The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-22
WOMEN, RUIN OF ITALY
THRONE NOW ENDANGERED BY
SCANDAL IN CRIsPIS FAMILY.
Inscriptions and Once Popular Ex-
Premier Wen Mated with Woman
Whose own Son Exposed Her.


| end of the kingdom. Crispis present wife
has been, directly and indirectly. response
| BILE for the scandals. Her personality has
| long been a potent factor in Italian politics,
| the life of the government has been threat
ened because of her. and her influence has
more than once averted a catastrophe to
the King
| Crispi has been married three times. His
| first wife died two years after the mar
| riage. The second wife was deserted that
| Crispi might marry again and thus legiti-
| mize a daughter, born while her mother
| was the legal wife of a respectable mer-
| chant. The second wife tried to assert her
| rights and political enemies caused Crispi's
| arrest on the charge of bigamy. He es-
capped because it appeared that some tri-
| fling legality had been neglected when he
married the second time. Though the
woman married him in good faith, she was
not lawfully a wife, and she died in want
while Crispi and his latest consort were
squandering wealth gained through his law
practice and in other less creditable ways.
| Crispi is accustomed to trouble, but it
| seems probable that his present difficulties
| will end his political career if not his life
Crispi admits that he received many mil
| lions of lire from various Italian bankers
| in circumstances that are suspicious, and
his only defense seems to be that others
| were also interested in the deals, and he
| threatens to implcate many shining lights
| in the political and financial world, as we'll
as princes of blood He is reported as hav-
| ing told the King that an expose would
| cause them both to leave Italy and he
| added: You, with your millions, and L,
| in my poverty, will both be exiled"
| Time was when Crispi was revered by
| the italian people. AT that time his threat
to proclaim the republic had mean
ing, and when it was uttered the King
| shook with fear Now the sovereign is
intent on protecting Crispi only through
| the desire for self-preserVatiOn.
| 1t is well nigh impossible to speak OF
| Francesca CrisDi without calling to mind
| the great political and smlntary reVolu-
tons which paved the way to and finally
accomplished Italian unity and made one
of the many kingdoms which had hitherto
the other. His name is encircled by a
cluster of glorious recoleetlons. and. IN
spite of his many errors and inconsist en-
cies he will live eternally in the memories
of all friends of liberty.
THE SICILIAN CONSPIRACY.
His youth was passed alternately in study,
in conspiracies and in exile His life in
a foreign country was pure and without
stain. All his thoughts and actions were
devoted unselfshly to the liberation of
great nation and a great people. In fact,
he was the most fervent promoter of the
Sicilian revolution of January, 1S4Sp We
may even go so far as to say he was the
factor He first went to Palermo, where he
organized the conspiracy, which, however,
failed, and Crispi fed. At the moment Of
bidding adieu to his friends he was asked,
! swer. And return he did With gun in
hand with words of courage and hope,
with energy and example, he taught the
people how to break their chains
For sixteen years he was in the Cham
Der of Deputies, head of the parliamentary
opposition, and, although his violent party
spirit and fiery nature made him implacable
enemies, no one could attack him in his
private and domestic life. 1t was not until
Jan. s, 1878, and when Crispi was minister
of the interior, that the storm OF hate burst
upon him and for time threatened to ruin
his career His enemies seized the oppor-
tune moment-the moment in which he was
upon the point of rendering invaluable
service to the nation and to strengthen and
increase the power and force of the gov
eminent - to dishonor and disgrace him.
They penetrated the sanctuary of the fam
lily, then sought to discover the skeleton IN
the closet, and, shameful to relate, these
enemies had a willing accompllce In
youth who placed sacrilegious hands upon
the honor, of the mother, and who did not
blush to say My mother threw herself into
| the arms of a man who was not my father
This ugly plot on his life seemed really as
| but his star was once more in the ascend
| ant and in 1898 we find him premier, min
| lister of foreign affairs, minister of the in
| terror and chevalier of the high order of
! the Santissima AnnunZiata, which ranks
| him cousin of the King; we find him an
| arbitrator in European politics, in close
! friendship with Prince Bismarck honored
| by emperors and kings and the real d1cta-
| tor in his own country; we find Signora
| Crispi No. at the court of the Quirinal
| where she takes precedence of others Of
high estate, having the right to sit near
| her sovereign Queen, who is compelled by
state reasons not only to tolerate, but to
| display towards her an amiability and cour-
| tesy which she is far from feeling.
THREATENED THE KINGDOM.
Gossip freely comments upon the reluct-
ance of the Queen to receive Donna Lima.
| On one occasion a grand state affair was
| to be given, and Intentionally or unnten-
| tionally, an invitation was not sent to Girls
! PTS wife; at the last moment, however, one
was hastily dispatched, after an officious
person acquainted the royal household with
the fact that the premier in terrible ex-
plosion of rage had said: Either my wife
will be included in the guests or l will pro-
| claim the republic tomorrow"
He was in the zenith of his power when
| the financial scandals of Italy set all
| tongues wagging, and it was proved beyond
| all doubt that Crispi had asked for and OBJ
! tanned loans from the Banca Romano for
| hundreds of thousands of francs for him
| self, for his wife, for his relatives for his
| proteges, for the journalist who daily sang
| his praises, and even for his major doIno;
| that when the crash came many of his debts
| were still unpaid; that on the same day on
| which member of the Left made an open
accusation in the Chamber of Deputies
against the financial methods Of the Banca
| Romano and Crispi made a strong defense
| on behalf of the bank, Donna Lima dis
| patched this billet to Signor bernardo Tan
| lungo, director of the Banca Romano:
My Dear Sir-To-day my husband has
! done much for the Banca Romano; please
| be so kind as to discount this note for me
| of 1000 francs LIMA CRISPI''
| Crispi, however supported by a political
! majority of Weak-minded and cringing mer-
! Cenaries, supported also by the King who
| believed him necessary to the preservation
| of the monarchy against the extremists
! remained Indifferent to all attacks and con-
| tinued to rule the country with an iron
| hand trying to distract the attention of
| the nation with home affairs and plunging
| the country into the African war. Will this
| indeed, be the end of Crispi? Who can
| tell?
"Cherchez la femme" Never could this
| prOverb be more appropriately applied
| to satisfy the immoderate. extravagant
| cravings for luxury of his present wife. to
! pay for her expensive caprices to maintain
! for her at Rome, at Florence and ut Ma
| pies q species of royal court, has not only
| souandered a private fortune and his con-
| has compromised his honor, his name and
! his political career
One last particular; his only son born to
! him. not of Rosalia MontmaSsOn nor of
/ Lima Barbagallo. but of an unknown wom-
! an. is now a fugitive from justice in South
| America where he fed to escape arrest
| and prosecution, under suspicion of having
| stolen the jewels of his "bonne annie" the