The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-17
MAD PRIEST IS FOUND
HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE oI
 FATHER CTRRfNGIONE,
Rector of Italian Church in a New York Suburb Kidnapped, Rob- ~ bed, and Threatened
 With Death.

New York, Nov. 1s.-The Rev Joseph Cirringione, rector of the Italian Church Of the Immaculate Conception in VII. Hams Bridge, suburb of this city, who disappeared from his home under mys. terious circumstances last Friday night
 was found early today by policeman in
 East Fifty-first Street, raving wildly iu
 Italian and is now in a hospital. |. Father Cirringione incurred the enmity of the Italians about Williams' Bridge
 by crusade against vice. He received several threatening letters and had re-
 ported the matter to the police, who were
 endeavoring to locate the writers.
 Late Friday night two men called upon
 him and, representing themselves as de-
 tectives. asked him to accompany them to the station house. He did not return
 and 1t was delieved he had been carried
 off by agents of an Italian secret society When found today Father Cirringione fell exhausted into the arms of the po-
 liceman crying out repeatedly:
 They have robbed me and they will
 kill me! Protect me-"
 A hurried examination of the priest s
 physical condition was made by a physi- | clan, who found that on his wrists were
 two red marks similar to those that would have been made had the priests wrists | been bound with a rope
 Under the influence of soothing drugs Father Cirringione became calmer and
 was able to tell something of his story. l He said he had been robbed by two men, the men who had gone to his home on | Friday night and whom he had accom- panied believing them to be detectives. They took me to the ocean," he said,
 but beyond the questioners could get lit-
 tie in detail of where he had been He said that when but a few steps from
 the door of his own home the two men RrQGnad L
 arms and pinioning them behind him
 while the other thrust over hs nostriIs a cloth of some kind saturated with a l pungent liquid.
 Then he says he lost consciousness and | the next thing he knew was when he
 found himself In dark and dismal eel lar. with his wrists bound
 The priest said that he had been freed
 but few minutes before he had been found by the policeman.
 He said he had been blndfolded and led into the street and then the banda ges | over his eyes removed, and he had been given push.
 Father Cirringione. when he left his
 house. had gold mounted ebony cane a valuable gold watch and chain and some money. When found today all were gone Friends and relatives of Father Cirrin- gione believe the story of the priest. but the police are awaiting further develop | ments before taking any action for the
 discovery of the alleged abductors. | To Civil Justice Roesch. an old friend
 of the priest. the latter said there were
 four men fin the gang which abducted him. Only one was an Italian.
 The men were very rough to him and one of them insisted that he be killed He said he heard the men say on Saturday | that the papers were filled with the story
 of his abduction and this man again in- | sisted that he be killed.
 The others objected and managed to get this man intoxicated and the priest s | life was saved.