winchester

The Times | December 24, 1856

WflCHESTERI DEC. 23. The last sentence of the law was executed this morning upon the three Italian sailors, convicted at the late gaol delivery at Winchester of piracy and murder on board the British bark Globe, in the Black Sea, in the month of July last. The conduct of the prisoners since their condemnation has been becoming the awful position in which they were placed. Immediately after sentence had been pronounced, | and while under an impression that their lives would be forfeited within a few hours, they were fearfully excited, and declared loudly that justice had not been done to them. But the interval wnich has since elapsed has been so far improved by the rev. chaplain of the prison. Mr. Foster Rlogers, and the Roman Catholic clergyman appointed to attend the culprits, that before the wretched criminals suffered they not only confessed their guilt, but admitted the justice of the sentence by which their lives had become forfeited. Giuseppe Lagava was the fist to break silence on the sub- ject of his crimes. About 2 o'clock yesterday he had been engaged in prayerwith Signor Salvatore Ferretti, an Italian Protestant gentleman, who, at the request of the visiting justices, came down to WVinchester soon after the men were sentenced, to act as interpreter, and take down apy state- ments they might desire to make. Signor Ferretti, acting with Mr. Rogers, the excellent chaplain of the gaol, had comn- pleted an impressive penitential prayer in the Italian lan- guage, and was about to leave the cell, when Lagava sad- denly seized him by the wrist, andi after an apparently painf-l inward struggle with his feelings exclaimed, wvth the most tragic gesticulations, " Sono colpevole ! Sono colpe- vole ! Sono colpevole !" (I am guilty ! I am guilty! I &m guilty !) Before Signor Ferretti could question the unhappy man, hoadded, " Hosul' anima cinque omicidii !" (Ihave five murders on my soul,) Signor Ferretti now asked Lagava what he wished him to understand by the last observation; upon which the wretched man exclaimed in Italian, " I am the chief sinner, and upon my head will rest the murder of the two sailors for whom we are condemned, as well as of my two poor companions, whom I dragged into it by the hair of their heads (strascinati per i capelli). I am guilty, and deserve death." As soon as Signor Ferretti had explained to the chaplain what had fallen from Lagava, Air. Rogers at once had the statement committed to writing and forwarded to the Home Secretary by special messenger. The joint statementz of the culprits had already been laid before Sir George Grey, who saw nothing in them to induce him to interfere, and, as might be expected, the confession of one of the prisoners offered no stronger grounds for staying the execution. Mdr. Rogers' humane effort was simply aelmowledged as follows:- "Whitehall, Dec. 22. "Sir,-l am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, of this date, re- porting that Giuseppe Lagava has confessed that he is guilty of the crime for which he has been sentenced to death, and has stated that his fellow convicts were drawn into it by him. "I am, Sir, your obedient servant, "H. WADDINGTON." "Rev. F. Rogers, Chaplain to the County Gaol, Winchester." Matteo Peetrisi, on learning that all hope of a respite was at an end, became greatly excited, and, dropping on his knees, in the most impassioned manner implored that his life might be saved, adding that he would willingly be a slave for the remainder of his existence. Failing to receive any encouragement he gradually became more tran- quil, and listened with attention to the exhortations of MIr. Rogers, interpreted to him by Signor Ferretti; for, although a professed Roman Catholic, this culprit refused to receive spiritual consolation during the last few days of his life from any other than the Protestant chaplain. About 7 o'clock last evening the wretched man partook of the Holy Communion, and shortly before midnight he made the fol- lowing confession to Signor Ferretti, in the presence of the chaplain:- "I am not guilty of having conspired beforehand to plunder the ship Globe. I do not know how the fight began. I only know I was struck and defended miy- self, I acknowledge it was by my hand the wounds were given of which the sailor died in hospital at Therapia, but I did not do it for plunder. I know I deserve to die, not for piracy, but forworse things I did on the Globe. I am a bad man. I have a bad heart. I deserve to die ;" and after a short pause he added, " I am a murderer. Two years ago I killed three persons .