Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-03-21
GllS. M.AFlA.
Chief Hcnnessay's Msrder Avenged
Eleven Sic!llans Killed In Jail.


and died in q few hours thereaf-
ter. His assassination was due
to a secret association of muir
derers, known as the Malta.
which for years have dominated
Now Orleans, and iii the last
TWO years has had fifty two Of
ita citizens assassinated. Chief
Heanessey declared that he
would put stop to this killing
and arrested seven persons. But
no case that would hold could
be made, though three of the pei
sons charged were convicted.
He was warned then that he had
better let the matter alone, that
the truth could not be got out Of
these people. but he would not
heed. He continued his investi-
cations, got together a mass of
evidence that involved nearly
one hundred people, and was
killed, as he was told he would
be. The police in the search for
the murderers of Hennessey
found what appeared to be q de-
tailed plan to assassinate all city
and state officers who acted coun-
ter to the wishes of the Malta.
and twenty-one of its members
were arrested. At the trial CT
the murderers beginning Febru-
airy 16. whose guilt was estab-
lished by plain and direct evil
dence, it was discovered that the
Jury had been bribed, and when
the verdict of not guilty of six
of them and mistrial of three
others, though not unexpected,
was rendered on 18th inst, the
indignation of the people knew
no bounds and eliminated as
detailed below.
NEW ORLEANS, March 10
The announcement or Friday
night that six of the nine Sici-
lians charged with the brutal
assassination of Chief of Police
David G. Hennessy had been ac-
quilted, and that the jury could
not agree as to the guilt or inno-
cence of the other three. brought
the people face to face with the
conviction that that same secret
and terrible power that dccreed
the murder of the faithful officer
had corrupted the orderly ad
ministration of justice and de
feated the popular demand for
their punishment. So strong and
general was this conviction that
at a meeting cf leading citizens
quickly called the same night,
it was at once decided that tho
time for action had arrived, and
q call was issued for q public
town meeting at the base Of the
statue of Henry Clay, in the cen
TIRE OF the city. at 10 O'Clock Sat
urtay morning. The call was
printed in all the city morning
newspapers.
In response an orderly crowd
of about three thousand deter
mined men assembled. Mr.. w.
S. hrkerson, a leading lawyer
and president of the Southern
Athletic Club, and one Of the
signers of the call, made an ad-
dress saying that, courts and
iuries having failed in their dele
gated functions, it was time for
the people to act.
At the conclusion of the speech
the crowd started for the parish
prison. On the way, guns which
had been provided by the citi-
zens, were handed to response
BILE men from an arsenal on
Bienville and Royal streets. The
prison was reached at 1870
O'Clock p. m. After a slight re-
sistance it was surrendered and
the citizens rushed in and shot
to death eleven Of the nineteen
men charged with the killing of
Chief Hennessy.
The men who had been acquit-
ted by the jury were still in GUS
tody on minor charges in con-
nection with the case. Three Of
them were among those killed.
The ether three were not harm
ed. The full list of the killed is
as follows: Manuel Polietz,
Pietro Monastro, Antonio Scat
fedi, Joseph P Macheca, Anton
10 Marchesi, Antonio Bagnetto,
Frank Romero, Jim Caruso,
Rocco Gerachi, Charles Trahine
and Comitez. Two of the elev-
en-, Polietz and Bagnetto, were
dragged from their cells and
hanged in the street and riddled
with bullets. The crowd quietly
dispersed.
Matranga, Sunzeri, Natalie,
the boy Marchesi, Palermo, John