RIPA NEWS 26 DECEMBER 1891
NATALE DI SANGUE
The history of a village, the stories that seem small but yet are important, are
not to be found in books, but in the memories of the village's own citizens, in
the events of their daily lives. These are the most credible testimony.
The memories of senior citizens, even if they seem to float away into the mist
of passing years, are incredible sources of the knowledge of who we were, and
therefore who we are today. This newspaper, through the years, has done all it
could give such detail stories their due, their importance, by reporting on
festivals, tragedies, and other events for their historical significance. As an
Example - the arrival, in Ripa, on 13 October 1844 of the Bourbon King Ferdinand
II.
Today, in keeping with our tradition, we will talk with a heavy heart about a
crime which, even in the era of the Protagonists, cannot fail to dismay you. It
was the 26th of December 18911. A festive air of Christmas was evident in the
village's homes and in the streets when a tragic event played out to the despair
of two families and the astonishment of the entire village. The news about what
happened, in fact, spread in a flash, but to many it did not seem real. They were
not able nor willing to believe in such a terrible event.
What happened was that slightly past noon two boys - Pasquale C. di Domenico age
9 and Angelo C. di Michele age 3 - were playing in the kitchen of the oldest
boy's uncle, a certain Biase D.C., a caretaker of nearby fields, who was at that
moment away with his wife.
The two boys had been entrusted to the care of their 80 year old grandfather
who, after having slept little and having a large meal, became drowsy near the
fireplace. He was not aware that Pasquale went upstairs and came back down with
a gun in his hand. Pasquale pointed the gun at his little cousin and said:
"I will shoot you." He fired a shot which awakened the grandfather who
was faced with a horrifying scene - the young child lay nearly lifeless on the
floor in a pool of blood with a smashed skull.
The old man barely had the energy to open the door of the house and yell for
help. The people of the village, running up to the house, found the grandfather
in the grip of despair. Meanwhile Pasquale, with the gun still in his hand,
seemed distant, totally indifferent to what he had done.
This was not the first time that Pasquale had committed a criminal act. The
preceding year, in fact, he had caused the death of another boy
who, laying on the wall of the canal by the mill downstream from the town, was
trying to recover the jacket which Pasquale had thrown into the water. While the
boy was stretching out his arms to recover the jacket, Pasquale pushed him into
the mill pond where, sadly, he drowned.
Knowing about this previous incident, the people who ran up to the house were
afraid to approach the boy and take the gun out of his hand. They hurried to
cover the disfigured little body of Angelo and removed him to where his poor
parents, who had been called to the site, could see him. The parents did not
have tears enough to cry for the little boy.
No less piercing was the pain of family members who had tried everything to keep
Pasquale on the straight and narrow. Local authorities also did not know what
actions to take when, if it was true, that a short time later the boy fought
with a companion and struck him on the leg with a switch-blade knife.
In those days there was a kind of reformatory in Campobasso called "Il
Cappucinelli". We don't know if this "villain", as he was
identified in some testimony of that time which we have available, was kept
within its walls.
To complete our story, we should say that in the death register of the year
1891, which is kept in the parrish church, is an entry for 27 December which
reads: "C. Angelo di Michele e di Maria Giovanna G., born Monday 26
December 1888, died in the arms of the Holy Roman Church at the 22nd hour
yesterday in the house situated on Cornecchio n. II Associato. Accompanied by
only one priest, he was buried in the cemetery. In faith: Nicola Arciprete
Minadeo".
As one can see, the hour of death does not coincide with the story, but that
fact takes nothing away from this tragedy.