The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1911-11-10
THE FLOWER
> LADY
By WILLARD BLAKEMAN
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.
By WILLARD BLAKEMAN

had only one adventure worth telling.
Being in Palermo. in the island of
Sicily. desired to visit the temple of
Ceres, the NEUROLOGICAL goddess Of the
crops, from whom the word cereal is
derived. Sicily is still more or less in
the power of the brigands. and the
location of this temple is one Of their
operating grounds. A visit to the spot
is. or was at that time. equivalent to
capture by them and having to put
out goodly sum for ransom. There
were several Americans at Palermo
who wished to zee, the temple, 40 we
made up party to 60 together.
The dangerous part of the trip was
a drive we were obliged to take from
the end Of the railroad to the temple
We telegraphed ahead to the ~authori-
ties to learn whether we could not get
policemen or soldiers for q guard. We
received q reply that we would be
taken care of.
When We reached the terminal We
found that the way we were to be
taken care Of was this: A daring and
willy brigand named Giovanni Taran-
tola had sent the police word that any
party. going to the temple Of Ceres
would be robbed. Tarantola always
acted alone. and the police concluded
to send several Of what we would call
plain clothes men with us. who would
catch SignOr Tarantola in his own
trap.
All our tourists except myself backed
out The reason l stood my ground
was that in all my travels I had had
no marked adventure. and l needed
one to liven up my accounts Of places
had visited. When l reached the ter
minal found a little bit of an old
stagecoach. drawn by three mules, In
which we were to make the journey.
The paint had long ago been worn off
1t, all except the words Rigie Poste
(royal maiD. for which it had formerly
been used. 1t held four persons in
side and three outside.
Three policemen and myself occupied
the inside. two of the former being
dressed as women. We were all arm
ed and ready for Tarantola. We had
gone but few leagues when our royal
mail coach was stopped by a woman
who wished to take passage with us.
Sicily abounds In beautiful flowers,
and the woman who Joined Us held a
large bouquet Of them in her hands.
It 10 always warm on the island, but
this person said she had q bad cold
and asked II any of us would object
to her having the windows closed
The Italian ladies are pretty while
young. but there are many hays
among the lower classes, especially
those past middle age. Our passen-
60. though she was Of large build
and must have been forty years old.
vas not bad hooking. She was BE-
dizened with jewels and tinsel. and
her face was profusely painted and
powdered. Some women In Italy have
very coarse voices. and this woman's
was Of the coarsest.
When we told her that Tarantola
had sent word that he would attack
any party going to visit the temple
she appeared to be very much fright
ened. She demanded return of the
fare she had paid that she might get
out But a Sicilian never returns any
thing that comes into his possession
except by force, and the policeman
who had taken her money refused to
give it up. She said she could not at
ford to lose 1t, % she remained with
US.
She was very liberal with her fow-
ers. giving each Of US one and poking
her bouquet constantly under our
noses. l observed that the perfume
was having . visable effect on the po-
ncemen. and began to feel drowsy
myself. One Of the 90 called ladies
reached out hand to lower . win
dow. but the woman with the flowers
stopped her and. showing her bouquet
under her nostrils. held It there till
the object Of this attention sank back
unconscious. A policeman tried to
open the window. but the hower lady
instead Of showing her bouquet under
MS uO0S put Inc mu1AAe VI ISVV1Vci
there.
The next thing knew I heard the
words. Wake up, Senior Americana"
and / was roughly shaken. Opening
my eyes. / saw the flower lady smil-
ing at me.
Give my compliments to the chief
Of police on your return, and tell him
that when Tarantola says he will do
thing he keeps his word. These beg
carly policemen have no money to re-
pay me for my trouble. SO l shall
leave them. But l must trouble you
to come with me. Any attempt at re-
sistance and you will never see your
beloved land again."
He stopped the coach and drove me
before him into a wood. paying no at
tention to the driver of the royal mail
and the policeman outside, except to
turn and say, II am Tarantola." Since
he covered them they did not dare to
draw a weapon.
Tarantola babe me write a note in
D.ructing my bankers to send $1,000
francs in gold If l wished to live.
was Obliged to have q cable message