The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-11-06
A CRIMINAL PLAGUE SPOT.

Black Record for Centuries of Roman
man Village--Artena Infamous for the
Grimes of its Inhabitants seven Centu-
ries Ago and Outlawed by a Pope-Crime
Hereditary in Some of the Families
Justice Powerless.
"a Country of Born Criminals" IS
what Professor Sichele of the Universi-
ty of Pisa entities his article on Arte-
ma, an italian village, in recent issue
of Archives d'Anthropologic. The pro-
vince Of Rome has long been famous
for crime, and Artena, a Roman vii
lage of about four thousand inhabi-
tants, is the most strongly criminal
community in the province. That has
been its reputation since the middle of
the twelfth century.
Artena, or Montefortino, as it was
anciently called, stands on a hill four
hundred feet above sea level and is on
the edge of a mountain range. The
inhabitants are mostly farmers, and
they till a rich soil, SO that tehre is no
deep poverty in the region. The con-
ditions and surroundings are such as
to encourage the rugged virtues. The
place has, from a military point of
view, an almost impregnable site, and
it's earlier name concentrated this
fact. Perhaps the earliest mention of
the place in Italian history occurs In
1155. when the frequency of crime is no.
ted. Pope Paul Nv. issued an edict
against the place in 1867, describing its
Inhabitants as of VIGOROUSLY evil life.
| He ordered that the castle, "a nest Of
| robbers" be destroyed and that all the
| male inhabitants be banished, and de-
creed that any man who met them
| might kill them. The edict was, IN
fact, one of outlawry against the male
| population. His Holiness named
| among the crimes Of Montefortino not
only robbery, but also murder and as
saults upon the PapaI soldiery.
The Pope's tremendous edict did not
depopulate the place or greatly change
the character of its inhabitants for any
long period, for the crimes of Montefor-
tino appear and reappear in italian
history from that day to this Profess
scr Sithele sketches the criminal histo-
~ Of Montefortino for the last half
century. During that period the ven
delta has reignedt here unchecked
From 1851 to 1858 the courts were pow
erless to deal with the accused. because
| it was impossible to obtain evidence to
| convict. An official report in 1872 de-
| scribed the place as a. stronghold Of
| murderers, assassins, extortfoners and
incendiaries. active night and day. 1t
| was declared that the criminals Of that
| day were the, children of criminals who
! had persisted in the galleys or on the
scaffold, and that they had organized a
| monopoly Of the profitable industry of
crime. 1t was about this time that the
village, as if anxious to forget it's past,
| changed its name to Artena. But
crime has since increased rather than
| diminished, and the criminals of to-day
| bear the same names as the hereditary
criminals of more than twenty years
| ago. The assiZes of 1879, 1881 and 1883
were fruitless, as no one was convicted
of serious crime, though there were
many indictments. Between 1870 and
1886 Artena had four mayors, and the
| life of each was attempted. One was
actually assassinated and the other
| three were wounded. One was shot In
broad daylight in the market place, but
|
| ished.
Between 1853 and 1872 there Were for
| ty-two murders and assassinations at
Artena. This would be at a mean an
nual rate of 52.5 per 100000. The rate
| throughout italy has varied in recent
years from 7.7S to 1880 per 100000, and
| the mean annual rate throughout italy
is 9.3S per 100000. The number of muir
ders and assassinations at Artena be-
tween 1873 and 1888 was thirty-seven, or
at the rate of 61.50 per 100000. The
mean annual number of such crimes
per 100000 throughout the whole pro-
vince of Rome is 25.4O. In other words,
| the rate at Artena during the last peri
cd named is more than double that Of
| the province. The rate for various Eu-
ropean countries is 094 to 1857.
Artena is equally notorious for light