The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-06
SICILY'S BRIGANDS.
THOSE OF RECENT YEARS MERELY
BANDED ASsAsslNs.

vor OF Bomonce-Later tho HANDS Wero
Composed Chiefly OF Murderers and Other
Criminals-Mstters Of Record.
IL has been the fashion of late years
mong Sicilians to speak Of brigandage as
thing Of the past says Scipio Sighele In
the Archives d'Anthropologie Criminelle,
but as matter OF fact one band Of Sicilian
brigands has fiourished In the district Of
San Mauro for the past six or seven years
and is not yet quite destroyed. This band,
perhaps the last Of the long line OF Sicilian
brigands, Is simply an association OF assas-
sins without any of the romance attached
to some of the profession.
Sicilian brigandage Of 90 years ago had
about IL the flavor Of romance. For ex-
ample Baron Sigardi, riding out one day
in 1874 with some friends, was suddenly
surrounded by larger body of horsemen
under the br,gand Capraro. The baron
and his party were oourteously told that
they were prisoners, and the whole caval-
cade proceeded some distance until the
baron was singled out and politely re-
quested to permit himself TO be blindfold.
cd. Some hours later he found himself In
an elegantly appointed house, where he
dined sumptuously at table furnished
with beautiful linen and handsome silver,
all the luxuries of the season, and even ice,
being served. After the payment of a ran
som of $50, 900 the baron was again put in |
possession Of his watch and bank notes
and escorted almost to the railway station.
At parting with him his escort begged the
honor of being permitted TO kiss his hand.
San Mauro lies 90 miles from Palermo
and 81 from Cefalu. The latter place Is
reached by a ride of six hours in dill
gence over rough mountain roads. The
people of san Mauro are mostly field la
borers and almost 5000 in number. A
band of brigands infested the region from
1870 TO 1876. They were Is in number,
under the leaders Rocca and Rinaldini. |
They were clad in a uniform Of blue vel |
vet, riding boots and distinctive hat. |
Each wore upon his finger ring with the |
initial "R, in honor of the leaders. They |
were armed with double barreled carbines, |
revolvers and poniards. They had fine |
horses and many masks and other devices |
for DISCUSSES, including uniforms of the |
local gendarmes. 1t was their pleasant |
way, on meeting the servant of some rich |
proprietor, TO say:
Il saw your master yesterday on horse |
that pleased me. Have it at - tomor-
row." And the horse was usually deliv |
cred according to demand.
Rocca died by his own hand rather than |
yield to the soldiers that had besieged him
in house for two hours. Rinaldini was
killed in an encounter with the troops in |
August, 1876 and the band was dispersed.
Fourteen years later new band of San
Mauro brigands suddenly appeared in the
haunts of the old band. The leaders were
Melchiorre Candino and Placido Rinaldini,
a relative of the other brigand chief. The
newcomers with their chiefs numbered IL.
They wore almost the samo uniform as
their predecessors, though the blue velvet
was sometimes replaced with reddish
brown, yellow or black. They had the
spurred riding boots and good horses, but
not the multitude of devices for disguise,
as "A handkerchief covering part of the face
served their purpose. Candino is peasant
of San Mauro. He took the field in May,
1889, after having done four murders.
Within year Rinaldini and nine other
brigands, all from the region of San Maui
TO, had joined him. Within the next two
years the band assassinated more than 20
persons
This new band of San Mauro 6ourisheG
by reason of deep seated principles of the
Sicilian nature Many Of their murders
vidual brigands. Others were by way of
punishment for what the brigands esteem
treachery, the revelation of the movements
of the band to the soldiery or the bearing
of truthful witness in court against cap
tured brigands or their friends. Revenge
is prime principle of the Sicilian, and
silence in court is another.
An injured Sicilian does not testify
against his enemy in court, because he il
too proud to have the government attend
to matter that should be one for private
revenge. 1.-THE truth TO the oonfessor and
to no one else" is Sicilian provorb.
Louis MaZzola, one of the San Mauro
band, killed in 1884 one Cassataro, the
husband of his mistress, and through the
testimony of the murdered
mans relatives was found guilty and SEN
fenced to 10 years Imprisonment. He es
capped in 1890, and regardless of the dan
ger of detection, went straight to his old
home 10 revenge himself upon the brother
of his former victim. He found that the
safest thing 10 do was to enter the band of
brigands, and the band made Mazzola's
its own. Cassataro, being In his
garden with his wife and children, was APP
preached by three men who represented
as from the local military COM
mander and commissioned TO fetch him
away. They hurried him off, but the wife, |
sent to the military command
or and learned that her husband was not |
In the hands of the authorities. Searchers |
hurried into the mountains and found the |
dead body of Cassataro with three bullet |
wounds in the heart This occurred in |
1892.
The chief newspaper Of Palermo in |
on this crime, called for the |
suppression of the brigands. About three |
weeks later the editor received from Can |
dino note for publication saying that,
while It was true that Mazzola had taken |
his revenge, the band was not made up of |
indiscriminate assassins. Disguised with |
the unjust abuse to which they were sub |
jected, the brigands had withdrawn from |
San Mauro to the heart of the mountains. |
The letter closed with salutations to the |
editor and assurances of esteem. Accom-
panying IL was a five franc note to pay for
its insertion in the newspaper The earlier
band OF San Mauro had also issued a proc
Iamation, posting 1t on the church door in