WIFE KILLED IN NIGHTMARE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16037, 30 January 1920, Page 7

WIFE KILLED IN NIGHTMARE.

HUSBAND’S “BLACK HAND” VISION. Mr James Sapienza, a prosperous Italian builder at Irvington, New Jersey, New York, shot and killed his wife in a dream (reports the London Evening Standard). He was in a nightmare, and imagined a “Black Hand” assassin was entering his bedroom bent on murder. Mr Sapienza ha,d previously received a number of Black Hand letters threatening his life unless he paid money to a local band of Italian cut-throats. He turned the letters over to the police, and bought a revolver, which he kept under his pillow every night. Mr Sapienza and his wife slept in the same room with their two children, a boy aged 4 years and a girl of 2.

According to Mr Sapienza’s story to the police, he seemed to hear the bedroom window open. Then a masked figure crept stealthily into the room, holding a revolver. The figure was followed by another, and both slowly moved towards the sleeping family. He tried to cry out, but could not. Then he seized his revolver and fired at the spot where he believed the intruders to bs. He heard his wife cry in terror and pain. “Jimmy! Oh, Jimmy!” He jumped from the bed, seized one of the children, and then awoke to find nobody but his family in the room, and his wife dead in bed with a bullet through the head,

Mr Sapienza, in a panic, sent for the police, to whom he related his strange tale. All the neighbours say that the couple were oh very affectionate terms, and never quarrelled. The wife’s parents substantiate this, and declare that they believe Mr Sapienza’s story. The police, after a complete examination, also believe it, and Judge Osborne has released Mr Sapienza on bail of £2OOO to await his trial, which it is considered certain will result in his acquittal.