Baron Fava to Mr.
Hay.
Embassy
of His Majesty the King of Italy,
Washington, October 14,
1900.
Mr. Secretary of State: When I laid before your
excellency, with my note of the 15th of January of this year, certain
evidence to help in the detection of the guilty in the Tallulah
lynching, I had occasion to advert also to the case of Giuseppe Defina,
a brother-in-law of the Difatta brothers, who was, on the evening of the
lynching, threatened with death by the mob if he should not depart from
Millikens Bend, where he lived, and had to repair to Vicksburg, leaving
his house and property behind.
I reserved to myself the right of again taking up this matter, concerning
which I wanted to collect more precise information.
I now transmit herewith to your excellency, with a request that they be
returned to me, the following papers:
- 1.
- Certified copy of an extract from an account of the lynching,
given under date of July 26, 1899, by the representative of the
consulate at New Orleans, who had gone to inquire on the spot
(Ann. A).
- 2.
- Certified copy of an affidavit of Giuseppe Defina, taken by
the Royal consular agent at Vicksburg (Ann. B).
- 3.
- Copy of a report from the Royal consulate at New Orleans of
the 18th September, 1899 (Ann. C).
From these documents, which, I am privately assured, are in accordance
with the facts, there results: First, that Defina actually had to
abandon his property, with his family, in order to save his life. The
testimony of Drs. Ward and Gane, who may be examined in this connection,
and who warned him of the danger he would be in if he did not put
himself immediately out of harm’s way, is especially important in that
respect. Second, that in spite of the sheriff’s assurances Defina was on
all hands advised not to return to the spot, which, indeed, he never
visited again. Finally, that Defina, who has now lost his all, sets his
loss at about $5,000.
Under ordinary circumstances I would have advised him to apply to the
local judicial authorities. But your excellency is not the person to
whom I need demonstrate how the conditions of justice in that district
are such as to make any kind of resort to these courts wholly
superfluous. Nor does it avail to say that he would have a special
jurisdiction open to him in the Federal courts of Louisiana in his
character of an alien, for he could find no one inclined to testify for
fear of vengeance. The judicial point would at length be raised whether
the country or the parish were responsible for the violence of the mob
and for the scanty safety of the place or whether the several
individuals should be held responsible, in which case it would not be
possible to find them out. There would be, in addition, the costs
involved in such a procedure.
It has therefore seemed to me that this was a proper case to submit to
the equity of the Federal Government, owing to its connection with a
condition of things that your excellency has not hesitated to
acknowledge and deplore. I send you herewith, to that effect, a petition
(Ann. D) that Lawyer Commander Baisini, head of the International
Judicial Institute, counsel of Defina, has addressed to the Royal
ministry for foreign affairs and that the latter has transmitted to me
with special recommendation that I ask of the Federal Government such
indemnification for damages as Defina would appear to be unable to
secure in any other way.
I doubt not that your excellency, fully appreciating the justice of the
case, will direct an examination of the papers and take the present
application in benevolent consideration.
Be pleased, etc.,
[Tnclosure
1.—Translation.]
Mr. Cavalli to
Mr. Papini.
New
Orleans, La., July 26,
1899.
[Notes of the representative of the Royal consulate in
the investigation made by the consular agent, Mr. N. Piazza, at
Tallulah, La.]
I deem it my duty, in order to justify the delay of forty-eight hours
in leaving Vicksburg for Tallulah, as the assistant of this Royal
consulate in the official investigation ordered by the Royal agent,
to make the following statement:
As soon as I had arrived at Vicksburg I called on the Royal consular
agent, who had already received a telegram from the consul notifying
him of my arrival. The [Page 726]
agent received me, but, having heard that I proposed to go to
Tallulah at once in company with him, he refused positively to leave
Vicksburg, declaring that he would not do so on any account,
because—
1. The occurrence took place outside of his jurisdiction, he being
the Royal agent for Mississippi, and the lynching having taken place
in Louisiana.
2. He had been advised by everybody not to go, owing to the risk that
he would run, the minds of the people, as he had been informed, not
yet being pacified. Among his advisers was Attorney Pat Henry, who,
having gone alone to Tallulah on Friday to look after the interests
of Romano, a creditor of Frank Difatta, was very coldly received,
and observed in the district manifest signs of aversion to any
person who came there on account of matters connected with the
lynching.
