The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1911-04-19
THE MURDEROUS BLACK HAND
IT'S TERRIBLY FATAL HARVEST
OF CRIME IN CHICAGO.
Forty Murders in Little Over a Year
and 100 in Five Years. Not
Guilty Person Executed.


CHICAGO.-The attempt by the
Black Hand Society to intimidate
Judge x. NJ. Lands in the case Of an
Italian criminal al whose trial he
presided, coupled with the numerous
outrages committed by this murder
Gus organization during the past
year has brought home to this city
the seriousness Of the problem in
dealing with it. Tie Black Hand
has taken the i;yec Of 40 persons in
Chicago in little more than a year,
and within five years It IS held re-
sponsible for 100 murders. Most of
these crimes remain mysteries 10 the
police For only one or two has any
one been brought to trial, and not in
any instance has any one been sent
TO the scaffOld
The identity of the Black Hand
murdereIs, robbers and desperadoes
is known 10 thousands Of Italians in
the city. But the lips of these thous-
ands are sealed either by the omerta,
the traditional code of silence of
southern Italians, or by fear of the
vengeance of the Black Hand
1t is estimated that the tribute col
lected by the Black Hand from the
citizens Of ChicagO's Italian colonies
amounts to 100000 annually. If
this seems exaggerated it must be
remembered that three-fOurths of
the victims who pay money to the
desperadOes make no report to the
police.
Thousands of dollars worth of
property, owned by those who would
not be held up, have been destroyed
by the Black Hand. A number of
children have been kidnapped and
held for ransom.
Might Have Been Deadly Bomb.
The growing insolence of the
Black Hand received an impressive
illustration when Judge Lands got
a letter from the organization
threatening him with death if he
failed to set free an Italian named
LOngi on trial for a Black Hand
| crime. Later, to show the govern
! ment authorities how futile is their
attempt to stop the work of the
! murderOus society, a harmless bomb
was placed outside Judge Lands
| chambers in the federal building. 1t
might as we'll have been a deadly
| bomb. The manner in which the
| Black Hand keeps posted on the
movements of the police is mystery
to the authorities w. P. Damien
burg, the governments special Black
Hand investigator, who recently was
brought secretly by the authorities
to Chicago from New York to run
down Black Hand criminals, was
warned in letter to leave town.
No one outside the government Off
Gals was supposed to know Damien
burg was in the city. The letter
from the Black Hand informed him
his presence here had been known
from the beginning, that every move
ment he had made had been shadow
ed, and that if he did not cease his
Investigations the Black Hand would
!, put him where he could do that So
ciety no harm.
Police Are Powerless.
, The Black Hand problem ia more
serious in Chicago than the general
pubic is aware The shadow of the
lam manu- II65 heavily over all
: classes of Italians in the city like
he shadow of death A reign of ter
ror exists. By this secret society OF
murder and plumber the city is
threatened with conditions such as
nave made law mockery in Sicily
under the Malta and rendered life
and property in Naples under the
Camorra less secure than among the
beasts of the jungle.
Why do not the police suppress the
Black Hand? Because they cant
Ihats the long and the short of it.
High police officials, who have been
lighting the Black Hand for years
fadmit the inadequacy of the force ia
cope with the society. There are a
number of reasons.
Chief of the obstacles to successful
police work is the omerta. To every
day Americans this may seem merely
a romantic fancy. On the contrary
It IS law among all southern Ttal-
ans-unwritten, but a vital and
binding law. After a crime in the
Italian quarter the police can get no
information, even from those who
nave been eye witnesses. No matter
how closely they are questioned or
hoW severely they are "sweated' the