A Modern Murder Mystery.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7711, 13 January 1905, Page 4

A Modern Murder Mystery.

~ AMAZING CRIMINAL DEPRAVITY, SHOCKING DISCLOSURES. * One of the most extraordinary tl - vtmea ot modern times ; one involv- ni in* some of the most prominent w families in Italy; ope that hasrous- a att the interest of the whole Con tin- oi ent of Europe, awl about which tl Continental newspapers print page I' after page, is the so-called Bologna ai Murder Mystery, the trial of the ac- r< cused ii\ which is now going on and tt continue for several months, or t until tite four hundred witnesses— hi which include a cardinal, a bishop, two generals, half a dozen senators, .w and sixty modical experts—are heard, tii and the four thousand documents in I* the case are read. is Clfearly to understand the case it li ia necessary to go back several years, b in 1902 there lived in the City of ' c Uolognat a certain Professor Aluiri. sl He was' manied and had two chil- P drei% ot about tite same age, a boy a and a girl,, Tu|Uio and Linda. Tul- tl lio at this time was unmarried. He " had gained some prominence politi- ri colly, and had been elected by the ii socUaista a member of tite Bologna is municipal council, and had become a its secretary, lioda had for several t years been married to the Count e Buonmartini, a man ot wealth and t gn aristocrat, and 'two children had ti been born to the pair.. Trouble bo- e iwieen them had, however, arisen, anil n it was generally understood in 8010- r gna Ugh society that the count was t • brute, and that Linda was a pat- t tent* beautiful sufferer, c •in August, 1903, Linda wa« in £ - iVeoice, The count had but recently r returned from the country to his v Bologna palace, when suddenly he t disappeared. After a few days, a a Tefcid odour was noticed by passers- f ■by, apparently having its scource in s the locked apartments of the count, e authorities were notified. The r police, accompanied by Tullie, whose t duties aa secretary of the municipal 4 ■ councul required this service of bim, i broke down the door leading to the c apartments ot the nobleman. On the a i floor ' lay the dead body of the 1; ! count, the corpse horribly bloated 1 jr MXi Vjloody from no less than twelve v » knife wounds. The room Was in con- v fusion. THb count's trunk and ward- ■ r robe had been violently broken open. An unjbrella and a travelling satchel lay on the floor near the corpse. The bedclothes were disarranged Beside the small table two chairs had been set, and on it were the mouldy remains ot a meal, wbile a nearly empty champagne bottle .was near by. On the escritoire lay a letter, in |tt woman's handwriting, stariog that) the writer would visit the count in his rooms on the night of ® August spth. The pockets of the ; county who always carried a sum of ' money with him, were found to be j empty. The police, therefore arrived . I at the-tentative conclusion that a 1 .woman of the town had plotted, J > probably with two men, to intro- c duce herself and them into the * count's apartments, and to murder , and then rob him. " Hie newspapers of Bologna took ' the same .view of She mutter, and [ the sentiment in high society seemed tq be that Linda, " sweet angel," was well rid of the brutal and some- r what stupid count, though, of course, e the crime was in itself a horrible r ■ one. 3 - Meanwhile, Linda's brother, the ; . magistrate went to Venice, ] L where she was staying, to break to ( P her the terrible news, and shortly j »•" thereafter the venerable and respect-c-j ed Professor Murri, his son Tullio, 1 ■ail ttq daughter Linda went to t Switzerland, ostensib.y to rid their t £ minds of the unpleasant impression ; it,.- produced by the brutal crime. The ] fc*\ police continued their investigation. ] g ' Itwns not long before they began i to fljiubt whether the murderer had 1 been nerved to bis task by motives Ei mere cupidity. Anonymous letters ] r »*«re received, saying that the police ' should investigate Hosina Bonetti, a ] [ - W'Vtot of the count, tod perhaps i Iv Ms misfress on occasion, if titey de- . aired tq learn who had committed %■ ™e murder. Hie police tooE this &. binfj, and, among other things, discovered, on interrogating Ilosina, £>:. that she and the magistrate Tullio had been intimate. Then came the r-~ camax. Ptofessor Murr, tho famous scieni tist, the learned and respected phy- ? aician, appeared' before the proper ? magistrate, and asKed for ai private interview. "Seek no further for the assassin of Count Buonmartini," he * said, when it had been granted him, > " for I have come to tell you his name. It is my son. Tullio."j Tullio -was arrested. He made a s- partial confession, the gist of which '• waa this—Ha j had, indeed, killed the - Count, but only in self-defence. He r asserted that the count was a vicious If ""i a brutal husband to his f sister. He (Tullio) loved his sister "* c -. an d when he learned that t" . count intended moving from Bo"f® to Padua with his sister and r their two children, he believed that his sister would die of the count's & persecutions, no longer having the | comfort of her father's and brother's ■+, company as at Bologna. Tullio had visited the count on the night of August 29th, in order to fi persuade him to remain in Bologna, i- . The count had refused f they had th e cesint had drawn a p. knife ; a struggle had ensued for its .««» during the struggle •far the knife had entered the boify of = - count and killed him. Tullio, fearing accusation, . thereupon ar- \ ranged the room as it was found, inflicted the twelve wounds, and penaedthc letter that was found on the r escritoire. L Unfortunately for him, tlie police disbelieved Tullio's story, and to-day '-.in the irim oage in the court at Turin there stand accused of murder not only Tullip, but Linda, Kosina """W. a Secchi, and a Dr. ®*Wi. A .vast numbec of letters, tdegrams, and other documents nave been unearthed during the last two year*. The movements of all W® persons concerned, extending over a long period of time, have been as- * certained. And this is what the Public Prosecutor will endeavour to prove to he the true story of the crime and all that led up to it: Linda, before her marriage, and before she had left her father's! house, had had a lover in the person j V- of Br. Secchi, one of her distinguish- : r k M father'* assistants. This in-j 5 tamacy was for some reason broken off when the girl was about twenty, and she afterwards met Count Buonmartini and married him. For a few years their relations were mutually agreeable. Then she again met Dr. Secchi, and, having J»y this - time rather tired of the count, the relations between her and the doctor .were resumed. And following this, her husband became to Linda daily more repugnant. Tullio, Linda's brother, was aware Of his sister's relations with Secchi, and even borrowed money from him . :on the strength of it. He in turn lad a mistress in the person of Ros--I,' ina Bonetti, and Kosina and Linda I. were friendly. Linda and Secchi met i at various times and places, and even travelled in Germany together. Several years before the actual - commission of the murder, it appearv these four persons had often discussed a may to get rid of the count. »■ Secchi, as a physician, familiar with poisons, suggested, as .certain letters show, curare, the poison with' which - ihe natives of Central America make their arrows deadly. This struck -—Linda and Tullio as a good suggesi tion, and during the summer of , 5902 they experimented with curare f on a lamb. One was procured from a butcher, and the poison injected >. with a syringe.' The animal began c . trotting around the room, while Scoif Chi described to Tullio the manner £ in which the poison operated to bring death. Suddenly the lamb £ Mopped before them and fell down at their feet without a quiver. This impressed Tullio, and it was his idea to challenge the count to a friendly wrestling bout, and, having thrown him, either Linda or Hosina should inject curare into his leg with jthe syringe. But unfortunately for their plans it was Tullio, and not the count, who was bested in the Struggle, and so that method was leluctantly given up. The four conJipirators decided lo adopt a more method of assassination, And they finally agreed upon the following plan: Knowing that the .Count was absent from Bologna, Tullio and Rosina secreted themselves in the count's apartments, to whicti Bosnia had a key. Tullio, fearing he should not be able to kifl the count single-handed, had previously proposed to an able but dissipated physifian, Br. Nuldo, to assist in thu murder for the sum of three ithousand francs, which were provided by Secchi's investment was a one, for had their plans sucthe greater part of the fortune count would have gonelto his Linda, and Secchi, as her well be expected to otsome od H,

