The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-10-24

out to the lake, have us pay over the.
money and then catch the fellows. Judge
Davey, Mr.. Mcaley and Ralph Morgan
were among the crowd"
care there any Italians in the Malta be-
sides the people who work OH ships?' ne
was asked.
Il don't know. They have got the Malta
society everywhere. They have it in San
Francisco, ST. Louis, Chicago, New York
and here"
did YOU ever belong to it?"
NO, indeed" was the reply, uttered
with considerable vehemcnce.
Where does this Malta society meet?'
"Thcy meet anywhcrc-out near the
levee, back of town, and in Carrollton.
think. They make the greenhorn men
just arrived from Italy do the killing.
They pay them $40, $50 or 800 TO get a
man out of the way, and if the man they
order to kill some one won't do the job
they have him killed"
They have killed two of our witnesses
now" said Pellagrini, ''the chief and vi
tranO. Nitrano was going to testify that
he was in Il restaurant with me the night
the Matrangos were shot at, and they
killed him before our first trial. and he
told how the young Italian was murdered.
| Pellagrini, Giulio and Provenzano also re-
called other vendetta murders where hor-
rible atrocities were committed and the
witnesses made to keep perfect silence
through fear of the Mafa's vengeance.
The Provcnzano case comes up for trial
on Wednesday, when the whole subject OF
the vendetta and the Malta will be investi-
gated. There are fifty witnesses sum-
moned for the State and 10 for the
defense, a majority Of them Italians. The
Italian consul, Signor Corte, has repre-
scented to Recorder Brcngur that relatives
of the Italian prisoners confined in the
parish prison complain that the prisoners
have been treated badly The complaint
OF the consul has been referred to the
Criminal Court, and will he investigated.
The mayor has also received communica-
tions from large number of Italians
complaining of the manner in which the
prisoners are being treated, and protest.
ing against their being held responsible
for the crimes of the Sicillans. The
paper draws distinction between the
Sicillians and the Italians proper.
WHAT LA MAFIA Is.
The La Malta is secret organization
composed almost entirely OF Sicillians,
and was founded by an Italian cut-throat
named Malta, at Palermo, a hundred years
ago. The members are, for the most part,
| criminals and countcrfciters, and hesitate
at no atrocity. The inhuman cruelty of
some of the Malta agents is almost beyond
human credence, and savors Of the brutal
barbarity of the middle ages. Eincenzo
.; al 81 u,t in Or.
leans, hoping to burn the owner at the
same time He was sent to the penten-
tiary. organized Il branch of the Malta
for house breaking purposes only-among
his fellow-prisoners, got out, went to ST.
Louis and murdered foe of the Malta
there.
He went to Chicago, opened i saloon,
enticcd an obnoxious fellow-co untryman
into it and stabbed him in the back with
knife so long that it stuck out OH both
sides of the dying man rs he fell to the
floor. He came to New York, opened II
store, fired it to get the insurance and was
unsuccessful. He vowed vengeance> and
La Malta on fellow countryman whom he
believed instrumental in causing his de-
feat He invited his victim to private
apartment to have glass OF beer, offered
beaker with one hand, and with the
other, by one stroke of the razor, laid the
poor wretch's face open from his forehead
to the point of his chin. When the
wounded man, almost BY miracle, re-
bcrs Street Hospital, he was afraid to
complain against Ardit, who went scott
free.
In October, 1888, Antonio Flaccomio
was assassinated in the shadow Of the
Cooper Union building, in New York city.
Flaccomio had been adjudged Il traitor to
the organization, of which at one time he
was prominent member, and it was said
that Carmello Garach, who was murdered
in the Staten Island woods four years
before, had been enrolled in the same
society. The uni ustitiable killing of Fa-
rach was one of the causes that led to
Flaccomio's removal, but the cause OF his
assassination was the testimony that he
gave shortly before his assassination
against some of his countrymen, who
were countcrfeiters, as well as brother
members of La Matin. FlaccOmiO was
sentenced to death, and two brothers,
Carlo and Yincenzo Quarrara, were Sc
lccted to kill him. The former plunged
the stiletto into the doomed mans heart.
Signor Ratio, of New York city, the
Italian consul, is authority for the state
mcnt that the first that was really known
of the order was at the beginning Of the
present century in the town of SLIM,
Sicily, where family of nine, named
Giavanni, of considerable social position,
were murdered in as many weeks The
father went first, being found ut his very
doorstep. Seven days later the mother
followed. Her dead body was found in
almost the same location us that of her
husband. The authorities were unsuc-
ccssful in tracing the murderer or MUIR
derers, and several days afterward the
bodies of the two eldest children we're
found dead in bed. The others followed
in regular order, until the family was COM
pletcly annihilatcd. A tough character
of the town, named Sipoli, was arrested
OH suspicion and confessed. He revealed
the existence of the order, and said that
Giavanni and his family had incurred the
anger of the band by bctraying q criminal
who was Malta, 70 the authorities. ST.
poll had been instructed, among others, to
commit the murder. He was tried, and
although the best counsel was employed
to defend him on a plea of insanity by the
Malta he was convicted and sent to prison
for life.
Several witnesses for the prosecution
were afterward murdered by the Malta.
The government, becoming aware of the
lawless nature OF the organization, at once
took measures TO have it suppressed, but
the efforts proved futile. La Malta con-
tinucd to grow. a nolice officer in 1867