The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-03-09
Palermo KiIl,d the Countess Because She
Refused 10 Pay bis Debts.
THE INSANITY DODGE
That Will Be the Murderer's De-
fence, Who Will Recover From
Self-Inflicted Wounds-Pretendst to
Remember Nothing of Tragedy in
Which He was Chief Actor.
Which He was Chief Actor.


A dispatch from Rome to the New
York World says Baron Vincen7o Pa
terno, who killed the beautiful
Countess Giulia Trigona di SAINT Ella
robab:y will recover from
the bullet wound he inflicted in his
left temple.
What actually preceded the trag-
edy in the cheap Hotel Rebecchino
here may never be known. An eX-
aiming magistrate has questioned the
young Baron, but he protests that the
whole affair is to him a horrible
dream and thaG he cannot rer ember
! details.
Examination of the room in which
the Count and Countess were locked
shows that he stabbed his victim
while she was seated, then dragged
her by the hair to the bed and threw
her upon it, and then ran toward the
door and shot himself.
Queen Helena is deeply shocked
by the fate of her lady-ir-waiting,
and the tragedy has created a most
painful impression throughout Italy.
Prince Tasca di Cuto, brother OF the
Countess, was so affected that. he Is
now i'll. He was informed of his Sis
ter's death while making his first ape
pearance in the Chamber Of Depu-
ties, to which he was elected re-
Gently.
AS a girl of nineteen Giulia Hasca
of the princely Sicilian family of di
Cuto. was married in 1895 to Count
Rornualdo Trigona di SAINT Ella. son.
Of Countess Manabrea, lady-in
waiting to the Queen. Two daush-
|ters were born of the marriage, and
they are now fourteen and seven
years old respectively. Their mother
led an exemplary life until six
imonths ago, when she met again at a
Ball in Pelermo Count Palermo, also
of a princely Sicilian family and q
lieutenant of cavalry. He is twenty
four. AS boy he used to call her
his sweetheart, although she was
eleven years his senior
Following their meeting in Paler-
mo they fell deeply in love. BY a
supreme effort the Countess tore her
/! self from him and went to st. MoritE-
Baron Palermo came to Rome, and
the interchange of many love letters
: served only to increase their mutual
passion.
But soon the Baron's affections
became sordid. He took to gambling;
then he wrote to the Countess beg
ging her to send him a check for
$500 to pay a debt of honor. She
did so. Many similar requests by
him followed. The Countess wrote
asking hiri 10 join her at St. Mritz,
where all will be arranged" The
letter fell into the wrong hands and
was used to blackmail Count Tri-
gona.
The scandal became common gos-
jsip. G:'oen Helena, who was much
attached 10 Countess Giulla, per-
suadei her to dismiss the Count, but
her husband began an action for di-
vorce.
Meantime the conduct of her hus-
band, who also Is deeply in debt,
drove the unhappy Countess to the
verge of distraction. Twice she at
tempted suicide. A scandalous scene
was narrowly averted at a court ball
at the Quirinal recently, when Pa
terno met the Countess and upbraid-
ed her for abandoning him. '.''
Striving to end the intrigue and
avert a divorce, the Countess desired
a last interview with her lover, and
made an appointment with him at
an obscure hotel. ''
iPaterno's friends, defending him,
say his youthful brain was turned by
the beauty of the woman who was
about to throw him over. On the
other hand, the Messagero asserts
that the Baron killed the Countess
because she refused to pay his debts,
which amount to $4,000.