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

SPLIT OF 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 26th 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 un-
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 and placed
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
eating 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 against Pelizzioni, 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 appeartenable. The landlord of the tavern distinguishedpot who was
.
plainly between Gregorio and Pelizzioni, whom he
had known for three months. The man
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
ofidentity, 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 touclithe dying statement of
the deceasedi himself ? The confession of Gregorio,
i unless t s to be discredited, may be held to excul-
pate everybody else, 'for he pleads 4; Guilty r 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 as'the 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 i . f 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.-7-L et 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 Ameri-
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 service° iter
has attempted, but there cannot be a doubt that he
is a fine speaker. If he fails in riding, he fait
splendidly. Americans are naturally ready wit':
the tongue. The volubility of Butler in his presene
plight is astounding. Conscious innocence and th
genius of the soil alone could do it. He meets the
Mayor of Lowell and his fellow-citizens there
a clear brow and the cleverest narrative of his traLs-
actions in the war that it could be possible to device'
did better than he has done in his
mils
capacity ? Not Gen. Grant, as he proceeds to shore,
to '
and it is impossible, while we read his speech,
member that Gen. Terry did so very much better.
Butler's simple claim upon the gratitude of b
his coat;
1
trymen is his humanity ; nor are we exactly prepar.c'e
to say that it is an unfounded claim. The gen,lls
Yankee is humane. Both in the persistency 011,,,,%
efforts to free the negro, and in his kindness
to
when free, Butler has behaved with distingu'—iit
sincerity towards the doctrines of the Abolitiou_e
section in the North. We see no reason to disbe. t.hever
him when he says that at Big Bethel and Fort Fis"o,
severally his object was to spare, as much as
,P°o„ e
sible, the effusion of blood. His only error, and his
that will in all probability accompany bin' rothel
grave, is to think himself a soldier still. Big Pvi,ici
touched the civilian in him, and Fort Fisher t
him bare. He assures his l
fellow-citizens theer
Fort Fisher he only did what his subordinate onto in
advised. And it was a temptation, he says, tog the
for honour and glory; but in consideration for
rice
mothers, the fathers, the wives among the auciletio
facing him, he withstood the tremendous terePt°
to advance, and he prudently retired. Were
..:0
soldier speaking this stuff we should think his lera,
a little confused, but it is the very language:As.s
civilian. He might have taken the place, as
been recently taken, but it would have to be ta
at a cost ; and while looking through his telesee;srei
at the redoubtable fort, from the deck of his toy
posted in observance, General Butler aceurs
t tha
weighed his temptation in one scale, ago outer,
domestic sensation of Massachusetts on th se
whereupon the temptation kicked the beam". the'
rejoices that he, of all the generals produced hi ho
butwar on the Northern side, is the only one t
no
not induced disaster. " Failures perhaps ;or
disaster." The civilian method of conducting or
fare, as exemplified at Fort Fisher, is so sure !dud
of precluding disaster that it might be stereo ;iia
in America as Butler's Patent. Safety Attain `idier
Retreat System. A man with a spark of the_st.eet
in him would have been silent for shame, or cu._^,;ll.
from the dictate of his judgment. This thcr°io%})
going Yankee has no such idea. He is a cape 10
Ile
to the point of bloodshed. There he stops. cup-
his friends and neighbours to pronounce their
oi.eitt
gistic verdict on his conduct, laying of cours, et their
stress on his strategy, and assuring them 04100
civilian general has committed no Pro vatioa
sacrifices ; and so, with a sweeping condeTillvetal
of the West Pointers, and especially of neve,
Ulysses Grant, interspersedwith puns, not illeiVertert
upon the name of his arch enemy, Ahmiral iriAg
he terminates a speech that is a placard of el. foci
Yankeeism. Things do not endure for eveiatier
even Yankeeism dies. Were there no war . 110
would still be ahead. But it is a time of Nornit' d ,
for war himself. " Fight on," he says,," 7elit
the fair land of the South be the ineitell„idier•
volunteers and the booty of the victorious oldie
fo‘
It is a gallant utterance ; but the war he calls
tones
extinguishes him, and with him the man,
t ts• othe fashion of the period which he represeo,l,
the war continues, Yankeeism goes stest"sher'
the background, and Butler must go with it
,ara''
man and Grant are the men who come f°ll/1(1 th
serious and very silent men habituallY;
country takes its tone from these. We mg ras well
the change operating slowly over the pros
as the people in America. That the `"tinder tic
Yankee will kick before he is submerged-.g, Iv%
modern American, born of hard campaiga,
be anticipated of so lively a creature, an 13070
amount of kicking is to be expected fronesistibl.
ere he consents to run in the harness of roe 10,
facts. Personally, he is of little import:oe 'ell.
career is run until the age of oratory d. s',,,„orthi„!
more upon America ; but, typically, he '5 7, be
being studied, and he is not absolutely to 000.01
esteemed. The Yankee maxim to stop a' front °
was ingrained in his being until he came oda;
Fort Fisher. So great was his representauLtiales2
city that he did not hesitate to offend the an.,,
of all civilisation by an outrage upon the diC, 'bet lv
delicacy of the sex. No doubt it was a freJto
was the carrying out of the YankeeprinciP
adatioli;
run obstacles of every nature. In his detrvo
and subsequently, (for he promises to _op
general
erf
further years) in the pages of is
ler will see himself execrated, while the , i.allll'
dealt wither
the new school,successful or not, are
_eDiV
that recklessness is a challenge tO
partial terms. If he thinks it unjust, let him re. me sot
injustie. • rees
despised the sentiment of mankind where it is,,ah in
shrewdly alive. The world will be as thcav"oll tY
the punishment it inflicts. The humanistll of tbe,
American Generals will suffer the worst heooacii,c,i
common reprobation and contempt. 11'51
towards the unhappy ladies of New Or e,,ers o
soil him in a more deadly manner than thet.rloagli-
blood set flowing by Grant. It was mere
going Yankeeism, but the world reads it as aZig to
baseness. He did but express himself
leis country
for v,50...5. to 11)28
the bidding of the Yankee genius'
be con_
of a decal;
men heaped no reproaches 0312iiln tent to endli
military disgrace, but he must
the penalties of the representative nu'of
ing system. If, in the new order things e,
of Genh 0
America, one or two of the characteris It.os for Get
he
Butler survive, it will be a good thing aroo
• verY W poa
country. It was impossible to like hira. °nut
but even the world which sits ill vnitinkee di 'tit
Butler would be pained to see the -,- a ht goo
altogether ; and, little civilised as he ra!fiko.,tiolLe
times, it would retard the advance a e;;10- g
America if some of the qualities
became extinct.