The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-12

were 4, erywhere. and Nm attempt to Dc
fraud t scolleetors meant death from the
ssiietto. They watched the gaming houses
and demanded their dues at the end Ct ev-
cry game. The houses of i'll fame did not
escape . daily exaction, for to this infa-
NOUS organization the price Of dishonor
was as valuable as any other biaokmail.
So extensive became its operations, SO
dreaded were its agents in Naples and
Rome, that it was greater than the gov
eminent. All classes belonged to il, the
entire population contributed to its treas
ury, and SO powerful vas it that more
than once in political emergencies the
NeapoIitagl kis.sss employed its agents to
restore public order when the legal force
of the state. was not sufficient for the task.
It was even asserted that more b
king belonged TO it, and there was no
doubt that amcng tho ccurtiers there were
many who were either members of the
order or profited by it's exactions.
Between 1870 and 1s48 the society be-
cane so bold that simple bIackmail was
too tame, and its members resorted to
open robbery and murder. Every street
of Naples and Rome was beset day and
night by the Canlorra, tho members hav-
ing a code Of signals by which they COM
municated with each other. They worked
in gangs. A new like a cat indicated the
approach of the police, q COCK crow that OF
q benighted pedestrian, q long sigh showed
that It was not safe to attack the stranger,
a sneeze signifed that no was net worth
attacking, ard the chanting OF an Ave Ma
ria was a signal to pollnce upon the prey.
Robbery In the streets by day as we'll as
tilt t1lr,,a +ta nn,,,san,aEt of neptfr-
rences. The finding OF a dead body in the
morning was hardly noticed, save by the
police. The society became SO bold that
in pure shame the government was oom-
PEELED to make some effort at it's suppress
sion. The disturbed condition of politics,
however, throughou5 Italy from 1913 n
til 1860 prevented the success OF the weak
and tremulous efforts at the suppression
of the society, and until 1862 1t was an
open question in Italy whether the Ca
mora or the government was tho stronger.
A vigorous pursuance of the policy Of sup
preston has put q stop to the street opera
tions and house to house yisitations, al
though the society survives in the prisons
of the peninsula, and occasional assassina-
tions, otherwise unexplained, are still ac-
credited to It's agents.
The Malta is a Sicilian society, institute
ed, like tho Camorra, for purposes OF rob
berry, blackmail and murder. The Malta
owes it's existence to the misery, ignorance
and v~iciousness Of the Sicilian population.
For ages tho rural peasantry Of Sicily have
been the victims Of a merciless SYSTEM OF
alien and nonresident landownerism.
Landowners residing in Rome, Naples
and elsewhere in Italy intrust the man
agement Of their estates to local oVerseers
CT agents, who extort from the miserable
renters every possible penny in the way of
rent; a government equally greedy takes
most Of tho remainder in the shapec OF taxes,
and, work as he may, the Sicilian peasant
is unable BY inoessant and arduous toll to
accumulate enough to leave the country.
The present organization is said by
Heckethorn to be of nc earlier origin than
1859, when Mazzini made his appearance
in Sicily as an agitator and formed secret
societies among the banditti and dregs OF
the populace, calling these organizations
Oblonica, from two Latin words-obelus,
a spit, and nice, | beckon, tho word mean
ing ~ beekon with q spit, the spit OF
course being the dagger In this society
there was an inner circle, which Mazzinl
organized for purposes of government and
de~nominated it's members the Malta, from
the initial letters Of tho following words;
Mazzini autorizza furti incendi ayvelena-
menti'' (Mazzini authorizes thefts, arson,
~poisoning).
So powerful did the Malta become with
In the next ten years after MezZini's or
ganization was perfected that it was the
real government of Sicily More feared
than even Camorra, it was all powerful
in the island. An idea Of the extent of
- E - = -. e.. -. <ia
testimony elected at an investigation by
the government in 1876, made in conse-
{ quence of the abduction of an English
gentleman named Rose, who was carried
of into the interior by bandits and for