It is 2.15pm on 19 February 1841. In Cais do Tojo, the crowd has gathered to observe the last breath of the ferocious beast. A few sobs emerge from the heavy silence. The people of Lisbon had come to ward off the evil that had haunted the city’s alleys for five years. This evil is Diogo Alves, the greatest serial killer Portugal has ever known. Having spread it to the four corners of Lisbon, O Pancada has a rendezvous with death on this cool winter’s day. With his neck in the noose, his cold gaze pierces the horizon. What is he thinking at that moment ? Diogo dances at the end of his rope, it is during these long minutes that life will pass before his eyes.
The year was 1810. Diogo Alves was born in the heart of Galicia, in the parish of Santa Gertrudes de Samos. His parents, Anselmo and Rosa, were hardworking and honourable farmers. During this period, ravaged by the imperial wars, many Galicians chose to emigrate to Portugal. At the age of 13, Diogo crossed the Spanish border, attracted by the headlights of a booming Lisbon. Working at first as a hall boy, he later became a coachman in the service of great aristocratic families such as the Count of Belmonte, de Castro e Cunha.
During this period, the storm of the civil war appeared in Portugal. These dark clouds will taint Diogo’s mind. It must be admitted that Lisbon had never been kind to him. He responded in kind, lending himself to gambling and vice. In order to have a comfortable and effortless life, Diogo became a mean, anti-social and aggressive young man. One of his last employers, Dr. Joao Thomas de Carvalho, dismisses him for his ferocious instincts… which will not leave him until the scaffold.
As an adult, Diogo has earned the nickname Pancada because he is completely illiterate and a bit of a simpleton. His life is about to change completely when he starts to become the lover of Gertrudes Maria, a native of Mafra. Nicknamed Parreirinha, Gertrudes is the owner of a tavern in Palhavã, where on Sundays the thieves meet and the Tejo wine flows freely. Drunk, the Parreirinha is extremely perverse, not hesitating to fornicate in front of her children. She is said to be wild, sadistic and manipulative. Gertrudes Maria covers Diogo with the most unhealthy vices. She wields enormous power over his mind, having no difficulty in convincing Diogo to become a criminal.
For, like her new love, the Parreirinha loves the least effort, petty theft being the easiest way to become rich. Following Gertrudes’ instructions, Diogo begins to attack the merchants of the capital. But these sporadic robberies are no longer enough for the Portuguese Bonnie, and Diogo has to satisfy his thirst for wealth in any way he can. Pancada is thus willing to suffer to be loved.
From 1836 onwards, the tranquillity of the Quinta da Rabicha collapses under the weight of Diogo Alves’ victims. From being a simple thief, he became a famous criminal, hated by the press and feared by the people. With his tragedies staged like a play, Diogo will forever be linked to the aqueduct of the Free Waters. During the first half of the 19th century, the aqueduct served as a viaduct for many farmers, notables and students from Benfica. Its passage made it easy to reach the capital while avoiding the Alcantara valley. In the evening, the good people returned from their day’s work with their pockets full. Diogo Alves enters the scene. Armed with a pair of forged keys [it is still a mystery how he got them], he hides in the gallery of the aqueduct, on the lookout for a prey. After stealing the victim’s belongings, he drags her to the highest point and throws her down, simulating suicide.
In order to continue to satisfy Gertrudes’s ever-growing demands, Diogo even creates a gang. Among these bandits were Manuel Joaquim da Silva, known as Beiço Rachado, José Claudio Coelho, known as Pé de Dança, João das Pedras, known as Enterrador and José Maria Lopes, known as Apalpador. In June 1837, 76 people died. The authorities put this down to a series of unfortunate suicides (times are hard). But this accumulation of deaths terrorised the population, and the wildest rumours spread from tasca to tasca. To calm people down, the police decides to close the aqueduct.
Dr Pedro de Andrade is a highly respected doctor in Lisbon. The entire Chiado bourgeoisie comes to his home for treatment. After years of work, he accumulates a fortune, which he keeps carefully in his safes. Dr Andrade lives with a widow, Maria da Conceição Correia Mourão. This noble lady has two daughters aged 19 and 17, Emilia and Vicencia, and a 25-year-old son in the Navy named José Elias. Manuel Alves is a cowardly houseboy who does not have the confidence of his boss, Dr Andrade. When he is not at the doctor’s, this cowardly wretch spends his free time in the shop of his cousin Antonio Martins, Pancada‘s partner in crime. In September 1839, Manuel describes Mr Andrade’s fortune to him in detail. Antonio sees this as a good deal for Diogo and his gang ! That same evening, in a house on the Largo de Andaluz side, the gang establishes a plan of attack : the gang will hide in Manuel’s room, which is on the stairs, and once the family is sitting down to dinner, they will climb to the second floor to rob them.
On the evening of the 26th, after a brief meeting at the home of Joaquina dos Melões, a tavern owner in Calçada do Duque, the gang goes into action. While Pé de Dança keeps watch down the street, the wild bunch bursts into the living room with all the ferocity that characterises them. The young sailor José Elias resists the onslaught in a fit of desperation while his sisters take refuge on the third floor. After being struck in the leg with a fork, José Elias staggers. Diogo smashes his skull to pieces with the butt of a pistol. The young Emilia tries to call for help from a window, but Enterrador is already there to choke her with a gag in her mouth, his knee in her stomach. Vicencia suffers the same fate at the hands of Diogo Alves. The widow Maria, suffocated by Beiço Rachado, still shows signs of life. Diogo struggles with her until the last breath is taken. Then, with a stick, he makes sure that everyone is dead…
The investigators soon get onto the trail of Antonio Martins, Manuel Alves’ cousin. Denying everything, Antonio is closely watched. In October 1839, João das Pedras, known as Enterrador, was arrested after a failed robbery in Costa do Castelo. Panic among the robbers ! Locked up in Limoeiro jail (Alfama), João das Pedras sends a message to Antonio Martins asking him for money to buy tobacco. Antonio enjoins him to give him the money with a card bearing this message : « Be very careful with all the questions asked, the devil must not discover anything ». Unfortunately, the young man carrying the message is caught by a guard who immediately informs the judge. After a very tough interrogation, Enterrador finally confesses everything. This is the end for Pancada and his unfortunate companions.
Diogo, Antonio Martins, Pé de dança are in Limoeiro jail with Enterrador, I can imagine the warm reunion ! The judgement was handed down on 13 July 1840, in the former convent of the Paulistas (calçada do combro). Of the gang, only Pé de dança, Apalpador and the Parreirinha escaped hanging. The first one was sent to the camps in Angola, the last one to Mozambique.
