The Coconino sun., 1909-10-29
OLD SPANISH SPINDLE
 GAME STILL WORKING
Department of State Fully Ex-
 plain Swindle System
Gang of Confidence Men so Persistent in Carrying on this Old Time Swindle That the Matter is Taken up by the State Department.

The Department of State, at Washington, has received a report from the American Consul General at Barcelona, Spain. in regard to the band of swindlers operating in varoius towns and cities in Spain, who make practice of writing to persons in the United States re- specting the Imprisonment of a rel ative and the guardianship of a child.
 The Consul General states that the alleged prisoner generally de- scribes himself as political prison CT from Cuba; he is at the point of death and has but one friend-the prison priest-throu9h whose good offices he is enabled to smuggle an occasional letter out of the prison fort.
 The prisoner is rich. He has a fortune in cash on deposit in the United States, but the certificate of deposit is concealed in a secret re- ceptacle of his valise; the valise itself has been taken possession of by the court at Carthagena, which tried and condemned him, and will be held until the prisoner or his representative has satisfied the costs of the trial. The prisoner has an only daughter; dying in his prison, his sole thought is of this beloved offspring. He has no friend or rel ative in Spain to whose care he can commit her. In this emergency his thoughts turn to the distant rela- tive in the United States whom he has never seen and of whom he knows only through hearsay or through the family tree. Will the distant relative assume the gUardi- anship of the darling daughter, and the darling dauhgter fortune of about $30. .000? If the distant rela- tive accepts the trust e-fourth of the prisoners entire fortune will be the material reward. The good priest will go at once to the United States and take the darling daugh- ter with him. There is but one condition: the ready money which the prisoner brought with him to Spain is exhausted; the distant rel ative is therefore requested to send enough to liberate the valise con- taining the secret receptacle and the certificate of deposit. This money is to be sent to the good priest at the an address indicated, and. having received it, the good priest will at once secure the valise and start for America. the land of the free and the home of the brave.' with the darling daughter.
 The above is generally the first series. lt is quickly followed by another in which the prisoner pa- thetically states that his strength is rapidly failing and the end is near. He beseeches his dear distant rela- tive to assume the trust and be a loving father to the darling daugh- ter. The third letter is from the good priest himself, who in brief. touching terms, and hopelssly bad English, announces the death of the unhappy prisoner; the good priest adds that the darling daugh- ter is under his care. He is ready to put his promise into execution and start for the United States as soon as he shall have received the necessary funds from the distant relative. The good priest ire quently incloses with his letter a bogus newspaper clipping announc- ing the death in prison at Barce- Iona of the famous Cuban patriot Sometimes called Augustin La