Evening star., 1895-11-09
HOW THIEVES ARE TRAINED.

Babies I'm Naples Arc Taught to Beg
and Steal-Organized Gangs.
From the London Daily News.
An interesting account of the way in
which young children are prepared to enter
the Camorra is given by Dr.. de Blasio. a
Neapolitan physician who has been study
ing the habits Of criminals The Camorra
at Naples. like the Mafla in Sicily, is an
organization of criminals and associates of
criminals that is centuries old. The Cam
ORA begins its work with the infants who
are abandoned by their parents or who
are lent out to the impostors who beg in
the streets of Naples. These children, for
the most part those of persons in prison,
are taught to beg for the end of cigar or
soldo, and infest the cafes. In winter
they sleep in holes and stables in summer
on the church steps, under archways, or on
the benches in the public gardens.
When they are six or seven years old they
are instructed in begging and thieving by
older children. AT ten years of age the lit
tie Camorrista, or little thief, becomes a
cantatore (singer). He must know how to
improvfse song to the girls, and reply
with an eNtemporaneous verse to the verse
OF companion or OF an antagonist. In
Naples there are two armies of cantatori,
one belonging to the streets in the older
part Of the city. and one to those of the
west ind. They constitute the neophites
of the Camorra, and compete in public,
passing their examinations by night in the
streets. They choose for the subject of
their chants anything that takes place in
the city, and very often the object of de-
riSve songs is an old man or poor idiot.
The better class hear these scoffs but do
not interfere, and often laugh at the wit
which is scarcely ever missing. The two
bands are naturally great rivals, and once
year at least they defy each other to a
series of battles in which stones are the
weapons, and at the close of the fray
knives too often come into play. This
practice of battles with stones among boys
can be traced back as far as 1925, for
at that period the Duke of Alva caused
thirty 'stone throwers" to be arrested in
Naples. The war cry of the boys is AN
leila, Amelia the derivation of which is
not certain After the war cry comes the
challenge in the form of verse, to which
the enemy responds likewise.
Then the young boys commence the at
tack. The passers-by flee, but at no great
distance stand old and young men, who in
cite the rival bands and IL necessary res
cue one or the other Of them from an ar
rest by the police. Two years ago there
was a famous battle of this kind in Piazza
Mercato. which ended in a fight between
the police and the stone throwers, during
which the trans were stopped for some
time. This duel ceases at the first draw
ing of blood-a slight scratch received by
one of the members Of the two parties puts
an end to the battle The wounded boy is
surrounded by his friends and taken to his
mother, real or adopted, to be bound up
and nursed. The songs sung by the boys
have always a chorus, and generally there
are two soloists. who sing a verse in turn
which is ended by refrain sung by the
chorus, a mere "Ah oh! All ohv In poeti-
cal form these youths express the knowl-
edge they have of the worst evils and vices
Of human life, but the verses are realistic
and without the least CLEAN of sentiment