The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-04-02
A SICILIAN MYSTERY.
PRINCESS CARlNl FOUR YEARS A
PRISONER IN HER OWN HOME.
Ihut Up in Closet With Her Blind Daugh.
ter by Her Steward Lover and Starved
Curious Light on South italian Lifs-In.
genious Fortune Hunting.

genious Fortune Hunting.
Palermo, the most wideawake ant
important city in Sicily, has just beer
startled by the discovery that it wa!
possible for two well-known womer
Of noble family to be kept close prison
ers for four years in their own palace
On one of the principal streets of the
town without any one knowing it. A
reputable lawyer recently informed thu
police authorities that the Princess
Carini, a member of the highest aris.
tocracy of Sicily. was kept prisoner
with her blind 20-year-old daughter In
her villa in the Via della Liberia by
her steward. Giovanni Cannella. A
large force Of police and carblneen
was sent to the villa to make sure
that no one escaped; at the door the
porter told them that the Princess was
travelling abroad. They passed him
and were stopped by Cannella's moth.
Or, who told them they could not ente,
the house In the Princess's absence
They arrested her, broke in the doors
and after long search found the two
women In dark closet, nearly naked
half frozen and starving. Cannella,
bis family and all the servants were
arrested, the remarkable story of the
Princess was verified, and the police
are now hunting for the accomplices In
the crime.
Maria La Grua, Principessa<Carinl
has had plenty Of excitement during
the course of her life. In her youth
she was noted society beauty and at
l8 married the Marchese Artale d
Bollaito e SAINT Onofrio. After some
years of married life her husband sur.
prised her with lover, secured judi.
cial separation with the custody of his
children, but left to her the youngest
child. little girl born blind Of whom
be denied that he was the father. This
was about twenty years ago. This
Princess led fast life after that, tax.
Ing one lover after another, losing hel
money at Monte Carlo and estrang1nl
all her relatives by open scandal; even
Palermo society had to give her up
When the cholera epidemic broke out
In Sicily in 1885, however, the Princess
Carini volunteered as a nurse and
spent months in the hospitals Of Paler.
mo tending the sick
| In 1892 her mother died, leaving her
an estate that yields an income OF
10000 a year. The Princess, by that
time middle-aged woman, fell in love
with Cannella, then clerh earning 81
week, and a married man, though
she did not know it. She made him
her steward at high salary and set up
a strange sort of a household such as
are not uncommon, however, IN south
ern Europe. The Princess, with her
occupied roems on the
ground floor of one wing Of the palace,
the steward, with his family, rooms in
the opposite wing, and they took their
meals together. CanRella then pre-.
pared his plan to obtain possession OF |
the whole of the Priucess's fortune.
Little by little he rehloved all Of the
old servants and put in their places
creatures Of his OWE. He maltreated
the Princess an9 her daughter, forbade
their appearing at the windows or on
the balconies, and spread the story
that they had gone abroad. When hs
'ound the statement accepted by what.
,ver persons inquired for the Princess,
his usage Of the women grew harsher,
1e deprived them OF clothes, of fuel,
Ind of food, so that they were forced
o beg for bread frola the gardener and
Iuch servants as they saw from time to
ime. His intention was apparently to
lrive them mad or to kill them slowly.
The unfortunate women were COM
,letely in his power. The Princess,
lalf out of her mind, signed every pa
Ter that he directed her to sign. Cam
leila meanwhile lived in fine style,
:ept a carriage, but showed himself
o be careful administrator of the
roperty which he intended should be
is. So matters went on for four
ears. At last Cannella drew up will
Or the Princess to sign by which
verything was bequeathed to him.
hat reused the Princess; through all
er adventures she had shown a pas
ionate fondness for her helpless i
aughter, and when the will was sign
d, if they were not both suppressed, :
er child would he left at Cannella's
lercy. She refused to do his bid
ing, and, working on the gardeners
,elings, induced him to take a letter
the lawyer, who called in the po-
ce
AS this affair occurred in Sicily, the
allan newspapers attributed it to the
orkings Of the Malta. This seems
Dry unlikely. Cannella's accomplices
rest ed so far are members of his
yn family and dependents of his;
ose sought for are the persons to
hom he intrusted his stealngs The
heme, Machiavellian in its simplicity,
as carried out with the strict atten-
IN to business that marks the Italian
wer classes, and could have been
lied at any time had the Princess
lrini reused herself to action as she
d at the end.
Danger of overhentinE Houses.
In our modern rooms and houses