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18THF M'BT.BOURPHORRIBLE ATROCITIES BY THE NEAPOLITAN BRIGANDS.The details respecting the outrages committed by the Neapolitan brigands increase rather than diminish in horror, as the following frightful outrages too clearly prove. They are taken from a letter in the Nations ;—411 write to you full of grief and rage on account of new atrocities committed by the brigands. At Viestri the brigands barbarously killed nine gentlemen of the Liberal party, and similar atrocities were committed in othor villagesthatwhich they have done in the comm^ of SanrarpaXa allPaola, in the district of Molise, surpasffes all imagination. On the morning of the 4th, the brigands, all dreseed in tho uniform of the old Bourbon gendarmes, surprised the town, snd after having Hacked the bouses without exception, took the curate, Giovanni Roeati (who had the reputation of being an honest priest and a good Liberal), his brother, the syndic of the village, Signer Antonio Capra, and having brought them out naked on the publio square, they exposed them to the derision and insults of the vilest of the populace, who made common cause with the brigands, and, after this spectacle had lasted seve-ral hours, murdered them with their bayonets. They then took tho wife of the syndic, and, after having stripped her naked, committed on herKaon every imaginable outrage, leaving her half 4. Having learnt that a certain Giuseppe Cavarrano, u respectable man, was trying to escape in order to alarm the neighboring villages, they arrested him, and, having dressed him up as a woman, in the middle of the public square they set Are to his dress and burnt him alive. Hearing of the approach of a detachment of troops from Bsranoandof National Guards from the neighboring village, they betook themselves to a precipitate retreat. After hearing of such cannibal atrocities, how is it possible to show generosity to these wretches Qr VQ their employers ? How can we expect the common peopla to allow thebrigands to ps* »on with impunity when they see them conveyed by the police ? The Carabineershave the greatest difficulty to defend the brigands from the friry of the people when they are tuking them to prison. They are in consequence obliged to bring them into Naples in the night. Some of the brigands were followed by their wives.. One of the brigands recently made prisoner by daldini has mado a curious statement respecting his forced enrolment in tho bind of Chiavone through the connivance of the Papal authorities. His name is Pietro Cimagiio ; he was born in the province of Carop.-basho, and lor the last five years ha6 followed the Irade of a shoemaker in Borne. He is 38 years of age, and has a wife and children. On the 23rd June he was working at his usual business, when he wsb surprised by the visit of three men. One was a Neapolitan, formerly a gendarme, by name Piccivillo ; the fwo others belonged to the Papal police, though, With the exception of their badges, they wore poihing distinctive of their occupation. Picci-viilo, without preface, announced to Cimagiio that he (Cimagiio) had been designated to join the band of Chiavone, which, together with that of Cintrillo, was shortly to be placed under the command of General Bqhco. Tho two Homans confirmed the order of Piccivillo by the authority, they said, of the chiefs of the Roman police. Ci-maglio, seeing resistance to be useless, abandoned himself to his fate. He was taken to a stable of the Farnese Palace, where he found eleven other men recruited in the same manner, and for the same purpose as himself. They did not quit Rome till the afternoon of the 26tU, when they were sent off under an escort of Pontifical abirri, with the comfortable assuince that any one attempting to desert would be shot on the instant. On the 27th they were joined by another set of recruits, all railway navvies, who had been pounced upon While'at Work,'and the whole body vaa how placed undtr the cammand of one Pepprno, who held the rank of corporal. At Palestrina they marched past a body of French troops, who allowed them to go unchallenged. At Alatri, a little further on, the passed a brigade ol Pontifical gondarmery. The brigadier asked whither they were going, upon which Corporal Peppino replied, 41 Men for Chiavone,** adding that they were 44 the King of Naples' property (rohba del Re di Napoli). — - afterwards fell in with French troops, Tho) «......who never interfered with them in any way. During the night of