Show J 7 t THE DREADED MAFIA Accounts Account of the Origin of This Ancient and Stained Crime-Stained Sicilian Order Differ The The Revolt of 1 Palermo in 1282 Special Correspondence Modern Sicily is little known to the world day to-day but the little that is known includes the outward workings workings of the great stained crime-stained society La Mafia When the rest of the world was moving on Sicily seems to have Stood still and in the shadows of the Mafia of day to-day day to she presents to the rest of the civilized world a study of ofa ofa a a- state of society for the analogue of which In England one would have togo to togo togo go back to the time of Henry VII when England was passing away from the old system of feudalism Into a brighter and higher life It is almost precisely the same condition which existed in Germany after the Thirty Years' Years war and it presents the same picture of semi-barbarism semi as did France during the years that preceded the French r revolution What is La Mafia The question is isone isone isone one that is asked many times Writers of Italian and Sicilian history have devoted many pages to an explanation of its fearful and mystical organism and yet when they have said all they have given merely an account of its outward workings The wisest of these historians set the bewildered reader reader right In the beginning of of their accounts by saying candidly that there Is no satisfactory or definite answer answer to the inquiry It may be due to the fact recorded by Giuseppe that itis it itis itIs is dangerous for Sicilians to occupy themselves very earnestly with the I study of this question With other writers he says that La Mafia is not nota a a. sect or cult nor yet an association having rules regulations or laws by-laws that II Il Mafioso Is not ne necessarily a brigand a robber or a highwayman Another historian says La Mafia is the consciousness of ones one's own importance importance im im- and power an exaggerated conceit of ones one's own individuality in inthe inthe inthe the sense of being sup superior to moral social or political law sole arbiter of all questions concerning ones one's relations relations relations rela rela- to other individuals or to society at large La Mafia in general seem to be a phase of Sicilian society itis it itIs itis Is not a compact organization of people people peo peo- who are bound t together gether by oaths with passwords and grips it Is a state of social immorality In which may be found peasant and land owner brigand and judge Franchetti has described It as the survival of a medieval senti senti- I E Es s Ib ys o a. a NON Cathedral Palermo ment meat which brings about a union of persons of all ranks and classes and professions who are constantly reuniting reuniting re reo uniting to satisfy their common inter biter ests But the b best st descriptions do not give a a. full definition of this part of Sicilian life me h f Ine Mafia is probably of very ancient ancient ancient an an- origin It is more than years old Just exactly when or how howit it sprang into existence Is not exactly known Some historians historians say that the Italians Italians' love for intrigue and mystery prompted the organization but the writers who cling to the r romances mances of ot history tell a pretty story which shows that the society sprang Into existence from an inspiration of patriotism patriotism pa pa- but Its very birth was heralded herald herald- ed by a libation of f blood These writers have its origin at the revolt of ot Palmero which took place during an an Easter ceremonial in the s' s suburbs s of that city In the year 1282 A beautiful beautiful ful young girl and her in accordance with the quaint customs of pf that people approached the of the Holy Ghost to be united in marriage mar at the altar and while the lover tover the padre In the little room at atthe atthe atthe the rear of the building his bride bilde e waited in the threshold As she stood there a drunken sergeant of the French garrison came along threw his arm about her waist and kissed her r. She tore herself from his grasp and turned to fly but as she did so the heel of her slipper slipper- caught in th the coping of ot the pavement and she fell striking her hear against a sharp projection projection pro pro- of the cornice At that instant the returning lovers lover's eyes fell upon her prostrate form and with the fury of a wild beast he threw himself upon the French sergeant driving his into his heart and crying Morte ala Francia Death to I Ithe the French The maddened cry b became became be be- came the roar of infuriated thousands I It swelled and deepened it took on a deeper meaning and became nationalized nationalized nationalized nation nation- and then burst forth Morte ala Francia Italia anelea Death to the French is Italy's cry For sev sev- two enty-two hours armed bands headed by the f father ther and betrothed of the girl hunted down the hapless French In dread of the vengeance of the French nation these unhappy people formed themselves Into secret