The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—Within the space of the current month
a criminal case of unexampled character has been
presented in its successive developments to the
wonder of the public. We think we may say that
such a case, involving so many contradictions and
so strange a conflict of evidence, is not to be found
in the calendars of crime. Justice herself has been
perplexed in the matter, for, whereas the offence
was apparently brought home to one man upon a
formal trial, it has since been charged against an-
other
upon his own confession, supported by inde-
pendent testimony. On the th of last December
some ten or dozen Italians and as many Englishmen
were 'drinking at the Golden Anchor tavern on
Saffron-hill—the Englishmen in one room, the
foreigners in another. An affray occurred between
them, and an Englishman named Michael Harring-
ton received a mortal wound, of which, after being
removed to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he presently
died. On the 3d of this month an Italian named
Serafino Pelizzioni was tried at the Old Bailey for
the murder and found guilty. The defence offered
was that though poor Harrington had been tZn-
doubtedly killed in the scuffle, and by an Italian,
the guilty Italian was not Pelizzioni, but another
of the party named John or Gregorio Mogni, but
spoken of as Gregorio. Mr. Ribton did not hesitate
to say, in his speech for the prisoner, that this Gre-
gorio " was the man who had committed the murder."
Nevertheless the jury convicted Pelizzioni, and Mr.
Baron Martin, in pronouncing sentence of death
upon him, used these words :—" I am as satisfied
as I can be of anything that Gregorio did not in-
flict this wound, and that you were the person who
did." That the crime itself was extenuated by
circumstances almost reducing it from murder to
manslaughter, the Judge acknowledged, but of the
identification of the prisoner as the perpetrator he
had no doubt whatever. In the face, however, of
this uncompromising decision certain countrymen
of the prisoner, feeling still persuaded of his inno-
cence and of Gregorio's guilt, resolved to bring the
latter to justice, and by means of his conviction,
if possible, to clear Pelizzioni of the charge. This
they have actually done with such effect that
Gregorio himself, notwithstanding the verdict
against Pelizzioni, now stands committed for trial,
and it is the story of these conflicting proceedings
which we propose to tell. The evidence which pro-
cured the conviction of Pelizzioni was undoubtedly
upon the face of the testimony as complete and as
cogent as had ever been produced against a prisoner
at the bar. The nature of the affray admitted of '
an unusual number of witnesses, and their deposi-
tions were consistent, uniform, and clear. Three
of the Englishmen present saw Pelizzioni strike the
deceased, and the deceased fall from the blow. A
fourth saw Pelizzioni " on the top of the deceased
as he lay," and while he was in that position " took
hold of him and held him till the police came." A
policeman received Pelizzioni from the hands of the
last witness, and took him into custody. Nor was
this all. While Harrington lay on the bed in the
hospital, conscious of his approaching end and in
the agony of death, Pelizzioni was taken andplaced
by the bedside among ten or twelve others, and the
dying man was asked to look round and say if he
could see anybody who had stabbed him. He did
look round, and pointed to the prisoner and said,
" That's the man who did it." This he said with
no vindictiveness, adding, indeed, expressions indi-
cating his forgiveness, but he said it distinctly and
without hesitation. The reader will probably be
of opinion that the force of evidence could be car-
ried no further, and yet there was confirmation still
to come. Though Harrington was the only man
killed, he was not the only man wounded. The pot-
man of the tavern had been stabbed in the affray,
and he swore distinctly to Pelizzioni as the man
who inflicted the wound. Moreover, he and another
witness stated that they had struck Pelizzioni on the
head in the scuffle, and when Pelizzioni was exa-
mined at the station-house that night his head was
found cut. Lastly, and as if to exclude the possi-
bility of doubt; the witnesses concurred in affirming
that when Harrington was struck down one Italian
only was in the room where the Englishmen were as-
sembled. The others were outside •, Pelizzioni alone
had entered the apartment where he was found and
taken. That being the case againstPelizzioni, we may
now describe the evidence which has been brought
to upset it and to transfer the guilt from Peliz-
zioni to Gregorio. We will put the strongest
point first. Gregorio has " confessed" the crime.
What his confession amounts to has yet to be deter-
mined. He does not say that he killed Michael Har-
rington, or speak with distinctness or directness to
any particular blow, but he says that he was in the
Englishmen's room in the affray of that night, and
that, fearing to be overpowered, he used his knife
in self-defence. In support of this statement, testi-
mony was produced to the effect that Gregorio had,
on the very evening of the murder, made the same
statement to some of his friends, and that he had
even got rid of the knife which he had used. It is
beyond doubt, too, that he left London shortly after
the affair and quitted his place of work, though he
was under no notice to leave. One of the Italians
also distinctly contradicted the statement that Peliz-
zioni was the only one of their number in the Eng-
lishmen's room, and deposed that Gregorio was
there. In short, whereas the evidence against Peliz-
zioni on this point was directly impugned by counter
evidence rendering it conceivable that the perpe-
trator of the act might possibly have been some
other person, Gregorio acknowledges enough to
make it highly probable that he was this person,
and it was sworn that he made such acknowledg-
ments on the very night of the affray. Some at-
tempt was made to present the case as one of mis-
taken identity, but that ground did not appear
tenable. The landlord of the tavern distinguished
plainly between Gregorio and Pelizzioni, whom he
had known for three months. The potman who was
stabbed, and who swore to Pelizzioni as the man
who stabbed him, had been acquainted with him for
four or five years, and had also known Gregorio,
and he roundly affirmed that there was " not the
slightest resemblance between them." Moreover, in
addition to the men who were wounded in the
scuffle, there was a woman who was knocked down
at the door of the Englishmen's room, presumably by
the same man who killed Harrington, and this
woman swears that the man who knocked her
down was certainly Pelizzioni, and was certainly
not Gregorio. Then, if there could be no mistake
of identity, what theory can be offered to invalidate
the concurrence of testimony against Pelizzioni ?
