The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1883-05-16
THE"BLACK HAND" SOCIETY.
Rise AND PAIL OF A MxsTERTous
ORDER IN SPAIN.

An Organization with 10000 Members.
Charged with Strange Crimes-.nTorc
Than 1000 Arrests.
The London Telegraph, speaking of
the arrest of 1000 members Of the
BLACK Hand" Society, gives this ac-
count of an extraordinary organiza-
tion which sprang up recently in
Spain:
Never since the prisons of the
French Revolution sent its victims in
tumbrils to the guillotine has so mot
ley a crowd been gathered within the
walls of a Jail. Ordinarily noisome
enough, the Andalusian prisons have
now close resemblance to the Black
Hole of Calcutta. Penned together in
the foul cells, the floor covered with
dirty straw, with a loaf of hard bread
in one corner and a Jug of muddy wa
ter in the other, lie, now moodily
silent, now swearing and jesting, for
hidden to throw dice or play cards,
these wild-eyed peasants, some of them
old and white-haired, with blanket
thrown over them, others of them
young and stalwart, with a cloak
thrown jauntily over their shoulder.
Friends they had outside, for letters
and food found their way into their
midst; and sympathetic crowds gath
cred at the gates bowling for the re-
lease of the prisoners.
There is no more lovely valley in the
world than that in which the city of
Here's is placed. LuXuriant vegeta-
tion fringes the rivers which traverse
it majestically. Vast herds feed on
the slopes. Wealth untold and still
unsought lies hidden in the rocky soil.
A patient population, accustomed to
poverty, till the fields in patience,
paying to others the fruit of their
labor, earning for themselves a scanty
subsistence. Middlemen of the class
best known in Ireland and in Egypt
gather their rent or serve them with
notices of eviction. Their landlords
are grandees who live in Madrid, buzz
zing round the court of the young
King Alfonso, never moved to visit
their territories in the South.
But there came time when the
BOttoclhNo lCluDCu w lCLOSlllLt Ili6
claim of the land-owners-refused to
pay rent to the middlemen. Civil
guards and soldiers were sent against
them. Then began carnival of
crime. Robbery on the highway,
cattle-stealing, incendiarism, destruc-
tion of vineyards, moonlight attacks
these were for months the burden Of
the newspapers. Threatening letters
were received by the authorities; land
owners fled from the rural districts.
Among the wine-growers of Heres the
socialist propaganda had been spread.
Many murders we're reported in
lonely parts of the country;
dozens of people mysteriously dis
appeared. Judges came down
with extraordinary powers; civil
guards conducted the most rigid inves-
LEGATIONS, but nothing of Importance
could be learned. At last a servant
called on his master, told him that he
was deputed by secret society to kill
hiEl, and gave information where the
leaders Of the society might be found.
On the following night an attack was
made on lonely farm; the assailants,
driven off, left one of their number
belild, and he, being at the point of
death, made confession attributing
the deed to the instigation of secret
society.
Thus was discovered the organiza-
tion Of "The Black Hand" It's lead
ers were schoolmaster, a smuggler
and a brigand. It's inspiration came
from the defunct Internationale." It's
plan of action was to tempt the dis
contented operatives and farm laborers
into its ranks, offering them relief in
sickness or old age, and promising
that their material condition
should be improved. Within the circle
of casual recruits was formed an inner
circle, which gave itself the name
of 1.-THE Black Hand" and printed
black hand on every warning missive
which il sent out. 1t held its sessions
by torchlight, the members wearing
masks. 1t decoyed its victims into
lonely glens, slew and buried them
there. 1t established secret iuntas
over the entire region, and partly by
persuasion, partly by force, compelled
$4,000 persons to join its ranks, 1t
boasts that it hal branches in Murcia,
Estremadura and Portugal, and allies
in every socialistic society in the
world. But as soon as the civil
guards were on its track, and the
wholesale arrests that were made
proved the law to be in earnest, it
u 4 I