An Heritage of Crime [pp. 266-275]

An Heritage of Crime.
eign to his own, it appeared to the father
that he could not offer a reasonable objection; and as the happiness of his daughter
was his greatest consideration, he did not
longer oppose the marriage, which soon after
took place.
Though there had been grave apprehensions on account of this marriage, for the few
months which immediately followed, at least,
there was nothing to mar its felicity. The
husband, in the meantime, appeared busily
engaged in his projected business arrangements at Salem, where most of his time continued to be passed. Later, the young
couple viskited several of the larger cities of
the Union, spending a good deal of time in
New Orleans, a city where the Italian had
numerous acquaintances, of a character
which, to his wife, seemed unusual, though
she saw but little of them; and where, too,
she was left alone for longer periods than
she had ever before been accustomed to.
Her confidence remained unshaken, however, and his explanation of "business preparations" was always quite satisfactory.
Prior to their return from the last journey of
this kind, a vague rumor had reached the
ear of Judge W in connection with the
past history of his son-in-law, and with regard to this he at once communicated with
him. De Razio's answer was a simple and
positive denial, with the stuggestion that the
reports to his discredit had doubtless originated in a natural prejudice which existed
against him as a foreigner, and he invited
the most searching inquiry at the European
city which had been his home; while he
smiled with such perfect candor at what appeared the suspicions of those by whom he was
surrounded, that the Judge was reassured, and
matters passed on as usual. In our time it
will seem strange that there could long have
been a mystery or doubt connected with the
history of a person who had assumed such
important relations, or whose station in life
was so well defined, and the place from
whence he came, though a foreign country,
so well known. But it must be remembered
that this was long before the days of international postal regulations; submarine tele
graph lines had not an existence even in the
most fertile scientific brain; correspondence
by letter with "foreign parts" was unusual;
even the European mails and government
dispatches were mainly transported in sailing ships, and months were frequently required to send a letter from this side of the
ocean and obtain a reply. The first steamship crossed the Atlantic Ocean in I839,
and the cable was not in operation until
twenty years later. Information that may
without difficulty be obtained by us in the
space of hours, appeared at that time almost,
if not quite, beyond the range of possibility,
so much have we advanced in this respect
within less than half a century.
It will be remembered that Judge W,
at the death of his wife, had been left with a
son also, then a boy ten years old. This son,
Henry W, now a man of thirty, was an
officer in the navy; he had been on the African station, where so many of our cruisers
were then employed in the suppression of the
slave trade, for nearly three years, and had
but recently learned of the marriage of his
sister. About the same time, his father and
sister were informed by the Secretary of the
Navy that he had been ordered home on a
special duty at Washington, had exchanged
into a ship belonging to the Mediterranean
squadron for that purpose, and would return
via Liverpool in one of the fast sailing packets. On his appearance at his father's house
soon after, a tragedy was enacted, the excitement caused by which agitated society to its
very center; nor has it even yet been forgotten at Salem, where that solemn brick mansion, which stands on Essex street, is still
pointed out to the stranger as the scene of
this terrible occurrence. The interest which
was then aroused, was probably never
equaled in Massachusetts, unless at a later
period by the noted Webster-Parkman murder, owing in both cases to the individual
prominence of the victims, and the social
standing of the families to which they belonged.
While at Naples, after leaving his ship,
Henry W, who had already learned the
name of his sister's husband, with the ac
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