In the Spine

Convicted last week of "terroristic manifestations" and conspiracy to assassinate Signore Benito Mussolini, four Jugoslavian youths were led out at dawn onto the broad parade ground at Trieste.

Strapped to four chairs the condemned were set up with their backs to a firing squad which proceeded to aim at the bases of their spines. Present were General Guido Cristini, President of the Facist Supreme Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State, and his fellow judges. This was their third execution, the Death sentence having been revived in Italy for crimes against the State in 1927. With set, stern Facist faces they watched until 5:43 a. m. when the rifles cracked out shots in the back--Italy's idea of a supremely disgraceful Death. Throughout Jugoslavia, where Il Duce is detested as the National Enemy, furious indignation was roused by news that the Facist garrison commander at Trieste had refused to transmit to King Vittorio Emanuele a plea for pardon signed by the Jugoslav youths. If His Majesty had pardoned them, Italian fury would probably have swept him from his Throne--for even Italians who hate Mussolini hate Jugoslavs ten times more.

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