New-York tribune., 1901-11-23
MAFIA AND MCSOLINO.
BY DIscoNTENTED BRITISH RESIDENT IN
From The Pail Mall Gazette

From The Pail Mall Gazette
1t is bad enough to have to pay two lire a
kilo for your sugar (say, niuepence q poundl IN
q country where tourists Will tell you living
is cheap" and where the women OF the EngLsh
colony ask one another at tea time. DO you
take gold in your tea?" Bad enough also to be
hauled up before the authorities for taking
bucketful OF water out of the ample Meolter-
ranean at your villa door, and ridiculous. In
deed, to have your tramcar stopped by ofhcers
and searched for eatables every few minutes
But it that COW that caused me to write
these things Lily complained we used lot OF
. milk | suppose did The servants attrib-
uted it all to our solitary "bambino." 1 sug-
gested buying a COW. and every body jumped at
the idea. 1 informed the Munlcipio and they
sent round pa pers enough to make me realize
about to take a grave step. our patch OF
grass notwithsta 1ding. l bought the cow ana
she and the Municipios vet" arrived together
He looked at the creature Ca skinny thlng,.
worked out lot of figures. and then SAID
Eco 4 estimate he went on mat .his
COW will produce so many ltres of milk a day.
and therefore you are taxed on that quantity
I told him ! glad to have so fattering a
forecast of my cows performances but suppose
she didn't come up to the scratch What then?
The vet" was offended. He had made an esti-
mate; it was the law. and he was the prophet
Here is a nice country to live in In Sicily
you have to wait till the servants at the dinner
able have retired before you talk of your walks
abroad the morrow They may be Mahosi
and you may be kidnapped robbed. Then.
again, think of ghastly murder trial dragging
even though the victim was prominent pubic
man, and the government kept despairlnsiy
shifting the venue of the trial-first Palermo
then Milan. and now Bologna. OF course, l refer
to the astounding Notarbartoo case. which is
now being tried in the last named city. A foul
| murder of distinguished in railway
train, with the guard holding the victim instead
of protecting him. and with police. magistrate
witnesses, judges, members of Parliament ana
Cabinet Ministers practically all more or less
| subject to the influence of this hdeous secret
society by intimidation, sympathy or otherwise
In the south, If tramp asks you for a 1oo
beware how you refuse him; he may be of the
Malta, and tomorrow your lemon orchards may
be destroyed.
And there is Musolno. the brigand who has
Just been taken after having defed the 1tallan
Government for three long years. and murdered
about thirty persons He and is. the idol
of the South. AS / write. even here, in rela-
lively sober Milan. there are anxious and sym
pathetic crowds in the streets expressing regret
at his capture. Toward the end of the brgands
career whole armies of twelve hundred men at
a time pursued Musolino in the mountains OF
government. and always had plenty of food and
money from unexpected quarters. Hence two
hundred arrests last week-with noble families
represented among them-thanks to a telltale
book found in the outlaws pocket. price of
$4,000 lire was put upon his head. and the
money was fairly won by couple of cara
binieri. I don't think the government will ever
pay 1t, however. They will probably say the
men only did their duty, and therefore are not
eligible for the reward
Somebody said to me the other day. But
there IS always Milan: now, there at least is a
steady, stable busy town. My friend forgot
the awful business OF only two or three years
ago. when quick firing guns blazed away at the
mob in the Piazza del Duomo, and the trans
were overturned to form barriers. Thirty dead
were carried past my window
Certainly the people are ground down. and the
taxes are iniquitous and unjust. You pay twice
as much for toy dog for man servant!
An insolent scoundrel invades the rooms of
newcomer and says: HIN. carpets on the floor.
too; and I'm told your servants do an extrava-
CANT lot Of marketing, that you must enter
tain largely You will be assessed at much"
And there is no redress
And then the business Of postofflce orders.
have advice tWO-year-Old international
money order (American) in my pocket now. l
never got the money. At first 1t was 'The ad
vice is not yet to hand" This went on until
the time limit expired. and then some one sim