SISTERS ABDUCTED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14355, 27 October 1908, Page 2

SISTERS ABDUCTED.

EMISSARIES OK TERRIBLE MAFIA, t The Mafia is one* again in evidence, ' four emissaries of (Fiat tei-rible secret * society having been sentenced at Palermo ' Assises to justly severe sentences for J being concerned in kidnapping the two rider daughters of Signor Zocchi. a well- J known dairy proprietor, resident in (lie i Sicilian capital. ) The young ladies in question, whose I ages are 17 and ]8, were walking on ( lite evening of October 31 last with their mother and younger sister.?, when they ( were seized hy eight men ami driven • off. ' The mother and little ones were able | to identify among the. kidnappers two \ brothers named Billed, who were, assisted s by an old uncle named Stel'ano. I Shortly affei settling in Palermo from J Vicenza, Signor Zocehi had lent these 1 brother." £400 to build « bouse. As associates of the Mafia, which mostly ] preys upon unwary non-Sicilians, these t men not only showed no intention of repaying Signor Zocchi, hut began a,' i policy of extortion, finishing up with a i demand for both daughters, with £600 i dowry apiece. Signor Zocchi bluntly re- ' fused, and thereupon the brothers con- ' ceived the idea of mining the girls in ' order to compel the father to come to \ terms. ' On the day following the kidnapping ' carabinieri tracked the gang to a country i bouse rented by the Billecis. They had i to break down live stout doors before they could rescue the captive girls, who ! were discovered in a heartrending condi- J tion. : On refusing enticing viands spread out ' on an artistically-decorated supper table in an upper chamber, and also the , blandishments of their captors, the sisters bad been horribly treated by the brothersand uncle, while the rest of the conspirators, feasting below, sang songs to drown the victims' cries. ' A stubborn struggle had taken place, the supper board was overturned, and the room strewn with wreckage. The, guilty brothers were arrested in a hiding place on the roof, half dead, with ugly wounds dealt them with champagne bottles by their victims. Though the accomplices of the band had flown, Stcfano and one other were afterwards caught. This revolting outrage met with titling punishment in the opportionment of a total of 91 years' imprisonment. A minor accomplice got eight years, the younger brother, Domenico, 25, and Giuseppe Billeci 28 veal's' solitary confinement, while ; the wicked old Stcfano was doomed to the galleys for 30 years. I