THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN FADDA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 406, 5 March 1880, Page 2

THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN FADDA.

For the murder-of Captain Fadda in Italy Pietro Oardiuali has been, as the assassin, condemned to death; Madame Fadda, as an accomplice in the assassination, to penal servitude for life; and Antonietta Carrozza, as intermediary between Cardinali and Madame Fadda, has been acquitted on account of her acting under fear of Cardinali and being unacquainted with the purport of her errands, The verdict is considered too lenient to Carrozza, and excessively lenient to Madame Fadda, but for whom Cardinali would never have' dreamed of murdering the captain. Cardinali received his sentence without the slightest emotion, confident apparently that some island prison he will fare more tolerably than as an equestrain acrobat. Madama Fadda, on hearing her penalty, looted towards Cardinali and exclaiming, " Assasaino! hai rovinata mia famiglia, Povera, mia madre!" (Assassin ! you have ruined my family. Oh, my poor mother I), fainted, The trial lasted a month. The Neapolitan advocates for the defence, by their volubility, their histrionic gesticulation, and their sensational appef Is, evoked from a Northern Italian the remarks, "There is more than one acrobat in the Court." The tribunes, crowded with ladies, who sat in eager audience through all the evidence relating to Captain Fadda's pre-marital wounds, has inspired the'poet Carducci with the -theme of a trenchant satire, in which he. likens them to the Roman matrons feasting their eyes with the fleshly demonstrations of the Colosseum. No English lady assisted at a trial which revealed, such hideous depths of immorality in Southern Italy, proved how small is the mental interval between the ladies of Pontifical and of Pagan Rome.

proceedings commenced with a procession ' of the brethren'to 'the parish church, his Grace the Archbishop of York being the preacher for the occasion. The Chief Banger, in his address to the High Court when duly opened, aaid . that at the end >of .1878 the" numbers were —District •287.; Courts, 4454; and benefit members, 631,176; being an 'increase of 40, Ooiirts, and 9760 members during the twelve months. There had been an increase,of 777 honorary members, the number now being 12,155. Forestry has "now been established. Ji)t every, .portion, of. the British Empire. He also mentioned the'' pleasing fact that the .Executive Council recently received an application for the opening of a court at Honolulu (Sandwich r Islands). The King of the Sandwich \ Islands was one of the persons signing the K application as also his Secretary of State; ,i and, further, the King has signified his willingness to serve as the first Chief Banger of the Court, and the of State is expected to officiate as Sub-Chief Ranger., The financial progress of the order was very satisfactory. At the end of 1878 the Court funds were £2,349,828; district funds, £299,331; total, £2,349,159 —being a gain on the year of £151,999. Over £500,000 is paid away every year for funerals, sickness, relief of widows and orphans, and other benevolent purposes. The whole of the districts and Courts are being registered as rapidly as possible under the Friendly Societies Act of 1875. During the year the compilation of the sickness and mortality experienced has been gone on with by the actuary, Mr Neilson, the work embracing about 375,000 lives, and 1,500,000 years' experience. When this stupendous work is completed it will be one of the most exhaustive and reliable returns ever published, '■ and will form a text for the Order, and for other friendly societies for all time to come.