ITALIAN MYSTERY MAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20069, 8 April 1927, Page 9

ITALIAN MYSTERY MAN

HIS IDENTITY ESTABLISHED. BLOW TO FINGER-PRINT SYSTEM. (Pres? Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) ROME, April 6. (Received April 7, at 8 p.m.) After a searching investigation, in which all Italy has been interested, Signora Canella has proved incontestably that Professor Canella is her husband by marks on his body, which have hitherto not been divulged". The case represents a smashing blow to the finger-print system, as the police had been maintaining throughout that Canella was identical with a notorious criminal.—A. and N.Z. Cable. A message which appeared last month stated: A few weeks ago a man who had forgotten his identity was discharged from an asylum in Turin. He was identified by his wife, his brother, his children, his cousins, and the parish priest as Professor Canella, who disappeared while fighting in Macedonia in'l9l6. The man had not long been restored to his family life in Padua, when Madame Bruneri, the wife of a compositor in Turin, claimed him as her husband, who had deserted her seven years ago- Tho police arrested and imprisoned the man at Turin. Madame Canella, Canclla’s brother, and the priest emphatically reasserted that it was the professor. The physical and facia] similarity of the two men are amazing. Both had a rib removed, each had a son 15 years of age, and even the finger-prints are identical. The police are hopelessly confused. Madame Canella is determined to fight the case in the law courts to retain her restored husband.