BELOVED BANDIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 23

BELOVED BANDIT.

MUIiTI-MURDERER SHOT DEAD. ROMANETTI DIES FIGHTING. WEALTHY OUTLAW AS FRIEND OF POOR. A niultl-murilcrer, a daring bandit, and yet a national hero was Rouce Bomanetti, Corsica's chivalrous robber chief. Fighting to the end, he fell dead from the bullets of gendarmes who ambushed him—and the vast majority of Corsicans mourn his loss. For twenty years Romanetti had ruled the mountain fastnesses of Corsica, and yet there was an ever-increasing price upon his head. " The King of the Heather " he was called, and it must be admitted that he was a just ruler, who had the confidence and even the love of his " subjects." Throughout those years the police had waged war on him, but they were playing a losing game, in which many of the police themselves wore scarcely half-hearted. Everywhere this romantic criminal had friends and spies, and his own cunning had proved more than a match for his pursuers. The Last Stand. In the early morning he was riding his pony down from his hillside refuge to inspect his extensive vineyards, when his mastiff, trotting ahead, bayed a warning uf danger. It was too late; Romanetti was inextricably ambushed. lie asked no quarter, but unslung his carbine and opened fire. A hail of shots from the well-hidden police was the reply. The bandit was hit several times, but he Huug away his carbine, and continued the unequal fight with his big Mauser pistol. RiddJed with bullets he fell from the saddle, but still fired fanwise at his unseen enemies. At last his fire ceased. The police crept towards him, but his faithful mastiff challenged them, and bad to be shot before they could approach. Romanetti was dead. That is the story of the police. But the inhabitants, in their affection for the bandit, are bitter against the police, nnd refuse to Admit that the police could have trapped their "hero" in the manner described. They attribute his death to treachery on tho part of persons in police pay, or to some personal vendetta. They maintain that the horse that Romanetti was said by the police to be riding when he was caught was in its owner's stable nt the time, and, further, that the outlaw's cloak contained holes made by buckshot and not by the bullets of the police.

Kedresser of Wrongs. It is writen of Romanetti by no less a personage than a Corsclcan member of the Paris Bar, that " he never took life for lew motives, for theft, or for mischilef. He was simply a rcdresser of wrongs who defended himself." And the extent to which he was idolised seems to confirm that summary. Fearless, daring, chivalrous to beauty in distress, and considerate to the downtrodden and afflicted, Romanetti, even though he was responsible for nt least fifteen murders, was a picture-postcard hero in Corsica. He took to the mountains in the first place after killing a man in a duel with rifles. It arose from the theft of an ox from a local butcher. Thereafter there waß a price upon his bead. From time to time the price was Increased, for Romanetti had many more victims. Tbe first increase was for the slaying of two rivals " for degrading flls profession and bringing into bad odour by descending to petty larceny and common swindling." Then for years he made war on the wealthy of the-island.. Cattle, produce, money, and jewels Were seized by him, and in a short time be amassed vast wealth. His lair' was in an almost inaccessible mountain gorge, quite secure from curious police, but Romanetti thought nothing of venturing out to the towns. A proud man was Romanetti, full of swagger and braggadoccio when he thus defied the police. The great hotels, dancing halls, and night haunts of Ajaceio saw him frequently. He made love most gallantly, and drank inordinately. But be was never too drunk to glide away into the night whenever one of his followers sounded a whistle as a warning of danger. Chivalrous Enemy. To the poor and needy, Romanetti was a generous helper and a lavish giver. To out-and-out criminals he was an implacable foe and & self-appointed judge. Four bandits, for instance, who posed "as Mvols, but broke bis rules by robbing the people, were shot dead by him. s To the gendarmes he was a chivalrous enemy. In this regard there is on record the case of A captured gendarme Who was ordered by the followers of Romanetti to jump over a precipice to certain death. Romanetti learned that the man was the father of a large family, and immediately allowed hlffl to go free. in 19-1; when an aeroplane carrying passengers to the Riviera crashed near his lair the OUtlhW was the first on the scene of the disaster, aiding the injured, placing their money and valuables in safety, and then securing a doctor and the police. Many scars be carried from wounds received in his many fights with the police. Their ambushes were frequent, but he WAS a wonderful revolver shot. He had never been captured alive. But it would seem that he would gladly have forsaken his Wild life If he had been allowed to settie down ns ah ordinary citizen. He had often expressed a Wish to file peacefully in his bed, but it Was hot to be. Probably his choice of the iieitt best thing would have been" te die fighting, as he did.