The Barrel Mystery
Page 17
CHAPTER XVII
CAUGHT AGAIN!
"About two o'clock in the morning we arrived, Calichio, Bernardo,Sylvester, Peppino and Cina, at the 'Third' farm. Peppino returnedimmediately from the 'Third' farm to Cina's house. The four of us whoremained slept on straw, there being no mattresses. About threeo'clock the next afternoon Cina brought us some mattresses, pillowsand covers; some food-stuffs and ten quarts of wine. Cina remarkedthat this was a splendid place, and that no one could disturb usthere. He gave the following orders:
"Calichio and I were to remain in the house and work. Uncle Vincentwould watch along the railroad track to see if any strangers camenear. About noontime, Uncle Vincent would come in and do the cooking;then Bernardo, armed with revolver and rifle, was to do his turn andguard the farm. He was to be helped in this by Giglio and Sylvesterwhenever they were about. Cina said that if Calichio or I wanted tohave our mail addressed to us we must tell our folks and friends tosend it to 20 Duane Street, Poughkeepsie, where Uncle Turi (thewell-dressed man referred to before in this story) had opened agrocery store. Cina assured me that news would be brought to us dailyfrom the outside and that a horse and carriage had been brought forthe express purpose of going to and from Poughkeepsie and bringinggroceries.
"Calichio made the press ready and we began work on the fourth batchof the two-dollar notes. There was no interruption all that day but,on the next morning, June 17th (1909), Calichio declared he wanted toleave for New York because he had had a bad dream during the night andthere was news from his family.
"Bernardo accompanied Calichio to the station and I and Uncle Vincentremained alone, walking about the grounds in front of the house.
"About 11 A. M. Uncle Vincent was preparing macaroni for the noondaylunch when two well-dressed men and prosperous appearing, driving ahorse and carriage, stopped in front of the house. One man was aboutfifty, the other about thirty. They tied the horse to a tree and cameover to me, addressing me in English.
"'Are you Italian?'
"'Yes,' I replied.
"'Have you rented this farm?'
"'No.'
"'Who is the owner?'
"'A man named Giglio.'
"'Where can I see this Giglio?'
"'In New York. His wife is sick,' replied Uncle Vincent.
"'When does he return?'
"'We don't know.'
"'We had come to buy this farm and would like to look inside. Will youpermit us to enter and see?'
"'No,' was Uncle Vincent's instant answer. 'We are not the proprietorsand are here to guard the fruit. Return some other day when Giglio ishere and he will give you permission.'
"The men assured us that they would get the permission to enter thehouse and drove away. When they were gone Uncle Vincent with a paleface said to me:
"'Don Antonio, I feel sure these men are detectives. Should theyreturn there will be others with them and they will arrest us. In casewe fall like mice in a trap don't say who you know. Otherwise we areall ruined. If they find the press we must insist that we found it inthe house, and don't know to whom it belongs. Let us go and burn whatwas printed yesterday in order to avoid suspicion.'
"'I am not going back,' I answered. 'I am going through the woods tothe railroad tracks to the station and then back to New York.'
"'If you go away I will not let any one come near the house. And ifthose two men return I will kill them.'
"'Do as you like,' I replied. So saying I took my hat and jumper andwalked along the railroad tracks for about an hour until I came to theHighland station.
"I was peacefully at home in Thompson Street on June 20th when Cecala,Cina and Sylvester arrived. As soon as Cecala saw me he said:
"'You were very much afraid. You must not be so frightened. The peoplewho came to the farm were men of a good sort and not detectives. Butyou did well in not letting them enter the house.'
"'Since I am away,' I replied to Cecala, 'do not talk of continuingthe work. I will not return. I don't care to fall into a trap alone,and you all out of it.'
"'Better if we remain out. We can help you.'
"'Bother the help. Leave me in peace. I want to attend to my ownaffairs and be at rest.'
"'No. Now that we have started to print we must finish the paper thatis left unprinted.'
"'I will not return to the farm. Make Calichio continue the work.'
"'_You must return and complete the work_,' said Cina with arrogance.
"After about five minutes of silence Cina again did the talking. Hesaid:
"'Very well, we will not return to that farm but in order to have youcontent we will draw up a contract and you will appear as LuigiCosentino, the proprietor of the second farm. Then you may return andcontinue the work without danger. I will telephone to-night and havethe press brought to the stone house. The people nearby the stonehouse have seen you before, and when I tell them that the place isnow yours they will not have any suspicion.'
"'I want to find work here in the city. I have worked for you forseven months and have received only forty dollars in all for it.'
"'Well,' said Cecala, 'but I will give you five hundred dollars assoon as you have finished this last job. Is that satisfactory?'
"'Surely.'
"I figured that if I got the five hundred dollars I could return toItaly and not have any more bother, and so I consented to go back andcomplete the work. Cecala and Cina went with me to a notary public inElizabeth Street and a contract or lease of the second farm was drawnup. I appeared and signed as Luigi Cosentino. The person from whom Irented the farm was one whom I had never seen before. He was calledSalvatore Galasso. The notary gave a copy of the paper to me andanother to Galasso, and Cecala paid the charges.
"On June 24th (1909) I and Calichio began work anew on the secondfarm, at the stone house, and continued until we had finished $13,500more of the two-dollar notes. When this amount was printed, Calichiowent to New York and left me with Uncle Vincent, Bernardo and Giglioto cut to regular size the two-dollar notes and count them and packthem in bundles of 100 each. This work was done during the month ofJuly.