The theory, as it seems, of a general conspiracy.
The conductors of the case against Gregorio allege
that the landlord of the tavern " had a feeling " in the
matter, and his customers shared his impressions,
and that their evidence all flowed, as it were, from
one source and was tinctured by a prevading colour.
But will this hypothesis touch the dying statement of
the deceased himself ? The confession of Gregorio,
unless it is to be discredited, may be held to excul-
pate everybody else, for he pleads " Guilty " to hav-
ing laid about him with his knife and wounding
three persons, if not four, whereas there were but
three persons wounded, and no more, including the
deceased. In
particular, if Gregorio really inflicted a
stab upon Harrington,
it might be inferred that Pe-
lizzioni did not, for the hospital surgeon deposed
that the wounds in the intestines of the deceased had
all been produced, in his opinion, by " one stroke of
the knife." It is also certain not only that Gregorio
was at the tavern that night and, indeed, the origi-
nator of the disturbance, but that he had a knife
with him, or at any rate produced one immediately
afterwards. The knife, too, was forthcoming and
traced to Gregorio, and was such a knife as might
have inflicted the wounds, but it was not bloody,
though the suggestion was offered that the blood
might have been washed off it in the place where it
lay for the night. Another knife, however, found
outside the tavern, and presumed to be the knife
employed, was produced, and this was covered with
blood, though, on the other hand, it had no such
point asthe surgeon thought might be required for
infliction of the wound. Such is the brief recital of
these remarkable proceedings. The case against
Pelizzioni was strong and complete almost be-
yond precedent, not a link being wanting. The
case against Gregorio is of no great strength except
from his own confession, but that confession admits
enough to include the whole crime, and is supported
by testimony, though if the advocates on one side
may object to the evidence of the Englishmen; those
on the other may take a similar exception to the evi-
dence of the Italians. Whoever killed poor Har-
rington killed him in this pothouse affray, and
without the malace probably that we associate with
murder, though without the provocation, according
to the ruling of the Judge,' which would have con-
stituted manslaughter ; but which of the stories is
true, or whether the two are to be reconciled, we
must leave to be elsewhere determined.

POST.—Let us be just. General Butler is as con-
sistent in his sayings and doings as any American of
his time, and he is the most typical of his country-
men whom the war has produced. Greater men are
in the Federal service ; abler men, better men. There
are men who can speak more eloquently, fight more
successfully, scheme and act more resolutely ; but
no one, taken altogether, can compare with Butler
for the variety and adaptability of his powers.
There is peace, and he is a lawyer. There is war,
and he leads an army. There is conquest, and he
rules a province. Finally, his reputation as a war-
rior being wrecked, the man of few words becomes
a first-rate rhetorician. All this is essentially Amen-
can. In America alone do we find the Jack-of-all-
Trades flourishing and shining in every profession—
a humbug in each, by virtue of his audacious uni-
versal pretensions, but, in the main, by no means a
humbug. He comes to the ground, of course, and
it is there that the contact with his mother earth
gives him renewed vigour. Butler may be a detest-

able soldier, and. a quack in the divers so rakes he
has attempted, but there cannot be a doub t that he
is a fine speaker. If he fails
splendidly. Americans are naturally rev dy with.
; present
the tongue. The volubility of Butler in hi.
and the
plight is astounding. Conscious innOeellee
He meets the,
genius of the soil alone could do it. .
there wi
Mayor of Lowell and his fellow-citizen. s
in riding„ he falls
a clear brow and the cleverest narrative oir his traPs-
actions in thewar that it could be possible .°
Who did better than he has done in his OilitarY
to 5:11oFV;
capacity ? Not Gen. Grant, as he proceeds
and it is impassible, while we read his speech, to re-
member that Gen. 'Terry did so very much better.
Butler's simple claim upon the gratitude of his cowl;
devise.
trymen is his humanity ; nor are we exactly prepare
to say that it is an unfounded claim. The gen,lni ;-
fl,,
Yankee is humane. Both in the persistency 01,
efforts to free the negro, and in his kindness to Li; ~-;
when free, Butler has behaved with distinguishing
sincerity towards the doctrines of the Abolitionist
section in the North. We see no reason to disbeliele
him when he says that at Big Bethel and Fort Fisher
severally his object was to spare, as much as irs;
Bible, the effusion of blood. His only error, and his
that • will in all probability accompany him
rave, is to think himself a soldier still. Big
touched the civilian in him, and Fort Fisher laid
him He assures his fellow-citizens that at
Fort Fisher he only did what his subordinate officer
advised.