the 28th they arrived at the place near La Roccic, at which it ^raf iiqdcrstosd they were to join Chia-Sne. He was, however, absent, and ) lieutenant for the time being was a pertain Sergeant Palesca. They were crossing wooded ground, and as there weri scouts out, with orders to shoot any man who could not render a good account of himself, a certain air was given them which they were ordered to sing softly sb they went along. Presently a mau appeared from the underwood, who said lie was to lead them to Pa-lesca’s presence. This officer reoeivod them graciously, gave them s supper of polenta, snd permission \o sleep in the open air. Three days passed before Chiavone arrived. His costume, as described by Cimagiio, is something between that ofFxaDiavolo and a Neapolitan forest ranger— ooat, waistcoat, and breeohes of velvet, u red Bcarf round hie waist, a variegated handkerchief knotted round his neck, ample cloak, pointed beaver hat, and his belt stuck full of pistols. He at onco asked Cimagiio and his fellow recruits what conditions had been promised them at Home on their enlistment. The general tariff proved to be four carlini a day and their food. 44 Good, said Chiavone ; 44 quite right. Your food, you will get as we gbt it ourselves. As for the pay, you’ll have to wait till Francis II. gets back his throne.’L-We find tho following interesting particulars of the banditti warfare in the Neapolitan mountains in the correspondence of the Tempt, dated the 13th:—44 Ctalaini has been sqooessful in three encounters with the reactionists, at Sore, Beneyunto, and Canocllo, near this city. The official dispatch, dated from Sow, 9th instant, states that a company of the 44th of the line, quartered at Inola, killed four brigands. The rest of the troops killed nine. Tho mobilised guard, sent to scour the country, had seen some twenty men near the top of Monte Sant* Angelo. Another dispatch, received by the NazionaU. says that Colonel Jxplt;-x, having been apprised that Chiavone was in communication with the inhabitants of Boro, drew him to Monte Sant* Angelo. The Lieutenant-GkMrti ot Fnwei* XX. twin* thin MttUedin front and in dank by Captain Bianohi, losteight men, with his aide-de-camp, and took refuge in the forest. Captain Lanai, when the dispatch was sent off, was tndeavoriug to turn the hand and attack it behind. In another encounter Chiavone lost five men, while the Italianshad only aa officer wounded in tho arm. A letter, addressed to the Pungolo, saysthat the firing was heard at 8ora frsm 3o’clock in the morning till 7, and from 10till 12 o'clock. The engagement began at a thicky-wooded spot called Rico, a mile and a-half from the town. The writer affirms that some companies of the 44th, ascending the heights of Roccavioa, were to have attacked the Chiavo-nians (os they are called) in the rear, and that if those companies had arrived in time, Chiavone’s campaign would have terminated then and there. But, being delayed by the steepness of the ascent, they arrived two hours too late. At tho moment I write this four brigands have been executed on the Piazza di Santa Restituta as examples. OtherB were left dead in the field, and the wounded wore very numerous. This letter stages that the wounded Italian officer is Captain Falardi, who, in a close encounter with eight brigands, two of whom he shot with his revolver, reoeivod a slight wound in the foot, not in the arm as reported. The National Guard protected the town during the engagement, and the pupils of the NormM School defended the line of the Lire for some distance. I now come to the affair of Benevento, which was rather Berious. The number of insurgents is not easily ascertained, as there are so many persona who are Bourhonists when the brigands approach and Italians when the troops arrive. Some 15 villuges were attacked; but some of them, Circello and San-Lupo, for instance, defeated the banditti. In the night of the 10th Colonel Negra marched against Pago, which he promptly occupied, and shot the syndic, Luigi Orlandi, lor having taken part with the brigands. The struggle was severe at Pietra calcine, where the insurgents numbered 400 at least, 35 of whom (nol 135, as first reported) were left on the field, a:.d 10 Jo there remained prisoners in the hands of ike troops. In the pursuit 15 horses were taken, together with a quantity of ammunition and aims, ihe Italians had only cue man killed, and two others wounded ; n sergeant and a trumpeter were ulso mUsing. The smallness of the loss