A TRAGEDY IN FLORENCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2086, 13 March 1889, Page 3

A TRAGEDY IN FLORENCE.

»--'-— — A murder of snch romantic interest and inch terrible consequences took place m Florence on the 18ih January that some icoount of It, a correspondent writes, can acaroely be deemed without interest even for IScglifih readers. Tragedies as startling and as ghastly often -ccnr all over Italy from the master-paseion of jealous and baffled lore; but their soenes are usually m a more humble and lesa cultured sphere of human life. Jn this instance the victim is a patrician lady of great beauty, of large wealth, and of Honorable name — the Conntees Co* la, of Verona — and the scene of the murder was ihe cemetery chapel where her husband was buried four years ago. Ihe countess —a woman still* attractive and lovely, with a tall and graceful figure, delicatw features, brown eyes, and chestnut hair*— was left a widow with four children and « considerable fortnce, admired and respeoied by all, acd singularly happy m the circumstances of her life. Ber ; landau, with her handsome children and her favorite little dog, was a familiar feature m the drives of the Oaecine. An Italian officer, Gaetano Boscherini, who was among the amis de la maison 9k the Oasa Oosta, and who is believed to have been passionately In love with her before his departure for Masso<wah, on hii return from Africa resumed till familiar interconrse with the family, •nd #ac constantly employed by them m various matters of business. Latterly, liowever, he be became dissatisfied with tils position of trust and friendship, and •Bade ber repeated proposals of marriage, whteb the ooun teas refused, bat refuted m each a manner e§ to lesve friendship still possible between them. It is always said to be a perilous task to obange a lover into • friend without allowing him to become ft lover. For, although she pesiatently repntod the idea of a second marriage, •he continued to receive BosoberlDl as before, and on the 18th December, when he offered to accompany her to the chapel of San Minloto on her visit to her tmsbvod's tomb, which she was wont to pay every month, she allowed him to do so, telling her obildren that she would meet them later en at Glncosa's bonbon •hop. While the poor children waited there, happily ohatteringof coming natal presents and festivities, their mother was MttsiiOKted by Bosoherlnl m the mortuary obapel at San Mlniato. Toe brute ■tabbed ber with a knife, one thratt dividing the heart Heelf, and another Wising through the jugular vein on the left to the larotid artery on the right. He then »hofc himself with a revolver, blowing to pieces his face and head. That this frightful m order was premeditated ia, of eoano, evident by the weapons employed. Whether the cause was (he mere brutality of disappointed ptision, or whether the desire to obtain possession of her wealth had been added to admiration at her person, or whether ancient j^al «WF of the husband whose memory she eheriohed, or present jealousy of some more favored suitor, drove the fiend vrlo Uiled bar to bis horrible vengeance will 4n all probability never be known. Seldom has a more atroolou* orlme been ImaglaftcU