Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-02-02

were heaped with dead and slippery
with blood, the ruffians pursued their
work with unabated vigor.
At length, under the increasing show
or of blows, the door gave way, carrying
with it in it's fall the side posts and the
adhering masonry. Amid the crash and
dust of the falling timbers, the brigands
clambered over their dead comrades,
and with demoniac shouts rushed into
the devoted dwelling. y
Fierce and desperate was the contest
that ensued. In the entrance dread
full hand to hand conflict took place, and
the combatants were now too closely in
termingled to permit of shot being
fired without endangering friends as
we'll as foes. The struggle was fierce
and long: but what could strength and
skill avail against such overwhelming
odds9 With diminished numbers, but
with undated courage, the heroic
canon and his brave followers were
compelled to retreat before their foes,
each step being calamity disputed.
From room to room we're they driven,
until, after retreating up the staircase,
they gained front room overlooking
the street, where they had determined
to make q last stand.
As the party crossed the threshold,
the gallant canon received shot full in
the forehead, and, without a groan,
sank ifeless to the ground. Over his
PROSTATE form the assailants pressed
into the room, where stood at bay the
three survivors of the confict-the
canon's son, Marguerite and Giuseppe
Spina.
The first of these was faint and weak
from loss of blood, which was gushing
from gaping wound in his right
wrist. Giuseppe, on the other hand,
though he had received several wounds,
was as yet comparatively fresh, and still
piled his deadly weapon with as fatal
effect as ever.
In two at least of the three that stood
there, the prospect of their inevitable
doom did not create single pang. As
they gazed around that circle of inhu-
man toes, on whose countenances not a
tinge OF pity could be discerned, their
souls scorned the idea of a submission
to which even death itself appeared
preferable.
For a moment there was dead
silence, broken at last by one of the
brigands, who fired his pistol, and then
rushed with a fierce shout upon the
party with his sword. This was the
signal for general melee. The
brigands rushed in body on the gall
liant party, and, though Giuseppe
cleared circle around them by the
force of his dreaded arm, and thus kept
the foe at bay, yet, when they retired
from the first fierce onslaught, poor
Giacomo lay weltering in his blood.
And now came the last deadly strug-
gle. Alone, but undaunted, and undis-
mayed by overwhelming odds, the
heroic Spina fought like lion for the
woman he loved. And though Mar
guerite's cheek blanched, and her pale
lip quivered when first her parent and
then her brother fell victims to the fury
of the brigands, yet she did not other
wise betray her emotion; and when one
of the brigands, thinking in the heat of
the contest to take Spina unawares and
stab him from the rear, was watching
for an opportunity to accomplish his
design, Marguerite, snatching a pistol
from the body of the PROSTATE Giacomo.
shot the villain through the heart.
So struck were the brigands with
their undaunted courage, that some Of
them offered to spare their lives if they
would surrender. For the sake of his
betrothed, Spina would have condo
scended, even then, to parley with them !;
but all hope of a peaceful termination
to the struggle was suddenly destroyed,
for, at this juncture, there was COM
motion, the crowd parted, and to the
front pressed the bury form of Vim
cenzo Nardi, the lieutenant of Crocoo.
He was man of admirable build and
splendid proportions, but his sinister
features destroyed all prepossession
that might have been created by his
magnificent figure. No sooner had
Gu1seppe's eyes fallen on Nardi than he
recognized in him the murderer of his
father, whose life he had taken away at
Civita Vecchi the previous year, on ac-
count of some fancied wrong.
Not q thought of peace fingered in
his mind, but with unbridled fury he
rushed on Nardi. Both were brilliant
swordsmen, but, taken off his guard by
the suddeness of the onset, Nardi re-
ceived severe flesh wound in the
sword arm. With less of vigor, but
more of rage, he fought on. For a
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