Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-02
pai1s eagle
MAD FROM A BLOW.
The Precious Freight Found On an
italian Brig.
Startling Story of the Captain of the Leon
ardo da vinci-A Queer Craft From
Sicily-A Young Woman Made Insane
by the Violence of Her Husband.
IN. Y. Morning Journal.1


Split sails, frayed cordage, broken rail.
and splrntered spars mark the big italian
brig, Leonardo da Vinci, now lying a,
Martins Brooklyn Stores Her deck was
swarming with dark skinned sailors set
ting things to rights when journal re-
porter crossed it yesterday and descended
to her cabin.
81 am the Captain" said a tall man,
whose English is softened by his Southern
accent, captain Giuseppe Dulcano, at
your service.
"Voyage" exclaimed the sailor, "Corpo
di Baccho! 1t was frightful. The waves?
The wind? The storm? Bah! l care
nothing for these. The Leonardo is a
stanch boat. can trust her. But the lady
] can not trust"
"What lady?n asked the reporter.
"Listen to me-" replied Dulcano. "We
left Messina one day seven weeks ago and
saw her white hous es and tall spires fade
away before the sun set. We were laden
with olives, lemons and oranges plucked
from Sicilian vines and groves. The Med
iterranean was smooth and blue, and all
went well until the night after we passed
Gibraltar"
Nv hat then; storm"
"Worse" said the Captain. 81 was on
deck putting my cigarette when Tomase
Finelli, with wild eyes and hair on end,
rushed up to my side, and throwing him.
self on his knees commenced to humble
prayers.
"'What's the mstterf' cried. Are you
mad?
"'The ghost! the ghostp he stammered
between his paternosters, in the hold-in
white, with long hair!'
''Seizing a lantern I rushed below.
There, leaning against a pile of orange
boxes, was the half-fainting figure of q
woman. 1 hurried forward to her, for am
a Sicilian. Supporting her around the
waist, carried her to the cabin next my
own. Food, water p shouted the woman
is starvingr
"We forced wine between her white
teeth; we searched the lockers and gave
her all their choicest dainties In two
days the pinks came back to her pale
cheeks, she opened her blue eyes, she
raised her tender arms toward her yellow
hair and clasped her forehead wildly. She
is an aristocrat She is beautiful. All our
women are beautiful, but when Italy's sun
does not tan their cheeks and darken their
hair they are the beauties of the world.
But her blue eyes did not light up with
reason. Her wrongs have stolen her
mind" whispered Dulcano, sinking his
voice and pointing toward a door locked
on the outside "She is in there"
'"Who is your mysterious passenger"
asked the reporter.
II will not tell you. Her fathers pal
ace graces the Marina, in Messina, that
beautiful street that overlooks the waters
of our bay. Her father forced her to
marry man high-born, too, but no true
Italian. He learned his manners, his
smooth smiles, his contempt for women
in Paris. He abused his wife; half Italy
knows that. and | know it,"
Dulcano brought down his fist upon his
knee with crash that shook the cabin,
while his eyes blazed with rage.
"Well?"
''The rest we gather from the lady's
raving. She lies and means. "A blow, a
blow, my father, he struck me, a blow,
a blow Her Infamous husband must
have raised his hand to her. Wounded
in body, her naughty spirit crushed she
has flown from his roof, crossed the
rough-stoned quay in her dainty slippers,
crept by our sleepy watch and hidden
herself in the hold. There the fright
ened Tomaso discovered her-the only
good thing L ever knew the lout to do"
"You take her back with your
81 take her back to her father and to re-
venge," concluded the captain. "Your
police here have tried to discover her.
Tommy, a detective, l think they call him,
has sorght to detect her aboard the Lee
onardo. He has detected nothing. She
will return with me-a Siciliau sailor and
q gentleman"