Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-08-29
PORT ARTHUR'S FALL APPAR.
EMILY ONLY A QUESTION
OF A FE,, ..'o|jRS


no little. So much has been said and
written about that mysterious organ
ization of Italian blackmallers. and so
many yarns have been spun concern
ing the connection of the Black Hand
with Tony Mannino's disappearance.
4 that the public was beginning to be
seriously alarmed. But since the boys
return doubts have arisen, and now "A
great many are inclined to believe
that the Black Hand exists only in
the vivid imagination of certain yel-
| low-tinged reporters in league with the
police and anxious to keep up the
Black Hand scare for their own bene-
| fit and that of the police
There are great many features in
| that kidnapping story which call for an
explanation. and which are too incon-
gruous to be accepted as true without
sufficient proof There is no doubt
| that the boy was gone for about ten
days and that his parents did not
know where to look for him, but that
the Black Hand or any other secret
organization had anything to do with
the disappearance of the boy is by
no means certain The peculiar man
ner in which the boy was restored to
his parents has aroused the suspicion
that some member of the Mannino
| family at least knew more about the
case than the family was willing to
admit The public began to suspect
some time before the boy returned
that there was a colored gentleman in
the woodpile, and jumped at the con
clusion that the father Of the boy was
in direct touch with the members OF
the Black Hand and was negotiating
with them over the heads of the de-
tectives entrusted with the inyestiga-
| ton of the case.
If everything is considered 1t must
be admitted that up to the present
time no actual proof of the existence
of the Black Hand has been offered by
the police. for that reason the theory
is quite plausible that the crimes laid
at the door of that mysterious organ
ization were really perpetrated by in
dividuals independent of any secret
organization.
| other parts of the country. but surely
not here. The New York banks are
nearly suffocating in their own fat, so
to speak. They have more money on
hand than they know what to do with
and there is so little demand for
loans that to obtain relief the banks
are willing to accept an almost ride
| ulously low rate of interest. II is a
remarkable fact that the City of New
York the other day borrowed mil
lion dollars in Wall street for three
months at the rate of per cent. OF
| course. the city's credit is good and
| The five hundred special revenue bonds
which the city issued as security are
strictly gilt edged, but, after all 2
per cent is very low rate of interest
and it is safe to say that 1t is many
years since loan under such favor
able conditions has been made.
II the suit for 100000 damages.
which the Italian sculptor Ernesto
Biondi. threatens to bring against the
Metropolitan Museum of Art ever
comes to trial, 1t will undoubtedly
become one of the causes celebres''
of this country. Biondi modelled
group of statuary. entitled Saturn
| ALA" which was exhibited at the Buff
falo exposition and attracted consid-
cradle attention there According to
Biondfs statement the directors of the
| Metropolitan Museum of Art contract
ed with him to exhibit the group in the
Metropolitan Museum. but failed to
keep the contract. When Biondi came
to New York few months ago he dis
covered that certain prudlsh directors
had objected to the character of the
group. and instead of exhibiting It had
buried 1t in the cellar Of the museum
| Biondi claims that the action of the
directors has injured his reputation
to the amount of 100000.
| Many subtle and interesting ques-
tions are involved in that case. and
the jury will have no easy task to de-
eide the merits of the case. This Is
not the first time that the directors of
the Metropolitan Art Museum have
rejected work of sculpture the char
acter OF which offended their moral
sensibilities. There is a strong sus-
picion that the wives of some of the
members of the board have more to
no with the rejection Of Biondi's group
than the members themselves lust as
they had in the case of Macmonnie's
"Bacchante." which was rejected by
the Metropolitan Museum and after
wards made triumphal tour through
the country. What Biondi and a great
many other artists would like to know