Evening star., 1905-09-21
AFTER REVENGE MONEY
ITALIAN WOMAN IN VAIN
SOUGHT AID I'm NEW YORK.

A dispatch from New York last night
says: Mrs. Germana Gueli. an italian wo-
man OF Sicily. is in New York on rather
strange errand. AS the avenger in Mafia
murder trial. which has dragged in Mafia
the Italian courts for seven years. she
comes here to raise money from the New
York Italians to carry on her fight. She has
not been very successful In this, and she
will probably go back to Italy empty-hand-
ed Indeed, she has not the money just now
even to get back
The story is an old one in Italy. Diego
Maria Gueli was chancellor" or recorder,
OF Grotte, in Sicily. This is the center OF
the Malta game in Sicily. The Malta not
only INDUCES in murder and graft, but 1t
runs local politics.
Diego Gueli was an honest man. He
found that graft had been practiced In the
management of q certain local public char
ity. and began an investigation. He was
warned to desist. but he kept on. So one
night. he was stabbed
He left six daughters. The eldest was
Germana, a widow. Her husbands name
was Nuovalone, but after her husbands
death, following common S1cillan custom,
she kept her maiden name. She had just
lost her two children when her father was
killed. There were no brothers in the fam
lily; it was for this eldest daughter to
avenge her father, Sicilian fashion.
Fear Of the Assassin.
Germana tried to get the authorities in
terested. They were only half-hearted. The
fear of the assassin is over all that part of
Sicily. She took the case in her own hands;
she was her own lawyer and detective. In
a few months she had worked up a case
against two brothers named Zafuto, who
had been concerned with the charity funds,
and against a feudist of the Maf1a,, who,
,l1 l,11a %L1
one stage of the work she dressed in mans
clothes and worked in a vineyard in order
to get evidence.
In 1897 she got the Zafuto brothers and
the Malta agent to trial. 1t was a sensa-
tional trial and attracted attention over
Italy Italian trials are often dramatic, and
Germana furnished the climax here by ris-
ing up and denouncing the prisoners in
court. They were found guilty and sentenc-
ed to long terms in prison, there being no
legal capital punishment in Italy.
There followed long legal fight between
this woman and the Malta influence which
last stage of the fight was made on money
subscribed by her friends. In May of this
year the Malta secured a revision of the
case and the prisoners were set free.
Asked McClellan's Aid.
BY this time Germana GueL had become
almost a monomaniac on the case. A year
ago when she needed money she wrote let
ter to Mayor Mcclellan, reciting the case
and asking him to appeal to the New York
Italians for money. When the prisoners
were discharged she used the last Of her
funds to work up the case against some
other supposed accomplices.
They were arrested and will be tried at
Potent in October. BY that time she was
penniless. The story was an old one in
Italy, and no one would help her
Somehow, she has always had the idea
that the American Italians rich
month she shipped for the United States in
the steerage. armed with letters Of intro
duction from members Of the Italian paria-
ment. An Italian newspaper cook up her
case, and few dollars was raised by Scil-
IAN haters of the Malta. Then came the
earthquake in Calabara calling out every
dollar which the Italian colony can give for
charity, and the subscriptions stopped. The
money has barely paid her board and she
will probably go back to Italy in October
without a cent to show for her trip.