(As published in the Gibraltar Chronicle and Commercial Intelligencer)

It is but seldom that we have to record any outrages on Brit­ish subjects in this part of Spain, and we regret now to have to confirm the report of the cowardly assassination of one of our countrymen near Huelva :—

Mr. James Frederick Roberts, the unfortunate victim in the present in­stance, was the Station Master of the Buitrón Railway terminus at San Juan del Puerto, a small town on the Rio Tinto, about six miles from Huelva, and appears to have been a marked man for some days before he was assassinated.

On two occasions prior to that on which the fatal outrage took place the deceased was assaulted in a brutal and cowardly manner — once during the night of the 24th ultimo, on the occasion of an evening party given at his residence, when, on opening the door of his house to see who had been knocking at it from the outside, he received a severe blow on the face from an unknown hand, and a second time on the evening of the 30th, whilst walking out with his wife, when he was suddenly attacked, knocked down, and otherwise ill-treated. He was a very respectable and inoffensive person, the father of a numerous family, and had given no cause whatever for the acts of violence referred to, except that he had been compelled, on the occasion of the evening of the party above mentioned, to cause a crowd of disorderly and uninvited people, including the man who subsequently murdered him, to be turned out of his house by the police, in order that the festivities of the evening might not be forcibly discontinued. He proceeded to Huelva on the 1st inst., for the purpose of complaining to the British Vice-Consul of the above assaults, and on the facts being duly represented to the Provincial Governor an order was issued by the latter for the arrest and punishment of the delinquent, who, it was discovered, was Juan Fernandez y Beltran, a son of the Second Alcalde of San Juan del Puerto, and for the customary steps to be taken to prevent a repetition of the violence. On the following morning, at about 9 am., the deceased was informed by on of the neighbours that his assailant (whom he did not even know by sight) was passing along the street in front of the house driving a cart, and being naturally anxious to recognise his enemy so that he might be on guard against him in future, he went out to see him. The man’s father, the second Alcalde, generally known in that part of the country by the soubriquet of “Zaccarias,” who happened to be in the street at the time, ran up to the deceased and, laying hold of him by the collar, pulled him down to the ground, and with the assistance of certain members of his own family and some friends belaboured him most unmercifully. On seeing what was going on, Juan stopped his cart, jumped down, and rushed up to the spot where Mr Roberts was lying, drew his navaja and buried it in his stomach. Amongst the many atrocities committed, it is said that the assassin’s mother, a dame of more than ordinary proportions, jumped upon the deceased and stamped upon his chest with her feet. Hundreds of people witnessed the outrage, but not one of them attempted to interfere or even assist the unfortunate man after his assailants had left him. After a while he was allowed to get up and proceed to his house, and a doctor, the only one in the place, was immediately called to see him and attend to the injuries which he had received. Shortly afterwards, while he was still under the charge of the doctor, the Juez de Paz and Escribano of the place came to the house to take his declaration with regard to what had occurred, but, on being informed by the medical man that the patient was not at that moment able to make a statement, they noted all that he (the doctor) declared he had heard the wounded man say, and then went away. This statement, which represented deceased to have declared that he had been stabbed by Juan Fernandez, but that he himself had attacked his antagonist with a sword stick, was subsequently put in by the Juez de Paz at the enquiry instituted by the Juez de Primera Instancia of Huelva. The medical man furthermore declared, on his own account, that the knife wound was “leve” or unimportant, but that he had remarked signs of inflammation in the lungs, and in consequence of this declaration no orders were given for the immediate arrest of the murderer. Shortly afterwards the deceased called together some of his friends and caused one of them to put down in writing a statement which he made of all that had in reality taken place, and after duly signing this paper he sent to the Vice-Consul in Huelva, who legalised it and delivered it to the presiding Judge. During the evening of the day following that when the third and final outrage took place Mr. Roberts died, and an order for the arrest of the assassin being issued it was found that the latter had disappeared.
A post mortem examination of the body by two medical men of Huelva established the fact of the knife wound being fatal.

Mr. Reade, our Consul at Cadiz, went on the 6th instant to Huelva and immediately proceeded to take the measures necessary for pro­secuting all the parties implicated in the painful affair, confirming those al­ready initiated by our very able and energetic Vice-Consul, Don Eduardo Diaz y Gomez, and we are happy to learn that, notwithstanding the usual backwardness of Spaniards to give evidence of a nature to secure the condemnation of the guilty, Zaccarias, the Second Alcalde, and another ac­complice named Villegas have been committed to prison, whilst the local authorities are making every effort in their power to bring the affair to a satisfactory termination.
It is worthy of remark with regard to the Juez de Paz and Escribano of San Juan del Puerto that the first-named is a first cousin of the assassin and the other a half brother of his father, the second Alcalde.

The above account conclusively proves that a more cowardly, dastardly outrage cannot well be imagined ; that an utter dis­regard of human life is one of the most melancholy characteristics of the present state of society in Spain is a fact which is universally admitted by the press of the country, but it is high time that such people as the inhabitants of San Juan del Puerto should be taught that the absence in them of all the better feelings of humanity cannot be allowed to recoil on unoffending foreigners who are unfortunate enough to be called upon to pass a certain portion of their lives amongst them. In the present instance the only provocation given was that Mr. Roberts justly considered his house to be his own, and very naturally objected to the presence in it of a disorderly and uninvited mob. But he had not even taken the law in his own hands ; he called upon the police in a perfectly legitimate way to remove the offenders, and for this assertion of his undoubted rights he was foully and brutally murdered in an open street and in the presence of a crowd of the inhabitants of the town and with the assistance of the second Magistrate. The vigorous prosecution of the case may be safely left in the hands of Mr. Reade, H.B.M. Consul at Cadiz, who has on previous occasions manifested his ability to maintain the cause of his countrymen ; but we sincerely hope that the Government will strengthen his hands in this matter in a manner marked enough to leave a lasting impression.