2-995-968 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Revolution in Sicily - trial of the supposed brigand chief, Santomeli, by a council of war, at Villafrati - from a sketch by our special artist, 1860. '"I learnt that on the previous night a Lieutenant had been stopped by a party of banditti on the road I between Villafrati and Palermo, and robbed of everything he possessed...A council of war was at once called to try the supposed brigands, for our mission to a great extent was to hunt up and exterminate on our way the numerous banditti that infested the country. The defence of Santomeli, for such was the name of the man in question, was that, despite the number of witnesses who appeared against him, no one could actually prove a single act of brigandage of which he personally was guilty; that, far from being a robber chief, he was simply a capo di squadra (leader of a mountain band), who was one of the first to raise the tricolour flag and proclaim the revolution in the hills; and that he could not be responsible for the acts of those who, having enlisted under his banner, committed depredations in his name".'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.