ITALIAN COMMUNISTS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 276, 1 November 1924, Page 5

ITALIAN COMMUNISTS.

the emPole MASSACRE. LONG TftlAL ENDED. Mne ( Oct. 30. The famou a trial of Comihunists fias ended at Florence. Forty were acquitted, 21 sentenced to various terins oi labour ranging frdm 20 to 29 years, and 24 others to ihree to 12 years. . The announcement of th© verdict created wild scenes in the prisoners’ cage, where Lupo, the chief of fhe gang declared that he would kill a fellow prisoner, Caponi. as soon as he regained his liberty 25 years hence. The prisoners fioWled epithets at the Judge till the carabinieri forcibly removed them from the cage. The arrests marked the end of the Communists’ reign of excesses thrde years ago.—(A. and R.Z.) A cable published in May stated that one of biggest trials in the histprv of . Italy had opened at Florence, where 138 anarchists, and cofninunista were charged W’ith the responsibility for the massacre at Empole on February 28. 1921. As is the custom in Ifaly all the accused appeared in Court shut up in an iron cage. The prisoners were niifiibered and occupied five tiers’ of seats and each juror supplied wifh a plan like a theatre plan abd a book of 276 pages containing photographs of the accused- details of the charges. There were 600’ witnesses to be examined and fifty defending counsel. It was stated that the jury at the end of the trial would have to answer 3000 questions...,,,, t