About the beginning of this month, a box, measur-
ing a metre in length and fifty centimetres in depth,
and strongly corded, arrived, with other goods, from
Naples. It was directed to a Francesco Buono, and
was put aside, in accordance with the direction, until
the owner should send or call for it. It had been
noticed for some time that a very offensive and
gradually increasing smell pervaded the warehouse
where it was stored, and finally, on examination
being made, it was ascertained to come from this
box, from which it was then observed a thick fetid
matter was oozing. After some deliberation the
police authsrities were communicated with, and an
order obtained for the examination of the contents.
The lid was 'removed, and with it came forth such a
volume of stench that every one started back. On
approaching again and removing some superficial
packing they were horrified to behold the almost
naked body of a young woman in a fearful state of
decomposition. It was all huddled up together, the
legs bent forward and down upon the body, and the
arms crossed upon the breast in order to cram the
corpse into the space; the whole such a mass of rotten-
ness that at first the sex was only ascertained by the
long hair. It was packed in with tow and sawdust; a
thick layer of rock salt laid over it, and the inside of
the box had been carefully lined to close the crevices
between the boards. The body was removed as speedily
as possible to the dead-house at the Campo Verano, the
large cemetery outside the Porta San Giovanni, where
Dr. Leoni proceeded to make an examination in
order to ascertain the cause of death.. The first
thing observed was a long incision dividing the
abdomen, and it was then found that the contents,
both of the abdomen and the thorax, had been
removed and the cavity filled with salt. Further
examination proved that there were no external
marks of violence, and it is therefore supposed
that the girl must have been poisoned and the
entrails withdrawn before the body was crushed
into the box to prevent the cause of death from
being detected. At the same time, this may have
been done and he salt inserted instead with the in-
tention of arresting decomposition for as long a
period as possible.. The body is that of a young
girl of about eighteen years of age, slight in figure,
and with long chestnut hair; but as a marked defor-
mity has been ascertained by which one shoulder was
evidently raised above the other, it is supposed that
neither passion in whatever phase nor jealousy can
have caused the crime. What amount of beauty the
face may have possessed it is impossible to judge, so
entirely are the features marred. From the appear-
ance of the finger nails, which are long and well
tended, she would appear to have been of gentle birth,
or, at any rate, not of servile condition. The surgeons
are of opinion that death was caused either by poison
r suffocation, as the appearance of the brain would seem
to show. The incision along the abdomen would seem
to have been made by a practised hand. Of course,
the p Awe are in full communication with Naples on
the subject, but thus far, nothing has been ascertained
except that a short time back application was made
by a father whose daughter had mysteriously disap-
peared.

The same correspondent also gives the following account
of another tragedy that has been enacted near Florence
In the month of August last great alarm was created
in the village of Incisa, near Florence, by the mys-
terious disappearance of two children—a boy nine
years old on the morning of the 21st, and another boy
of eight the following evening. It was supposed that
they`might have fallen into the stream where they went
to fish and bathe, but no traces of them or their clothes
could be found. All kinds of exaggerated ideas got
afloat in the village, more particularly as these were
'not the first children who had suddenly disappeared.
and it was asserted that there were children killers in
the adjoining wood. On the 29th one of the women of
tne village was arranging her hair at the back window
of her room, when she heard frightful shrieks, and
recognized them as coming from a child she knew,
a certain Amerigo Turchi, a boy nine years old, and
that they proceeded from the workshop of one Carlo
Grandi, a cart carpenter. She rushed down into the
street and alarmed the neighbours, who made for the
workshop, which they found closed, the boy crying
loudly for help from within. After vain attempts to
get Grandi to admit them, they burst open the door
and found him struggling to force the boy into a hole.
He had cut the child fearfully about the head, and
from whoae mouth also blood was flowing, caused, as
the boy afterwards narrated, by a wedge Grandi had
tried to force into his mouth to gag him.
After the man was secured it was observed
1 that some of the bricks of the flooring were loose,
and on these being removed the first thing seen
was a child's hand. The place was quickly dug
up, and behold the mutilated bodies of the two
boys who had disappeared ten days before; and on the
bole into which Grandi was trying to force Amerigo
Turchi being examined a number of other children's
bones were found at the bottom. No sooner was the
thing known than the village became a scene of the
wildest excitement, and the authorities had to send
off in hot haste for whatever military and police
there were in the vicinity, and a sufficient force
only arrived in time to save the wretch from being
torn to pieces by the populace. It seems that
the murderer, Grandi, was a deformed man of
diminutive stature, high rounded shoulders, very
large head, upon which there was not a scrap of
hair, and repulsive features—a kind of Quilp. As
is only too often the case in Italy, such unfortu-
nate creatures become the object of open public
, ridicule. The boys of Incisa had been in the habit of
'teasing and tormenting Grandi and playing all kinds
of practical jokes upon him, not always unaccompanied
by abuse, and it was in revenge for this that he had,
,as opportunity offered, enticed, now one and then
another of the urchin ringleaders into his workshop
and there murdered them, burying them under the
floor. Amerigo Turchi narrated that Grandi had in-
vited him into his workshop under the pretext of
having some fun with the other boys ; that to accom-
plish this he was to hide in the hole Grandi uncovered,
but that immediately he entered it Grandi attempted
to strangle him.