The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-07-01
THE STOLEN CHILD.
BY A DETECTIVE.

The Italian revolution was at its hight.
The mountain defles were swarmino with
marauders, and the nobility had hocked to
the capital, or sought refuge from imperial
avarlce in another laDd. Those who pre-
ferred a life of freedom to the servility
that attended submission sought refuge in
New Orleans. Among them was Cassina
de Rita, in whose veins stirred the blood
of the Colonnas, and whose sword had
been first in defence of bis country's out
ragged liberties and insulted honor. Young
in years, he was old in fame and when
resistance was no longer of any avail, with
his wife and child he came to New Or
leans. His wife was the daughter of a
noble, high in rank, and soldier under
the banner of Emanuel, an only child, sole
heiress to his riches, her son the heir of
his title. Like our own war, the Italian
revolution had engendered fierce jealous
les and family dissensions. Because the
wife had adhered to the fortunes of her
husband, her father disowned her-no
rebels child, be said, should wear his cor
onet. To the exiIed family these threats
of the old noble mattered but little Time,
they thought, would appease his resent~
ment, or, if it did not. they could rear a
new heritage in the land they had come
to-
Their many mplishmeuts, their
high rank and fame, gave them a place in
the best society. The wife was fattered
and admired, the husband the observed of
all who did honor TO virtue or loved a pa
trlOt. ears wore away the strangeness
of their new horne, and their sympalhies
and feelings became identified with those
of our people. No name stood higher
among our merchants than that of the
exile, while society lavished upon the
beautiful Italian all The admiration it
bestows upon its queens. The memories
that clung to the past were remembered
more as a dream than reality, and the
grief they at first had felt had grown into
a regret, just as the clouds sometimes
darken with impending tempest yet mel
low into golden twilight. The pomp of
high estate was an illusion now seen
through the mist OF years, while content
and plenty sat smiling at their door.
! "A said before, years had fed, and no
! word of reconciliation had ever passed
between the father and his exiled daughter.
But one night the child disappeared.
/ The mother was frantic-the father
! wild with apprehension. The city had
| been searched through and through. In
this emergency my mate and myself were
applied to, The circumstances under
which he had disappeared convinced me
at once that he had been abducted and
when the mother exclaimed that only tn e
night before poor Italian soldier had ap-
| piled for shelter and protection, was sure
he knew something Of the strange evasion.
| When l said as much 10 them, they then
revealed the family history have told
! you. / knew then the cause. Unappeased
in his dislike Of the exile, the old noble
sought to gain possession of the heir of his
title and rear himself or crush the young
life he hated.
If my conclusions were correct, had no
time for delay. The affair demanded
haste. Before midnight we had searched
the coast from the Barracks to the Forts
In secluded nook-a quick bend of the
river-lay the vessel we were in search Of
The Spanish flag was hoisted, but knew
Italian skill had shaped It's hull, and now
controlled its course. 1t was a perilous
enterprise to board it alone, and even if we
succeeded IN finding the boy, it was still
more doubtful if we could escape. Sill |
had no thought of abandoning the enter
prise. just, however, as we were medi-
tating plan of approach to the vessel,
an old man appeared on the deck, leading
the child. knew the child at once The
ebon curls clung around a fair young face,
on which the trace of the mothers beauty
yet fingered. A moment more and they
had descended the gangway and sought
the shore. Now was our time. 1t took
bu: an instant to snatch the child from the
old mans hand and lift him to the car
riage. But in the moment of our triumph
! a shot was fired from the vessel-it shat
tered the glass of the door, and buried
itself IN the temple of the child. l sprung
from the vehicle with the bleeding child il
my arms. The old man saw it, and raised
his hands with gesture like triumph
sprung down the bank and into the ship
That night it sailed. | returned the child
to the parents, yet alive, but it died within
an hOur-a victim of ploIs and ambition'
its young spirit had never known-its lifi
a sacrifice TO human pride.
The parents yet dwell in New Orleans
and age has hallowed their grief, and soft
ened their sorrow into a memory but the
wife's beauty faded with the life OF heI
child, and her great black eyes look sad
from beneath her snow white halr TC
her the joys of life are gone, and hop'
beckons from the sky