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Show BLACK HANS CRIMES AND THREATS TERRIFY BOSTON 'Sensational Murder Trial Followed and Preceded , by Stabbings and Mysterious Tragedies Bt ROC.FJt WAITHAM Copyright. if 22. By The Stnndard-Examlner) Stnndard-Examlner) BOSTON, Nov. A In tho cold dawn of a January morning, almost u yoar ngo, Mrs. Michael Scarponn arose with the sound of her alarm clock In her Unity street tenement and, as usual, prepared Michael -1 breakfast. This task complete. 1. sh handed Michael his lunch pall, kissed hlin with the usual Latin fervor and. when ho departed, went back to bed to snatch a "oat nap." A half hour later, ashcn-iaced neighbors carried the dead body of Michael home Tic was shot twice through the heart. Michael scarpone was only an obscure ob-scure Italian laborer. Xbday almost everyone In Boston recognises his name When spoken tn the Italian quarters of the nrth end and of cost Boston. It is met with a shake of the head and grave silence. The Investigation of his murder uncovered one of the most sensational and start line cases of "Black Hand" activity known to eastern east-ern police annals Following weeks of investigation. Inspectors Crawford and Cavagarony; h-adlng a squad of police, swooped down on "Little Italy" and arrested sevrn men charged with the murder of Scarpone. They Included Joseph Simboll, the alleged leader, and Bis others. Early in the trial Ltugi Dl Padova. one of thr- defendants, began acting ytranpHy. "Within a few days ho went violently insane in the courtroom court-room and was removed to an insane , asylum. Tho rmainine sis defendants sat KtoHdly in the prisoners" cage. Sim-boll Sim-boll In particular, sat unmoved during dur-ing the proceeding of the trial. When one of the state's witnesses passed the cape, Slmboli's lips were Rcpn to move nnd he was heardto mutter. The witness later testified lljat ho muttered the word 'morte" mi anlng death in Italian. Suddenly, one day toward the close of tho trial, the court was thrown Into a furore when the telegraph wires flashed the news from New York thai Carmollo Ferraro, one of the inost Importanl state witnesses In On trial was slain In the garden of his homo In Brooklyn. N. V. Ferraro was to have testified in the trial the next day. ! The Jury, when the case reached it. argued all night and part of the next day, and then returned a verdict ver-dict which startled the court They freed Simboll. Mascatti and Anzardo. two of the alleged gang, were found guilty f murder in the second degree. The remaining defendants wen- found not guilt v. I Immediately following the release Of simboll. a si ries of stabbings and shootings, with some fatalltlos. occurred. oc-curred. Tho polio- said the victims of thr Black Hand wore taking the law in their own hands. Joseph Silva, who lives In the Orlenl Heights section of Esl Boston, Bos-ton, heard a man screaming t - r 1 1 -riedly in the night. 811 vo donned his clothing, solz'd a lant. in and ran out ! into th- darkness. In a lonoly bit ol i marsh land opposite his bouse he found tho body of a man. evidently an Italian horribly knifed. The body lay In the morgue for nearly an entire day. Inspector Crawford, because of ills familiarity with the Italians, was called In an attempt to i Identify tho body. Ho looked just once. "Simboll!" he exclaimed. Since that time, tho finding of a blood covered automobile resulted In the arrest of Sb-fano Milito charged with the murder of Simboll. He Is being held without bail for the grand jury. And still Black Hand letters continue con-tinue to agwive at the homes of Boston's Bos-ton's Italians One of tie most recent was reported report-ed within the last few days. It was r l id by ('barbs p. Matagatl, one of Huston's wealthiest Italian reel-dents. reel-dents. The letter demanded the payment of $1000 In trlbut.- to the Black Hand on peril of death. |