Weekly News. — 1892-01-14 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

ANARCHIST OUTBRE 4.K IN SPAIN.  The Standard correspondent at Madrid sends the following account of the Anarchist outbreak at Xeres: The authorities at Seville, Cadiz, and Xeres had recently observed an increase of agitation among the Anarchists in the towns of Xeres, Arcos, and Lebrija, and information sent by the local authorities led them to believe that some disturbance would take place at Xeres. On Friday night the authorities arrested 65 Anarchists, who were lodged in gaol at Xeres. Other precautions were taken, and the troops and gendarmes were confined to barracks. with their officers. This, no doubt, irritated , the Anarchists, who sent emissaries through the country around Xeres, inviting the rural Anarchists to strike, and on many estates the men acted upon these instructions. 'the day and evening passed off quietly on Friday at Xeres, and the theatre was, as usual, crowded. Fortunately the performance terminated earlier than usuaLand the people had got home w hen, at half-past 11 o'clock, some bands of rural Anar. hists,armed with sticks,scythes, knives, and firearms, appeared in the stieets, yelling horribly. They barbarously murdored a wine merchant and two other persons in the streets, and, divided into three groups, each 150 strong, they made a futile attack upon the prison, to liberate their companions, who were shouting inside. Other Anarchists attacked the barracks, but were easily repelled, dispersed, and pursued by cavalry and infantry, who captured 70 of them. Meanwhile anothet band had attacked the Town flall,where the principal authorities were assembled; but the Civil Guard, night watchmen, and police kept them at bay until being joined by the military returning from the pursuit of the second band, the assailants w,re utterly routed. The whole affair passed off so rapidly that in two hours the town was cleared of the assailants,whom the cavalry pursued into the country, and captured many, including some wounded men and the supposed authors of the murders in Xeres. The Anar,•hists cut the telegraph lines, and plundered several farms,from which they took the hoises and males, before entering Xeres, where they expected to be joined by their fellow Anarchists and the prisoners in the gaol,with a view to attack the rich people at the theatre. All the Anarchists who attacked the prison guard and barracks will, in accordance with the Spanish law,be taken before the Military Courts; the others will go before the Civil Judges, who have begun to examine the prisoners. The magistrates have elicited from them that they expected a general Anarchist movement throughout the district, and that they had recently received letters from German and Belgian Anarchists, encouraging them in their plot. The military authorities have telegraphed to the War Office that the Anarchists carried with them quantities of dynamite and copies of revolutionary proclamations. Xeres, the greatest emporilim of the Spanish wine trade, is one of the wealthiest and most prosperous cities of the Peninsula. It had been selected by the Anarchists for a night raid because they supposed nitwit wealth would be found there by those who assembled stealthily in the dead of the night to march upon the city, with the intention of sacking and burning it. The desperate bands attempted to carry out their Chiefs' instructions with cries of "Vita la Anarqui! " Although the attempt was signally defeated, it is a significant warning to the piliticians of the capital that whilst they are wasting time in concocting Protectionist tariffs which will damage their exterior trade and finances, Anarchy and Socialism are spreading, silently but very effectively, among their workmen in the towns, , the mining, and rural districts of Andalusia.