The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-03-28
THE BLACK HAND BAND.
Socialism Gradually But Surely Undermin-
ing the Monarchy in Spain.

Socialism Gradually But Surely Undermin-
ing the Monarchy in Spain.
The Spanish Government has unearthed
powerful inner circle of anarchists termed the
Band of the Black .Hand-a device which
their chiefs wore in their cravat pins, and used
on their paper, together with daggers and
other signs. They gave each associate num-
Der, and never laced names on their lists.
They were divided into circles of 10
or 90, under a local leader, who
alone knew his immediate chiefs, and nothing
of the promoters. Once on the scent, the
authorities seem to have acted with vigor, ad-
mirably seconded by the gendarmes, the hnest
soldiery in Spain. In less than fortnight
about 500 socialists and many important chiefs
of this movement were lodged in the jalls
of the principal towns. Among the per-
sons arrested are 10 agents OF the
Internationale, and, as in Belgium and
Monceauxles- Mines, France, these anarch-
lists were found to have in their possession
lists, documents, revolutionary proclamatlons
and communist placards to excite their poor
dupes, the workmen and peasantry. The
swift action of the police, the vigorous inves'l-
cations of special Judges and magistrates, soon
drew from Tic pllSOICiS IohiCooiohS '""1t w
not, however, save the guilty from the award
of the law in Spain, as the penal code allows
none to turn Queens evidence.
The magistrates of Seville were able to Sc
cure ID out of Is members of secret tribu-
nal that had assembled near Jerez, on Decem-
Der d, 1882. to Judge member of the "Black
Hand" The poor wretch was taken to SOL
i,ary spot, and being informed that he had
been condemned to death by the junta, he was
beaten, stabbed, shot, and afterward buried.
The actors in this tragedy believe that their
society must have executed" thus no less
than ID persons; and in the same way, with
the mock forms of justice, did mandates
90 forth for acts of incenda.ism, nigh at
tacks, ransoms, fines, cattle manning,
ETC. Emissaries of the Socialist club 5
and of the branches of the Internationale have
been at work among the peasants, using all
the entrapping prestige OF mystery and solemn
initiation, acting upon some by the bait Of
coalition to raise salaries and to assist the
workmen, enticing others by announcing the
approach of a popular revolutionary rising,
eniisting the credulous and ignorant by loud
denunciations against the rich, and especially
against the landlords.
Ready agents were found among the banditti
and the desperate characters wandering about
Southern hi Oh roads and in the suburbs of the
great cities to carry out the orders of the
anarchist juntas, and they practically quelled
the landlords, the farmers, the employers of
the labor, by the destruction of crops, the cut
ting down Of beautiful vine plants and olive
trees, by manning the fiocks and by incen-
darism and moonlight visits. Many timorous
people paid blackmail to avoid plumber, and
thousands, even in the better classes, joined
the outer circles of the secret societies to get
a protection that the law could not afford.
Since the Government, has taken the matter
in hand better state of affairs now exists in
the outraged Southern districts, but the reign
of terror is not over. The new penal code
that went into effect in January will enable
the Judges to make quick and effective work
of preventing future occurrences.