Conservative *
place to stay away from while the pil
grims are there.
However , this is a characteristic of
free days and free galleries. At the
Paris Salon there are or used to be
three rules regarding admission : Fri
days , five francs ; Sundays , free ; other
days , one franc. On Fridays the people
you meet there are clean ; on one-franc
days it is a little smelly ; on Sundays it
is awful. I once went into the Tower
of London , not knowing it was a free
day. But I got no further than the
Bloody Tower. There I was obliged to
give it up and return to the outer air ,
half strangled by the smell of the
British populace.
Lest any one should consider these
remarks "snobbish" " "
or "uppish , com
ing from a citizen of a republic , I may
state that I am a firm believer in repub
licanism , but I believe in the republic of
soap.
Pilgrims Jammed in Trains.
The Italian omnibuses and street-cars
receive passengers only until the seats
are "complete , " when they carry a sign
board to that effect. Since the advent
of the pilgrims in Rome , the employees
have been unable to enforce this rule.
So they do not try. It is not uncommon
here to see an electric car , its inside
jammed with pilgrims , its platforms
choked with pilgrims , with pilgrims'
heads sticking out of the windows , with
pilgrims hanging like bunches of grapes
from the hand-rails , and with pilgrims
on the roof. In front you see the sign
board "Complete. "
Well , rather.
All sorts of things happen to these
pilgrims , and many things happen to
the people who have to handle them.
The luckless conductors and motor-men
of the electric trams have been badly
used during the last few days in their
attempts to prevent the pilgrims from
hurting themselves in their wild rushes
upon the incoming cars. At terminal
points like the Piazza Yeuezia the
scenes baffle description. When a car
appears bound for St. Peter's , hundreds
of pilgrims take it by storm , climb over
the wire railings , clamber through the
windows , even hang on to the brake-
beams. Here is a local item from a
Roman daily :
"The frenzied crowd of pilgrims ,
themselves hurling upon the trams in
the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano ,
at the seventeen and three-quarters
o'clock of the evening , caused a deplor
able disgrace. The conductor Sante Ver-
delocco of tram No. 283 , while attempt
ing them to restrain , received the
handling so rough that he experienced
the fracture of the sixth rib on the left
side. At the hospital the Doctor Stefani
decided that he would be discharged
cured in twenty-five days. "
Note the curious ending. In all the
Roman dailies accounts of accidents are
followed by a similar prophecy from
the hospital doctors.
Here is another local item concerning
the achievements of the frenzied pil
grims on the trams :
"In the Piazza San Giovanni in
Laterano in the middle day ( mez-
zogiorno ) of yesterday the under-briga-
dierof the Guard of Public Security ,
Alexander Bonalli , in attempting to
prevent from mounting on the tram the
frenzied crowd of pilgrims , was trampled
upon and badly injured at the left knee
and at the right arm. At the hospital
it was decided that he would be dis
charged cured in sixteen days.
"It is marvelous the service that do
the employees with such crowds in all
the stations principals of the trams-
electrics. It is due to the admirable
Cavalier Fucci who is at the head of the
service of the trams-electric and makes
honor to the city. "
As an acknowledgment of the hard
work of the tramway employees the
following advertisement appeared in the
Roman dailies yesterday :
Office of the Sooieta Romana Tram
ways Omnibus.
Paid-up Capital , 6,600,000 Lire.
ROME , April 29 , 1900.
ORDER OF THE DAY.
It is my pleasant duty to inform the
employees of this company that the
board of directors are much pleased with
the laudable zeal that they have shown
in handling the present extraordinary
influx of passengers. As a proof of our
satisfaction with the faithfulness of our
employees , and to render them , if possi
ble , even more devoted to the company
and attentive to the public , we have
resolved that every employee shall re
ceive double pay for his services for
tomorrow , the thirtieth of April.
For the board of directors ,
Signed , F. PAGAININI , President ,
The foregoing document may make
American readers stare. They might be
justified in suspecting President Paga-
nini's sanity. But the board of directors
could not all go crazy at the same
time.
Queer Things Happen to Pilgrims.
Enough about the terror which the
terrified pilgrims inspire in those who
have to deal with them. Here are a few
local items concerning the things which
happen to the pilgrims themselves :
"Yesterday the pilgrim Alexander
Deino , of years thirty-four , of Rocca
San Oasciano , who lodges in the Piazza
Santa Ohiara , No. 49 , fourth floor , was
so impressioned by a visit made to St.
Peter's and the Catacombs that he com
menced to delirium. The exaltation of
the pilgrim increased , and toward mid
day he began to throw the landlord's
furniture out of the window. The
demented was visited by the Doctor
Borruso , who ordered him transferred
to the maniaokery. "
Another item about an unfortunate
pilgrim :
"At fourteen and a half o'clock of
; oday , the tram electric No. 204 has
invested the pilgrim Giuseppa Foglioni ,
of years forty-eight , of Calupo d'Adda.
The Foglieni bears lacerated aud con-
iused wounds on the occiput aud grave
contusions and ecohymoses at the left
flank , and commotions cerebral. He was
transported to the Santo Spirito Hos
pital , whore the Doctor Biudi decided
that he would bo discharged cured in
forty-five days. "
Here is an item of a type which one
sees frequently about the pilgrims :
"This night at midnight and a half ,
outside the gate Cavalleggeri , a pilgrim
Belgian , the Professor Guiseppe War-
nier , made himself to push the cries
frenzied and to make the gestures of
madness. The brigadier of carabinieri ,
Osvaldo Carrara , and the Carabiniero
Oarletti , who passed at this moment ,
could only with great difficulty conduct
him to the hospital of the Holy Spirit ,
where it was obliged to put on him the
jacket of force. The Doctor Pastano ,
from the disordered discourses of the
unfortunate , concluded that he was
attained of the monomania religious. "
Here is an item showing that there are
light-fingered gentry preying on the
pilgrims :
" the Hal-
"Yesterday morning Signore -
sigray and his wife , pilgrims from
Bordeaux , were went to visit the Church
of St. Peter. What was not the sur
prise of the Signore Halsigray when at
his return he found in the pocket of his
top-coat a portfolio to him not belong
ing , and containing thirty marks in gold
and two coupons of bonds Russian.
This portfolio miraculous had simply
been introduced into the top-coat of the
Signore Halsigray by some pickpocket
who , after having stolen it , had feared
the arrest , and disembarrassed himself
of the portfolio incriminating. "
But the two most remarkable pilgrim
cases are of a man who has lost his pil
grim father and of a pilgrim who has
lost his lodgings. Here is one :
"The pilgrim John the Baptist Gia-
copetti , of years 72 , of Petritoli , on
Friday morning went out of the
house of his sou John , living in the
Street of the Four Saints , No. 8 , for to
go for to see the Colosseum. From that
moment ho has not more returned. He
is of stature ordinary , with beard and
hair white , vestured with jacket and
waistcoat of black , pantaloons of gray ,
hat of black. Who can give notice to
the afflicted son will do a work meri
torious. "
And here is the case of the man who
lost his lodgings :
"The pilgrim , Vincenzo Ountinelli , of
years 58 , from Jesi , yesterday evening
at 19 o'clock issued from the house
whore he was lodging , and where he
had paid five days in advance , for to go
