A BRUTAL PARENT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1223, 7 August 1885, Page 3

A BRUTAL PARENT.

The course of justice in Philadelphia never ran so swift and sure as it has in the case of Archilla Onofn, and Italian circus trainer, who was convicted of murder in the first degree on May 39, for killing his eight year old daughter Ooraline. Onofri is a smooth tongueii, smiling contortionist by profession, whose wife is known as Mdlle. Tournour, a bareback circus rider. They have three children, of whom Coralino was the second Onofri sometimes appears on the stage and in the ring as a contortionist, but his young and pretty wife is able to earn higher wages, and for the last year the husband has devoted himself to teaching the children the profession of their mother. Coraline, al« though only eight years old, was learning to perform on the tight-rope, and when she did not make satisfactory progress Onofri was in the habit of beating her with a cane, a knotted rope, or a shovel. The neighbors sometimes heard the sound of blows, but the children never complained, and were never allowed to go out unattended. On May 11 Coraline was so sink that she was unable to perform her usual tight-rope and her father heat her with a She was afterwards sent to bed without her supper. The next morning she could not he waked, and Onofri finally called in a doctor, who found that the child had died during the night of the injuries caused by the beating of the night before. The body and head were covered with gashes, some of them four inches long. The lungs and heart were in excellent condition, and the child was strong and well developed for her age. Death was caused by internal hemorrhages, caused by blows with an iron shovel. At the Coroner’s inquest Onofri was penitent. “lam very strony, and didn’t know when I hurt her,’’ he said apologetically. “ She wouldn’t even stand on the wire, and I used a shovel and a strap. When I whipped the children they did well in their practice, and when I was kind they would do badly for spite.” The other children could he induced to testify against their father only when he had been removed from their sight. The coroner’s jury recommended that Onofri ha tried at once, and “ that no mercy should he shown him ” The trial began on May 30, after a delay of ten days, and the jury, after hearing the evidence, deliberated only 20 minutes. The Judce’s charge had been in favour of the prisoner, because no good lawyer could be induced to defend him, and the verdict was after the merciful charge, a surprise to everyone. Onofri was sentenced to bo hanged.