KNEW HUSBAND BY MARKS ON BODY.

Shannon News, 19 April 1927, Page 3

KNEW HUSBAND BY MARKS ON BODY.

SMASHING BLOW TO PINGERPRINT SYSTEM. \ ROME, April 9. After a searching investigation in which all Italy has been interested, Signora Canella has proved incontestably that Signor .Canella is her husband by marks on the body hitherto not divulged. The case represents a smashing blow to the finger-print system as the police have been maintaining throughout that Canella was identical with a notorious criminal. A man who had forgotten his ider. tity was discharged fiom a mental hospital at Turin a few weeks ago. Subsequently the man was identified by his wife, brother, children, cousins and,i parish priest as Professor Canella, who had disappeared in the fighting in Macedonia in 1916. He had not long been iestored to his family when Signori Bruneri, wife of a compositor at Turin, claimed him as lier former husband. She said he had ■ deserted her seven years ago. The. police arrested the man and he was sent to gaol in Turin. Signora Canella and her brother-in-law, also the priest, emphatically reasserted that he was Professor Canella. The physical and facial similarity between the two men was amazing. Both had one rib removed. Each had a son 15 y«ars of age. Even their finger-prints were identical. The police are now hopelessly confused. Signora Canella is determined to fight the case in the law court 3 to retain her restored husband. The Milan correspondent of the Daily News recently related how the man referred to in the message, who lost his memory and was kept ; .n the mental hospital at Turin, recovered sufficiently to display classical and linguistic knowledge. He became the librarian of the institution, but could not recall his own identity. Then a doctor saw the man's photograph and said he believed it was that of his brother who had been captured by the Bulgarians in 1916, and his sister-in-law, while unseen by the librarian identified him as her husband. When she disclosed herself he wept and said he knew he,*, but could not identify her. She accordingly sought inspiration in prayer, and reappeared coiffured in the fashion of 1916, which resulted in immediate recognition and a family re-union.