The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-04-27
Correspondence I8ondon Herald.
IkAly--.MasSacre of Professionals.
FLoRENCE. March "a.


of Christian Thuggism. That reli-
gious fanaticism should have produced
such deplofable results in the heart
Of the nineteenth century, appears
absolutely incredible. Uphappily
there is no doubt about the facts,
which are as follows: For about two
years a small Protestant society has
existed In Barletta. Beginning with
two or three individuals this body
had little by little swelled to forty
members, who managed to support a
little school and chapel, in which
oficiated pastor named Gaetano Gil
amin, a native, believe, of Florence
The existence Of this modest evangel-
ical community was a thorn In the
aesh to the priests of the Romish
faith, who naturally traced this alarm
ing spread of heresy to the introduction
Of the Presidential Sandman statute.
80 far, nothing can be said. Prayers
were offered up in the churches
rs for the conversion; of these heniSh tfed !
41E brethren sul2o ropaply returned the
.s3s compliment at their own Sunday SER
vices. Even this was a polite atten-
ton for which both parties might be
reciprocally grateful But SO idyllic|
state of things was doomed to be
"a abruptly terminated by the arrival
of three quaresigaq!ists, or Lenten.
49, .e preachers, dispatched to the rescue of
s. IS the faith, which appeared to be some
seof1f what on the wane in Barletta. These
. o3 ecclesiastical frebrands (the names of
= two of them are Fathers Postigliene
.e.5oi and Trentaduel lost no time in de-
nouncing the ihideous wickedness of
which the folks of Barletta had been
guilty, in. tolerating the presence of
49, these God -fOrsaken heretics. And, it
~ was limited that as the benign infiu-
oeos e1cs ence of prayer had proved Intellectual
nosso In the present case, good Oaken cud-
h.a len gel might be advantageously substi-
f,ifa q nf orfb odov11
I'd ~ sion. Nay, in case of need, the Church
had often found that bundle or two
of faggots would admirably serve her
purpose. In this way, it had been her
privilege, by Gods blessing, to save
many millions of erring souls, at
the trihing cost of the destruction
of the poor, perishable bodies
to which they were temporarily at
tached. This pious exhortation was
renewed with additional JUNCTION on
st. Joseph's day, and the eongrega
tons, brimful of Divine zeal rushed
out of the churches, with fendish
yells of, Death to the Protestants!
Death to the damned Hurrah for
Jesus Christi Down with the here
tics Long live the Church, Long
live Victor Emannel" &c. In fact,
all kinds of cries were raised-any
shout and any weapon being good for
- the occasion. The houses of the Pro-
testants were sacked, the occupants
. thrown out at the windows, or hacked
to pieces, and the mutilated victims
some dead, some dying-burned IN
the streets, an immense fire having
been kindled for the purpose. The
women were reused to pitch of in
describable fury-stabbing and ston-
ing many of the hapless martyrs, and
dancing, with unearthly shreks
round the flames of their duto-da-fe.
For two hours the rioters. had it all
their own way, and as the Protestant
Minister had taken refuge In the
house of the Project the place was
besieged by the mob, the officials were
put to fight and all of the furniture
was thrown out of the windows. The
Under Project received blow on the
head from stone, and a delegate of
police, who, by some mistake, was
supposed to be the Pastor Gianini re-
ceived such i'll usage that he died on
the following day. In the course of
time order was restored, and four
hundred soldiers are now quartered
In the city. AS many as seventy-fye
persons have been arrested including
four Priests, Capuchin, and six or
seven women The prisoners have
been removed to Trani, not without a
vigorous attempt to rescue them. But
the rioters were kept under, and for
tunately without blOOdshed
The clerical press is unmoved in the
presence of these terrible facts. Ac-
cording to the U,uita Catolico, the
whole blame is imputed TO the here
ties, who presume to scandalize the
faithful by their perverse spirit of
proselyteism, and TO the Government
~ fOrAncouraging schism
Thirteen lives have been lost in
this lamentable affair, which appears
81 to have been no accidental circum
stance, but to have had its origin in
r1i3s certain general measures concerted at
s. tio9 Rome, for the purpose of maintaining
,f an agitation among the ignorant class
lse eal e es, the ultimate object being evidently
to produce state of things by which
57e the Emperor of the French NAV be
induced to postpone the withdrawal
of his troops from Rome. Small dis
turbances, also provoked by the cler
gy, are reported from various parts Of
Sicily. T f.s J
The Massacre at Barletta, Italy,
FLORENCE March 2s) Cor. London Times /
The Barletta massacre turns out to