A HUMAN TIGER. An Infuriated Soldier Kills Eleven Comrades.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 60, 26 July 1884, Page 4

A HUMAN TIGER. An Infuriated Soldier Kills Eleven Comrades.

The castle of Pizzofalione, on the hill overlooking the lovely shore Santa Lucia, in Naples, has been the scene of a remarkable tragedy. The castle is a military barrack, filled with infantry. The tortuous road down to the sea is bordered by cabins inhabited by the families of veterans. The tragedy occurred on the night of Easter Sunday, about 9 o'clock. A knot of Piedmontese and Lombardy soldiers began to chaff a Calabrese corporal, jeering at his country, mimicking his patrols, and tantalising him in every way. A sergeant interfered and drove the soldiers to bed. An hour afterwards one Salvatore Misdea, a Calabrian soldier of the Nineteenth Infantry, stole quietly from bed, took his gun and a hundred rounds of cartridges, and stationed himself at the door of the barrack. He piled the cartridges on a bench, levelled his musket, and, kneeLng down, began to fire upon every Piedmontepe and Lombard soldier in sight. The first shot brought down the sergeant who had stopped the warfare of words. He fired as rapidly as possible, every shot either killing or wounding a comrade. The sleeping regiment was aroused. As fast as the soldiers sprang from their beds they were shot down. The regiment was panic-stricken. The graduates, who rushed for the door, and tried to corral the human tiger, were shot dead. The remainder of the soldiers sought shelter in their rooms. Misdea then entered the rooms one after the other, killing and wounding all but the Calabrese. From the windows of each room he would shoot down the soldiers outside. In one room half a dozen soldiers had crowded under their beds. They caught the infuriated man by the legs as he entered and pulled him to the floor. Although he fought like a tiger, his gun was taken from him and his hands tied behind him. He bit and scratched all who came near him, and he was finally gagged. Meantime the bar rack was filled with terror. Affrighted soldiers sprang from the windows, breaking legs and arms, and the place echoed with the cries of the wounded. Smoke filled every room. The walls were furrowed by bullets, and blood was everywhere seen. Six men were killed outright and five were mortally wounded. They were all natives of Lombardy and Piedmont, and of good families. The Calabrian was neither drunk nor crazy. He recognised his countrymen while shooting, shouting : " Don't be afraid. You are Calabrese. I'll not shoot you." Seeing a .young conscript quaking with fear, he cried: "Keep quiet. You're only a conscript* I won't hurt you." In all he fired nearly sixty rounds of cartridges. When arrested he snarled like a tiger, an d kept it up the whole night. Gen Mazzacapo questioned him before he was imprisoned. He replied that he knew what he was about, but that he could not bear to hear the Piedmontese and Lombards make fun of the Calabrese. Before joining the regiment Misdea was a brigand. He has often boasted of hia deadly exploits to his comrades. He frequently said that he hated mankind, and that he loved no one — not even his mother. He is twenty-one years old, red-headed, and has high cheek bones. He was sent to the prison at <Castel del Nuovo. The hospital of La Trinista is filled with his victims. Thousands attended the funerals of those who were slain outright.

Mr James E. Tonkin, of Bathurst, New South Wales, has kindly sent me a copy of his work of reference entitled " The English, American, and Australian Sporting Calendar." It comprises 157 pages, and contains the latest records performed in English, Australian, and New Zealand racing, trotting, coursing, pedestrianism, aquatics, cricket, shooting, bicycling, billiards, and in fact nearly every known British sport. The volume is beautifully bound and printed, and from a perusal of it I have no hesitation in saying that it is well worthy a place in any sportsman's library. Copies of the Calendar may be purohased at the principal Australian booksellers', and at the Ben Franklin Print* ing Office, 319, George-street, Sydney,