tants of Guido Franceschini in the murder of
the Comparini; and Gambasini and Agostinelli were those who stood on
guard at the gate."

"Meanwhile the corpses of the assassinated Comparini were exposed at San
Lorenzo, in Lucina, but so disfigured, and especially Franceschini's
wife, by their wounds in the face, that they were no longer
recognizable. The unhappy Francesca, after taking the sacrament,
forgiving her murderers, under seventeen years of age, and after having
made her will, died on the sixth day of the month, which was that of the
Epiphany; and was able to clear herself of all the calumnies which her
husband had brought against her. The surprise of the people in seeing
these corpses was great, from the atrocity of the deed, which made one
really shudder, seeing two septuagenarians and a girl of seventeen so
miserably put to death."

"The trial proceeding meanwhile, many papers were drawn up on the
subject, bringing forward all the most incriminating circumstances of
this horrible massacre; and others also were written for the defence
with much erudition, especially by the advocate of the poor, a certain
Monsignor Spreti, which had the effect of postponing the sentence; also
because Baldeschi persisted in denial, though he was tortured with the
rope, and twice fainted under it. At last he confessed, and so did the
others, who also revealed the fact that they had intended in due time to
murder Franceschini himself, and take his money, because he had not kept
his promise of paying them the moment they should have left Rome."

"On the twenty-second of February there appeared on the Piazza del
Popolo a large platform with a guillotine and two gibbets, on which the
culprits were to be executed. Many stands were constructed for the
convenience of those who were curious to witness such a terrible act of
justice; and the concourse was so great that some windows fetched as
much as six dollars each. At eight o'clock Franceschini and his
companions were summoned to their death, and having been placed in the
Consorteria, and there assisted by the Abate Panciatici and the Cardinal
Acciajuoli, forthwith disposed themselves to die well. At twenty o'clock
the Company of Death and the Misericordia reached the dungeons, and the
condemned were let down, placed on separate carts, and conveyed to the
place of execution."

It is farther stated that Franceschini showed the most intrepidity and
cold blood of them all, and that he