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Article CRIME, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ITHACA* Page 1 of 7 →
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Crime, And Criminal Justice In Ithaca*
CRIME , AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ITHACA *
TRIAL OF A FREEMASON . UPWARDS of twenty years ago , a Frank of the name of Soleure liad established his domicile at Vathy , with a wife and only son . He was a person of some education , and of extensive knowledge of the world ; Hence , as his character had been irreproachable since his settlement in Ithaca , he had been appointed teacher in the public grammar school ,
and had acquired considerable influence among the more intellectual class of the inhabitants . There was some mystety attached to his early life , which , even according to his own account , had not been of the most creditable description . He gave himself out for a Frenchman , native of Avignon , yet he spoke Italian better and more fluentl y than French— : i circumstance which might , perhaps , be explained by a residence of more than half his life in countries where the former was the prevailing dialect .
He described himself as having held a captain ' s commission in the French imperial army in Spain , where he had been taken prisoner during the early part of thenar , but had effected his escape in the disguise of a capuchin friar to Malta- To account for his not returning to his owii country to resume his military duties , he pleaded a distaste for the serivice , and a constitutional nervousness and timidity , which disqualified him for . the profession of a soldier . This latter statement ; although in itself perfectly true , naturally suggested to those who were disposed ; to cavil at his story , the further question , how a person of such a temperament should have managed to attain the rank of captain in Napoleon ' s
army . At Malta , and subsequently at Zante , he continued to support his character of capuchin ; In the latter island , however , he attached himself to a female , with whom he eloped to Patras , where he threw off " his canonicals , abjured the Catholic for the Greek persuasion , and married his mistress . Afterwards he kept a school at Sta Maura , from whence he removed to Ithaca , where he was now settled under the circurristances already stated . , For some years pastFreemasonry had been much in vogue in the
, Ionian islands , and riiore especially in Ithaca . As it comprised many British rfiembers , the society was viewed without suspicion by the government , and thus afforded opportunity to the more enlightened classes for private convivial meetings to discuss matters of public interest ; without the suspicion which would attach to organized political clubs , or other secret associations . Soleure from the first took a lead in the affairs of the Lodge , and for several years past had officiated as its Master . During
this period the society had fallen under the displeasure of the clergy , who saw in it but a medium for the dissemination of principles calculated to open the minds of the people to the absurdity of thar own system of superstition , and , by consequence , a conspiracy against their authority and influence . They therefore took every means to inflame the minds of the lower orders against it , and their exertions ivere crowned with complete success . To such an extent was the popular feeling carried , that the council of the Lodge , during the early part of the year 1837 , fearing disturbances or acts of violence against their own persons , liad deliberated on the propriety of its dissolution . Some of the leading
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Crime, And Criminal Justice In Ithaca*
CRIME , AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN ITHACA *
TRIAL OF A FREEMASON . UPWARDS of twenty years ago , a Frank of the name of Soleure liad established his domicile at Vathy , with a wife and only son . He was a person of some education , and of extensive knowledge of the world ; Hence , as his character had been irreproachable since his settlement in Ithaca , he had been appointed teacher in the public grammar school ,
and had acquired considerable influence among the more intellectual class of the inhabitants . There was some mystety attached to his early life , which , even according to his own account , had not been of the most creditable description . He gave himself out for a Frenchman , native of Avignon , yet he spoke Italian better and more fluentl y than French— : i circumstance which might , perhaps , be explained by a residence of more than half his life in countries where the former was the prevailing dialect .
He described himself as having held a captain ' s commission in the French imperial army in Spain , where he had been taken prisoner during the early part of thenar , but had effected his escape in the disguise of a capuchin friar to Malta- To account for his not returning to his owii country to resume his military duties , he pleaded a distaste for the serivice , and a constitutional nervousness and timidity , which disqualified him for . the profession of a soldier . This latter statement ; although in itself perfectly true , naturally suggested to those who were disposed ; to cavil at his story , the further question , how a person of such a temperament should have managed to attain the rank of captain in Napoleon ' s
army . At Malta , and subsequently at Zante , he continued to support his character of capuchin ; In the latter island , however , he attached himself to a female , with whom he eloped to Patras , where he threw off " his canonicals , abjured the Catholic for the Greek persuasion , and married his mistress . Afterwards he kept a school at Sta Maura , from whence he removed to Ithaca , where he was now settled under the circurristances already stated . , For some years pastFreemasonry had been much in vogue in the
, Ionian islands , and riiore especially in Ithaca . As it comprised many British rfiembers , the society was viewed without suspicion by the government , and thus afforded opportunity to the more enlightened classes for private convivial meetings to discuss matters of public interest ; without the suspicion which would attach to organized political clubs , or other secret associations . Soleure from the first took a lead in the affairs of the Lodge , and for several years past had officiated as its Master . During
this period the society had fallen under the displeasure of the clergy , who saw in it but a medium for the dissemination of principles calculated to open the minds of the people to the absurdity of thar own system of superstition , and , by consequence , a conspiracy against their authority and influence . They therefore took every means to inflame the minds of the lower orders against it , and their exertions ivere crowned with complete success . To such an extent was the popular feeling carried , that the council of the Lodge , during the early part of the year 1837 , fearing disturbances or acts of violence against their own persons , liad deliberated on the propriety of its dissolution . Some of the leading