Alfredo Luís da Costa
Encyclopedia
Alfredo Luís da Costa was a Portuguese
publicist, editor, journalist, store clerk and salesman who was part of the Portuguese Carbonária
and a Mason
, best remembered for being one of the two assassins (with Manuel Buíça
) credited in the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal
and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide
(on February 1, 1908), ultimately leading to his death.
, Castro Verde.
From a small farm in the Alentejo, he travelled to Lisbon
where he worked for his uncle, a member of the Associação dos Empregados do Comércio de Lisboa (English: Association of Commerce Workers of Lisbon), and learned the alphabet in his shop.
On meeting Alfredo Luís, he was described as "...of a serious physiognomy, almost tragic" and with "big brown eyes, slow-moving, with a stance that appeared sleep-walking...with a moustache on his face, the nose lightly bent to the left. It is probable that he had untreated tubercolosis...and a perceptible bend in his back..." Later, Costa would continue as a sales clerk, after leaving the employ of his uncle, and traveling the country. Self-trained and a natural rebel, in Angra do Heroísmo
he worked for a labour newspaper for workers in commerce, where as an able journalist he continued to submit weekly dispatches. While in Angra, he was also the driving force behind the Núcleo da Juventude Anarco-Sindicalista (English: Center for Anarchist-Syndicalist Youth) He continued his career in 1903, in Estremoz, where he was a republican propagandist, contributing to local newspapers with an unlimited dedication. With a small loan from a colleague he founded a small bookstore, A Social Editora, with Aquilino Ribeiro
, where he edited several pamphlets against the regime, and distributed them door-to-door. This included his A Filha do Jardineiro (English: The Gardener's Daughter) an ironic romance that desparged the royal family over seven decades, and which consumed most of his savings.
A republican radical, though not an extremist, he was a mason
in the Lisbon Mountain Lodge with contemporaries such as Aquilino Ribeiro
, Luz de Almeida and Machado Santos.
By January 31, 1908 he lived in the second-floor apartment at Rua dos Douradores, 20 in Lisbon
. Costa was single, childless, an employee in commercial business, while collaborator in several publications and administrator of the weekly O Caixeiro.
(January 28, 1908) Costa lead a group of 20 men (with Manuel Buiça
) to assault the Royal Palace of Necessidades
, but modified their strategy and, instead, attacked the Quartel dos Lóios. Later they confronted several members of the Guarda Municipal (English: Municipal Guard) near Rua de Santa Bárbara when they were waiting for a mortar explosion to signal the main attack. Planned, financed and armed by elements of the Portuguese Republican
and Progressive Dissidency Parties, the coup d'etat
was to be carried out by members of the Carbonária
, Formiga Branca and masonry
in order to proclaim a Republic and/or assassinate Prime Minister João Franco
.
The coup failed when the police were tipped-off to the conspiracy and had reinforced strategic posts throughout the city. As several members of the Republican registry were rounded-up, Alfredo Costa was able to escape the police sweep, as he was not at his pre-designated post for the coup. In fact, the prisons were full of high-ranking members of the conspiracy who were easily picked-up as they meandered through the city.
In the backroom of the Café Gelo, a popular and frequented destination of the Carbonária and republicans was relatively empty. With a small group, that included Manuel Buíça
, Alfredo Costa continued to gather in the cafe, even as others silently or quickly passed by without entering. Actually, Costa continued to freely walk through the city, congregating with republican elements, while exhorting his peers to continue the struggle. During an encounter with Machado Santos and Soares Andrea at the Café Gelo, shortly after the attempted coupe, he affirmed:
This refrain was followed by a conspicuous patting of his coat, where he carried his Browning revolver.
and other Carbonárias in the Quinta do Xexé, in Olivais, where they finalized the assassination of João Franco
and members of the Royal Family. It is unclear when the decision was made to kill the King, but it was part of the instructions given to the cell that Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buíca belonged to, during the Elevator coup attempt.
