The Meeker herald., 1904-02-13

''alunu .>egra." In which he WAS Or
dered to pay $1,000 or forfeit his life,
he promptly paid up in accordance
with the directions contained In the
mysterious missive. Capiello il of Ital-
ian extraction. and In his native land,
as In other Latin countries in the south
of Europe, La Mano Negfa," or 1.-THE
Black Hand" is even more dreaded
that the Malta. as an organization of
cut thr0ats banded together and
shrinking from no means, however des-
pernte. in the carrying out of their
fell purposes.
1t was for this reason that mortal
fear took possession of Capiellos soul
when, after this first payment, he re-
celved other threatening letters, one
demanding $4,000. the other $4,000,
from the same source, and found that
it would be impossible for him to CON-
ply with the demands. He was at his
wits end. but finally, upon the repre-
sensations of his family. he went to the
police and asked protection. sdenounc-
ing FIVE Italians with whom he had
dealt In paying over the initial $1,000.
These five men. who. the police de-
clare. were the local agents of the
BLACK Hand" were arrested and held
in $1,000 bail on charge of blackmail.
II Capiello had followed carefully the
trend Of events in his native country
and In Europe generally during this
year he could have saved his $1,000 and
spared himself great deal of worry
and anxiety into the bargain. He
would have learned that no such organ
ization as the "Blac.. Hand" ever ex.
listed, that it was merely a fiction
started for political purposes and had
conspiracy on the part of the Span
ISL police and high officials Of the
Spanish Government of thirty years
ago to thank for Its artificial life.
The BLACK Hand" was first heard of
in 1874. In that year the news that an
organization of criminals SO named
and having vast ramifcations had
been discovered in the south of Spain,
made the round Of the European press.
1t was said that the members, in car
rying out Its purposes. robbed, muir
dered and applied the torch in the
most cruel and reckless fashion, and
that they could be successfully dealt
with only by the most radical repres.
sfve methods, such rs wholesale inn
prisonments. numerous death penal-
ties, and life sentences.
During the past year facts have been
brought to light which, 1t Ii affirmed.
show beyond doubt that this WAS mere
" fiction circulated as the first step
In carrying out q programme, then
mapped out. for the suppression Of GER
tain liberal and revolutionary tenaen-
cies which had manifested themselveA
among labor organixa tons in Spain.
In Spain the year 1874 was ushered
in by the coup d'etat in which the Cas-
telar's republic went under and Al
phonse XII, father of the present
King. was placed on the throne. Re
dictionary measures by the new Gov
eminent gave rise to social unrest all
over the country. but especially in the
southern province of Andalusia, where
a famine had plunged into deep dis
tress the great agricultural working
population. who even in the most ia
vorable years suffered greatly under
the injustice of indoient landowners.
Sundry cases Of violence that had &C.
CURED 0ccasioned a speech In the Cor
ties by the late Premier Sagasta, who
recommended that the malcontents be
sternly suppressed. Shortly afterward
prosecution of the BLACK Hand" was
instigated by Don Tomas Perez Mon
forte. then Governor of the province.
From sworn statements which had
been published in the Spanish organ
TERRA y Libertad. an idea can be
gained Of the methods used by Mon
forte in beginning his work of repres-
sion. Manuel Sanchez Alvarez. Span
ish laborer and survivor from those
days, declares that he was at work
in a vineyard near Here's, when a
gendarme appeared and took him be-
fore the Governor. The latter invited
him to smoke good cigars and drink
sparkling wine. and then, telling him
he could talk to him as freely as to
his father confessor. made him an Of
fer of five or six times a laborer's hire
IL he would divulge to him the names
Of some of the most active members
in the labor organisations and incite
them to set fire to some plantation af
ter first having given the police hint.
Alvarez declined, but shortly after
ward acts Of that particular nature
were committed 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
''Mano Negra" was none of those ac-
cuSed of being members Of the organ
ixation ever knew. The only thing
known is that one day, in the vicinity
Of villamartin. in the district affected
by the unrest, the black impression
of hand wns seen in two or three
places on a house wall.
To many this only was IN indication
that some painters who had been at
work On the house had been careless