-t Trieste -one a woman with whom I cohabited, and two gendarmes who were sent to arrest me. I also attempted to commit a murder in Constantinople, but the person I attacked escaped by jumping into the water and swimming away." Giovanno Barbaalo, who was only 1I years of age, sif- fered greatly on learniug he must die. For some days he refused to see the Catholic priest, and was regularly attended by hIr. Rogers, but on finding that no hope existed of a reprieve he returned to the ministrations of Mr. Stone, the missionary appointed by the Roman Catholic au- thorities, who attended him to the end. It transpired that this nnhapfy youth had not been confirmed, and, as he ex- pressed a wsh to receive the Inst sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, the Rev. Dr. Grant, titular Bishop of Southwark, arrived here last evening from London, and performed the ceremony of confirmation in the culprit's cell. That by the joint endeavours of their spiritual advisers all the culprits were brought to a proper frame of mind may be gathered from the fact that Peetrisi, last evening, dic- tated to Sig,nor Ferretti a letter, of which the following is a translation, addressed to the captain and crew. of the hark Globe, asking their pardon, and expressing contrition for their crimes, which letter was subscribed by Lagava and Barbaalo: "Winchester Prison, Dec. 22. " Dear Friends,-Since we have offended you, pardon us, as we pardon you heartily. Jesus Christ pardoned those vwho put Him on the cross. The Lord has been merciful to- wardsus, and we hopethatH e will also bemerciful towards you. We shall not see each other any more in this world, but may God grant we may see each other again in Heaven. Embrace for us George Nelligan. +UtAWLi o PExSrnsI, "fGrUSExrrP L&GAVA, " 1GrOVABo BARB&GO." "Foster Rogers, Win~el "S. Ferretti, }I Nelligan, it will beremembered, was the boy whose evidence at the trial mainly contributed to the conviction of the prisoners. At 2 o'clock this morning Lagava requested the attend- ance of Signor Ferretti, and upon his arrival begged him to offer up a prayer in his native tongue. At 4 o'clock Peetrisi arose from his bed and, having dressed himself, paced to and fro in his cell for more than an hour, exclaimiiig continually, "Sono peccatore? Cristo a ilmio Salvatore." (Iamasinner! Christis my Saviour ?) At *7 o'clock he partook of a hearty breakfast, and ex;pressed to Signor Ferretti that he did so for the purpose of sustainling himself at the last moment. As the fatal period approached Signor Ferretti k;nelt down with the convict, and was in the act of offeringupaprayer w.hen he ,was completelv over- come by his feelings, and was unable to articulate, upon which Peetrisi himself p rayed as follows:-" Signore, abbi nietd di me, il pin scelerato di tutti gli uomini. la tu sei hi risurrezione e la vita. Resuscitami come resuscitasti Lazzaro." (O Lord, have mercy upon mue ! I am the most wickeu of all men in the world. But Thou art the resurrectien and the life. Raise me even as Thou raised Lazarus). The allusion to Lazarus had been induced by Signor Ferrctti having read and expounded just pre- viously the history of Lazarus from the gospel of St. John. after this prayerPFeetrisi re ted to Signor Ferretti that he believed there neverhadbeensovwicked a man as him- self in the world, to illustrate which he said that he had actually drank the blood of the woman be had murdered at Trieste. Lagava and l arbaalo were only occasionally visited by Mlr. lngers and the interpreter during the morning, but Dr. Faa, minister of the Sardinian Catholic chapel, and MIr. Stone, both of whom are Italian linmgists, were with them from 5 a.m., and accompanied them to the scaffold. Log,ava ate nothing and drank only a little water. Barbaalo was chiefly anxious about some letters which he had dictated to Signor Ferretti, and which he was very desirous should be forwarded to his relations in Italy. Eie received the sacra- ment from the Rev. Dr. Faa. assisted by Dr. Baldassoni, of Gosport, at an early hour in the morning. The drop had been erected over the entrance gateway of the gaol on the previous day, and all the preparactions having been completed at five minutes to S o'clock, Mr. Hasfield, under-sheriff, acting for Mr. i:. P.. Bradiha v, of Eairoak-park, high-sheriff of the county of Hants, formally demanded the bodies of the culprits for exzecution. They were then brought out of the cells in wvhich they had been separately confined, and marshalled in the procession appointed to convey them to the gallovs. The governor led the way, followed by the Rev. Mr. Rogers, and then came Peetrisi, resting one arm upon Signor