.z.knd it was a temptation, he says, to gel
for honour an:l glory; but in consideration for ti;
-
mothers, the fat..
hers, the wives among the audience
facing him, he vat:stood the tremendous temptatioh
to advance, and ha prudently retired. Were
soldier speaking this Buff we should think his logi°
a little confused, but it in'
civilian. He might have the very language of.
been recently taken, but it w0u..1
tak,9n the place, as it has
at a cost; and while looking throi.Th his teleseep,
at the redoubtable fort, from the des e...k of his else
d have to be take 0
posted in observance, General Butler' accurat the
weighed his temptation in one scale, agailnst,,r
domestic sensation of Massachusetts on the Ptit'e
whereupon the temptation kicked the beam. the
rejoices that he, of all the generals produced by r 9.5
war on the Northern side, is the only one who •`0
not induced disaster. 0 Failures, perhaps ; hut „-
disaster." The civilian method of conducting Tir7,;
fare, as exemplified at Fort Fisher, is no sure a
of precluding disaster that it might be stereotyra
in America as Butler's Patent Safety Attack eer
Retreat System. A man with a spark of the °la:et
in him would have been silent for shame, Cig
r diser
from the dictate of his judgment. This th (am
going Yankee has no such idea. He is a caps asks
o
ilks
to the point of bloodshed. There he stops. Ile go-
his friends and neighbours to pronounce their
gistic verdict on his conduct, laying of course ge:is
s
stress on his strategy, and assuring them that thug,
civilian civilian general has committed no prodigifou.
sacrifices ; and so, with a sweeping condemn-34
of the West Pointers, and especially of Gell,e.e,
Ulysses Grant, interspersed with puns, not ineffeevl
upon the name of his arch enemy, Admiral
he terminates a speech that is a placard of exPd
Yankeeism. Things do not endure for ever, Pier
even Yankeeism dies. Were there no war /311 t. is
would still be ahead. But it is a time of war ; ;let:
for war himself. "Fight on," he says, acne to‘
the fair land of the South be the incitonelly
volunteers and the booty of the victorious scans°lweie.r
It is a gallant utterance ; but the war he
extinguishes him, and with him the man, the As.
the fashion of the period which he represents- iota
the war continues, Yankeeism goes steadily qher-
the background, and Butler must go with
man and Grant are the men who come forwy the
serious and very silent men habitually;
country takes its tone from these. We maY Pe dell
the change operating slowly over the press as old
as the people in America. That the gov-,n, the
Yankee will kick before he is submerged 110"`-mal
modern American, born of hard campaignil4'ea
be anticipated of so lively a creature, and aittritler
amount of kicking is to be expected from Itible
ere he consents to run in the harness of irre', pis
facts. Personally, he is of little importance once
career is run until the age of oratory dawns,„ of
more upon America ; but, typically, he is
being studied, and he is not absolutely to hetbiog
esteemed. The Yankee maxim to stop at fro of
was ingrained in his being until he came in ireocia-
Fort Fisher. So great was his representative a. cut
city that he did not hesitate to offend the sentunatta
of all civilisation by an outrage upon the dignittat it
delicacy of the sex. No doubt it was a folly,
.„er.
was the carrying out of the Yankee principle te, egor
run obstacles of every nature. In his degraou.,',7o
and subsequently, (for he promises to live !1_,%1.44.,
further years) in the pages of history, General rof
gener nor
ler will see himself execrated, while the
the new school, successful or not, are dealt with 111 ber
partial terms. If he thinks it unjust, let him rcruem_„, _
that recklessness is a challenge to
despised the sentiment of mankind where it is Ino.sv
shrewdly alive. The world will be as thorough slis
the punishment it inflicts. The humanist of e
American Generals will suffer the worst hell of,t,eit,
common reprobation and contempt. His eun"--il
towards the unhappy ladies of New Orleans con"-ill
injustice. 10,
soil him in a more deadly manner than the rivers
blood set flowing by Grant. It was mere thorougl,,
going Yankeeism, but the world reads it as unma%
baseness. He did but express himself accordintry'..
the bidding of the Yankee genius ; for his c(lutno his
men heaped-no reproaches on him
military disgrace, but he must be conten„f a decay-
the penalties of the representative man; things in
ing system. If, in the new order 01
ties of Gene'
America, one or two of the characteristics for the
butcountry.Butlereveven
n It
would
the
dwe
ral Butler survive, it will be a good tui--10,arraly;
very ,'t two
apdionwseshdibictolhe to
sits
:thin;
e:urna.adevini,gnii
iletusetiosdieen;lllll:
bawse oimrpl
altogether ; and, little civilised as h
times, it would retard the advance of civilisittlos bira
America if some of the qualities distinguis'
became extinct.