A VENDETTA WITH A VENGEANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 35, 11 February 1891, Page 2

A VENDETTA WITH A VENGEANCE.

The story of the assassination of Mr David , Hennessy, chief of the New Orleans Police, j read? more like one of Wilkie Collins' weird I imaginings than a sober record of sober i fact, transmitted by a prosaic news agency. j It appears,from the details which have been sent over, that two antagonistic Sicilian societies, the Mafia and the Stoppaghera, have been carrying on in New Orleans a vendetta, which had its origin in the old country. These Italians left their country for their country's good some thirty years ago. But, like the ghost which * flitted too' in Tennyson's idyll, ' Walking to the Mail,' their vendetta went with them, and has been going on, like a Kentucky family-feud, ever since. During tho thirty years thab the members of the Mafia and the Stoppaghera Societies have honoured New Orleans with their presence, some forty murders have testified to the strength of their clanish devotion, and to the truth of the old adage that those who cross the ocean may change their climate, but keep their nature unchanged. Things went on in comparative quiet and comfort, the shooting of a Mafia being in due time quietly righted by the knifing of a Stoppaghera until last May, when,upon some extra provocation, or merely in compliment to an excellent opportunity which might not occur again, a band of these Sunny Southerners laid an ambush for a party of their enemies, and, shooting at large, succeeded in killing and wounding six compatriots. This naturally roused tho police authorities of New Orleans to strenuous action, and they devoted themselves with resolution to the task of exposing and ending this disgraceful and dangerous defiance of law and tho liberty to live. Their efforts, in which Mr Hennessy was the moving: spirit, resulted in the arrest of six persons, who were put on their trial for the murders. The desperate character of the rival societies was horribly exemplified by the fact thab in the course of the trial all the leading witnesses were assassinated. This wholesale process of removal did not, however, succeed in influencing the issue. All the prisoners were found guilty, but their counsel, according to the American manner, succeeded in securing an order for a new trial, which has nob yet come on. In carrying out this highly desirable policy of ' thorough,' Mr Hennessy became cognisant of all the doings of these murderous ruffians, and had found out a number of very extraordinary and sensational facts concerning them. The knowledge was a dangerous possession, and Mr Hennessy had, no doubt, for some months past been in the position of an Irish farmer who had paid his rent, or an Irish woman who had nursed the dying child of a. boycotted neighbour. In consequence of many warnings as to his danger of assassination, the chief of the New Orleans Police had for some time been ; under the protection of an day and night. As to many oth'dr high - spirited people, these precautions were irksome to Mr Hennessy, and, following the fatal line of argument which has led to so many catastrophes, the unfortunate gentleman argued that as nothing had happened to him when he was duly protected, nothing would have happened had he dispensed with the protection. Accordingly, on Sunday he dismissed his guard. On Wednesday nighb he set out to walk the short distance from the police headquarters.to his home. But the deferred vengeance of the miscreants was now awaiting him. At a street corner, where he was exposed to the full glare of an electric light, a volley was fired at him from the dark entrance of an alloy only a few feet distant. A number of the shots took effect, but Mr Hennessy, with the fighting instinct of a brave man, drew his revolver and fired rapidly into the narrow passage whence he had been assailed. The assassins fled, four in one direction and four in another, dropping in the flight three guns, which were useful as pieces de conviction. Mr Hennessy was found to be shot in six or seven places, each lung being pierced, and a bullet having passed through the body near the heart. He lingered for nine hours in great pain, and then expired. It is difficult to believe that all this actually happened on Wednesday in New Orleans. It is reported that seven Italians have been arrested, and the police seem to have a strong case against them and to have worked out pretty dearly this latest development of the Mafia and Stoppaghera machinations. There are two somewhat curious points in connection with this case. One is the fatality which seems to pursue the Hennessys. Mr David Hennessy's father was a famous detective, and was murdered in 1877. His brother Michael was killed in Texas in 1883, and now Mr Hennessy,of New Orleans, the last of his family,has fallen a victim to his zeal in suppressing crime and his disregard of tiresome precautions. The second curious point is one of the most dramatic in the whole tragedy. An Italian called at the prison, and asked to see one of the men under arrest on the pretext of identifying him. When the prisoner was brought up, the visitor drew a pistol and fired at him, inflicting a wound which is likely to prove fatal.