Crítica
- PROVINCIAL POLICE SAY THEY HAVE IDENTIFIED THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR RAY'S DEATH
- Today
- It Is an Old Gang
Crítica's front page of 6 October 1926 led with a crime story from the northern suburbs. The Buenos Aires provincial police said they had fully solved the robbery at a Vicente López chalet in which councillor Dr. Carlos A. Ray was killed. Citing its own informant and a police informer, the paper named the supposed gang leader as Francisco Alba, alias "Pibe Albarellos." It described a crew of four: two lookouts in the street, who fled at the first shots, and two men inside who climbed the wall as María Poey cried for help from the balcony. In its "Hoy" column the paper turned to Congress. It noted that the Chamber of Deputies had set up a seven-member committee to reform the Code of Military Justice, and it argued that the only real reform was to abolish that separate, unjust jurisdiction.
Translation
PROVINCIAL POLICE SAY THEY HAVE IDENTIFIED THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR RAY'S DEATH
The provincial police consider that they have completely solved the robbery at the chalet in Vicente López that resulted in the death of Dr. Carlos A. Ray. Our informant tells us that they have succeeded in identifying the supposed leader of the gang, whose name is Francisco Alba, alias "Pibe Albarellos," and that all the details became known through an informer who supplied them to the police. It has already been established that four individuals took part in the incident, two of whom operated in the street and the other two inside the chalet, and it is to these last two that the death of Councillor Ray would have to be attributed.
The escape
The two who were waiting in the street and who acted as …
Today
… vier de Viana. – An anecdote of Javier de Viana.
The Chamber of Deputies has resolved to appoint a Committee of 7 members to study reforms to the Code of Military Justice. The news passes almost unnoticed by the public. Reforms to that Code, a separate body of laws within the law? Reforms to that exclusive and unjust special jurisdiction? There will be no one to suggest the most elementary, the most indispensable of reforms: abolishing it.
A fine moment to be thinking about reforms to the Code of Military Justice. Still fresh is the memory of the pro- …
It Is an Old Gang
… the other two inside the chalet, and it is to these last two that the death of Councillor Ray would have to be attributed.
The escape
The two who were waiting in the street and who acted as "lookouts" and as carriers of the stolen goods are said to have taken flight on hearing the first two shots fired at the victim inside the house. A while later, those working inside left the chalet and jumped over the wall, just as María Poey was coming out onto the balcony and crying for help.
Context
Why a suburban robbery-murder led Crítica's page
Crime reporting was Crítica's trademark, and the Ray story shows how it worked. A 2013 centenary article in La Nación lists the paper's ingredients as sensationalism, few scruples, and strident, inventive coverage of crime, alongside political agitation. The Vicente López report follows that pattern. It is built on anonymous sources: "our informant" and a police informer. It gives the leader's underworld nickname and uses the lunfardo term "campanas" for the lookouts. It also stages the escape vividly, with shots heard from the street, men going over the wall and María Poey crying out from the balcony. The page itself is the evidence for what the police claimed. It reports that the provincial police considered the case solved and that the four-man crew had been reconstructed. It does not show an arrest, a confession or a trial. Whether Francisco Alba was ever tried for Ray's death has to be established separately from this front page.
How many readers this front page reached in 1926
In October 1926 Crítica was at the height of its reach. According to La Nación's centenary account, the paper reached print runs of 800,000 a day only in the mid-1920s. It hit a record of 900,000 on 26 February 1926, just over seven months before this issue, when it carried news of the first flight across the Atlantic. The Buenos Aires city government's heritage notice gives more modest figures: 300,000 copies a day and almost 900,000 on special occasions. Both sources describe a paper read by a mass public, not a small elite. The same notice dates the paper's art deco headquarters on Avenida de Mayo to 1926. It says the building housed free medical and legal offices, which fit the populist role Botana claimed for it. The two sources differ on details. La Nación dates the building to 1927, and the Spanish text of the city notice gives 1923 as the founding year, while its English text and La Nación give 1913. All the same, they agree that Crítica was among the country's best-selling papers when it printed the Ray story.
Why Crítica called for abolishing military jurisdiction
The "Hoy" column's demand to abolish the military code fits Crítica's habit of campaigning against the abuse of state force. La Nación's account says the paper used the firmness of its positions to denounce police corruption and torture. It also led specific causes, such as the popular reaction against the killing in prison of the anarchist Kurt Wilckens. The column draws on that tradition. It calls the military code a separate body of laws within the law and an exclusive, unjust special jurisdiction. It reports a congressional move that the public was ignoring, a seven-member committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and argues that reform is not enough. These details about the committee come from the paper itself. The column's reference to a fresh memory breaks off in this reading, so the specific case it had in mind cannot be identified from the page. Crítica's later record shows that its hostility to military privilege had limits. In 1930 it backed General José Félix Uriburu's overthrow of President Yrigoyen. According to La Nación, that support did not stop Uriburu from closing the paper in 1931.
Original
LA POLICIA DE LA PROV. ASEGURA QUE HA INDIVIDUALIZADO A LOS AUTORES DE LA MUERTE DE RAY
La policía de la provincia considera haber esclarecido por completo el asalto del chalet de Vicente López que tuvo por consecuencia la muerte del doctor Carlos A. Ray. Nuestro informante nos declara que se ha logrado identificar al supuesto jefe de la banda, que se llama Francisco Alba, alias el " Pibe Albarellos, conociéndose todos los pormenores por un confidente que selos facilitó a la policía. Se ha constatado ya que actuaron en el suceso cuatro individuos, dos de los cuales operaban en la calle y los otros dos en el interior del chalet, a los cuales habría que atribuir la muerte del concejal Ray. La fugaLos dos que esperaabn en la calle y que hacían de
Hoy
vier de Viana. - Anécdota de Javier de Viana. En la Cámara de Diputados se ha resuelto nombrar una Comisión de 7 miembros para que estudie las reformas al Código de Justicia Militar. La noticia pasa casi inadvertida para el público. ¿ Reformas a ese Código, cuerpo aparte de leyes dentro de la ley? ¿ Reformas a ese fuero privativo e injusto? No habrá nadie que sugiera la más elemental, la más imprescindible de las reformas: suprimirlo. En buen momento se piensa en las reformas al Código de Justicia Militar. Fresco está aún el recuerdo el pro -
Es una antigua banda
otros dos en el interior del chalet, a los cuales habría que atribuir la muerte del concejal Ray. La fugaLos dos que esperaabn en la calle y que hacían de " campanas " y de conductores de los eefctos robados, habríanse entregado a la fuga al oi ren el interior de la casa los dos primeros tiros que dispararon contra la víctima. Al rato, los que actuaban en el interior, abandonaron el chalet y saltaron por la tapia, en momentos en que María Poey salía al balcón y daba las voces de auxilio.
Source: Source: Internet Archive / Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina