Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-23
Montes Death Mystery Rocks Cabinet Circles in Rome,
touches Capitals Top Social Level and Even Noticon
Story MonopoIizes
Press and Dominates
City's Conversation

Foreign Correspondent Of The s,or


ROME - Italy's hard-pressed
new government has more ON its
mind this week than the stand
ard problems Of hairbreadth
majoritieS and obstreperous
Communists. Charges Of scandal
and corruption have rocked the
administration of Premier Mario
Scelba to it's foundations. The
reverberations have reached the
crustiest levels Of Roman society
and penetrated the sacrosanct
precincts of the Vatican itself.
The Montesi affair is the one
subject of conversational the
workers buses. in the elegant
salons or in the cabinet meetings.
It monopolizes the newspapers
and features in important diplo-
matte dispatches. Virtually all
government business has been
brushed unceremoniouSly aside
for the duration.
What is this story that SO
completely dominates the Roman
scene?
The beginning was ordinary
enough. 1t started one morning
IL months ago when the body OF
a girl was found on the beach at
Ostia, a seaside resort a few miles
from Rome.
Police who investigated the
case soon concluded that Wilma
Montesi was quite an ordinary
kind of girl. The daughter OF
working family. she. lived in
one of Rome's poorer reSiden-
tial sections. At 81. she was
rated as attractive and fun-lov-
ing, with a sharp eye for snappy
clothes. From her family. it was
learned that Wilma had last
been seen two days before. when
she left her mother and sister
at a movie and caught the local
train for Ostia.
Death Caused by Drowning.
When it washed up on the
beach, her body was fully
clothed in a dress and under
wear which-it was carefully re-
ported at the time-had teddy
bears embroidered on it. An au-
topsy showed that death had
been caused by drowning.
Wilma's mother told police
that her daughter had suffered
from eczema on her hands and
feet. Her doctor had told her
to battle them in salt water.
Specializing that the girl might
have tainted while wading in
shallow water. the police leaned
toward a verdict of accidental
death.
If it hadn't been for Silvano
Muto, the case of Wilma Mon
test might have been quickly
forgotten. AS it was. the story
all but disappeared from the
press the next six months.
Silvano Muto is a bright, am
bilious and engaging man about
Rome. At Is. he likes fast sport
cars and existentialist bars. His
father is a politically ambitious
member of the Christian Dem
ocrat Party who has little use for
the present Christian Democrat
leader, Mario Scelba. Young Sill
vano is also the editor and chief
contributor of a small. struggling
gossip magazine called "Attua-
lita."
COver-up Charged.
In the course of his nocturnal
ramblings, Muto began to pick
up strange rumors about the
Montesi case. rich in sinister i'm
plications and vague innuendo.
When pieced together, they
added up to a quite different
version of the tragedy than the
official one.
This version hit the news
stands in the October issue of
"Attualita." It charged. in effect.
that the police reconstruction OF
Wilma Montesi'S death was the
result of deliberate cover-up on