The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-01
SPANISH SWINDLING GAME
-ATTEAIPT TO MAKE i VICTIM OF 4
 NEW HAVEN MAN.

Letters From Barcelona, Spain, Telling Of 100000 Francs Buried Near New Haven-The New Havener Asked to Advance Money in Order to Get n Chart of the Hiding P1ace-An Ingenious Fairy Tale Accompanied by Official Documents.
 From an attempt made recently by a Spaniard to defraud we'll known New Haven gentleman it would appear that the Spaniards have adopted a novel way to conduct the war against the United States, and perhaps in this in- cident may be found the reason for the Spanish fleet keeping out of the way of Admiral Sampson. It is, possibly, the intent of the Spaniards to make war on the pockets of American citizens, thinking that by this method they may be so successful as to cause the country to sue for peace. But if other attempts operate no more successfully than did the one tried on the New Havener it would seem that the dire plot is doom- ed to failure. The game employed to swindle the New Haven gentleman re- ferred to above, is an old one with slight variation, which on the surface disguise very effectually the intent of the scheme, and it was only his very good sense and a supreme suspicion of ich aoY.lr that saved the gentleman from the de- signs of the Spanish shark
 The game was thAs: Not long ago the gentleman, referred to. received a letter bearing the post mark Barcelona, Spain, and inscribed ''via England" enclosing a most interesting fairy tale from Spaniard signing himself ' J.. Basanta. The letter was in English and at superficial glance appeared to have been written, but on closer examination it proved to have been printed from plate. Two letters were sent, one just a few days after the other, together with the documents, mentioned in the first letter, from the prison commandant. The document is made out on official paper, bearing the stamp "Prisones Militares," and the certifcation is made by Don Norcisa de Saballonga, Commandante de 10. M. z. Jefe Gobernador de las prisones militares de Barcelona. The first let ter received is as follows:
 Barcelona, Dear Sir:
 References about your person receiv- ed from a countryman of yours during my stay at your town and the dread- ful situation am in, have induced me to confide an affair to you which never thought I should be obliged to entrust to whomsoever, but the anxiety am suffering from here in my prison and above all the thought of my be- loved daughter, a child yet in her teens and at present in Toledo, the only one member that is left to me out of my un- fortunate family, for am a widower, are the reasons which oblige me to turn to you with the inquiry whether you be disposed to help me in rescuing a sum of 0,000 francs in French banknotes, which I was forced to hide in the neighborhood of your place about six months ago. The case is as follows:
 I was captain and cashier of a horse regiment here at this town where I received orders from the lead CT of the central republican committee which faction belonged to, to desert and take with me 100000 francs out o1 the cashbox of my regiment The com mittee augmented this money to the sum of 100000 francs and sent mt abroad to buy arms and other supple ments of war for it, as they intended making military movement and pro claiming the Republic throughou Spain and all it's provinces in one an6 the selfsame day.
 With this view I left for Marseille where I was to expect further order: about how to carry out the mission en trusted to me, but there soon learned that our plot had been discovered through an infamous traitor, that ol account of this some of my compan ions had been arrested and others forced to emigrate and that too hat to put myself in safety, because thu Spanish government had solicited m. extradition and even dispatched @ cou pie of detectives to arrest me.
 Thus persecuted by the authorities resolved to repair to your country bu had scarcely arrived there when stil worse tidings reached me concernin, | to have fallen gravely sick in her col lege at Toledo.
 What was to do? How could kee far away from my child in such a dan ger as this? But how was I to retur1 to Spain with all the money about me
 Was to deposit 1t in bank? And the Spanish government was informe of my having deposited such con siderable sum, what then? And if the only suspected it, and this might easil occur for they have even more spie abroad than in their own country then the money was lost to me, for the the bank in question was soon discov cred.
 My excitement was terrible till tn following thought struck me which I 8 once adopted as the most prudent an secure expedient in my dilemma. According to this I selected in tn neighborhood of your town a safe an solitary place, whither none could sus pect that I had penetrated, and afte digging a hole in the earth I there COT cealed, within an iron box a sum C 650,000 francs in notes which fortune now was the sole proprietor of. the drew up topographic plan of the spo