The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1911-09-07
.Mrfir


'h"' lhe real reason Is not the dAAtf.,,
| 70 save any of their number from 4 I
Just and deserved punishment. but
ralher ihe feeling Of uncertainty, bt.-
cause OF what they have heard ard
seen OF .ynching in different parts az
the co3ntry, as to whether the ACCUSED
VIII have the benefit of a fun ana AR
investigation In a court Of law '''sS
There is among the Negro, popula-
tlon OF the United States. even thoush
me administration of the law IA a.
most rnlrely in the hands OF anoctIN
ace no settled distrust of the govern
flehe and the courts and no djsposf
tlon' as is true Of, the Sicilian. ) Ia
resort to private Justice, and reyansp.
In spite OF the fact that the freuusnt-
~ gets into trouble with the police
ana the courts the Negro is. BY dts-
poSltltH, at least, the most law2abia-
[ ing man in the community. T MON,
Nv this, the Negro is never an annr-
chlSt, he is not opposed to law. as
such, but submits to it when he, hns
| committed a crime. rI,;DH
IhiS brings me to another featI,te
or Slc1lian life, namely, the Mafini.A
hau heard a great deal abonE tha
Mana in Italy and about the crinhia1
political organizations in other parts
OIL Italy, before l came to Eurone
and was anxious, if possible. to .leui3,
| something that would give me an an
Slght into the local causes and condi-
| lions which had produced them. ..nnr
One OF the professional story.tell-
ers whom | encountered while IT waa
wandering about in the market in
CaCanla' recalled the subject to my
lnlnd. he was retailing to; a crowd
IN the market square a story thai. pas
even more exciting and Interesting.
TO me- at least, than the one which +
nave already mentioned. Itrwas-, in
lact, nothing less than an accounhf,of
the murders and outrages or the
black Hand in New York CITY. .,.. ,,S.
| at first it struck me as very MIN
tous That l should meet in ITALY, thu
nome OF the Malta and the Camorraua
! CROWD or people in the public suuarss,
listening with apparent wonder and
| awe to the account of the fabulo,,s
crimes and misdeeds of their fellow
couhtrymen IN another part of the
| world. | had sort of notion that
Ihe BLACK Hand operations would ha
81 lalhlllar to S1cilians that . they
would have no curiosity about them, 1T
was not so, however, and after L learn.
ed That New York had an Italian nossS
ulat1on larger thal Rome. larger. ~
lact'-than-any Italian city with the
exception OF Naples, this did not seem
| so strange. There are, as a. mattar
OF tact, more than 100000 Italians In
| New York City and IS per cont ~
tnem are from Southern Italy. Among
this 80 per cent are very many. who
belong to the criminal classes. ,Eha
result is that the Malta under tha
name OF the Black Hand, is probably
as as active and, perhaps, as
powerful among the Italian populated
~ New York today as it ever was, Iii
| Italy. e. t.. .;,,t
! While | was in Palermo I had..thss
pace pointed out to me where Petre-
slno, the Italian detective from New
YORK, who went to Sicily to secure ltlfs
records of some of the noted Italiesh
criminals, then living in America, wac
shot and killed by the Malta. Petre.
s1no was killed March IL, 1868. The
killing of this American officer In the
streets of Palermo served to call at
tentlon to the number Of Black Hand
crimes committed by Italians In tffs
| country: During the next nine months
after. Petresine's death it was re-
ported that no less than fifty Italian
| Killings, as they were called, todk
| place, either in New York City itself
or in the surrounding territory, anu
from 1906 to 1909, according to stat1s-
TICS prepared by the New York World,
| OF liz unexplained murders commit
ted In and around New York 81 were
| those of Italians. This suggests. at
| least, the manntr in which our own
cou8try is affected by the conditions
| OF the masses in Southern Italy and
Sicily~ -.- -:
The Malta, the Black Hand, as it is
called III America, Is kind Of insti,
tuition which Is SO peculiar and 10
such an extent the product of purely
| local conditions that It seems dfffcu1t
even for those who know most about
it to explain is existence, One state
ment which | heard in regard to the
matter was especially interesting to
me- 1t was said that the conditions
OF mind which made the Malta posi-
bic, the fear aud distrust which dfyt-
deS the masses of the people from the
ruling classes and the government
was the result Of the mingling of
races in the Island, that the Malta
was, in short Sicily's race problem,
1t Is certainly true that in no other
! part of Europe, with the possible ex-"