The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-12-24
THE ITALIAN FEUD.
1t Will All Be Settled To-
Morrow.
EACH FACTION is CONFIDENT
The Old Rossi-CaIegaris War VIII Gull
inmate in Holly Contested
Election.

The Italian colony Is IN fever OF uh-
certainty and excitement over the annual
election of the SocIeia' ItaliaDa di Mutua
BeneicenZa.
The friends of Rossi and the followers Of
Calegaris are straining every nerve. and
there will be no rest until the count is
finished tomorrow night
1t is the old fight between the rival drug
gists backed up by rival physicians and
rival undertaking establishments.
The patronage of the society. to which
almost every Italian in the city belongs. is at
stake. and every member has declared his
allegiance TO one of the two factions.
More than that he is putting forth every
effort for the success OF the faction TO which
he belongs.
The feud. for such it may be called. has
been raging fiereely for months, and many
criminal prosecutions as well as civil actions
have grown out of 1t. The election to-mor
row, however, will virtually end II, for this
is regarded by the the members OF both fac
lions as the final struggle for supremacy.
Heretofore many who had only the good OF
the society al heart have held aloOf from
the faction fight and attempted to harmon
iZe the opposing elements, but now they
have been forced 10 announce their allie
glance TO either the one side or the other.
The society Is Of the mutual beneficial
sort Ii has a hospital for It's sick members,
and pays sick and death benefits. Ii has
over 1000 members, and Ii dspenses no
small amount OF patronage Tor medicines.
prescriptions and the burial of deceased
members. This, of course. Is controlled by
the officers of the society. The physician
is employed at & regular salary. but his III
iuence in the matter OF giving out the
society's patronage is OF no small import
ance.
The rivalry and ieaousies have grown
A
j. c. Sala, the optician, was elected presl-
| dent eighteen years ago the society was IN
financial straits, but now 1t has very large
membership and about $4,000 in its treas
ury. The question is who shall handle this
money?
The war in the society was commenced
| by charges of mismanagement against the
officers. 1t was stated that Joseph Cal
eRaris, the druggist at Kearny and Pacific
streets, was compounding nearly all of the
prescriptions for the society and charging
in many cases twice the amount allowed by
its rules. These charges were made by ID.
i. R0ssi. the druggist al Dupont and Green
streets, and published in the local Italian
papers. The result was an investigation,
which did not sustain the charges.
Then Cs1egarls caused the arrest Of
Rossi on charge Of criminal libel After
preliminary examination which occupied
several weeks in the Police Court, and
during which the records of the society
were pretty thoroughly overhauled TO prove
that the charges were false, Rossi was held
20 answer before the Superior Court, but
the case was afterward dismissed without
gong 10 trial.
The members naturally took sides in
accordance with their belief in the truth or
falsity of the accusations. and CalegarIs
and ROssl became the leaders Of the two
factions.
The war did not stop with the druggists
who compounded the prescriptions but
"a nh no hnF
His recommendation as TO the proper place
10 purchase the medicines be prescribed
amounted almost TO control OF the patron
age Hence each druggist is battling for
the physician who will promote his in terests.
/ he matter Of burying the deceased men,
bers Is another incident 10 the great issue,
Tor the funeral arrangements OF the order
are pretty well controlled by the officers.
There are two Italian undertaking estab-
ilshments. and OF course each wants all the
patronage II can get.
The three weekly Italian papers, La
Vespa, LItalia and La Voce del POpola,
have also been involved by the communioa-
| lions which have appeared in them. coming
| from one faction and denouncing the other.
The papers have been filled with cOmmunl-
| cations bitterly partisan in their eharacter
| for months past, but the two last have re-
| NAMED neutral so far AS the ROssi4Calegaris
feud was concerned Still, the fierce war
| fare they have Taged ia each other was
cutlOnS of editors and writers on the differ
ent papers have been the result, and the
feeling between them is more bitter If pos
slble than between the two opposing fac
tons of the colony.
The Garibaldi Society, with over thou
sand members, held q most bitterly con-
tested election last Sunday, and the only
issue was kOssi or Colegaris. The Rossi
| forces claim a signal victory, but this is de-
| MED by the friends Of Calegaris, who de-
| clare that they did not put forth anything
| like their real strength in the contest.
This afternoon at O'Clock a trial Of
| strength will take place at Pioneer Hall on
| Montgomery street, when the Calegaris fac
| ton Will attempt to repeal a section of the
! soclety's constitution which provides that
the names of all candidates for salarled
| Offices In the society must be put forth one
| mouth before election.
| Tomorrow afternoon in the same place
| the socety's election vii! be held, when il
will be definitely decided whether Saa's
1 administration shall be sustained or over
| thrown. j. c. Sa,a, tie Calegaris eandi-
| date. Is up for reelection, and opposed to
him is p. c. ROssi, a brother OF ID. Z.
| ROssi. the leader of the faction opposed TO
| Calegaris. Every member OF the society
| has been canvassed closely, and 1t Is ex-
| pected that nearly all will vote. Not stone
| has been left unturned TO secure the ballot
| Of every member. Both factions are equally
| confident.