Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-10
CRIME I'm ITALY.
Discovery Of . CRIMINAL Club.


Discovery Of = Criminal Club.
TIRE "AocoLTELLAToRI"-TH AssAs-
erEATIoKs IN SIX YKARs-TwKNrY-THRER
ARRESTS
Under date Of Sept. % the Paris correspond
nal:
1t is much more than two years ago that
were then and there obtainable Of the secret
association which kept that decayed CITY and
its eDvirons in q state of constant terror. That
part OF Italy has long had an evil reputation as
district where human life is little respected,
and the knife in frequent use, but at Ravenna
in 1872, and during several previous years sssss-
sinations bad been OF frequent occurrence, the
motives Of most OF which were Q mystery or
could only be vsguely conjectured. remember
that gentlemen of the town to whom had ia-
Productions and who were DESTROYS to crafty
my curiosity were unable to DO 20 to more than
very limited extent. They believed the
homieidal association, which unquestionably
existed, to be q perverted remnant Of the old
political secret societies, which, prior to
the liberation of those provinces from
their Austrian masters, had the raiso7 d'stre.
That reason had disappeared, but the passion
tor mysterious occult associations remained,
and the society survived with other objects
The political conspirators and assassins had be-
come common criminals and murderers. The
higher elements of the association had probably
withdrawn themselves, and there renamed
only its dregs. the men of ssnguinary instincts.
The singular state of things was set forth In
greater detail in my letters from Raveuns.
Among other cases was told OF one in which
the victim was believed to have been struck
because he had refused pecuniary accommoda-
ton to member Of the band; but In such cases
disappeared that 1T Was not the person who held
himself sggrieved and sought revenge who
dealt the blow, but one of his associates, per-
haps designated by lot. 1t appears that the
authorities at Ravenna have at last succeeded
in obtaining that clue to the identity of the
malefactors which, up to the period OF nv
visit, and for some time afterward, it was found
impossible to get Twenty-three persons have
been arrested, and their trial will commenced in
fVCn nF fhrQ do hafnF fha II a fFihn al
The Franco Italian Correspondence has given
some interesting particulars of the affair, which
coincide IN essential points and also in several
minute details with my recollection of what L
was told rather more than two years ago. The
following condensed translation will be read
with interest: From 1858 to 1871, thirteen per-
sons, belonging to all ranks of society, from the
magistrate down to the common police agent,
were stabbed or shot in succession by indiyidu-
ais who, during all these six years, succeeded in
escaping detection. Several of these murders,
or attempts at murder, were perpetrated in
broad daylight, on the public square of the
town, in front of the guardhouse. Arrests were
months in prison. 1t was all In vain; it was i'm
possible to catch or discover the criminals.
Neither the numerous witnesses OF these bloody
scenes, nor the friends and relations of the VIC
Tins, nor even those of the victims who sur
vived, could or would denounce the culprits. A
Ike lmpenetrsble mystery enshrouded the mo-
tive OF the assassiDs. Whether they were the
paid agents of others or were fanatics paving
the way for an insurrectionsry movement could
not be sscertained. 1t was not till last year.
when all hope of detecting the assassins had
been abandoned, that a man named Giovanni
Resta waited on the Juge d'Instruction
at PistOla, and divulged their names
and organization, including the smallest
details OF their procedure during and
subsequently to each assassination. He was
the brother Of one of the criminals, and
the cOntidant of most of them, and he remained
10 the last on the best terms with the % persons
he denounced, the reason he assigned for his dis
closure being that he wished to dissipate the
suspicion that his only son might have had a
murderer for his father. 1t appears from his
statement and the investigation which followed
that nine years ago society was formed, ORR
glnally numbering not more than II members,
which, after formal consultation, passed seu-
fences OF death, which were at first executed
tlmidly, but afterward with boldness, derived
from sense Of impuDity. Pistols and guns were
sometimes used, but usually knives, which were
deposited in chest in the room where they met,
and were spoken of by the members as pens.
When the Bianconi had to convene the band to
preston they used was that thew were "going to
summon the masters" The first victim was the
Chevalier MOnghini, an ex-dlrector of the Ma
tional Bank, who, while returning home at
night was stabbed with knife, the object, as
stated in the indictment against the prisoner,
being TO punish him for the difficulties and OBJ
stacles which his refusal to discount bills had
caused to small tradesmen, and which had for
wears given him the nickname of executioner
usco1i Sebastiano, surgeon, was condemned
and murdered for not less general reasons He
was charged with having said at time when
grain was dear that the owners should dispose
OF IT as advantageously as possible for them
selves, and that the people must suffer hunger
to such point as to be reduced to eat horses
litter Others, like the ProcuratOre Cssare
Capper, were asssssinated, with a view of
avenging the Imprisonment and prolonged de-
tentlon OF several members of the band; Others,
IKE the brother Tassinari, who were members
OF the society, as a warning against the indis-
cretlons to which their habitual drunkenness
might lead. Some at least of these assassins
were tar from being the most degraded of men,
They were not devoid of patriotism, and went
through the campaign of 1868 in the TyTol with
credit, or ike Cavalcoli GiOyanns, RESPONDED
in 1861 to Gsribaldi's appeal and fell brayeIy at
the capture of Monte RotOndo. Another charac-
teristic trait was the kind OF publicity they gave
their acts. Not satisfied with executing their vic
TINS by daylight in the presence of many wit
Lesses, they appriZed them of their sentence by
anonymous letters, or placsrded their doom with
such Inscriptions as ga furnished room TO let"
Many persons, including some of those whose
lives were attempted, recognized the assassins
repeatedly, but whenever any of the latter hap
pened TO be among those taken into custody by
the police nobody ventured to give evidence
against them, and complainant persons were
found to establish an alibi, such was the terror
or completely they produced. Similar proceed
lDgs, moreover, are still common, in spite of
recent legislation, and are to be attributed to
the state of affairs in the Romagna under the
Papal government, which gave rise to secret
societies OF criminals, and it was not always
possible to distinguish where political societies
finished and where the other began. The polit-
ical societies, moreover, had not always mem
bers daring enough to carry out their DEGREES,
and were obliged to entrust that part of their
operations to persons who shrank from nothing,
who lived as ii were under their shadow, and
who, having survived them, now act on their
own account.
Preparing Plants for Winter.