The Placer herald., 1860-02-18
A Corsican's Revenge.

settied IN CadlZ, and opened small shop
for the sale Of cheap laces and ladies' trinke,s
He was poor, but had the reputation of being
honest, He was married and had a son ten
years of age. He frequently visited the
house Of Don Vel S., for the purpose of
selling his wares. The Don had pretty
wife, and the visits of the Corsican soon
aroused the husbands jealousy. and led to
serious difficulty. To prove to her husband
that bis suspicious were unfoundeG, she in.
vited Giacomo to dine with her and her hus
band. The Corsican, although astonshed at
the invitation, accepted it. and repaired to
the house of the Don, accompanied by his
son. The dinner was served on the roof of
the house, as was customary, and large
number of relatives was present. After din
ner the suspected wife sat talking with
Giacomo near the caves of the house-talk.
ing of the Jealousy of her husband. The
boy had been sent below at the request of
the lady. Presently the lad heard stamp.
ing Of feet upon the roof, and wrenching
open the door, hurried to his fa,her-just in
time to see the woman hurl him headlong
down to certain death below. The young
Giacomo fled, with the groans of the crush
ed and broken man still ringing in his ears.
One week from that night, the Carnival was
celebrated in Cadiz. Among the group of
ogres and harlequins thronging the broad
Alameda, a man in rich, me!o dramatic
costume, stood pelting the balconied ladies
with eggshels filled with fragrant waters
In the height of feversh excitement and
pleasure, shot is heard the cabaero falls,
shot through the brain, and just beyond the
market place, with smoking carbine nearly
of his own size clasped in his tiny hands, a
boy is seen stealing away towards the city
gates. They raise the fallen man, and tear
off the mask. 1t is the Don Vel S.
He is dead! Through the following six-and
twenty years, the same red hand appears to
have slain no less than fourteen of the i'm
mediate kin of the Don; and the assassin,
Notwithstanding the efforts of the au,hori-
ties still eluded their vigilance. The Donna
seems to have entertained frequent fears for
her own safety and offered an almost fabu
ous reward for his detection and punish
men'. The authorities seem TO have gone so
far as to pronounce the civil ban of outlawry
upon the murderer, giving all men authority
to slay him at sight; but, until within some
six months since, their efforts seem to have
been unavaiIng. During all this period,
the unhappy Donna gave way to paroxysms
of fury, described as Of the most fearful ma
ture. In her rawlings, she called upon Hea
ven to avenge the death of her kindred, and
to have heaped the most insolent of all in
dignities upon the grave of the elder Gia ONO
Early in the past year, she left her house in
the night time, and all traces were los: of
her whereabouts until quite recently. "One
evening"" to use the words of the translator,
"a fisherman hurried into the city, and be-
sought that he might be attended by a
watchman (serenos) to a clump of trees be-
yond the limits, where as he represented, he
had seen the missing lady struggling with
ar unknown man. lie described this latter
parsonage AS of the most terrible resem-
blance, with unclipt hair and whiskers, aud
his clothing in rents and tatters. lie gave
AS a reason for not interfering in the lady's
behalf, that he was afraid lest his life might
have been lost in an unarmed struggle with
this demonical being. On repairing to the
spot indicated, they found traces Of recent
struggling, and bits of silk here and there
still hanging to the brambles And for
some time, although the sounds Of groans
and sobbng were plainly perceptlble, they
were unable to catch sight of either. Making,
however, vigiant search, they found the
unfortunate woman buried nearly to the
mouth in mass of loose earth and stones
mere skeleton of wha: she had been-and
with her shoulders lacerated in fearful man
ner by the thorny bushes through which she
had been dragged to this living tomb While
conveying her to the city. they we're attacked
bv the same being described by the peasant,
who, with unexamped ferocity, had half
reached the nsensible form of the Donna
before he could be speared by the lances of
the watchmen." The Donna has since died,
and conjecture can alone supply the key to
this terrible mystery. The wholesale slaugh-
ter of the Vel s. family is laid at the
door of the young Giacomo; and that, too,
with seeming probability to those who un
derstand the revengeful character of the
Corsican. 1t is presumed that he, in some
manner, had en,iced the lady from her home,
and then forced her into the far interior to
endure starvation and perhaps frequent and
torturous fagellations at his hand. 1t is
quite probable that she was overtaken by
him in an attempt to escape his clutches
from the fact of being found so near the
imits-and, in mad frenzy OF hatred,
sought to doom her to the most terrible OF
dealhs-that of being entombed alive We
would not be considered as endorsing the
truthfulness of the above story, which seetns
to US to par,ake Of the melo dramatic ele'
ment in no small quantity; nor, indeed, are
we willing to say that such things might
not have occurred. But lie that as it may,
it certainly goes to give US an insight into
the terrible mysteries Of the Corsicsn heart,
when driven to that desperate pitch Of frenzy
which the history Of the Vendetta shows to