At about two in the afternoon, Manuel Buíça and three others had lunch in a corner-table near the kitchen in the Café Gelo. The assassins talked quietly, as Alfredo Costa quickly ate his meal. Manuel Buíça was the first to get up, and he advised his cohorts that he would go catch "the boat" (referring to his intent to meet the King's ferry as it arrived). By four o'clock, Alfredo Costa, Fabrício de Lemos and Ximenes, assumed positions under the arcade of the Minister of the Kingdom in the Terreiro do Paço
. Manuel Buíça with Domingos Ribeiro and José Maria Nunes, positioned themselves within the square, near the statue of D. José across from the Ministry, alongside a tree and kiosk
. The six-man cell
await along the planned route of the Royal Family, along with the rest of the gathered population, eyeing the arrival of the boat on which they travelled.
After the disembarking, around 5:20, Manuel Buíça had begun firing on the landau
. Alfredo Costa jumped on the carriage and fired two shots into the already lifeless body of the monarch: Buíça had already killed the King with his first shot. The Queen
confronted Costa with her bouquet of flowers, yelling: "Infames! Infames!" (English: Infamous). Costa turned to the Crown Prince and fired a shot that hit him in the chest, but being of a small calibre it does not penetrate the sternum and the Prince opened fire on Costa, firing four rapid shots with his service revolver. Costa fell from the carriage; later, in the autopsy, it is learned that the shots fractured Costa's left humerus
and although it was not fatal, it impeded him from holding onto the edge of the landau. A mounted cavalry officer, Lieutenant Figueira, then attacked Costa with his sabre wounding him in the back and face. The municipal police then commit to the attack and two agents apprehend him and drag the assassin to the police quadrant near the city hall. At the entrance he is shot by an unidentified officer or member of the Municipal Guard, which perforates his lung, killing him.
in order to convince the director to provide a civil funeral.
Autopsied in the early evening of the same day, the coroner found a total of 11 wounds throughout his body. There were three wounds in his head, two on the back and one in the chest which were caused by a sword, but were not considered fatal. A seventh wound corresponded to a wound on the left-side of his face. The rest of the wounds were caused by gun shots: one in the lower back, one straight-through wound in the armpit and the humerus wound (both attributed to Prince Luís Fillipe) and finally, a wound caused by a bullet that hit him in the upper part of his chest and perforated his lung, crossed his thorax, fracturing and lodging itself in a rib. This last wound was fatal, and responsible for Costa's death. The projectile was no recovered, but from the description, was a small 5–10 mm bullet from a 6.35-7.65 calibre automatic, which was not in standard for the Portuguese police at that time. This reinforced a theory that was promulgated by conspiracy theorists: that Alfredo Costa was killed by people who did not wish the assassins to be interrogated.
and João Sabino (an unfortunate victim of the chaos) were prepared and delivered (except for Sabino's body) to the cemetery of Alto de São João (Lisbon)
. Arriving, the coffins were sealed and buried (in markers 6044 e 6045); in 1914 the bones of the assassins were transferred to the mausoleum chamber 4251.
Ironically, the acclamation government of Ferreira do Amaral
permitted public mourning by republicans, who had apologized for the assassinations and who considered the assassins friends of the Fatherland. Approximately 22,000 people would pay their respects at the graves of Costa and Buíça; the civil ceremony was organized by the Civil Registry Association, which furnished the flowers and paid 500 réis
per person and 200 réis per child that appeared at the graves. After the establishment of the Republic, the same Association acquired land in the cemetery in order to construct a monument to the heroic liberators of the Fatherland (as written on the request to the Lisbon city hall authorities in their petition). The monument was eventually dismantled by the Estado Novo government and the bodies transferred to other locations within the cemetery, and the monument's elements were abandoned.
The final report into the assassination of King Carlos and Crown Prince, which was ready for judicial investigation disappeared (on October 25, 1910), shortly after the proclamation of the First Portuguese Republic. Judge Almeida e Azevedo submitted the process to Dr. José Barbosa, member of the Provisional Government, who was responsible for delivering it to Afonso Costa
, the new Minister of Justice.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
publicist, editor, journalist, store clerk and salesman who was part of the Portuguese Carbonária
Carbonária
The Carbonária was originally an anti-clerical, revolutionary, conspiratorial society, originally established in Portugal in 1822 but soon disbanded. It was allied with the Italian Carbonari. A new organization of the same name and claiming to be its continuation was founded in 1896 by Artur...
and a Mason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, best remembered for being one of the two assassins (with Manuel Buíça
Manuel Buiça
Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça , was Portuguese schoolteacher, former cavalry Sergeant, and excellent marksman involved with Alfredo Costa in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide .-Biography:Son of...