proves th.it the insurgents do not fight well, however formidable they may be against defenceless villages. Indeed, they seldom mako a determined stand against even a small number of troops. The day before yesterday, ut Pesco, above a hundred of them tied before a mere handful of soldiers. Yesterday the Italians were already victorious throughout the province, the insurgent* fled in all directions, committing their usual atrocities in all the villages through which ihey passed. I now come to the affair at Cancello, which more nearly interests us as being so close to Naples. You know that the brigands had collected in considerable numbers there, and harassed the country all round. Seldom did a day pasg without their fifing at the trains on the railway between Cancello and Nola, but that was the last of their misdeeds. General Vinelli accordingly took measures to clear the country of them. He occupied the heights where they usually concealed themselves, und Boon drove them out. The first accounts (nearly always exaggerated) state that the brigands lost 80 killed, and 240 prisoners and wounded. The result of this vigorous measure ia that the insurgents are now anxious to surrender. Yesterday a band of 160 men, in the environs of Naples, offered to surrender if assured of impunity. The answer invariably made to all such offers ia—' You will be tried by the tribunals, and acquitted if guilty of rebellion only, but condemned if you have made rebellion a pretext for robbery and murder.* —■“KRttALE HLQNHIN ” AT CllEMORNE.—ALARMING SCENE.Aa immense number of persons crowded the banks of the Thames, the atoam-boats, and every available point of view, on Monday evening, t having been announced that the 44 Female Blondin ” had been engaged to cress the Thames on u tight rope from Cremome Gardens. It is said thai the actual spun of the river at this point is 2000 feet, while the height of the rope from the water varies from 60 to 100 feet, Immense crowds bad collected to witness the feat, and the artiste, when she mode her appearance, received with loud bursts of applause.wasTwo-thirds of the distance l»a(i been accom plished with apparent ease and certainty, performer stopped to rest on one of thewhen *hew ______ main supports * of the ~r o p e. She remained so long that apprehensions of a contretemps began to spread, nor were they groundless, for attempts were made by attendants on shoie and in boats to tighten the remaining 600 or 700 feet of rope. For a very great part of this formidable length no cuy lines were tc oe seen. There were tales of the ropes having been cut in the course of the preceedxng night, for the sake of the weights by which the main cord was, or should have been, made steady. On the other hand, it was alleged that these weights or guys had never been put up. Alter sitting a wearisome length of time on the narrow ledge on tho summit of the timber support, the performer essayed to advanoe. She very toon found the task too dangerous, and backed to her awkward resting place. The time from her first arrival at this spot to her finally quitting it was full three quarters of an hour. Again the Female Blondin set forth, andthistime m4de so muph progress that when she hesi-he second time, it had become nearlytated for the impossible for her to recede. This the neverthe-less attempted to do, under tho greatest difficulties. The rope was swaying like a garden swing. Cries were raised for a line, and when one was brought, efforts were made to throw it over the cord on which the poor creature waa endeavoring to mointainher balance. The excitement became general,and soon grew into alarm. F or awhile many liad pacified thoir fears with a half suspicion that the dapger wa* only acted, but its reality soon became too apparent. Twilight was deepening, and in h l'Ule time sho would be unable to see the rope. Having stood for ten minutes or longer undecided whether to attempt a retreat or on advance, the female Blondin sat down on the rope, and balanced her pole across her knees. Renewed efforts wero made to llirow cords over the main rope, bur unsuccessfully. At length an outcry waa heard tliat she was going to fall. At I that moment she relinquished her pole, whioh cun* iflMUsf down uaong (1m tat* below. U
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Melbourne Leader
Melbourne, Victoria, AU
Sat, Oct 19, 1861
Page 10
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MD, USA 15 Jun 2021
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