Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-10-06
"THE STONES WOULD err"
DID THEY KNOW OF PAGNrs TREAT.
MENT OF HIS MOTHER.
A Regular Pagni Matinee at the "Rec
ord-Union" Office-Neighbors Re-
peat Their Statements.

| Messrs. UaISaHl ana GaDrel1, prominent
Italian citizens, whose statements were
given in the RECORD UNIONS expose of the
manner in which an aged woman has been
treated by her son, one A. Psgni, called at
this Office yesterday to deny the statement
made by Pagni in yesterdays paper. Mr..
Galgani, who is President of an Italian So
ciety in this city, and is a gentleman of
standing and means, was very emphatic in
his assertion that the situation in Pagni's
household is even worse than depicted in
the RECORD UEIoN's story of Friday morn
| ing. He declares that Pagni's poor old
mother is a most pitiable object. Her half
clad feet have fostering sores, her eyes are
diseased, she lacks the necessary clothing
to keep her halfway comfortable, and the
miserable hut in which she is forced to
live is hardly fit habitation for dumb
brute
why" said he, sit is enough:to bring
tears to the eyes of the stoutest-
hearted man to see how that poor old
creature is made to suffer. If they
give her something to eat, it is usually
crust of bread SO hard that the toothless old
woman cannot chew it. They took her
once to the County Hospital to get rid of
her. but DIR. White told them all she
needed was the comforts of home, and
that as Pagni had means enough to provide
for her it was his duty to take her home
and care for her. The doctor said the sore
! ness of her eyes was caused by cold; and
how could she help catching cold in that
| terrible place where she is obliged to live?"
Mr.. Galgani was asked how many rooms
the Pagni house contained.
Five" he answered. And l see that
| DIR. Pinkham says he forced Pagni to go
out and sleep in the barn on the night that
his wife was confined. Why, my God do
| you suppose doctor or anybody else could
compel me, or you, to leave our wives at
| such tme-when lowering between life
and death-and go and sleep in barn?
! No, sir I'd stand up all night, or sleep on
| the floor, if l couldn't keep awake stand
ing, and so would any other man who had
heart in him."
But, you say the house has five rooms.
If so, there could have been no necessity
for either Pagni or his mother seeking
shelter in the barn or shed?"
Eyes, there is a room for the children,
one for the servant, one for Pagni and his
wife, one for the old lady, and there would
still be another to spare for the kitchen.
No, there is no excuse at all for the man.
ner in which the old woman is treated, and
it is burning shame that such an outrage
can be permitted, with no law to punish
the guilty party"
GABRELLI TO THE FRONT.
F. Gabrelli, the well-known gardener,
made the following statement: I'm answer
to what Mrs. Pagni says about the green
Italians at the garden close by their place,
| we have this TO say-that, if we do not
make any money in selling vegetables, we
have at least saved enough to buy clothing
for Psgnis poor old mother, time and
again, and to feed her. Once she was
beaten badly by some member of her sons
household, and she came to my place,
stayed three days and ate at my table, and
| while there she told how she was abused
THE letter published this morning by
Pagni and his wife is false from beginning
to end. In it they say that we used to give
the old woman rotten vegetables to eat.
Tie fact is, she was allowed to go into the
garden and pick what she wanted, and nv
wife accompanied and helped her; so she
could take the best on the place if she
wanted to. Whenever she came to nv
place would go away because l had not
the hear. to stay and listen to her stories of
the shocking treatment she received at her
sons hands,
| HE is AN AUSTRIAN.
| G. Aleksa, another near neighbor of the
Pagnl family. whose statement was pub-
lished in the RECORD UNION article on Fri
day morning, also called at this Of
fee yesterday. His chief object in
not an Italian, as stated but an
Austrian. He is a hard working me-
chanic at the railroad shops, and an intelli-
gent man, who speaks five different lam
guagess He said the statements already
published concerning Pagni's brutal treat
ment OF his aged and decrepit mother were
not half strong enough. why" said be,
the very stones would weep if they could
understand what sufferiBgs and indgnities
have been heaped upon that poor old
creature The neighbors have not told the
half they know. That man Pagni is well
able to provide his mother with all the
comforts she requires. The old woman is,
like many who were reared in poverty in
the old counties, of an economical turn,
and she has always been saving about the
place-plcklng up things and preventing
waste. Perhaps they call that being med
dlesome and interfering. It's sad case,
and something should be done about it."
DR.. PINKHAM EXPLAINS.
There was still another caller at the
RECORD UNIONS Pagni matinee yesterday.
Just as Messrs. Galgani and Gabrelli went
out Dr.. Pinkham entered. The doctor
wished to correct the statement that he
| went direct from this office on Friday to
the Bee with his denial of the Pagni story,
afte- stating here that he did not know If
the article in the RECORD. UNION that morn
ing referred to the family he knew. He
admits going direct to the Bee office, but
says he did not make his statement there
until he had seen the District Attorney
and learned that the article had referred TO
the family he had visited professionally.
The doctor admits that the family does
not live in harmony, but accounts for it on
the ground that it is one of the freaks of
their nationality. He also contends that,
so far as his observations have extended,
Pagni's mother has not been treated in
what he would call brutal manner. The
doctor states that the old lady has been fur
nished with stove, so the RECORD UNION
expose has brought her some good.