The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-08-13

pressed. Shortly afterward prosecu-
ton OF the Black Hand" was insti-
gated by the governor Of the prov
ince, Don Tomas Perez Monforte.
A Survivors, Account.
About year ago, on the occasion
or renewal Of the plague which In
rested France and England under the
guise Of the name BLACK Hand" the
Ile Terra Libertad," Spanish news
paper, began an investigation, which
brought to light the facts concerning
the era when the organization was be-
heVed to have grown up. A history
OF the methods of the officials of the
Spanish government was given and
from sworn statements published at
the time, an idea of the situation can
be gained. Manuel Sanchez Alvarez,
a Spanish laborer, and survivor of
those days, declares that he was at
work in a vineyard near Xeres when
gendarme appeared and took him
before the governor. The latter in
y1ted him to smoke good cigars and
drink sparkling wine, and then, tell
ing him that he could talk with him
as freely as to his father confessor,
made him an offer Of five or six times
a laborer's hire if he would divulge
to him the names of some of the most
active members Of the labor organiza-
tons and incite them to set fire to
some plantations after first having
given the police a hint. Alvarez de-
cl1ned, but shortly afterward acts Of
that particular nature were commit
ted in the vicinity and thirty or forty
men, including Alvarez, were arrested,
tried and many of them sent to prison.
This was the beginning. What the
noRr9' Of
cused of being members Of that or
gan1zatton ever knew. The only
thing known is that one day, in the
vicinity of Villa Martin, in the dis
trfct affected by the unrest, the black
impression Of a. hand was seen in two
or three places on house wall. To
many this was only an indication that
some painters who had been at work
on the house had been careless. But
the governor of the province insisted
that it was sign of the secret revo-
lutionary society in the district, and
to prove it, declared that he and his
aide had found concealed under
stone near. by the bylaws of the or
ganization, a list of their crimes and
a copy of an oath in which the men,
bers bound themselves to rob and
murder and burn. The statement
was credited in some circles, and that
is how the organization was chris
tened.
Some Celebrated Cases.
The fiction has run thru at least
half a dozen causes celebres," the
most sensational being the so-called
Parilla case. In December, 1882, Bar
tolomeo Campos, a workingman, was
murdered in Cadiz in a fight with
his cousin, Manuel Cage. Both had
h +, 11Jo
ton, but Campos had been expelled
as the result of liaison with the wife
of one Of the members. Tho every
thing seemed to point to an ordinary
murder, the authorities insisted that
it was the BLACK Hand" One hun.
dred workingmen were arrested and
seven were garroted after Don Man.
province, in a speech brinlful of SUI
perlatives, had demanded that the
death penalty. be inflicted on fifteen
Of those arrested. Six were sentenced
to life Imprisonment, and it is thru
letters which three of these have sue.
ceeded in. smuggling out from the
prisons where they were immured,
ploded.
There were two other cases grow
ing out Of the same murder one the
ARGOS case, the other known as 1.-THE
Inn eSof the -Four Walls case AS a
result, these eight persons are suf-
fering life Imprisonment for complete
ty in conspiracy which never ex-
listed.
"A Convenient Myth.
Since then the name .sMano Negra"
has been conveniently invoked by the
Spanish authorities in furtherance of
their aims when anybody suspected
Of liberal views figured in connection
with a murder. Crooks from the
southern countries of Europe, sojourn-
ing In foreign lands, have been quick
to seize upon the use of the fearsome
name, and have extorted thousands
of dollars from their countrymen,
knowing them to be familiar with the
terrible reputation of the organization
of the BLACK Hand and being them
selves desperate enough to commit
an occasional murder and shrewd
enough to leave some clue seeming to
indicate that the victim had incurreS
the displeasure of the order by re-
fusing to comply with their demands,
so as to keep up the reputation of the
name and make possible further
blackmailing under the same guize
Now and then the Minneapolis police
have a crime to Investigate, or a COM
plant of an Italian, which appears to
have some connection with a secret
organization, and the Black Hand"
or the Malta" is accused. But the
most work" is done with the fiction
In the eastern cities, where the Ital-
ian and Spanish population is larger