The Barrel MysteryFlynn, William J. (William James)
General
The Barrel Mystery
Flynn, William J. (William James)
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
Schiavi and Miloni had an extended conversation, and Schiavi agreed to
go to the home of Miloni and teach him the business. Then for about
six weeks or two months Schiavi went to the home of Miloni daily, and
taught the "Black-Hander" the essentials of the photo-engraving
business. At the end of that time, according to Schiavi, Miloni
discovered that he could proceed by himself and announced to Schiavi
that he (Miloni) had joined the photo-engravers' union.
About a year or so after this, Schiavi says he met Miloni on Third
Avenue near One Hundred and Fourteenth Street, and Miloni was on his
way home. The latter had in his possession, Schiavi says, a camera and
all the necessaries for photographing. Also, Schiavi says, Miloni took
him along to a photo-engraving supply store at No. 103 Mott Street,
where the "Black-Hander" bought several kinds of the supplies
necessary to the photo-engraving business.
Schiavi then tells of making a rendezvous of the Mocito drug store
after this incident. He met a man in the drug store by the name of
Don Ciccio (Francesco) who made the drug store a camping place. This
Don Ciccio posed as being in the real estate business and declared
that he was an agent. What manner of agent he was, Schiavi says, Don
Ciccio never made clear. This same Don Ciccio, according to Schiavi,
once asked him whether he were able to make plates for money. Schiavi
informed the real estate man that he could make the plates, but
preferred his liberty to a term in the confines of a jail. Miloni was
present during the conversation between Schiavi and Don Ciccio,
according to Schiavi, but Miloni did not enter into the conversation.
There were others who frequented the drug store and who were
identified by Schiavi as members of the gang now imprisoned on the
charges of counterfeiting.
In many ways, too numerous to relate, information of this sort came to
me until the Secret Service was facing the onerous task of digesting
and coördinating it for its special needs to keep the legal tender of
the country secure.
The subtle, round-about manner in which the "Black-Hander" scatters
the seeds of his propaganda so that they will grow and bear fruit of
themselves and disarm suspicion is well-illustrated in the way in
which the attempt was made to inveigle Schiavi.
Corleone is the home town of Morello and Lupo, the arch-plotters. It
is a place fascinating to the eye of the artist. Nestling at the foot
of Mount Cardellia, in the province of Palermo, Sicily, it lies about
two thousand feet above sea-level and seems to be sailing in the
clouds like a phantom city of the Middle Ages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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