organization with the password rd and name name of the society made up with the initial letters letters letters let let- of the words which compose that fateful death cry thus forming Mafia But setting aside the possible ancient ancient ancient an an- origin of the society its present development seems due to the great corruption which existed under the Bourbons and especially in the police of that time the consequence of which was a general tendency on the part of the Sicilians to do justice for them them- them them-I selves One of the principal functions of the Mafia Is indeed to decide differences differences differences dif dif- and dispense justice without to the decisions of courts or tribunals The have their called so code of honor and disregarding social law accept and are guided by the teachings and by it regulate their lives lives lives' and adjust their relations to their f fellow now men In the opinion of the the lifts them above law According to it if a man appeals to the law against his fellowman fellow fellowman fellowman man he is not only a fool but a cow cow- ard It imposes upon him the obligation obligation obligation obliga obliga- tion to all controversies by force and arid violence o or if he be himself is not powerful enough to appeal to the most powerful of the Mafia in hiS hig district The appeal of the less less' ess' ess to the more powerful creates the distinction between between be be- tween alta aIta and bassa Mafia Mafla high and low Mafia The he the code of ethics of the Mafia consists of popular sayings and proverbs expressed in the vernacular vernacular vernacular ver ver- or or slang resembling that of Ame American ic n crooks Its purport is Is to keep active In the minds minds' of these criminals the tendencies which fit them to be Instruments of La La Mafia Mafla L e l Lg g t r i l 4 1 f 7 and to encourage all members to b bo be independent of law and society A Sicilian who has been wounded does not betray the to justice even though he knows that he is dying According According According Ac Ac- cording to the teachings of the Omer tahe tane gays ways If It I die I shall be burled buried if it I live I shall kill you meaning that he intends to avenge himself 1 t The Mafia is properly divided into two parts the one existing in Palermo and the larger cities and the other outside in the open country and In the mountains Without organization it I j seems Impossible that members of the 1 society should be capable of recognizIng Ing other members The intercourse i comes about through a a cattle fair which is held every year and landowners landowners landowners land- land owners and peasants rich and poor mingle one with the other j Since 1876 the Mafia has been very quiet In ln Italy and has been little he heard rd of elsewhere until 1891 when Its bold J j rr y M c Public Fountain Palermo 1 j operations in New Orl Orleans ans and the a r A. of Chief hie Hennesy of that city so aroused the better elements I of New Orleans that the citizens proceeded pro pro- eded to the jail and shot or hanged eleven of the Italian criminals confined confined confined con con- fined there who had been implicated in the murder Since then the Mafia Mafla has not dared to raise its head in the i United States though no doubt there still exists organization among the lower classes j. j 3 Fates Fate's Irony It of n happens that a man who has been through the gr gravest vest perils in his hia time comes come's to his end by some trifling misadventure Only a short time timo ago ago agoa a gallant British admiral had seen through many wild storms and had many narrow escapes by flood and field met his death with shocking swiftness by a slight brush from a passing cab In London News has just come from South Africa of the death at his home in land of the v veteran teran pioneer settler y Charles Daly who was brought to his end by a kick from on oI f of his wagon bullocks Of the persons onboard on onboard b board ard the Birkenhead frig frigate te that went down In False bay on oR April 26 to 1852 only contrived to get ashore and Charles Daly was one of these survivors His desperate battle for life on that tragic occasion formed one of the most thrilling stories stories of ot that night in False bay over half halt a I century ago and he had since been through many desperate adventures t j along the Kaffir fronti frontiers rs Finds Small Coins During five days last week a Worcester Worcester Wor Wor- cester Mass woman has accumulated by simply keeping her eyes open and gathering in the stray coins that she has noticed on the s streets Her largest find has been beena Eo Eoa a cent 25 piece the other coins ranging rang rang- rangIng Ing In value from two pennies an old half dime that should be worth more than its face value and the the- balance balanc in nickels and nd dimes Marriage in i England Of every 1000 marriages in England take place In Anglican churches in Nonconformist churches 15 In Registrars Registrar's offices officeS' 40 in Catholic churches and 6 in synagogues synagogues- r. r |