3. He considered any investigation at Tallulah as being useless and
out of place, the entire colony residing there having been broken
up.
It was therefore not to be presumed that sincere, honest, and
dispassionate declarations could be had of the inhabitants, and it
appeared from the testimony of one person who had witnessed the
crime, but who was unwilling to make himself known, owing to the
fear which he felt, that all, or almost all, the persons composing
the population of that village had taken part directly in the murder
or had consented to it.
4. Because it would be easier for him to make an investigation in
some place other than that in which the murder had been
committed.
In view of these objections, I, thinking that the instructions
received from the Royal consulate authorized me to act as an
assistant to the aforesaid officer in the investigation which the
Royal agent was ordered to make, informed this Royal consulate by
telephone of the objections of the agent, requesting the consulate
to telegraph again to the agent, insisting that he should start with
me.
At the same time, with a view to overcoming the hesitation of the
Royal agent, I requested the consulate to procure, without delay,
from the governor of the State some sort of an assurance that the
Royal agent and the representative of the consulate would have no
trouble if they went to the place. A dispatch from the consulate was
soon received, assuring the Royal agent that he might freely go to
Tallulah. When I informed him of this he told me that he had, of his
own accord, telegraphed to the sheriff of Tallulah, and that the
latter had answered him, giving him the most ample assurances. At
this point the hesitation of the Royal agent ceased. But at my
urgent request that he would set out immediately, on Sunday, the
23d, and, as the train which arrived at 11.35 had to be awaited,
that he would start in the morning early, hiring a carriage in order
to arrive promptly at the place, and thus have ample time to examine
the place and investigate the case as fully as possible, the Royal
agent objected, saying that on Sunday, according to the American
custom, the persons who were to furnish to us their assistance could
not be relied upon for that purpose, and that it was not proper to
disturb those gentlemen on Sunday. He consequently thought that we
ought to wait till Monday.
As it was therefore not possible for me to prevail upon him to start,
I was obliged to wait until Monday, the 24th, when we finally set
out.
It can easily be imagined that at Tallulah, for reasons that can be
more easily guessed than described, it would not be possible to
secure any information, as all parties there were pledged to
silence. The Royal agent, however, did not fail to do all in his
power to perform his task properly. I should have been glad to
remain all day at Tallulah, and all night too, and to leave on the
next day by a freight train that arrived in the morning. I had
expressed this desire to the Royal agent, not because I was
convinced that we could accomplish anything by remaining or because
I thought that by remaining we could learn more than was already
known. I only wished to do so in order to give moral satisfaction to
the Royal consulate, to the inhabitants of the locality by showing
them that we were in no haste to leave, and likewise to the people
of Vicksburg. The Royal agent was informed of my desire, and I
telegraphed to the Royal consulate, saying that we should stop there
over night, but a few moments afterwards the Royal agent told me
that he desired to leave by the next train, for reasons known to
himself, which he told me afterwards. In this state of things I, in
my turn, requested the Royal agent to suppress the notice given to
this Royal consulate, and, at about 4 o’clock, we left. The Royal
agent did not think proper to remain any longer, because there was
no ground to hope to obtain from those gentlemen any reliable
information, and because, as we both, for very good reasons, had
been obliged to accept the hospitality so generously extended to us
and the cordial welcome of those persons, a part of whom, perhaps—if
not all—had taken part in the murder, it would not be proper to go
beyond the bounds, which we would certainly have been obliged to do
had we remained.
[Page 727]
explanation made at vicksburg,
miss., with regard to the lynching.
One Frank Raymond, a traveling painter, who frequently visited
Tallulah and its vicinity, was on the best of terms with the
deceased Frank Difatta. He was examined at length by me at
Vicksburg. He claimed that he knew the name of an upright and
disinterested person who, in all probability, had witnessed the
lynching which took place on the 20tb, and who, if examined in a
distant place, where he could be sure that he would not be exposed
to danger on account of his answers, might give valuable testimony.
