Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-07-17

pendent.-NCw when giuseppe Muse
limo. who very likely will be the last
Italian brigand, is on the point of dis
appearing from the scene, l think it
may be interesting to present him to
my American readers just as he is,
stripped of all the attractions bestowed
on him by the great ignorance and
superstition of the people among whom
he lived and who had transformed his
crimes into Legendary adventures. To
do this | have studied the brigand in
his family, throughout his bloody ca
reer, and have carefully consulted the
evidence in his many trials, and inter-
rogated the witnesses, and have come
to the conclusion that he is nothing but
a vulgar criminal, unworthy of the
fame with which the still primitive and
inferior conditions of southern Italy,
the theater of his deeds, have sur
rounded him.
His mother died of consumption, all
the members of his family, three sis
tiers and one brother, are affected with
blood-s lifting, one sister with strabis-
mus. and another and he himself, since
childhood, have had attacks of epilep-
sy, while he is lefthanded. All these
characteristics, according to the LON
broso theory, are, if not Indispensable,
at least most common among Crimi-
mails. Musolino, in fact. showed great
precocity in crime. He was only II
years old when he seriously wounded
one of his companions, and at Is he
threatened his father, who was
obliged to ask the protection of the car
abineers. If we add to this a certain
deficiency in realizing the evil which
he commits, and kind of religious
mania which leads him to believe that
he has st. Joseph as protector and ac-
complete in his crimes, there is no
doubt that he must be anthropologi-
cally classed among the born Grim
mails"
n another atmosphere, no doubt,
usoino would not have been able to
- so far in his terrible course, but
in Calaria, among a population which
has Greek and Semitic blood in their
veins, and which admire and honor
revenge as e right, this brigand, who
raised himself as vindicator and eXecu-
tor of justice, killing always, not for
avidity of gain, but to accomplish
what he considered a duty, had in
their eyes an aureole of herOism. Thus
he gradually secured the support of
the great majority of the people, when
placed him in a position to escape all
attempts at capture
What seems most strange is that he
had also the protection of the rich,
whom not only he never molested, but
to whom he was of considerable utili-
ty, as after he established himself on
the peaks of the Sila as king of the
forest he rid the country of common
malefactors so that thefts, fires ag-
gressions, etc, diminished about so per
cent. The landowners, finding that
one brigand alone protected their
property better than the government
with all their police, soldiers and cara
5ineers, were ready 10 assist him with
food and mouey, which amounted al
ways to much less than what they paid
in taxes, and they went so far as to
discuss the ACCESSIBILITY of a petition
to parliament to pardon the bandit
Giuseppe Musolino, who is now only
II years old was born at Santo Stefa-
no d'Aspromonte, in the midst of the
widest part of the Calabrese AIpen-
mines, and was just II when he joined
the local section of the infamous as
sociation, the Malta, which in that part
of italy is called Mala Vita Dad Life,
or Picciotteria. He soon distinguished
himself for intelligence, cleverness and
astuteness, so that in a short time he
became one of the leaders of the
dreaded league, which together with
the Camorra, is one of the plaques
which centuries of misgovernment
have given to southern Italy. The
people, through a perversion of the
moral sense, instead of opposing, favor
these declared outlaws, whom they
consider as representatives of popular
rights against the classes, which in the
course of history have ever been their
oppressors, the feudal lords first, then
the Bourbon barons and lately the
landowners, Therefore the form of
collective criminality which ensues is
the most dangerous and the least easy
to stamp out. also because one of their
chief rules. that of "omerta" consists
in no member, on pain of death, ever
giving another up to justice. or as
sisting it, and because both Malta and
Canorra, playing an important part in
municipal and political elections. sue
coed in having powerful suppo ters.
who, however, it must be said to their
credit, in most cases are unaware of
the true end for which their influence
is used.
Musolno had a rival in the leader
ship Of the Picciotteria in the person
of Vicenzo Zoccoli and this led TO the
turning point in his life. Things
reached such pass that on the even.
ing Of October 27. 1897 on their meet
ing in the wine shop of MusoIino's
father, they decided to fight duel
and out they went, facing each other
1gs ha