2023-08-10 13:41:53
On June 28, 1910, when the sun had already set, the civil guards at the Gádor post received an unexpected visit. Julio Hernandez, whom everyone knew as ‘the fool’ in Almería, appeared before them to declare that he had found the lifeless body of a little boy just 7 years old in a nearby ravine. The agents could not know it, but they had just started a race to unmask the murderer who fueled the legend of the Spanish ‘bogeyman’. That curious character who, these days, has been revived thanks to a film with the same name –’The Bogeyman’– by Ángel Gómez Hernández.
The germ of the crime had been planted a few months before, and by the hand of a guy as shady as Francisco Ortega, 55 years old. «This character had been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. His days were numbered and, in his despair, he put himself in the hands of a healer, Agustina Rodríguez, who at first applied a series of home remedies, “the journalist explains to ABC Alberto de Frutosauthor of ‘At the crime scene. Two centuries of black Time.news in Spain’ (Larousse).
bloody spells
The potions were useless and only increased the despair of the patient. What the hell could he do to escape death? “At Ortega’s insistence and pleas, the sorceress went to plan B: she advised him to drink the blood of a child and apply the butter to her chest to heal. An outrage as a result of the trickery and obscurantism of the time, “says the journalist. Her remedy would not be free; In addition to what she had paid, she asked him for 3,000 more reais.
«The result was a crazy plan that had the participation of another character just as sinister as the woman: francis leone, also a barber and healer, “says De Frutos. The latter, still today, is considered the true mastermind of the plan. And that, despite the fact that he was a member of a respectable family.
Ortega, Rodríguez and Leona needed an executive arm, and this was the son of the healer. TO Julio Hernandez, ‘the fool’, promised him some coins to buy a shotgun in exchange for perpetrating the kidnapping. Then they selected the victim: the little Bernardo Gonzalez. «The chronicles of the time were very detailed and gave us goosebumps. The boy was only 7 years old when Leona and ‘the fool’ kidnapped him while he was picking some figs. Then they took him in a sack to an uninhabited farmhouse, where they met with the patient, the healer, and several of her relatives”, reveals the author of ‘At the scene of the crime’.
There began a shocking ritual that includes the film by Gómez Hernández. “It wasn’t fast. First they placed him on a table and immobilized him. Later, they stuck a knife in his armpit to extract the blood little by little, “explains De Frutos. At the same time, while the liquid fell on a pot, Ortega gave a good account of it. “The newspapers confirm that he mixed the blood with sugar. He suspects that to be able to drink it without vomiting ». When they considered that the amount was sufficient, they returned Bernardo to the sack, took him to a nearby ravine and beat him to death.
hunted down and executed
The investigations were arduous, but they did not take long to shed light. The first crumb of the road led the Civil Guard to Leona. ‘The fool’ accused him of having killed the child. Both were arrested and interrogated. In the end, part of the truth came out.
“It was Julio himself who put the authorities on notice and took them to the crime scene. Since he wasn’t very smart, he accused Leona himself. Because? Because she hadn’t bought him the shotgun she had promised him. The Civil Guard arrested both and it did not take too long to reconstruct the case. Once the investigation was completed, the prosecutor of the Almería Court requested eight death sentences,” De Frutos sentenced.
With the evidence in hand, the court had it very easy. After five days of a trial that shook the whole of Spain, the sentence was handed down: three death sentences, those of Ortega, Rodríguez and Hernández. The rest of the participants were released. Little punishment for a society outraged by the death of a sinless child. The ABC newspaper insisted, in its many reports on the crime, the deep wound that this murder had caused:
«People, leaving the trial, break into unanimous cries of indignation and protest. The guards have to clear to make way and protect the criminals against the wrath of the crowd, while they get into the car, which starts at a gallop, followed by more than 2,000 people who continue to shout and shout for justice.
Paradoxes of life, Ortega was not killed by tuberculosis, but by the vile club…
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