A ROMAN TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6362, 8 April 1882, Page 7

A ROMAN TRAGEDY.

A PRIEST MURDERED BY A COUNT. Count Alexander FakllA will be the protagonist of a remarkable murder trial in Bologna very soou. He is an Italian aristocrat, accused of the murder of a Roman Catholic priest. The accusation has created much excitement in Italy. The Count is n native of Imola, a town in the ancient provinces of the Pope. When the Count was a boy his father committed suicide. The young Count .studied at Bologna, and graduated at the University of Rome. In IS,">9 he served as a volunteer in the Piedmontese Army. He won a reputation for bravery anil great personal courage. He became a lieutenant of artillery, and received a decoration for military valour. It was a silver medal with a blue ribbon, highly prized by the Italians. The Count had extravagent tastes and spent his money lavishly. His pay was small and insuflieent for his expenses. Signor Searobelli, his stepfather, occasionally supplied him with money. In ISTOthe Count was among the soldiers who fought against the Pope, and who passed through the opening of the Parta Pla. Not long afterwards he married Signorina Valniiuia 1* of Folignor. He then went into the corn business, and opened two large stores, one in Imola, and the other at Cartel del Rio, ne»r Bologna. He seems to have dearly loved his wife, but he was quickly led astray by his passion for gambling. ' In a few years his wife's fortune was gone. He also wasted several small fortunes inherited from relatives and friends. Then he Became involved in debts. Some of the citizens of Imola liked him, but his friends. He was wild and overbearing, nnd no one but his wife could control him. Charges ofswindling and of falsifying cheques have been supplemented by a charge of murder. On August P 2, ISSI, Imola was startled by the sudden disappearance of the Rev. Don Virgillis Costa. The police hunted right and lett for clues, aid finally found a scrap of paper on which the following words bad beiui written : '• lam leaving for America. Don Costa." Suspicion of foul play increased. The police learned that the priest had been seen at the railway depot with Count Faetla a few weeks before his disappearance, ami that the Count had given him a little purse, which he requested him to keep for him. The priest's house was searched, and the purse was found. It contained the Rev. Dun Virgillis Costa's promissory note in favour of Faella for 52.500 liro (about .£-2,550). The people of Imola were astonished. Everybody knew that the priest was very rich and that the Count was very poor and overburdned with debt. The Count was immediately suspected of murder. Tho obligation signed by the priest was believed to be a forgery. It was surmised that the cunning Count had given the priest the purse to cover his designs. When brought before the tribunal on suspicion, the Count maintained that the priest really owed him the money, and that he intended to collect the debt from the estr.te. Meantime the Count's house was searched. A scrap of paper was found identical with the scrap announcing the priest's intention of going to America. Nobody believed that he had gone there, and the Count was accused of his assassination. He asked for a permit to leave Imola on business. It was granted, and two detectives dogged him. The Count had his suspicions aroused, and slipped from the train before reaching his pretended destination. One of his servants was arrested. Influenced by friends, the Count finally surrendered himself to the authorities, and was taken to Bologna and sent to the prison of St. Giovanni in Monte. On October the 7th the priest's hat was found in the Count's house. A very strict search was then made, and the corpse of tlie Kev. Don Costa was found in a well excavated in the interior of the Count's villa. It «as covered with rice grass, earth and stones, and it was in a state of petrefaction. The left hand was lilted up as though endeavouring to protect the head, and the right hand was bent backward between two large stones. The body was found at the depth of about twenty feet. A broken stick, a bat; aud a rug mat were taken out with the corpse. A stone weighing over a hundred pounds covered the right leg of the pric3t. He had evidently been thrown into the well and buried alive under earth, stones and rice grass. The Count strenuously asserted his innocence. The proofs of his guilt, however, are said to be very strong. As the accused is a representative of the highest circles of society the people are intensly interested.