) credited in the assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal
Carlos I of Portugal
-Assassination:On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by train to Barreiro and, from there, they took a steamer to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais do Sodré in central Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the open...
and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide
Lisbon Regicide
The Lisbon Regicide was the name given for the assassinations of King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Luis Filipe, the Prince Royal by assassins sympathetic to republican interests...
(on February 1, 1908), ultimately leading to his death.
Biography
He was born to Manuel Luís da Costa and Maria João da Costa in the small village of CasévelCasével
Casével is a Portuguese town and civil parish within the boundaries of Castro Verde Municipality, in the Alentejo Region, located 10 kilometres north-west of the municipal seat...
, Castro Verde.
From a small farm in the Alentejo, he travelled to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
where he worked for his uncle, a member of the Associação dos Empregados do Comércio de Lisboa (English: Association of Commerce Workers of Lisbon), and learned the alphabet in his shop.
On meeting Alfredo Luís, he was described as "...of a serious physiognomy, almost tragic" and with "big brown eyes, slow-moving, with a stance that appeared sleep-walking...with a moustache on his face, the nose lightly bent to the left. It is probable that he had untreated tubercolosis...and a perceptible bend in his back..." Later, Costa would continue as a sales clerk, after leaving the employ of his uncle, and traveling the country. Self-trained and a natural rebel, in Angra do Heroísmo
Angra do Heroísmo
Angra do Heroísmo , locally referred to as Angra, is a municipality and city on the island of Terceira, within the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. The municipal area has a population of 35,581 and an area of . Along with Praia da Vitória to the north, it is one of two municipal...
he worked for a labour newspaper for workers in commerce, where as an able journalist he continued to submit weekly dispatches. While in Angra, he was also the driving force behind the Núcleo da Juventude Anarco-Sindicalista (English: Center for Anarchist-Syndicalist Youth) He continued his career in 1903, in Estremoz, where he was a republican propagandist, contributing to local newspapers with an unlimited dedication. With a small loan from a colleague he founded a small bookstore, A Social Editora, with Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro, ComL was a Portuguese writer and diplomat. He is considered as one of the great Portuguese novelists of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize in 1960....
, where he edited several pamphlets against the regime, and distributed them door-to-door. This included his A Filha do Jardineiro (English: The Gardener's Daughter) an ironic romance that desparged the royal family over seven decades, and which consumed most of his savings.
A republican radical, though not an extremist, he was a mason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
in the Lisbon Mountain Lodge with contemporaries such as Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Ribeiro
Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro, ComL was a Portuguese writer and diplomat. He is considered as one of the great Portuguese novelists of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize in 1960....
, Luz de Almeida and Machado Santos.
By January 31, 1908 he lived in the second-floor apartment at Rua dos Douradores, 20 in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. Costa was single, childless, an employee in commercial business, while collaborator in several publications and administrator of the weekly O Caixeiro.
Elevator coup
On the disastrous evening of the Municipal Library Elevator CoupMunicipal Library Elevator Coup
The Municipal Library Elevator Coup, The Elevator Coup or 28 January 1908 Coup , was the name given for the attempted coup d'etat by members of the Portuguese Republican Party and Progressive...
(January 28, 1908) Costa lead a group of 20 men (with Manuel Buiça
Manuel Buiça
Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça , was Portuguese schoolteacher, former cavalry Sergeant, and excellent marksman involved with Alfredo Costa in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide .-Biography:Son of...
) to assault the Royal Palace of Necessidades
Palace of Necessidades
The Palace of Necessidades is a historical building in the Largo do Rilvas, a public square in Lisbon, Portugal...
, but modified their strategy and, instead, attacked the Quartel dos Lóios. Later they confronted several members of the Guarda Municipal (English: Municipal Guard) near Rua de Santa Bárbara when they were waiting for a mortar explosion to signal the main attack. Planned, financed and armed by elements of the Portuguese Republican
Portuguese Republican Party
The Portuguese Republican Party was a Portuguese political party formed during the late years of monarchy that proposed and conducted the substitution of the Constitutional Monarchy by the Portuguese First Republic....
and Progressive Dissidency Parties, the coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
was to be carried out by members of the Carbonária
Carbonária
The Carbonária was originally an anti-clerical, revolutionary, conspiratorial society, originally established in Portugal in 1822 but soon disbanded. It was allied with the Italian Carbonari. A new organization of the same name and claiming to be its continuation was founded in 1896 by Artur...