Ferretti and another upon the officer of the gaoL ulgava came next-supported by two officers and accompanied by Dr. Fan and Mr. Stone; and was in turn followed by Bar- baalo, who was led by two turnkeys and attended by Bisbop Grant and Dr. Baldasconi. A more painful sight than was presented by this procession as it crossed the courtyard lying between the prison and the entrance gate- way cannot possibly be imagined. There Was no0thling of bravado in the manner of any of the culprits-though all of them walk-ed without assistance. Arrived at the entrance gateway, the culprits were con- ducted by a narrow stone staircase to an apartment about 40 feet above the basem ent-floor, where the process of pinioning was zone thlroulgh. Previously to this the unhappy men were permittedt to embrace each other, which they did with great apparent affection, and also bade farewell to the chaplain and governor and the priests, Lagava and Barbaalo requesting the latter tD accom- pany themL to the scaffold. Resigning themselves into the tands of Calcraft they were now severally pinioned. During the whole time this was going on, Lagava and Bar- baalo repeated aloud the "Eyrie IEleison," and other prayers. At one period Lagava directed the attention of |Peetrisi to the priest, but the latter replied " The priest did not die for me; Christ died for me." Peetrisi was the |first to oe led en to the scaffold. A s soon as Caicraft had Iplaced him lunder the fatal beam the most painful excite- I ment was occasioned among the crowd assembled in front of the gaol by the culprits exclaiming in a lou1d shrill voice, which resounded across the valley overloolked by the prison, "Ge.vul Cs-isto, Jpigfics f'anjsuz snmia" and other phrases of a simlar character, which, not being understood by the multitude, were believed to be cries of distress andi protestations of innocence. Laga,va was brought up next, and no sooner had he been placed near his fellowv-culprit than his voice was raised ia protestations to the Virgin Mary and all the saints of the calendar. Terrible as was theI Xscene up tothis point, it was infinitely more painful wfhen Barbaalo appeared' on the drop. This wretched youth wvas greatly excited, and could not be induced to submnit himsaelf quietly to thei executioner. He appealed to the priests, and these rev, men. in their anxiety to zive the dying man consolation, placed themselves in positions wzhich obliged Caloraft to call upo4n them to remove, or it would be impossible for himl to perform his office. This was done in a tone loud enough to be heard by the crowd belowv, from wghom a murmur of "Sbae7' rose proablyas iucidom te legthoffim already occupied in affixing the noose3 and splicing tho ropes round the cross-beam-a cluwsy operation which with the improved example of tlh luetropolitan prison of 2Newgate open to them is a disgrace to all the country justices 'who tolerate it-as from any other cause. At length, after 13 minutes had elapsed from the period of Pietrici appearing on the scaffold, during the whole of which time the culprits were exclairning in Italian at the Itopoftheir voices, and in tones which created the most painful excitement among all who heard them, the drop0 fell, and in a few moments the bodies of the wretched men were hanging lifeless. There were very few spectators present ; probably at no period more than a thousand, and as 0oon as the drop fell most of them dispersed. The bodies were cat down after banfu7 an hour, and before noon they -were buried inoco tecutyrso the gaol, 'in one o the courtyas of The isiting usticess, with Locrd Henry Cholmondelv in the chair, had a meeting at 10 o'clock this morning. It is understood that one of the subjectaunder discussion was the great inhumanity of requiring a culprit about to be executed to descend between 70 and 8( steps, which is fte number from the basement of the entrance gateway to the drop at Winchester. It may be interestiagto addthatPietriciwasaDalmatian, and has been in England before, having sailed in a vessel -which traded between the Levant and Liverpool. Lagava mnd Barbaalo -were both Sicilians. The former sailed in both French and English transports during the late war, and was flogged while in the English service. l3agava, it should be stated, is an assumed name; his real name is Francisco Libresti, but, having deserted from the Sicilian service, he changed his name to avoid detection. Barbaalo was of better birth than his comrades, beiun the son of a law agent; he was brought up in the Marine School of N'aples, and carried certificates of good seamanship. EXECUTION OF THE IlTALIAN COYVICTS AT WINOHEST-ER.