The wages of ... ?
NZPA Naples A church sexton who tried to knife his priest in a quarrel about a woman set off a boom in lottery sales in the town of Torre Annunziata, near Naples. The police rushed to the Church of the Immaculate, when parishioners reported that the sexton, Giovanni Astarita, aged 60, was chasing Father Giovanni Manzo round the altar with a knife. They arrived just in time to stay the sexton’s hand as he pinned the priest, also 60, against the wall “He’s got two women and he promised me one,” the sexton cried as he Was taken away for ’ psychiatric care. “Instead he just gave me a hernia from ringing the bells.” After rapid calculations, superstitious local people quickly bought up lottery numbers linked to the event in magic lore — 22 for the madman, 41 for the knife, 81 for the sexton and 84 for the church. Their faith in numbers was rewarded. Numbers 22 and 41 came up in the Naples lottery and the Turin lottery threw up 81 and 84.
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Press, 7 March 1983, Page 9
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176The wages of ... ? Press, 7 March 1983, Page 9
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