Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1891-03-20
The New Orleans Lynching.

Several m onths ago, Chief Hennessy OF
the New Orleans police force took meas
ures towards suppressing the crimes com
mitted by secret society among the Ital-
ian population Of the city, known as the
Malta and which had held certain quarter
of the city in terror.
For this he was doomed by the society
and was waylaid and shot down By assas-
sins concealed in shed, as he was pass
ing.
Nineteen Of the members Of the society
were arrested for completely in the murder
they have been on trial during the past
month and one after another were either
acquitted, or the juries disagreed.
On Friday of last week jury brought
in A verdict of acquital in favor of SIX OF
the gang, who were tried together, ana
disagreed as to three others. Reports OF
the Jury being tampered with were freely
circulated. two men were accused OF oriDe-
~ and were indicted, and that night Sc
cret meetings were held all over the city;
Next dav. in response to published
notina saveraI thousand citizens met at
the Clay Statue, and were addressed Dy
one os the leading attorneys and one OF the
leading Business men of the town, and then
thew marched to the prison where the ltai-
isns were vet confined and surrounded IT,
Reams and crowbsrs had been PROVIDED
for battering down the doors, and fney
were battered down, and then some nifty
men, who were armed, searcneu ins
corridors and cells of the prison and killed
A. TAnIs ntnpTg
themselves by concealment in odd hooks.
The people then, at the instance OF the
leaders quietly dispersed and went to their
homes. though the blood of one OF the men
accused of tampering with the Jury was
loudly called for.
The whole affair was over In an hour or
.wo The members of the Cotton Ex
change met that afternoon and Justlhed
the action taken by the people that morn
in0. and the Stock Exchange met and ex-
nelled one of its members, who was mem
ber Of the Jury that acquitted the Italians,
and he, fearing violence left the city.
The affair was one Of the most remarka-
Bile that has ever happened in TINS coun-
try. and ir resembles the outburst IN Cih-
cinnati Of few years ago, ana must nave
been brought about by an administration
Of the law, infamous beyond the compre-
THE crime for which the nine Italians
had heen on trial was the assassination OF
Chief of Police David C..Hennessy on the
NIGHT of October Is last. The Italian pop
ulstion of New Orleans numbers about To-
600. and for some years the city has been
cursed with murderous societies organized
among them. known as the Mama, the
name of Al Sicilian band of assassins. There
vera rival gangs In the New Orleans italian
nonnlation. which carried on their ven
dettas. and shot and carved up each other
At pleasure. As they operated chiefly on
each other there was no determined effort
made to break up the dangerous practice
Finally Chief Hennessy resolved to break
up the murderous gangs. He secured evl,
dence against the leaders and October ~
was set as the date of the trial Ine mur,
derers Immediately banded together ana
shot him down rs he was returning 10 MS
home on the night of the 10Th ofOctober.
One Of the chief causes of public indigna
tion In connection with the Malta trial has
been the belief that the society depended
on bribery to secure the relase OF the ac-
cuaed. 1t has been asserted that $75, 600
or 500. 900 was contributed by Italians all
over the country to be used IS corruption
fund. Thousands of dollars, it was said,
came from Chicago, New York and other
cities where the Italians are congregated ID
large numbers. 1t il certain that the poor
italian laborers Of New Orleans and vicin-
ity were taxed 90 piece as q contribution
70 the defence fund, and that there was no
lack of money in the treasury OF the
society.
The leading newspapers of New Orleans
Justify the affair as follows.
The Times Democrat saws:
The people of New Orleans. having win
dicated the msjesty Of the law III one short
hours time and with such temperance as
the ugly work to be done would admit OF,
will also, of course, restore to the sworn
officers and ministers of the law their
authority usurped for so brief while.
Thus doing, they will convince both friends
and enemies that theirs was no desire to
interfere in the least with the established
order of things: but only to oust an evil
element that threatened to mar the SYM
metry of that order. Our justification was
necessity: our defense is self-preseryation,
Natures primal law.
The PicayuHe says:
Yesterday the people Of this city rose II
wrath and indignation at the corruption
and perversion Of the machinery to which
was delegated the administration OF JUS
tice. They didn't overwhelm and sweep
away he officials. but, brushing them aside
they took in their own hands the sword of
Justice, and they did not lay it down until
they had executed vengeance upon the
criminals whom the corrupt ministers OF
! Justice had excused and set free. This time
the dreadful sword was not turned upon the
perverters Of the law, but upon the viola
tors. But the suggestion Is most slgnlh
cant, the warning is terrible. Let those
| who have made necessary this dreadful ex-
preston of the popular right and the pop
| ular will tremble lest worse befall them.
The States says:
Citizens Of New Orleans, you have in one
righteous upheaval, In one fateful gust OF
mighty wrath, vindicated your laws,
| heretofore desecrated and trampled under
| foot by oathbound aliens who had thought
| to substitute murder for justice and the
suborner's gold for the freemans, honest
verdict Your vengeance is consecrated
| in the forfeited blood Of the assassins.
The affair has created sensation all
over the civilized world. The Italian col.
onies Of New York, Chicago and other
cities have appealed to their home govern
ment, and President Harrison and Secreta-
| nv Blaine have been flooded with dispatches
regarding it, 1t Is claimed that three OF
the lynched Italians were citizens of Italy,
which, If true, may lead to some interna.
tional complications.
Saxonburg Items.