The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-10-23 00:00:00

TERRIBLE IF TRUE.

I give you (writes a Naples correspondent) the fol-
lowing horrible story just as it is reported in last
night's (Oct. 12) Pungolo. San Giovanni a Teduccio
is the first small town from Naples which forms a con-
tinual line of street, together with Portici, Resina, and
the rest, and is not more than half an hour distant
from Naples: "A fact occurred at S. Giovanni a
Teduccio on the 9th inst. which seems incredible, but
is quite true. A poor mad woman, falsely believed
to have hydrophobia, was followed in the streets of
the town by a mob intent on killing her. Especially
one man repeatedly took up a big stone with both
hands, and threw it at her. The unhappy creature
fell under the blows, rising only to fall again. The
crowd was inspired by the brutal fury so easily pro-
pagated in a mob when it believes itself justified in
executing summary justice on some miserable crea-
ture—a fury that is only increased at the sight
of blood. There was actual rivalry as to who
should give the murderous final blow. Women threw
stones, chairs, whatever came first to hand. Strong
young men struck at the poor maniac with thick
sticks. Weak and dizzy with pain, the unfortunate
creature crawled along, her hair dishevelled, her face
covered with blood and dirt. In this state she reached
the house of the head-policeman, who stood regarding
the scene with crossed arms from the causeway, sur-
rounded by his subordinates. It was a new kind of
spectacle. On one side this group of moustachioed
Carabineers and municipal police, some of them very
young and showing evident signs of fear; on the
other, the poor crawling woman, abandoned to the
mob, who now proceeded to bind her. In fact, a slip-
knot was made in a rope, and passed round her neck,
and she was thus dragged along the ground into a
court-yard, her head striking the pavement repeatedly
Then her feet were tied with another rope, and her
hands with a thin string. But the o wner of the court-yard
drove her out again; ulion which the mob fastened
her by the rope round her neck to a ring on the closed
door, and by the rope round her feet to a post opposite.
Now she was safe, and the mob began to mock her,
having no longer any fear. At every movement of her
body the slip-knot tightened! Someone, rather more
humane than his fellows, relieved her of the rope, on
which she fell to the ground, striking her head against
the edge of the causeway. There was no one among
that brutal crowd who thought of placing a pillow or
a bundle of straw to support her wounded head! And
what were the police doing? The head delegate stood
with crossed arms regarding the scene, with his
submdinates around him. Finally it entered his head
to send the mad woman to the asylum; and after an
hour's delay, there arrived one of the wooden boxes
used to transport the corpses. It was of course
destitute of all that was necessary to transport
a living, and above all, a wounded, person. Into
this box or coffin the unhappy lunatic was
dragged by the hair, the cover was placed
over her, and she was carried off; while for
some time was heard dull thuds, as her limbs strug-
gling in delirium struck the sides of the wooden box.
We ask if this is the way in which a poor mad woman
should be treated, even if really attacked with hydro-
phobia? What right has the delegate of public security
at St. Giovanni a Teduccio to draw his salary from
the Government? Would it have cost him much to
assume a little courage, approach the unfortunate
lunatic, and order some stout and rubicund care-
bineer to take her by the-arm, and help her into some
house, or even stable, instead of leaving her in the
public street at the mercy ,of the mob? The man
who had been foremost in stoning her was arrested
by the conductor of a tran.car that happened to pass,
and given up to the police, but he has been released
because be is said to be affected with epilepsy. What
world do we live in? Are we amongst the Zulus?
The unhappy woman had become insane because her
husband, a mason, fell from a scaffolding and was
killed on the spot."

WE are quite willing that the dynamite bomb should
go anywhere except off.
AN eating-house keeper advertised for "a boy to
open oysters about fifteen years old.' An oyster
ought to be able to open itself long before it reaches
its fifteenth year.
Taw are little, sweet, pretty, and green olses all
the way through the desert of life, but the fat man
who breaks a suspender on a hot day when running
to catch a train doesn't think of this.

THE BALKAN! STATES.