The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

AN ITALIAN MURDER.

The Court of Assizes of Aix has just been occupied
two days in trying a Sicilian named Mattraccia for
murder and attempted murder. A Sicilian named Cam-
pisiano, a watchmaker, had lived, with his wife and
seven children, at Marseilles for many years, and was
highly respected by his neighbours. Some time ago- a
countryman named Matraccia, whom they had formerly
known, arrived at Marseilles and renewed his acquain-
tance with them. This man, who followed the occupation
of rope dancer and mountebank, took advantage of his
intimacy with the Campisianos to seduce the eldest
daughter, Lucretia, twenty one years of age. She left
her parents' house to fellow him, but in December
last returned home. It was then . arranged that
Matraccia should marry her, and he was received into
the family en attendant marriage. But Madame
Campisiano, who was deeply hurt at her daughter's dis.
graee, was constantly quarrelling with Matraccia, and in
these quarrels she was warmly supported by her second
daughter Diana. The consequence was that the man
conceived a bitter animosity against both mother and
daughter. On the 31st of December a more violent
quarrel than they had previously had took place between
the three, and Matraccia, in a furious state of exasperation,
declared that he would murder them. He then thrust a
poniard into the fire, and kept it there until it was red
het ; he then rubbed it with garlic, and replaced it for
a time in the fire. These operations in Sicily are sup.
posed to give a poniard a hiker temper, and indicate
on the part of the person performing them an intention
to assassinate. On the Ist of January, Matraccia and
Lucretia spent some time together at a public house, and
then took a stroll on the public promenade. They there
fell in with two other I'alians, and Matraccia invited
them to go to Campisiano's house, to see the room which
he and his future wife were to occupy. In ascending the
staircase to Campisiano's apartment they mode a great
noise, and when they reached the door Campisiano's son,
a young man named Achilles, intimated that their ►isit
was not agreeable to his parents or himself, and begged
them to abstain from making it. Matraccia repiied in
a passion, and a quarrel eniued. At length Matraccia,
drawing, a poniard, stabbed Achilles. The cries
of the victim attracted his mother and sister
Diana to the spot, and they attempted to
drag him away from his assailant, who was holding him,
and trying to stab him again. Turning on the two
Women with great fury, Matraccia poinarded them' bath,
and laid both dead at his feet. Ile then rushed down
stairs and took to flight, but was pursued and arrested.
The wounds of Achilles, though dangerous, were
fortunately not mortal. These facts were proved almost
entirely by the Campisiano family, and as they gave their
evidence scenes extraordinarily dramatic occurred :
Thus when Lucretia, who seemed overwhelmed with grief,
described the assassination of her mother and sister, the
prisoner cried to her in a rage, " You lie !" On
this the young woman turned to him, and with
a look of scorn exclaimed, " Assassin of my
mother! assassin of my sister ! dare you deny
your crime ?" The man answered, "I am innocent,
and I appeal to Christ whn is there (here he raised his
hand towards a picture of the Crucifixion which was be-
hind the judges) ; I appeal to Christ to testify my inno-
cence !" This piece of blasphemy excited a murmur of
indignation in the court. Campisiano, the father, began
his evidence with great calmness, but he gradually became
excited, and when he came to speak of his murdered
wife and child, he tore his hair, and gave way to
violent despair. His emotion at length became so
great that he fainted, and was carried senseless from the
court. At this painful spectacle most of the auditory
wept, and Lucretia sobbed aloud. The young man
Achilles could. with the greatest difficulty restrain his
indignation 'against the prisoner, and the latter was
furiously excited against him, and more than once
called him " Liar !" and " Impostor 1" At length the pas-
sion of the witness exceeded all bounds, and he heaped
imprecations on the prisoner. He also seized a chair
and rushed to the dock to strike the prisoner, with it, but
was prevented, and he was forcibly removed from the
court. Resina, third daughter of Campisiano, who is
ouly twelve years of age, described , with remarkable
intelligence the terrible scene she had witnessed. When
she had concluded, she cried in a paroxysm of grief,
" My poor dear mother ! I shall never see her again."
The jury declared the man " Guilty." Oa this as
Italian, who had acted as interpreter, said to the prisoner,
" You are declared guilty, and will be condemned to
death." Matraccia seemed thunderstruck, and trembled
violently. The Court, after rebuking the interpreter for
his presumption in making such an announcement,
pronounced sentence of death in the usual form. The
prisoner, on hearing it, fell to the floor, and was
conveyed senseless from the court.

PUFFING A COMPANY FOR THE SAKE OF ADVERTISE-
MENTS.—The case of Sleigh and another v. Carr, was dis-
posed of at the Court of Queen's Bench the other day. The
plaintiffs, the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, sued the
defendant, the managing director of the United Kingdom
Provision Company, to recover £3O 45., said to be due for
advertisements, and the defendant paid £7 3s. into court,
and denied his liability to any greater extent. The
plaintiffs' case was that their canvassers obtained an order
for the advertisement to be inserted 13 times upon condi-
tion that a paragraph about the company was printed in
the money article; that the paragraph ha 1 been printed,
and that the defendant had ordered the advertisement to be
discontinued before the 1 insertions had been made. It
was said that as the plaintiffs had performed their part of
the agreement by printing the paragraph in the money
article, the defendant was bound to perform his part, by
allowing the advertisement to be inserted 13 times, and
paying for those insertions. The Chief Justice said he was
sorry to hear of a paper obtaining advertisements upon
such terms. In the course of the case it was submitted
that the plaintiffs must recover for £2 163., as sufficient
money bad not been paid into court to pay for all the inser-
tions before the countermand, and, after hearing evidence
on both sides, a verdict was returned for the plaintiffs for
£2 16s,