, Formiga Branca and masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
in order to proclaim a Republic and/or assassinate Prime Minister João Franco
João Franco
João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo-Branco, GCTE was a Portuguese politician, Minister, 43rd Minister for Treasury Affairs and 73rd Prime Minister in the last years of the Portuguese monarchy...
.
The coup failed when the police were tipped-off to the conspiracy and had reinforced strategic posts throughout the city. As several members of the Republican registry were rounded-up, Alfredo Costa was able to escape the police sweep, as he was not at his pre-designated post for the coup. In fact, the prisons were full of high-ranking members of the conspiracy who were easily picked-up as they meandered through the city.
In the backroom of the Café Gelo, a popular and frequented destination of the Carbonária and republicans was relatively empty. With a small group, that included Manuel Buíça
Manuel Buiça
Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça , was Portuguese schoolteacher, former cavalry Sergeant, and excellent marksman involved with Alfredo Costa in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide .-Biography:Son of...
, Alfredo Costa continued to gather in the cafe, even as others silently or quickly passed by without entering. Actually, Costa continued to freely walk through the city, congregating with republican elements, while exhorting his peers to continue the struggle. During an encounter with Machado Santos and Soares Andrea at the Café Gelo, shortly after the attempted coupe, he affirmed:
- "If someone attempts to grab me...I will burn him to pieces"
This refrain was followed by a conspicuous patting of his coat, where he carried his Browning revolver.
Assassination to death
On the morning of February 1908, Alfredo Costa met with Manuel BuíçaManuel Buiça
Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça , was Portuguese schoolteacher, former cavalry Sergeant, and excellent marksman involved with Alfredo Costa in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide .-Biography:Son of...
and other Carbonárias in the Quinta do Xexé, in Olivais, where they finalized the assassination of João Franco
João Franco
João Franco Ferreira Pinto Castelo-Branco, GCTE was a Portuguese politician, Minister, 43rd Minister for Treasury Affairs and 73rd Prime Minister in the last years of the Portuguese monarchy...
and members of the Royal Family. It is unclear when the decision was made to kill the King, but it was part of the instructions given to the cell that Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buíca belonged to, during the Elevator coup attempt.
At about two in the afternoon, Manuel Buíça and three others had lunch in a corner-table near the kitchen in the Café Gelo. The assassins talked quietly, as Alfredo Costa quickly ate his meal. Manuel Buíça was the first to get up, and he advised his cohorts that he would go catch "the boat" (referring to his intent to meet the King's ferry as it arrived). By four o'clock, Alfredo Costa, Fabrício de Lemos and Ximenes, assumed positions under the arcade of the Minister of the Kingdom in the Terreiro do Paço
Praça do Comércio
The Praça do Comércio is located in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Situated near the Tagus river, the square is still commonly known as Terreiro do Paço , because it was the location of the Paços da Ribeira until it was destroyed by the great 1755 Lisbon Earthquake...
. Manuel Buíça with Domingos Ribeiro and José Maria Nunes, positioned themselves within the square, near the statue of D. José across from the Ministry, alongside a tree and kiosk
Kiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
. The six-man cell
Clandestine cell system
A clandestine cell structure is a method for organizing a group of people in such a way that it can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization. Depending on the group's philosophy, its operational area, the communications technologies available, and the nature of the mission,...
await along the planned route of the Royal Family, along with the rest of the gathered population, eyeing the arrival of the boat on which they travelled.
After the disembarking, around 5:20, Manuel Buíça had begun firing on the landau
Landau
Landau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...
