Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-01-18

BLACK Hand" blackmailers have
extended their field OF operations.
Where formerly only Italians were
victims, nowadays Americans COM
plain frequently to the police that
they are in receipt of letters de-
handing money on pain of dtath or
injury. says the New York Herald.
In police headquarters, among the
more recent Matchmaking letters
sent there by the recipients was one
demanding $4,000 from a man whose
name the police would not make pub
lie.
Why he was selected as a victim.
he told the headquarters stan. he
does not know. He also said he
would pay no attention to the letter
and did not believe the threats made
II its demands were not complied
with, would be carried out. Details
are not obtainable except with re-
gard to the rude drawing which was
part of the Matchmaking letter.
This Is a sketch of a bird having
in its beak an oblong object upon
which is written $4,000" and the
bird is lowering over a boxlike re-
ceptacle which represents in a crude
way the place where the merchant is
directed to deposit the money de-
manded. Around the bird are rows
of daggers to indicate It's fate IL 1t
does not leave the packet OF mony il
the box.
Sergeant Dunn and Detective
Sergeant Petrosino. experts in black
mail cases, say that often the at
tempted extortion is traced to per-
sons near in business or even in fam
lily relationship to the intended vic
tins.
The bird" letters character
seems to stamp it. however. as a
"Black Hand" effort, and one of the
several which are going outside the
classes where that organization finds
its thousands of ignorant victims In
this city annually.
This case has followed closely Oil
an attempt to blackmail a woman of
excellent social position who lives on
Madison avenue. A demand for
81, 900 was made upon her-and she
turned the letter over to the police.
Though it attempted to throw a
"Black Hand" character into its APP
pearance and demands it was traced
to an artisan who had been employ
ed by the woman. She would not
hear of prosecuting him, and the po-
lice could only use extreme measures
to make an impression upon the
man They did so with enthusiasm
and success, as he was not heard
from again.
The widest field so far covered by
the blackmailers outside of their own
race is among Hebrews who are own
ers of small shops.
Men in headquarters say lit Is
only a question of time when the
Black Hand will get Petrosino."
He has won high fame in the ferret
ing out of criminals among the Ital-
ians but takes a gloomy view of the
possibilities of real success in extir-
pating Matchmaking. He says the
laws concerning evidence in this
country make convictions almost Inn
possible.
They are good laws for Americans,
but not for these brigands, whose
whole ancestry has practised the
samesort of crimes. There are hun
dreds. yes, thousands, of Italians
who live well altogether on black
mail in New York. They have a reg
ular system, and not one man out of
a thousand who is blackmailed ever
reports 1t to the police. Shopkeepers
all over New York are paying tri-
butte of from fifty cents a week up to
| the BLACK Hand" They have their
| lawyers, and when one gets In trou-
| BILE money, the best legal advice and
horde of men ready to perjure
| themselves on the witness stand are
prepared in his defence. They are
| the offscourings of Italy, criminals
who would never be permitted to
| land there If they attempted to re-
turn. They live by this blackmail.
| Just as their fathers and forefathers
have lived since the Bourbon kings
ruled In southern Italy.
The BLACK Hand" makes large
sums out of the great Italian relig-
ious festivals. The city should not
| permit those affairs. When the feast
day Of great saint comes on the
BLACK Hand" goes out and makes
every Italian give large sums for the
shrine and the affairs, and they cost,
say, $1,000 The Black Hand col
lects $4,000 and keeps $4,000.
| They set off fireworks and endanger
tenements. 1t is Illegal and very
dangerous, but because it is under
the cloak of religious celebration it
Is permitted.