DARING ESCAPE FROM BRIGANDS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 788, 14 March 1871, Page 2

DARING ESCAPE FROM BRIGANDS.

The following extract from a private letter from Florence was forwarded to an English paper for publication : Four men captured and held in pawn by the famous brigand Fuoco have performed a deed of heroism which deserves to be requited by some conspicuous form of public acknowledgement. Who they were and where they were seized, we do not learn; but on the 16th instant, they were in the custody of their captors in a well-wooded retreat, about half way up Mount Cavalla, in Terra di Lavore. The brigands, five in number, had plenty to eat and drink, and when they had appeased their natural cravings became very sociable, consented to loosen their prisoners' bonds and beguiled the evening hours with cards, varied by pitch-and-toss, played not with vile half-pence, but with fivefranc pieces and napoleons. The flask all the while circulated without stint, and in good time the robbers dropped off to sleep, leaving one of their number, armed with a revolver, to keep watch over the prisoners. At the preconcerted signal, each of them had his part cut out for him, and per B formed it with perfect success. WhenH the word was given, No. 1 darted H forward, and, with a small pocket-1 knife, obtained we are not told how,H divided the snoring Fuoco's weasandH as clean as a whistle ; No. 2 made for ■ an axe which he had kept in view a&H the evening, and dexterously clove theH skull af the second sleeper; No. 3,H armed with a wooden mallet, devoted H his whole attention to another. The |H sentinel seems to have kept a badH look-out, for we learn that he wasß despatched by a shot from a gun be-M longing to one of his slain compan-M ions ; and the fifth of the batch, return-H ing to conciousness in time to see tleH tables turned upon him, found safetjK in flight, not, however, without receiv-H; ing a broad hint to be off, m the shapoW of a random stroke from the axe abowß mentioned. Our four heroes thus roM mained masters of the field, and afteß collecting the spoil, consisting of rifles, a dagger, a cake of soap, andiK sensational romance " from the French,'M| not forgetting, probably, the pieces and napoleons with which thei'M captors had improved their last remaifrM| ing hours here below, made the their way down to the village of Tio*H[ isco, where they brought the joyful bn'H unexpected tidings that the Fuoco's earthly career was at an eriH Fuoco, after having been for years '~< : H terror of the neighborhood, had to Borne upon a decent competence, '^ : H bad speculations and drink undermined his resources, and last spritiM he took to business again, returning : H the scene of his former exploits, managing to set the law at defiafl»iM| until in an evil hour he formed ti-H acquaintance of our clever friends. H