Well, the count having arrived in llologna on the afternoon of August 28th, reached bis house in a carriage MXI, on entering the apartment where the two "men lay in wait (Kosina toad; departed alter bringing them supper, and leaving some oi her clothing on the back oi a chair), was sttvtyixd to death by them aiter a desperate struggle. JNaldi left at once. Tuilio and '-.Kosina between them broke open trunks and wardlobes to give the idea oi robbery, and then went together to Kosina s room, and Or. Secchi was called in there to dress a slight wound iu Uullio's arm. The events following have already been detailed. As wih be seen Linda, the person .who was to be chiefly gainer by the murder, had the least direct participation. Indued, the cuoe against her is mostly circumstantial. The I'ublic prosecutor, however, considers her lue most guilty of ull, and her letters to i>r. Secchi arc said to show Uiut sne is an exceptionally depraved neurotic degenerate. -Naltli aumus bum,; present, but denies that he sirucK, a blow, 'the letter found in the count s room appears really to have been written by Kosina, but dictated by Tullio. What is most remarkable about the whole affair is the singular allection between the depraved Linda and her ttjually depraved brother—an allection that should have led the brother, Tullio, to commit a cold-blood-ed murder; for there seems to be no motive,, unless he also expected to receive some of .the count's wealth through Linda. Linda is said not to be a very beautiful .woman, especially after two years' confinement. She has, however, borne herself with remarkable calmness. When she was arrested at her lather's house, there were present a dozen officers, and almost as many reporters. The police Enocked at her bedroom door ; she opened it in her dressinggown, and invited them all—father, mother, reporters, police—to enter. She was told that she was under arrest. "We All wept," wrote one of the journalists in his newspaper, "but Linda calmly dressed, brushed her hair, and, with incredible cynicism, slowly cleaned her teeth." It seems to be the general opinion that a conviction of all the persons accused will be secured.