UNREST IN PORTUGAL

Otago Witness, Issue 3111, 29 October 1913, Page 29

UNREST IN PORTUGAL

OVER 100 ARRESTS MADE,

EXCITING SCENES IN LISBON

LISBON, October 22.

The Government in a circular to the Powers states that the Monarchists attempted a subversive movement,' but notwithstanding strong preparations they completely failed. - The railway lines have been cut and a number of telegraph lines interrupted. Nobody connected with the army or navy participated in the rising. The rising was fixed for 3 o’clock in the morning. Armed parties assembled in the neighbourhood of the barracks. One man attempted to scale the walls of the Military School and obtain arms, but he was frustrated. The revolt was directed by two com mittees—-one civil and one military. The signal for a general outbreak was to be the murder of Ministers and officials, whereupon three columns which were organised in the suburbs were to take simultaneous action. Meanwhile Captain Continho, a French refugee, was waiting on the frontier and had deposited arms-in various parts of the country preparatory to simultaneous risings. The Government’s knowledge made the suppression of the revolt easy. The police broke up a meeting in an embroidery workshop after a sharp struggle and arrested all the conspirators, who were arranging to rescue the prisoners in the civil prison. Groups of armed men appeared in various centres at night time, and conflicts ensued. The Government was aware of the plot,, and was able to disperse and arrest the ringleaders and restore order. The rebels destroyed two bridges. October 23. Senor Continho was arrested, together with a number of men who had been entrusted with the assassination of Senor Costa. October 24. The Government is relentlessly repress ing monarchism. One hundred and thirty political prisoners have been removed from the Lin ceiro prison to a frontier fortress. ’ MADRID, October 23. Advices from Portugal state that the situation in Lisbon was serious for some time. . A strong force of rebels, many of whom were disguised as policemen, attacked the police stations, and in one instance the station was captured and the wires cut. An alarm was promptly raised, and troops, bluejackets, and firemen soon recaptured the station. Two hundred bluejackets, with quickfirers, were chiefly instrumental in mastering the situation. Strong patrols of infantry and cavalry scoured the streets of the city throughout the night, dispersing disjointed bands of rebels, who were all well armed. At latest advice the troops were massed in the city, and the offices of the various Ministries were strongly guarded. All Monarchist newspapers have been suppressed. PARIS, October 24. A story is current that while a peasant was driving a straw-filled cart on ".ho Spanish-Portugese frontier a Customs officer thrust his sword several times into the straw. After telling the driver to proceed he noticed blood trickling from the cart. The driver sprang to the ground and fled, and the officials found amongst the straw the body of a Royalist leader, whose heart had been pierced by the Customs officer’s sword. The man had been trying to escape. % LONDON, October 21. The Portuguese wires are interrupted. A Reuter’s censored message from Lisbon states that the Monarchists attacked the police and the Republican Guards in an attempt to release the political prisoners at %’arious points. Over 100 arrests were The Government claims to have stifled the revolt. The Daily Express’s correspondent at Lisbon states that a reign of terror continues. It is whispered that a word in a cafe is enough to consign a suspect to an underground cell. Posted letters are opened, and the Carbonari are concocting plots against the Republic for the purpose of demolishing it and then receiving liberal payment for the results. Reuter’s Lisbon correspondent states that several of those arrested occupy high social positions, including army and navy officers. The chief quartermaster of the Quimarses committed suicide with a revolver when he was arrested. The Monarchist leaders, including Moreira and Almeida, have fled.