. Alfredo Costa jumped on the carriage and fired two shots into the already lifeless body of the monarch: Buíça had already killed the King with his first shot. The Queen
Amélie d'Orléans
Amélie of Orléans was the last Queen consort of Portugal, known to her husband's subjects as "Maria Amélia"...
confronted Costa with her bouquet of flowers, yelling: "Infames! Infames!" (English: Infamous). Costa turned to the Crown Prince and fired a shot that hit him in the chest, but being of a small calibre it does not penetrate the sternum and the Prince opened fire on Costa, firing four rapid shots with his service revolver. Costa fell from the carriage; later, in the autopsy, it is learned that the shots fractured Costa's left humerus
Humerus
The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....
and although it was not fatal, it impeded him from holding onto the edge of the landau. A mounted cavalry officer, Lieutenant Figueira, then attacked Costa with his sabre wounding him in the back and face. The municipal police then commit to the attack and two agents apprehend him and drag the assassin to the police quadrant near the city hall. At the entrance he is shot by an unidentified officer or member of the Municipal Guard, which perforates his lung, killing him.
Autopsy and burial
Alfredo Costa, was buried on February 11, 1908. The day before, a group of three men, members of the Associação do Registo Civil (English: Civil Registry Association) who manifested outside the morgueMorgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
in order to convince the director to provide a civil funeral.
Autopsied in the early evening of the same day, the coroner found a total of 11 wounds throughout his body. There were three wounds in his head, two on the back and one in the chest which were caused by a sword, but were not considered fatal. A seventh wound corresponded to a wound on the left-side of his face. The rest of the wounds were caused by gun shots: one in the lower back, one straight-through wound in the armpit and the humerus wound (both attributed to Prince Luís Fillipe) and finally, a wound caused by a bullet that hit him in the upper part of his chest and perforated his lung, crossed his thorax, fracturing and lodging itself in a rib. This last wound was fatal, and responsible for Costa's death. The projectile was no recovered, but from the description, was a small 5–10 mm bullet from a 6.35-7.65 calibre automatic, which was not in standard for the Portuguese police at that time. This reinforced a theory that was promulgated by conspiracy theorists: that Alfredo Costa was killed by people who did not wish the assassins to be interrogated.
Afterward
Costa's body, along with that of Manuel BuíçaManuel Buiça
Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça , was Portuguese schoolteacher, former cavalry Sergeant, and excellent marksman involved with Alfredo Costa in the regicide of King Carlos I of Portugal and the Prince Royal, Luis Filipe, during the events that became known as the 1908 Lisbon Regicide .-Biography:Son of...
and João Sabino (an unfortunate victim of the chaos) were prepared and delivered (except for Sabino's body) to the cemetery of Alto de São João (Lisbon)
São João (Lisbon)
São João is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Lisbon. It was created on February 7, 1959.-Main sites:*Santos-o-Novo Convent*Santa Apolónia Fort...
. Arriving, the coffins were sealed and buried (in markers 6044 e 6045); in 1914 the bones of the assassins were transferred to the mausoleum chamber 4251.
Ironically, the acclamation government of Ferreira do Amaral
Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral
Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral, GCTS, KCVO was a Portuguese naval commander and politician.-Ancestry:...
permitted public mourning by republicans, who had apologized for the assassinations and who considered the assassins friends of the Fatherland. Approximately 22,000 people would pay their respects at the graves of Costa and Buíça; the civil ceremony was organized by the Civil Registry Association, which furnished the flowers and paid 500 réis
Reis
-Surname:Reis is a common surname in the Portuguese language, namely in Portugal and Brazil. It was originally a Christian devotional family name of the Middle Ages, probably due to the Portuguese name for the Biblical Magi, the Reis Magos . Sometimes the surname is dos Reis...
per person and 200 réis per child that appeared at the graves. After the establishment of the Republic, the same Association acquired land in the cemetery in order to construct a monument to the heroic liberators of the Fatherland (as written on the request to the Lisbon city hall authorities in their petition). The monument was eventually dismantled by the Estado Novo government and the bodies transferred to other locations within the cemetery, and the monument's elements were abandoned.
The final report into the assassination of King Carlos and Crown Prince, which was ready for judicial investigation disappeared (on October 25, 1910), shortly after the proclamation of the First Portuguese Republic. Judge Almeida e Azevedo submitted the process to Dr. José Barbosa, member of the Provisional Government, who was responsible for delivering it to Afonso Costa
Afonso Costa
Afonso Augusto da Costa, GCTE, GCL was a Portuguese lawyer, professor, and republican politician.-Political career:Costa was the leader of the Portuguese Republican Party, and he was one of the major figures of the Portuguese First Republic. He was a republican deputy in the Chamber of Deputies...
, the new Minister of Justice.