Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-02-27
THE PIGEONS OF VENICE.
After Persecution the Birds Have
Been Adopted by the

1t is satisfactory to learn that the pig
cons of the Piazzi di San Marco have at
length secured a civic and social status
of the utmost respectability in their ma
tive city. Hitherto their rights and priv
fieges, though unreservedly recognized and
acquiesce1 in by townsmen and tourists
alike. Tere not firmly established upon any
fndisputable legal basis, and had nothing
written statutes of ancient usages: The
drawbacks Of a questionable tenure such
as that exercised in the purlieus OF st.
Marks cathedral from time immemorial,
in virtue Of tradition and sentiment, have
now been finally swept away at the cost
Of a few innocent lives, the sacrifice Of
legations of a curiously elaborate and pro-
tracted character. Figuratively speaking.
the pigeons Of Venice have been TO law IN
sheer self-defense. have carried their case
with the aid Of their best friends: the
Venetian municipal councilors-through the
Italian courts of three Instances" and are
now legally guaranteed against molestation
and want by a conclusive decision of the
royal tribune of appeal, which virtually
of the local mayor and corporation. and
entities them for evermore to the protec-
ton of the authorities. who will henceforth
stand to them lin loco PARENTS.
One can scarcely conceive that such pref
ty. harmless. confiding creatures as the
public pets Of Venice should have been
the clumsy machinery of Italian law in
motion in order to formally regulate their
physical position. To such straits as these,
however, the pigeons Of st; Mark were re-
duced by the savagery Of the demon street
BOY, whose ferocious vagaries are the ter
ror of tame animals, as well as law-abiding
citizens: in every great city of Christen.
DOM Not long ago some OF these ancient
truculent little gamins were caught red
handed in the very act OF Staying the I'M
suspicious birds that strut about the huge
tagged square all day long, preening them
selves in the sunlight, keeping a bright eye
on the main chance, and briskly eXpectant
Of the goods the gods provide" which.
indeed. seldom fails to satisfy their expec-
tations. The juvenile miscreants were
promptly seized and hauled away by the
executive, to answer for their crimes be-
fore a Venetian tribunal. 1t may be hoped
that while they were in custody awaiting
a~rraignment they were haunted by dread
visions of Casanova and Silvio Pellico.
shivering or sweltering soto i piombi.'
water level that are still accessible from
the back of the ducal palace by the dismal
Bridge of Signs.
Before they could be tried and sentenced.
they should be prosecuted, and the ques-
tion arose how could an Indictment be le-
gally framed against them for killing pig
cons which belonged to no one in p~articu-
lar. and were only public property in the
sense that they subsisted upon voluntary
contributions Of miscellaneous food? This
question was satisfactorily answered. aft
er the culprits had been subjected to a
certain amount of preventive detention"
by the municipality of Venice, which came
to the front "as one man." and claimed
the property Of the amphibious queen of
the Adriatic. The court of first instance
allowed the claim Of the Venetian COM
mon council, and the ragamuffins were duly
ready stated. the pigeons case was recon-
sidered by tribunals of still higher rank.
and has only just been definitely decided
in their favor by the supreme court Of
appeal.