St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-14
How a Frenehman Made Way
With His Wife and the
Guide OF the Trip.
He Cruelty Pushed Them Into
the Great Crater of Molt-
en- Lava.
Some Of the Many Terrible
Crimes on the Big Burn
ing Mountain.

fact that number of persons are known
to have persisted in a similar way. In
1889 merchant of Gaata named Lovera
di Priola deliberately committed suicide
by leaping into the caater oil the mount
ain, in which a lake of fire was raging,
and sending up at intervals volumes OF
deadly, sulphurous fumes. There never
was any doubt that Di PriOla intention
ally sought death in Vesuvius. 1t was
shown afterward that he iabored under
peculiar mania. His two companions,
one peasant guide and the other
friend who had accompanied Di Priola
| from Naples on what was sup
posed to be a mission of curiosity
both testified that DR.. Prlola left their
| side while the air was clear, and his
movements could easily be seen, ran to
| the very edge of the crater, and leaped,
with an awful cry, into the chasm. AT
| the time they went with him up the
| mountain they saw so signs of mental
| arrangement, but soon after reaching
| the top he began talking in an erratic
way about some sin he had committed
and the hopelessness of everbeing for
| given for it. Even this did not alarm
| them, as they did not connect tue ut
| teranceS with any design of suicide,
until he actually dashed away and took
the awful leap. 1t appeared, upon in
! quIry, that he had committed some Of
Tense. or believed he had, as nobody
else knew anything about it, and had
broOded over the matter until his rea-
son became unsettled. Becoming con-
vlnced that he was sure of eternal pun
iShment anyway, he concluded to go to
the locality by way of Vesuvius.
Murdered His Wife and Child.
The burning mountain has witnessed
darker crimes than suicide. Italians
have not yet forgotten the sensation
caused in 1850, when a Frenchman
named Chabrol, from Bordeaux, was ar
rested on charge Of having murdered
his wife and a guide named COllegnO by
pushing them into the crater. There
was no evidence except circumstantial
to sustain the charge of murder, and
confession wTung out by torture is not
the best confederation. But there was
never any doubt among the fellow
guides of Cologne that both the latter
and Nine. Chabrol were pushed INTO the
crater. ChabrOi, it appeared from the
testimony taken at the trial, was a re-
tired wine merchant of Bordeaux, Of
middle age, and travelling forrecreatiOn.
NeSuVius had shown signs of an APP
preaching Outburst, but was not con-
sidered dangerous, and there was moth
ing peculiar in ChabroPs purpose to
visit the volcano. Other tourists were
doing so every day, and women were
some times in the party. Nine. ChabrOl
was healthy looking Frenchwomau,
like her husband about thirty years of
age. Collegna, one of the best guides
of that period. was escort. They started
early III the morning, and progressed
very leisurely, stopping at frequent in
tervalS for rest and refreShmenJ, and
reaching the top of the mountain late in
the afternoon.
AS to what happened there only Cha
broi survived to tell. AS he told the
story first, he said that, although the
ground was warm, few jets of vapor
and gases, called lumaroles by the
Italians, escaping from small assures,
were the only signs of volcanic activity.
Nine. Chabrol wanted to see more, and
asked the guide to approach the edge of
the crater, Nj. ChabrOl in vain indeaY-
Oring to diSSuade his wife from such
dangerous curiosity. The guide Joined
the husband in protesting, but, as the
madame threatened to go alone, Col
legnO said he would accompany her.
Chabrol remained at a distance. The
guide and Nine. Chabrol were standing
looking into the crater when volume
of sulphurous vapor, rising from the
pit, hid them from view, and compelled
ChabrOl himself to retreat some dis
lance. When the cloud cleared away
neither guide nor woman could be seen.
Grimes OF King BOmba
ChabrOls story seemed plausible, and
the authorities were willing to accept
it and would have released him. Col
fri L..
ever. They thought him too expert
enced guide to have persisted in that
way, and they felt convinced that
Chabrol was murderer. The wife and
daughter of Cologne went to Naples
and obtained an audience with King
BOmba's minister of justice. Chabrol
was put under arrest. Under pressure
of the peculiar methods then frequently
resorted to in Naples, he at length con-
feSsed that he had killed his wife and
the guide by pushing them both into
the lake of fire that boiled beneath in
the crater.
His motive for numbering his wife
was TO marry young person who was
with him in his travels as a niece. He
got rid of the guide because the latter
would have otherwise been a witness of
the Wlfe-murder ChabrOl was executed
IN Naples. One of the horrible things
charged against King BOmba was that
ne caused victims Of his hatred to be
bound hand and foot and thrown into
Vesuvius. The king was guilty of so
many crueltes that it is possible that
the charge was true. Racchia, who
took part in the instruction of IS49,
and was sentenced to Imprisonment for
life in dungeon, was never heard of
afterwaId, and was not found i'm the
dungeon when Poerio and others were
liberated.
Racchia was peculiarly obnoxious to
the king because he had spat upon his
maJesty'S portrait in the palace at Ca
puce, and had said many offensive
things about Bomba. 1t is tradition
in Naples that, on the night following
the sentence, Racchia was taken from
his dungeon, pinIOned hand and foot,
carried to the top OF Mount Yesuyius
and thrown into the crater. BOmba
was so ingenious in deYlslng torture for
his victims that the tradition is probably
true.
Suicide Caused by Love.
The most recent cause of death in the
molten lake previous to that of the
Brazilian, De SiYaS. was that of NJ
Vignes. from Besancon. Vignes nm
dOubtedly committed suicide during the
eruptions of 1862, or. to be precise. inst
before they began. He left his guide
and leaped into the chasm. and was
never seen or heard from again. He
did not even cry out. A love affair is
said to have prompted Vignes to self
destruction. He was only thirtv-two !
years of age. At that time there was I
some discussion as to the suffering at
tending such a method of suicide.
The opinion generally expressed by |
medical men was that the man was IN |
conscious from the sulphur fumes be- |
fore the awful dip into the LIQUID mass |
Of melted rock, and that Vignes had en- |
dured no pain. A band of brigands |
that fiourished in the woods on the !
slopes of Etna in 1865. under the leader |
ship Of the infamous MorozZo. used TO |
threaten their victims with death i'm the !
the Volcano in the pvnnf of the rn rcn,,, |