A WOMAN'S CRIME.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 113, 11 May 1909, Page 2

A WOMAN'S CRIME.

One of the most sensational murder trials in the criminal record of Italy has concluded at Lanciano, after occupying the court for sixteen days. There were two prisoners—a young woman named <§rlovina di Campli, and her lover, Pasquale Pasquini, and. the charge against them was one of murdering the woman's husband,^ Giovanni .Bussoli, under- revolting circumstances. The case exited enormous interest, and but for the fact that the accused have been guarded by a strong detachment of carbinieri, there is little doubt that they would have been lynched. On several occasions attempts were made to "rush" the escort, which terrified di Campli and Pasquini beyond measure. Briefly put the facts of the case were as follows: Bussoli and Pasquini were intimate friends, and until a few months ago both were in the United States, though Signora Bussoli, or Giovinni di Campli—she being charged under her maiden name—remained in Italy. Pasquini returned to his native land before his friend, and almost immediately a guilty intimacy sprang up between him and the latter's wife. Then Bussoli, too, came back from America, and the couple planned a fiendish crime. A supper was arranged at the Bussolis' house, at which the husband and wife, their daughter, and Pasquini were present; and Bussoli was steadily plied with wine until he fell asleep under its influence. Pasquini and his mistress then attacked their helpless victim with a hatchet, and between them cut him into pieces. Pasquini's demeanor in court .was very different from the hardened behavior of his fellow prisoner, and his denials of the accusations she made against him moved the woman almost to madness. On one occasion she was found to have secreted a knife in her clothing for the avowed purpose of killing her lover and herself; and later she threw herself upon him and bit his hand nearly through. It was eventually found necessary to keep six carbinieri inside the cage in which the prisoners were placed in court. The trial ended in a verdict, of guilty, and the woman di Campi was sentenced to thirty _ years' imprisonment, while Pasquini was condemned to imprisonment for life. The sentences were received with applause by those present in court and by crowds outside.