That person, the painter said, was a man named Blander, a barber at
Tallulah, who conducted his business opposite to the establishment
of one John Wilson, who (Raymond said) had been an instigator of or
participant in the murder. Raymond declared that he was ready to
answer any questions. He knew the deceased, spoke well of them, and
said that there was a latent grudge against them, and that he had
often warned them to avoid difficulties that might result in a
catastrophe. If that is true, he was a prophet.
It is claimed that a certain --------, a saloon keeper, egged on the
crowd to perpetrate the murder, promising whisky and beer gratis to
them if they would lynch the Italians, Frank Difatta, Rosario
Fiducia, and Cirone. According to Raymond there was a plot, not
among the Italians to do harm to the doctor, but among the
shopkeepers of the village and others, from a spirit of rivalry in
trade, and from a desire to prevent the Italians from voting. From
the examination of Giuseppe Defina, of Cefalu, a brother-in-law of
Frank Difatta, and a tradesman, apparently in good standing, which
examination was held by the undersigned, it would appear that he
fled precipitately in order to avoid certain death, together with
his son Salvatore.
He resided at Millikens Bend, La., a village about 5 miles from
Tallulah, and he had lived there for about six years. His business
was flourishing. On the evening of the lynching a boss met a crowd
of armed men on the road from Tallulah to Millikens Bend. He stopped
them and asked them where they were going. He was told that they
were going to Defina’s house to kill him. He dissuaded the crowd
from doing so, assuring them that Defina did not deserve to be
lynched, as he had done nothing that called for such a measure.
He succeeded in inducing the crowd to retrace their steps, but they
told him to let Defino know that twenty-four hours’ time would be
given him to leave that locality, and that if he failed to do so in
that time he would be killed.
On the following day Dr. Ghem, having learned at Tallulah that the
twenty-four hours’ delay which had been granted to Defina had been
reduced by those rascals to two hours, and having Deen unable to
induce them to change their minds, went to Defina’s residence and
told him to leave the village at once if he did not wish to be
killed. Defino then secured a small boat and made his escape on the
river, repairing to Vicksburg and leaving his store and the debts
that were due him to their fate, since he could not do otherwise. It
appears, however, that the store was respected. At Tallulah the
writer inquired of the authorities whether Defina could return to
his home; he was told in reply that he could do so without running
any risk, but that, as friends, they could not advise him to remain
there long.
The reliable person mentioned in the report of the royal agent (which
report I had the honor to draw up) is a priest, who does not wish to
have his name mentioned, inasmuch as he is obliged to go to Tallulah
from time to time to perform the duties of his ministry. He resides
at Lake Providence. He is a Frenchman. He had a long conversation
with the undersigned. His opinion is that all the people of the
locality took part, either directly or indirectly, in the killing of
the Italians, who were disliked for the reasons above mentioned.
He mentioned the name of Judge Montgomery, of the court at Tallulah,
as a possible impartial witness. The judge, when interviewed at
Vicksburg on the morning of the 24th by the royal consular agent and
requested to throw some light on the subject, excused himself on the
ground of the judicial position which he held at Tallulah, which was
incompatible, as he said, with the position of a witness.
I have nothing more to add.
A true copy of the original.
C. Papini
[
l. s.],
In
Charge.
[Page 728]
[Inclosure 2.]
Royal consular agency of His Majesty the King of
Italy at Vicksburg.
In the reign of His Majesty Humbert I, by the grace of God and the
will of the nation, King of Italy.
In the year 1899, on the 13th day of the month of December, in the
State of Mississippi and at the royal consular agency of Italy,
before me, Chevalier Natale Piazza, royal consular agent, assisted
by Mr. A. L. Tirelli, acting as chancellor, personally appeared
Giuseppe Difina, son of Matteo Defina, said Giuseppe Difina being a
native of Cefalu, now residing at Anguilla, Mississippi, and after
taking his due form of law before us, made the following
statement:
I emigrated to America in the year 1889, going at first to New
Orleans, and, in 1892, I went to reside at Millikens Bend,
Louisiana, where I opened a provision and miscellaneous store.
By my good conduct I soon acquired a reputation as being a more
honest man than any of the others engaged in similar business, and
thus I secured numerous customers, and I soon found myself in an
enviable position, being able to make loans and to sell my goods on
credit to the families of the place, who paid for the goods when
they had gathered their cotton crops.
