The Barrel MysteryFlynn, William J. (William James)
General
The Barrel Mystery
Flynn, William J. (William James)
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
True, we could prove that Cecala and Morello and Lupo had met many
times, and that they had been to the houses of one another and eaten
at the same table. Other evidence of a like nature could be produced;
but such evidence was not sufficient to convict the two leaders of the
charge of either passing, having in their possession, making or
causing to be made, any of the counterfeit notes which were being
poured into the great centers of population at one and the same time.
Had I stopped with Locino's testimony, I never could have got the
leaders. But the Secret Service never leaves the trail of the
counterfeiter, and the way in which the long arm of the government
reached out for the "Black-Hand" leaders, who loomed in the shadowy
distance like the silhouettes of devils incarnate, will be told here
for the first time.
CHAPTER V
THE GREENHORN'S STORY
In the latter part of June, 1907, a young Italian landed in New York
from the southern part of Italy. He was an ambitious sort of clever
chap. He not only spoke his mother tongue well, but he had a good
command of Spanish and French and was posted on several of the
dialects current in the "boot" or southern part of Italy. He knew very
little of the English tongue, however. Among his various
accomplishments he was also a practical printer.
The career of this young man up to the time of his landing at Ellis
Island is significant, to say the least. He was a native of the little
town of Cananzero in Calabria, one of the provinces of southern Italy.
He had been a teacher there and had taught technical subjects. Later
on he taught in private, and finally became an instructor in
government schools. From Italy he had gone to Brazil, where he spent
seven years of his time. He had engaged in teaching school there, and
he had also worked at the printing trade in Rio de Janeiro, the
capital of Brazil. At one time he had been engaged by the Italian
Consul at Rio de Janeiro to assist that official in legal matters.
The young man's name was Antonio Viola Comito.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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