"On the 28th or the 29th of July Cina arrived and stopped all thework, saying that operations were suspended for the summer. The lastlot printed, he said, was to be divided among fifteen of us. Cecalahad left about twenty days before, and as no word had been receivedfrom him it was supposed that he had been arrested. Turning to me Cinasaid:
"'You, Don Antonio, divide up the money for fifteen persons, and seewhat will come to each. Each can sell for himself or exchange them.'
"'I will not take any of them, that is certain,' I replied, 'because Ihave no friends to whom I can sell them. And what is more, I will riskimprisonment.'
"'That means that you will leave your portion to me, and in time Iwill sell it for you,' said Cina.
"'I don't want to know whether it is left to you or somebody else.Only, you will bear in mind that together with Cecala you havepromised $500 with which I was to go to Italy when this work wascompleted.'
"'Well, if Cecala returns and brings good money, you will be givenwhat was promised you. In the meantime, dismantle the press and giveme the plates, for I must save them. Put them in a box together withthe ink that was not used.'
"Without losing any time I took some boards and made a box and putinto it the plates for the two-dollar notes, check letter 'C,' platenumber 1110; also the five-dollar copper plates, and the secondCanadian note plates, which had not been used, and some cans of ink. Inailed a cover over the box, and in the presence of Uncle Vincent,Bernardo, Giglio and Cina, I gave the box to Cina and he said:
"'We hope to open this box in November if things go well.'
"The first Canadian plates--those that had been used together with thefirst two-dollar note plates, Check letter 'A,' plate number1111--were wrapped in some rags and buried in a hole on the farm byBernardo. The hole was about two hundred feet from the house in thewoods back of the house. Then all the ink that remained outside wasburied in the woods b
ack of the house; so were all the hundredthousand pieces of paper of bad prints and proofs, etc., buried there.The inks, though, were put in a macaroni box before being put into theground.
"I dismantled the press, taking it into four parts, and packed it upin boards. At six o'clock that evening Peppino Cina came with a truck,pulled by a team of horses, and the press was loaded onto the truck;also the box with the plates put on, and the whole business wascovered with hay. Then Uncle Vincent, Bernardo and Giglio were drivenoff toward Cina's farm by Peppino Cina. Cina and I took another roadin a carriage and went to his farm.
"Arriving at Cina's farm at about 11:30 that night we sat down and ateheartily and drank wine. Towards the end of the meal Cina gave Peppino(his brother), Giglio and Bernardo each $800 of the counterfeit money,saying to them:
"'Boys, the work is done. From to-morrow on each can attend to his ownbusiness. You can take this money and exchange it yourselves.
"'If we are going to continue, and if we need you, I will advise you,paying you double what you can earn anywhere else.'
"Hearing this I said to Cina:
"'See if you can't give me some money with which I may get to New Yorkto-morrow, without my looking around for Cecala or anybody else; andalso keep it in mind that by August 15th I get the $500 so that I cango to Italy. If the money is not given me I will endeavor to get mypassage to Italy and return in November.'
"'Have no doubts about the money,' said Cina. 'To-morrow I will giveyou five dollars. The money that has been promised you will be yours.In fact, I will bring it to your house as soon as we have it ready, aswe know your address in New York.'
"Next morning Cina gave me five dollars, and drove me to the Highlandstation, where I boarded the eight o'clock train for New York.
"After being in the city three days I found employment in a printingshop in Brooklyn and worked there as an honest man, putting away allthoughts of evil and tried to forget what I had been through inHighland for the past nine months.
"On August 12, 1909, I read in an Italian newspaper about the arrestof some persons who passed some of the notes printed by me. Thinkingthat some one might mention my name, I wrote a letter to Cina,addressed to No. 20 Duane Street, Poughkeepsie, informing him that asI had not seen any one up to the present, and had not got what waspromised me, I had decided to leave for Italy on August 15th.
"Then I remained in Brooklyn working, without the gang knowing mywhereabouts. My employment for this period was in the printing shop ofMatteo Vestuto.
"One Sunday in September I met Calichio on the street. He told me thathe was going to my house to get a suit of clothes that had been sentdown from the stone house with my furniture.
"'Don Peppe,' said I, 'Caterina is at home and she will give you thesuit which was put away. If you see any of the _Gentlemen_ don't saythat you saw me, because I have written them that I am in Italy.'
"'I have not seen them any more,' replied Calichio. 'Neither do I wantto see them, after what I have been through. Bear in mind, DonAntonio, that I have not yet received all the money that is coming tome, but ----, if they come again to me, I know what to tell them----.' He went off in a very angry mood.
"On the 16th of November, 1909, I read in an Italian newspaper of thearrest of Giuseppe Morello, Antonio Cecala, Domenico Milone, LucianaMaddi, Giuseppe Boscarini and Leolina Vasi. They were all put underbail of from seven to fifteen thousand dollars. Three days later Iread in the newspapers that all these 'gentlemen,' whom I knew, werereleased on bail, and were at liberty awaiting trial.
"I became frightened, thinking that these fellows might think that Ihad said something to the police as they knew I was dissatisfied withthe treatment they had given me. Losing no time I packed my things andwent to live with an American family in Dominick Street."