Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-25
yC0RTE'S FINAL SHOT.
The, Italian Consul's Story of the New
Orleans Lynching.
MANY CHARGES MADE BY HIM
He Says the, Killing Was Prearranged by
Leading Politicians.
MAYOR SHAKESPEARE HELD UP ToBLAME


in regard to the lynching of his countrymen
in the parish prison, which he placed in the
hands of friend for use if necessary. The
demand'of Mayor Shakespeare that the Con-
sui be not allowed to return to this city is
sufficient justification for its use. Where
the Consul speaks of politics in the letter,
he refers to the fact that all the leaders of
the lynching party, as well as the members
'rof the Committee of Fifty, and nearly all
the grand jurymen, are members of the
Young Mems Democratic Association, which,
through an alliance with the Republicans,
carried the last election, defeating the regt-
lar Democratic ticket and making Shakes
peare Mayor. Consul Corte's statement is
as follows:
"On the night of the 18th of October last
the Chief of Police in this city was assassi-
mated, and the Mayor desired to have in his
hands, as it appeared in his appeal, proof to
assert without doubt that it was the work of
the italian element. This assertion that it
was the work of Italians before any trial
produced great excitement and prejudice in
every quarter of the city and elsewhere. In
consequence of this, wholesale arrests of
Italians were made the same night and on
the following days. Several of the prison.
uables in and out of prison, and one was
seriously'wounded by'a frearm.
The Committee of Fifty.
Con the 18th of said month l applied to
the Mayor, calling his attention to the
above, and he replied: The rumor of the
maltreatment ofthe suspects is, lam satisfied,
without foundation. On the contrary,
greatly fear that the consideration for their
Fort tbo richo IF ho.r
friends has been carried beyond the limit of
prudence
"This assertion was inexact, as the grand
jury subsequently proved. On the 18th the
Mayor, authorized by the City Council, ap-
pointed the Committee of Fifty, composed
of prominent gentlemen of this city and
several politicians belonging to his party.
The committee, under the impression that
what His Honor said regarding the partici-
patton by Italians in the crime was true,
issued in its turn proclamation, signed by
the Chairman, Mr.. Edgar H. Farrar, of
which 1 have an original, addressed
to Italians and Sicilians. The most promi-
nent points of this proclamation were, first,
an insult and threat to the good part of the
colony in charging that it knew the secrets
of the Malta which the police itself could
not discover; second, a return to the methods
of the inquisition in inaugurating the sys-
TEN of secret and anonymous denunciation;
third, programme of what should be and
was afterward accomplished, using the pre-
else words: I'VE intend to put an end to
this, peaceably and lawfully if we can,
violently and summarily if we must. Upon
you and your willingness to give informa-
tion depends which of these courses we shall
pursue
''The Chairmans asked my opinion in re-
gard to it, and 1 expressed my full dis
appreciation. He asked at the same time if,
considering the 'ineficiency of the police, 1
could obtain detectives from Italy, to which
replied that if he would make written
request would send it to my Government.
- A Grand Jury Investigation.
''The Committee of Fifty called meeting
necessary steps to attain the end prefxed.
and, contrary to the assertions Of said COM
mittee that approved it, I, accompanied
by the presidents of Italian societies and by
of the Italian. press, called
on the Mayor to prevent it, and then, at the
Picd,huse and Times Democrat Offices, to beg
them to use their influence to that end
And if then no incident took place it was
owing to the interference of Mr.. Blaiue, to
the opposition of the press, and to the
measures taken by the criminal Sheriff to
double, as he assured me, his guards in the
prison.
sIn pursuance of a letter which 1 ad-
dressed to the Grand Jury, an investi-
CATION was made which revealed what had
Iranspired there. The press took up the
matter and approved the initiative by me
taken. Several reforms were suggested or
executed, and various indictments were
found against the guilty ones-seven, in
fact, against one party, Skip Mealy, and had
he been then tried he would have be found
guilty. But that was contrary to the views
of the leading politicians of the Committee
of Fifty, from which body many persons re-
signed In the meanwhile the explicit
statement of the Mayor that the guilty ones
were in the hands of the law was made un-
trustworthy by his offering a reward for the
discovery of the assassins. Had his honor
wrong would have been of littleimportance
Instead, it was aggravated because un-
worthy persons, in the hope of receiving
reward did not not hesitate to make false
statements in court 1 cite, among others,
one Dennis Corcoran, a Market Commits
sioner, who declared that he saw Sunseri and
Natali run, while the first was clearly
proved to have been at the time in thea
ter, and that Natali was near Chicago on
his way here.
The Confession of Polizzi.
''These statements failing of their pur-
pose because the proof was weak, and the
public beginning to see that there were
INVESTIGATIONS in the Hennessy case, as we'll
as in the Provenzano case, recourse was had
to last expedient, which resulted in affect
ing the entire population! This was the
confession of Polizzi. But when I learned
that it was provoked by Chief Caster, who
sent Joe Provenzano to the concubine of
Polizzi to induce her lover to make a con-
fession, and when I learned that a prisoner
with bad precedents was pardoned for hav-
ing attempted to obtain confession from
him, to confirm the assertion of the Mayor,
said confession lost for me all its value.
When 1 learned that Walter Denegre had
offered to Matranga's son-in-law 500, which
he refused, to have the naturalzed Italians
vote for his party; when 1 learned from the
Attorney General in the presence of four
persons that Frank Romero was sacrificed
BY those whom he assisted in politics; when
by Mr.. Michinard, a reporter of the Times
Democrat, and others / was formally assured
that Peeler, one of the most important
witnesses, was completely drunk at the
time he said he saw the shooting and recog-
nized the assassins, then I understood that
Uuere was SrcdI lly yotiuCdbfOn somewhere
"On the same night of the verdict violent
articles appeared in the evening papers, and
q committee, composed in great part of
of the Committee of Fifty, among
others G. Denegre, FarreS Dupre, Parker,
Flower, Wickliffe, and to whom
others were added, assembled in a CONNER
cial Place Office, at the corner of Bienyille
and Royal streets, to take the opportune
measures to realize the -deplorable affair of
The following day The same night the re-