The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-18

the Malta from its birth so as to fully
explain its evolution from purely ma
tfonal defensive movement to Its present
advocacy of ycrime. The Sicilians have
always been opposed to arbitrary govern.
ment, fighting in turn against the
armed forces of the Arabs, the Normans,
the French, 8the Spanish and. last of all,
the Bourbons Thus for centuries they
have been opposed to definite form or
government 3and there has grown up
among them a defensive instinct which
has eliminated in the formation Of a So
ciety to protect their interests against
all constitutional authority.
They were unable in days gone by to
fight their foreign masters in the open
field, and so resofted to thievtngs, assaS-
sinations and acts Of vengeance. This
has been going on sfor more than 1000
years, with the result that a theft among
the Sicilians became clever feat, and,
murder: especially If the5 victim were "a
foreigner, an honored deed. When they
had, as time went on, no foreign mas
tiers to murder, the baser sort of Sicilians
began to pillage and murder their fellow
countrynlen, who, assisted by the au-
thorities, endeavored to punish the evil
doors, with the result that all the GRIM
inals in the land formed themselves into
a secret society for mutual protection.
Thus the Malta saw the light of day as
a definite organization To a certain ex-
tent its character has changed from its
early aspect as now politics forms
very important branch of It's work. but
and this must be clearly understood-it
always obtains, its end by criminal deeds.
CRIME ITS MEANS.
: A few instances of the work of the Malta
during the last few months may be of
interest as demonstrating their power
not only to commit crime, but also to
protect the perpetrators of the same. A
wine merchant at Palermo incurred the
enmity Of some prominent citizens-he
suddenly disappeared from his house and
his. body was found in well some
months afterwards. In the same we'll
were found three other bodies, all VIC
Tins of the displeasure of the Malta.
Needless to isayG the criminals have not
been brought to justice, as the police are
terrorized by the society.
Another very fragrant case took place
some weeks ago. A well dressed man in
tram cars suddenly drew a revolver
from his pocket and blew out the brains
of the man sitting opposite to him. The
assassin Immediately got off the car the
conductor without doubt MahoSo, max
ing no attempt to stop him. A hue and
followed byst heS gendarmes, whose way.
however, was impeded by people from
the houses throwing chairs and other
articles at Them so as to prevent the
murderer being caught. The streets OF
Palermo are very narrow, and so the po-
lice failed to- catch the fugitive, owing
to the number of obstacles placed in their
way by the jewellers in the street. With
out. a doubt the chair throwers were
.Mafiosi, who on hearing the cry OF
Mafoso in distress Immediately did every
thing they could to help him, although IN
! all probability they were in ignorance
of his identity or the reason of his flight
Their greatest power, however, Is the
committing Of crimes without the fear Of
I! being brought, to justice. They influence
the results Of civil or criminal trial &C
cording to their relations with the magis
trate-in fact many of the members Of
/! the bench are Maf1osi.
| Thus the Notarbartoo trial, which
ought to have been held at Palermo. ha:
been removed to Milan, so as to destroy
| the local Influence of the Mafiosi, as II
| Sicily they have so many means al
| their. disposal TO outwit the cause O.
| Justice. There are no less than five roya
| attorneys and four projects employed by
| the prosecution, yet the work of the tria
| has been rendered extremely difficult, ow
| ing to all the witnesses, in their dreat
| of the Malta, committing perjury.
The policeo told falsehood after false
| hood; the local magistrates at Palermo
did everything. in their power to proven
sending the. eease, for trial; the verbatim
reports have been burnt, the police re
| ports lost and official documents falsi
fed. This isl allfthe work of the Malta
i it is using. all its power against the law
1 of Italy Ythielr will win? Time alon
i can tell. tiT d