The record-union., 1892-11-16
SICILY AND HER BANDITS.
A Plague Of Brigandage of the Three
Cornered Isle.
Rich Land Proprietors and Wealthy
Towns People Held in Cap
tivity for Ransom.


is still practced in that loveliest of ISL
ands. Happily, foreigners are not often
troubled by them, and travellers who
keep to the beaten track are pretty safe.
An interesting account of the doings of
the banditti is furnished by Consul Stig-
and, who writes to the Pau Mall Guzette
from Palermo:
The reports of a foreigner" he says,
'on the subject of Sicilian brigandage al
ways excite Indignation in the breasts of
the islanders, and provoke unpleasant
ana sometimes insulting reports in the
public press, although the stories of
brigandage reported have generally been
culled from its columns. They have gone
so tar as to deny that brigandage exists at
all IN Sicily, and IN such denial have been
supported by a correspondent in a lead
ing English journal. / do not know that
there is to be found anywhere an accu-
rate definition of the terms 'brigand,'
Bandit and 'brigandage.' The male
factors of the present day who infest the
country are as often as not called brigands
and bandits in the local papers, although
sometimes they use the term marauders
(malandrini) for brigands, and the term
malandrinaggio instead of briganlaggio.
The marauders of the present day
may not be, according to current ideas, so
gentlemanly in department or so dexter
GUS as i'll the days of the famous Sicilian
bandits who fiourished sixteen years ago.
but their modes OF operation and the re-
suits of these are precisely the same; they
capture big proprietOrs and rich towns
people tsequester they call it,, and hold
them In captivity in caves in the mount
aims until The sum of ransom which they
demand is paid, besides which depreda-
tions in the way of robbery and cattle and
horse stealing are frequent in cases OF the
smaller owners and farmers, and these
mlsdeeds are supplemented by system
of persecution and premeditated murder,
sometimes accompanied with torture,
among the lesser proprletors, small far
mers, and peasants who are suspected OF
having given, or even Of being willing to
give, information to the authorities re-
speeding the perpetrators of these out
RACES.
1T is true, 1 believe that foreigners
travelling in Sicily who keep to the or
dlnary tracks and well-known routes
have little to fear, but that is chiefly be-
cause their movements and the worth of
their capture cannot be calculated on with
such precision as in the case OF a native,
and because the robbers are clever enough
TO know that the sequestratioE of for
elgner would be more dangerous to them
than that OF a native. Nevertheless, if
they thought the capture Of a rich for
elgner was worth their while they would
no doubt attempt 1t. | only know that |
have never myself been III the mountain
GUS districts of the Madonie without Civ
ing notice to the authorities, who have
always, with great courtesy, insisted on
sending four guards, generally mounted
ones (mlliti cavalloD, to protect me, and
given orders that they were never to let
me out OF their sight, and my protectors
kept guard over me day and night.
These militi a cavallO have, | believe,
in consequence OF the late increase of out
haI
supplied by carabineers; they were, it is
said, suspected OF not being active enough
III the pursuit OF the 'malandrini.'
1T seems almost incredible that within
four or five hours from Palermo there
should be magnificent mountains, in part
splendidly wooded with magnificent oaks
and beeches, with spacious plains and
picturesque valleys among them, where
summer resorts, so much needed here in
the fierce heat of summer, might be es-
tablished; and yet these districts are quite
uninhabitable for want of public securi-
ty. The great proprietors III these dis
tricts are afraid to live on their estates.
except surrounded by troops OF cam
pleri' or private mounted guards. The
proprietress of a magnificent range of
forests in the mountain region has for
the last few years ventured to inhabit an
old casteilated residence on her property,
but this year, in consequence of tie dis
turbed state OF the district, she has not
Ventured up tall"
After giving details of several brutal
murders as described in the Sicilian
newspapers-men,w women and children
treacherously assassinated or made DIS
oners and killed with a slow death-Con-
sui Stigand continues:
I'm defense of the authorities to W hom
is committed the task of putting down
such crimes, it must be allowed that the
suppression of this marauding system is
,sNs an ~.
place, 1t Is very difficult for them to ob-
tain information of the movements and
hiding places of the marauderS for two
reasons: First, the people who have no
connection with brigands, or brigandage,
live in such a state of terror of the marau-
ders that they will give no news of their
movements or whereabouts; and, second
1y, there are large mass of people called
'manutengOlT who support the brigandS
by providing them with food and neces-
saries at an enormous price, and so vir-
tually share in the brigandage. When l
returned from Ceialu last year thirty of
these 'nanutengolp were conveyed in the
same train with me, handcufied four and
four together, and a VillainOuS-looking
set of men they were; they had been ar
rested, and were being conveyed to pris-
on at Termini. OF course a 'manuten-
COLO is on the highway to become a
brigand if he has not already been one
II is very difficult always, however, to
convict any of the 'manutengoli,' as on
the 'omerta' principle nobody can be
found to give evidnce against them, and
they are often arrested on suspicion more
or less justified. The traditions of brig
andage, too, have a great influence in
peryerting the sense OF Justice of the
people and in assisting TO protect the brig
ands.
but the chief obstacle to putting down
brigandage consists in the difficult and
mountainous character of the country.
san Mauro, the headquarters of the brig
andS, is a town on the top of the mount
ain, 5000 feet high, and in sight of Ge-
raci Siculo, another town OF about the
same hight, and of Pollina, also on the
summit of another mountain. The roads
among these mountains connecting the
towns are mere mule paths, and mule
paths traverse the mountains all along
the deep valleys and ravines. The mount
aims abound in caves, known only to the
brigands and shepherds of the mount
aims, and as the armed force sent in pur-
suit OF the brgands are chiefly young
men from continental Italy, ignorant Of
the country and unable to speak the Lam
guage, their search after the brigands in
their hiding places by unknown paths is
d hopeless one, and if they do surprise
the brigands at any time, as they some
times do at a meal, the brigands are on at
once among the rocks and woods. and
treat their pursuers with scorn and deG-
ance, generally sending behind them a
few shots from time to time, and their
first shot is signal for the carabnieri'
to fire themselves, for the carabinieri'
have orders not to fire until they have
been fired upon. The only way to put
down the mischief would seem to be to
employ a larger body of men specially
trained to the work, and to make use of
hax