The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-05-14
CONSUL IN HIDING
Representative Of Palermo in Fear of
Black Hand

Bishop, American consul at Palermo,
Sicily, who was threatened with death
just after the assassination of Lieut..
Joseph Petrosino in the streets of
Palermo, is now in this city. He is
not telling his abiding place for it
seems desirable on more than one ac-
count that members of the Black Hand
i'm New York should not learn of his
whereabouts.
Mr.. Bishop has received two letters
warning him that unless he ceases
lending a hand in the search for
Lieut.. Petrosino's assassins and in the
deportation of several of the notori-
GUS Italian black mailers now in this
country he will meet the fate which
befell Commissioner Bingham's spec
ial agent. From the time the first
warning letter was received until he
was safely on his way to this coun-
try Mr.. Bishop was under the con-
slant surveillance of two Italian de-
tectives. They even went on board
the Cunard liner Carpathia with the
consul and his wife and remained I'M
I'll the vessel had cleared Palermo.
Mr. Bishop says that although the
danger of assassination by Black
Hand agents in this country is not
so great as in Sicily, he is not taking
any chances. He expects to remain
two months in the United States.
During that time he will lay before
the State Department a plan which
he believes will lead to the material
lessening of the number of Italian
criminals who land in New York and
other Atlantic ports, and also will
provide a means of deporting many
already here who have been troubling
the police of this and other cities in
the last few years. Mr.. Bishop will
meet Police Commissioner Bingham
in the near future to place certain in
formation in his hands concerning the
Petrosina case.
Mr.. Bishop and his wife walked
down the gangplank of the Carpathia
yesterday morning, entered a closed
vehicle, and were whisked away to
their temporary home here. In his
retreat he was found yesterday after
noon by a Times reporter, and talked
about his recent experiences in Pal
ermo, so far the most trying period
of his life. His coming to this coun-
try had nothing to do directly with
the Petrosino case, this being his an
nual leave of absence. While here he
has some important matters TO COM
municate. He will also visit Anna
polls to see his son, who is a student
in the Naval Academy.
Despars of Catching the Assassins
Mr.. Bishop said frankly that he did
not believe that the murderers of
Lieut.. Petrosino would ever be
caught. The Sicilian police have
been hampered from the start, he
says, by the fact that nearly every
Sicilian is averse TO telling anything
he knows TO the police.
There is a dogma which has come
down from the Middle Ages and is
still in full force in Sicily, which
makes it wellnigh impossible for the
police to catch some criminals" said
Mr. Bishop. This is the belief that
it is unmanly to tell anything about
a fellow-countryman which could get
him into trouble. II Is called
'Omerta' in the Sicilian tongue, which
means manliness. They believe it
is dishonorable TO inform on any one,
even i'm case of murder.
"Of course, the fear of being
killed in revenge is also a factor in
the Petrosino case. There have been
many arrests and long inquisitions,
but absolutely nothing has been
learned, so far as | know, to point to
the guilty men. Just before | left
Palermo they arrested two men, a
certain Castantino and one Pasananti
relatives, who, the police learned, had
been communicating in cipher tele-
grams. Castantino, | understand, is
wanted in this country for bankrupt
cy frauds. When he arrived in Pal
ermo he deposited 10000. have
not learned the result of the investi-
cation of these men.
Il found myself plunged up to the
ears in the Petrosino matter before /
knew it. When Petrosino came to
Palermo he visited the Consulate al
most every day He told me that he
had lists of Italians with criminals
records now living in America, and
that he wished to get from the Ital-
ian authorities the records of each
man so that they could be deported.
l gave him such help as | could
Mr. Bishop said that Lieut. Petros-
inc had asked him to indorse his re-
quest to the authorities asking for
the information he wished, and that
he did affix his name TO the papers.
In most instances these requests
were honored. Lieut. Perosino was
Just beginning to receive reports
from the District Courts when he
was shot. Several of the lists of
criminals with their Siciian records
were found in his pockets after the
murder.
Petrosino Knew No Fear.
Mr. Bishop said that Petrosino did
not seem to realize the danger of his
mission. He even went about the
streets unarmed. and had no revolver
with him when he was murdered. In
the dispatches from Palermo at the
time it was said that Petrosino did
have a revolver, and fired back at
his assassins.
81 frequently spoke to Lieut. Petro-
sino about his danger" said Mr.. Bis