On the night of July 20th, at Tallulah, after the lynching of my
unfortunate brothers-in-law, the lynchers, who knew me well, because
I frequently came to Tallulah on business, having accomplished their
cruel deed, decided to go to Millikens Bend for the purpose of
lynching me, wishing to kill the last Italian that still lived in
the country.
Mr. Ward, an owner of real estate at Millikens Bend, who that night
was on the road between Tallulah and Millikens Bend, fell in with a
group of armed men to whom, I believe, he was known. He asked them
where they were going, and they said: “We are going to Millikens
Bend to lynch the Difinas.” Ward, who had always been very friendly
to me, was greatly surprised and displeased at the plan which those
men proposed to carry out. He implored them in my behalf, praising
me highly, but could get no promise from those ruffians, who were
still thirsting for our blood. He pleaded so hard, however, that he
induced them to promise that I should have two hours to leave the
country, in default of which I should be lynched. As Mr. Ward could
not go to my house, he fell in with Dr. Ganes after he had induced
the lynchers to withdraw. Dr. Ganes is a resident of Millikens Bend,
and had just returned from Tallulah, where he had visited Dr Hodge,
who was the cause of the lynching. He was then going to his own
house, and was requested by Mr. Ward to inform me of the decision of
those murderers, viz, that if I had not got out of the way in two
hours I should be lynched without mercy.
When I received this unwelcome information I understood that Dr.
Ganes, without having himself seen the band that Mr. Ward had met,
had been informed of the threats made by the lynchers against me
even before he had left Tallulah that night.
A few minutes before the doctor’s arrival at my house I had been
informed of the occurrences of that night by a negro who accompanied
the doctor on his trip to Tallulah and back, and while I was
awaiting more precise information I observed that various persons
living at Millikens Bend had assembled in a group, and that they
were secretly talking to each other about the lynching at Tallulah;
and also, I think, about the threats of the lynchers to kill me. I
observed that those persons felt very badly about the plight in
which I was, but I do not believe that if the lynchers had come to
Millikens Bend those people would have resisted the assassins in
order to save me and my children.
Having been informed by Ganes that Hodge was dying, and that if he
died my life would certainly not be spared by the lynchers, I
decided to flee with my children without loss of time on board of a
small boat, having been told by Ganes and others that it would be
exceedingly dangerous for me to leave Millikens Bend by land. I went
to Vicksburg, sailing along the Mississippi River. You know that you
saw me there in a deplorable condition, and suffering from a burning
fever. You remember that I told you all that had happened to me. Of
course, I left to its fate a well-furnished house, which was full of
all kinds of merchandise, household furniture, three horses, four
carts, and eleven acres of land planted with indian corn and
cabbages, together with other garden stuff, which was entirely
destroyed by the thieves. I had, moreover, outstanding debts to the
value of more than $2,000, as my book will show, without counting
various sums, both in money and goods, loaned to persons with whom I
did not have an account opened. I have several times reckoned up my
losses conscientiously, and have found that I had suffered a loss
amounting to about [Page 729] $6,000,
but having recovered, through honest persons, the three horses that
I had lost, which were in the woods dying of hunger, and three
damaged and useless carts, together with some boxes of old
merchandise of no value, which had been left by my nocturnal
visitors, because the articles of good quality fell into the hands
of the conscienceless thieves; thus, having recovered those
articles, together with the animals in question, I compute my losses
as amounting to not less than $6,000.
I have inquired of several influential persons living at Millikens
Bend whether I could return to that place in order to settle up my
affairs without being disturbed by the enemies of the Italians, but
they have all told me that if I should return I would certainly be
maltreated and even mercilessly lynched, because those people are no
jokers.
The consul at New Orleans interested himself in procuring an order
for me from the governor of the State authorizing me to go to
Millikens Bend to settle up my affairs, promising me protection by
the local authorities. I have not been willing to accept this,
because, if those authorities can not prevent a lynching like that
which took place at Tallulah, they certainly can not prevent one in
the woods at Millikens Bend, through which I should be obliged to
pass in order to settle up my affairs.
Having been advised, as I have before remarked, by influential
persons of the locality to abandon everything and not to go there if
I care for my life, I think that the part of a prudent man is to
follow this advice.
