New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-02

extraordinary stories are current IN Rome
Thus, they tell there Of his making his appear
ancc one evening in the cardroom OF the Hunt
Club, whereupon one OF the players lmnedl-
atcly lost $4,000. which was all he possessed
in the world, while the winner at the same
moment fell backward from his chair TO the
ground, fracturing his spine, and a third let
drop a jeweled cigar-hoder worth thousands
Of dollars which broke to pieces on the ground
on another occasion, when he appeared at the
races. the favorite belonging to the well-knowh
sportsman Olivetti, sustained on the spot so
serious an injury that it had TO be Killed AT
once. Small wonder, them that people wheh
they meet this dark bearded. dark-eyed noble
on the Pncio. in the gardens OF the VIVA
Borghese, even at the state balls OF the
Quirna point their fore and little fingers al
him. either openly or covertly, while spittlns
thrice the ground in the hope Of avertlng
the baneful effect of his eye.
Nor need it be imagined that this belief is con-
fined to Italy. Ii prevails in France, Spain, and
even in such northern countries as Great Britain
and Scandinavia. In Great Britain, Tor IN
stance. there is an iIlustrious parsonage VINO Is
credited with the possession OF the eVn eye III
consequence Of the misfortunes OF one Kind and
another that seem to overiake all those Whon
he has distinguished by his intimacy, few OF
those belonging to what is known as his "clrcie'
having escaped financial or social ruin, or else
domestic misfortune. Ohenbach, the celebrated
composer. was renowned from one end Of Europe
to he other as a jettatorc. and 50, too was the
late Pope Plus TX, the annual requiem services
in honor Of whose death Stunned by Roman
prcIates and patrcians alike, owing to the fact
that they are almost invariably followed by
either death or some great misfortune over,ak
ing AT least one, and sometimes more, of the
digui.aries who have been in attendance at the
ceremony.
ANIMAL SUPERSTITIONS.
Equally cxtravagant in American eyes must
appear the superstition which prevails in all
parts OF Europe with regard to the existence OF
animals possessed of supernatural powers, or
perhaps it would De more correct 10 say or
human beings possessed Of bestial forms and
attributes II is TO the existence Of this super
stltion alone that must be ascribed the astound-
ing immunity from detection and arrest of the
French homicidal maniac Vacher who is known
10 have committed no less than forty-six muir
dcrs during the last few years under the most
atrocious circumstances, and who boasts Of hay
ing killed at least three times many more
men, women and children The peasantry made
no effort to run him to earth to discover his
identity. Neither did the rural authorities. They
were perfectly content to attribute the deaths
Of his victims to either the vampire, or TO the
werewolf whose anger they were afraid To IN
cur By making any effort to hunt him Gown.
Vampires are popularity believed to be the souls
If the dead which quit the buried body by night
To suck the blood of living persons, and il Will be
found as a rule. that vampires are supposed to
mil,
their lfc have borne the reputation Of possess
ing the evil eye. But any one may become a
vampire after death if an animal, especially
ii cat leaps over his corpse
The origin Of this belief, as we'll that in
the existence of the were wolf Is undoubtedly
due to the fact that there have been in the
past, and are still to-day, unfortunate creatures
whose insanity takes the form Of cannibalism,
and whose allliction is known by the name Of
lycanthropy The criminal records of the six
tecnth seventeenth AID eighteenth centuries in
Europe contain numerous cases Of men and
women who have been put to death, generally
by fire, for lycanthropy, or wolf Madness
viii "A has usually led them TO decoy women and
children, that is to say. human beings unable
II defend themselves wiki any visor. into
woods. lone houses or deserted spots where they
would tear their victims to pieces with their
teeth and nails, devOuring their flesh. Even as
late in 1919 aged man OF the name OF
Swiatek, in the little village OF POlornyJa, in
Austrian Poland. arrested on a charge OF
lycanthropy and convicted Of having eaten no
less than eighteen women and children. lie an
ticpatcd the vengeance of the law by hanging
himself in prison.
OF course, nowadays, when such elaborate
measures have been devised for the placing
under restraint of persons afflicted with various
forms Of insanity. instead of allowing them to
roam about the country as formerly there are