Liberty Advocate

Extraordinary case of Depravity.—A letter from Naples gives the following account of an extraordinary case lately brought before the criminal tribunals of Sorrento and Otranto. In the former of

In one of these towns lived a family, consisting of a man named Hieronymo Pascolo, his son, Gasperino, aged 31, and Nunziata, the wife of the latter, aged 19, of such rare beauty, that several painters of Rome had visited Sorrento for the purpose of painting her portrait, and introducing it into the altar pieces of the churches. The three persons were living in great harmony, until a friend of the husband insinuated that Nunziata was faithless. Gasperino resolved upon ascertaining the truth or falsehood of this charge, the denouncer having been unable or unwilling to point out the party for whom she had sacrificed her honor; he pretended that he was going on a journey for several days, and secreting himself when his wife imagined that he was absent, he entered her bed chamber at night. Here he saw Nunziata in a sleep, which appeared to be that of innocence, and he was about to retire, all doubt and jealousy removed, when she suddenly awoke and left her bed. The husband placed himself in such a situation as not to be seen by his wife, and watched her movements. She left the room followed by Gasperino, grasping his dagger, and entered the bed room of her father-in-law. Gasperino convinced by what he had witnessed, that his own father was the criminal who had poisoned his domestic peace, and rushed upon the guilty pair and stabbed them both. The father died immediately, Nunziata gave no sign of life. Gasperino then went and delivered himself up to the officers of justice, avowing what he had done. He was tried by the criminal tribunal of Sorrento, and condemned to death on the ground that he acted with premeditation, although the wife who had recovered from her wounds, admitted her criminality, and declared that she had merely married the son in order that she might have more frequent opportunities of intercourse with the father with whom she was in love. On an appeal to the Supreme Court of Naples the sentence of the criminal tribunal of Sorrento was confirmed, but the law officers of the Crown took some legal objections, and demanded that both decisions might be reversed, and a new trial granted. This was done, and Gasperino being brought before the tribunal of Otranto, was acquitted. We are informed however, that his mind had received too severe a shock for him to renew his relations with the world, and that he had entered a convent of Trappists, with the intention of devoting the remainder of his life to prayer.