In accordance with this system the execution of Santurri and De Angelis
was decided not to have been a political offence, but a case of private
vengeance, and "the indignation of the public was so strong," that
Government could not refuse the imperative call for justice. Within a
few weeks, therefore, of the Papal restoration, seven inhabitants of
Giulianello were arrested on the charge of being concerned in the murders
of Santurri and De Angelis.
On the 4th of April, 1851, the Supreme Court of the Sacra Consulta met to
try the prisoners--nearly two years after the date of their arrest. The
court, as usual, was composed of six high dignitaries of the Church, and
throughout the mode of procedure differed in nothing that I can learn
from what I have described in the former trials, except that there is no
allusion to any preliminary trial before the ordinary lay courts. Whether
this omission is accidental, or whether, as in other instances during the
Papal "Vendetta" after '49, the ordinary forms of justice were dispensed
with, I cannot say. Garibaldi, De Pasqualis, and David, "self-styled"
General, Colonel, and auditor respectively of the Roman army, were
summoned to appear and answer to the charge against them, or else to
allow judgment to go by default. The prisoners actually before the bar
were
Romolo Salvatori,
Vincenzo Fenili,
Luigi Grassi,
Francesco Fanella,
Dominico Federici,
Angelo Gabrielli,
Teresa Fenili.
It is curious, to say the least, that all the prisoners appear to have
been leading members of the liberal party at Giulianello. Salvatori was
elected Mayor of the town during the Republic, and the next four
prisoners held the office there of "Anziani" at the same period, an
office which corresponds somewhat to that of Alderman in our old civic
days. The chief witnesses for the prosecution were Latini, who so
narrowly escaped execution, and the widow of De Angelis, persons not
likely to be the most impartial of witnesses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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