A few days ago my son Matteo, a highly respectable youth, who was
always well liked before our misfortune at Millikens Bend, desired
to go to a farm near there to collect a debt from a farmer who owes
me $350. Scarcely had he been seen by some person of the
neighborhood when they came to him and urged him as friends to keep
out of the neighborhood, and to go away quickly, because, as they
said, the hatred of the Italians was constantly increasing, and if
he should be seen, it would be a serious misfortune to him (observe
that the persons in question are friendly to us and owe us nothing);
consequently you can understand that my flight from the place was
not caused by fear, but by the reality of the threats of those cruel
people.
In view of my serious losses owing to this unfortunate affair, I find
that I have suffered damage to the amount of not less than $5,000,
and feeling certain that the Government of my native country will
not fail to support my claims, I have, through Mr. Baisim, my
representative, made a statement to his excellency the minister of
foreign affairs of Italy, setting forth with truth and sincerity all
the painful misfortunes which I have suffered.
I have made a statement of the foregoing, by means of the present
procès verbal which, after having been read and ratified, is
subscribed by the deponent in my presence.
The deponent.
Giuseppe
Defina.
The royal consular
agent.
N.
Piazza.
The acting chancellor.
A. L. Tirelli.
[
l. s.]
[Inclosure 3.]
The officer in charge of the
royal consulate of Italy at New Orleans, to the
royal embassy of Italy at Washington, D.
C.
New
Orleans, September 18,
1899.
I deem it my duty to report to your excellency the following:
Giuseppe Delfino (or Defina), the Italian who escaped from Millikens
Bend when the lynching took place at Tallulah, through fear lest he
also should be lynched, informed this consulate that he desired to
return to Millikens Bend in order to settle up his affairs, and
asked that the authorities would guarantee his personal safety.
I consequently addressed the governor of the State; Governor Foster
wrote to the sheriff at Tallulah, and handed me the sheriff’s reply,
a copy of which I have the honor herewith to inclose. I likewise
sent a copy to Defina, as appears from a letter from him, which I
have the honor to submit to your excellency, begging that it may be
returned to me; in this letter Defina points out that his life is
not sufficiently guaranteed by a piece of paper, and states that he
reserves the right to claim indemnity.
(Signed)
C. Pappini,
In Charge of the Italian Consulate at New
Orleans.
[Inclosure 4.]
Mr. Baisini to
the Royal minister of foreign affairs,
Rome.
Stresa, Lago Maggiore,
September 19, 1899.
I have received very grave news from Vicksburg, which must certainly
have been brought to the notice of the Royal ministry under your
charge, since the writer of the letter to me is well known at the
Royal consular agency there. The case, as stated to me, is as
follows: After the killing of the Difatta brothers and their two
companions, the band of lynchers, having learned that a
brother-in-law of the Difattas, named Giuseppe Defina, of Cefahi,
was settled in the village of Millikens Bend, Madison County, held a
council, at which they decreed the death of both him and his entire
family, for no crime save that he was connected by marriage with the
unfortunate men who had been lynched. Without losing any time the
lynchers mounted their horses and started for that village in order
to carry out their nefarious design. Fortunately a friend of Defina,
an American, having received intelligence of their plan, mounted his
best horse and galloped to inform Defina that he was threatened with
lynching. The poor man had scarcely time to collect his children and
to escape by precipitately crossing the Mississippi River. He had a
good business at Millikens Bend, where he had 11 acres of land under
cultivation, where he raised vegetables, etc., and had outstanding
debts to the amount of about $2,000, and he also had furniture,
horses, carts, etc. In order to save his life he was obliged to
abandon everything, without hope of returning, and he is now, with
his children, without employment and plunged in the direst
misery.
In my capacity as attorney for the unfortunate Defina (as is shown by
an authenticated instrument bearing date of April 15, 1899, drawn up
at the office of the Royal consular chancellor at Vicksburg) I deem
it my duty to call the attention of the Royal ministry under your
charge to this additional crime perpetrated upon our countrymen, and
I respectfully ask that, if proper evidence of this act is obtained,
you will, in the negotiations now pending with the United States
Government on account of the lynching at Tallulah, efficiently
uphold the rights of my poor client to moral and material
indemnity.
With the most profound esteem, etc.,
(Signed)
Jacopo
Baisini,
Director-General of the
International Law Bureau.
