The Washington bee., 1909-11-06


almost any unsuspecting distant rel
atiye" of European extraction would
be more or less deceived by the
glad prospect of falling heir to the
agreeable custody of a darling daugh-
ter with a big fortune, and a one
fourth interest therein as an addi-
tlonal recompense.
Naturally the first impulse of the
distant relative is to ask a lawyer or
a judge or some authority what
course he ought to pursue in the
premises, but as he thinks of doing
This his attention is taken by the
warning in the prisoners letter be-
seeching him not to mention the mat
ter to any living soul lest the secret
of the valise and the hidden recep-
tacle be indiscreetly betrayed.
The valise, after all, with its con-
cealed certificate of deposit, is the
lkey to the situation and possession
must be taken of it before anything
can be done or said This $50 cun-
ningly set forth by the prisoner) is
very evident to the distant relative,
and so he quite frequently preserves
the secret intact, and instead of con-
sulting lawyer or writing to the
American Consul-General at BARGE
Iona he quietly sends a draft for the
sum demanded to the good priest and
awaits results. Of course he waits
in vain, and the poor, dead prisoner
and the good priest and the darling
daughter in the course of time pass
out his life forever, leaving him only
an uncomfortable memory of the
money he SO cheerfully contributed to
the confidence game
For nearly twenty years these same
knaveS have been practicing their
swindle, and it is needless to suggest
that they are very carefully organic
ed; they have confederates not only
in the United States but in most 9TH
er countries. The confederates IN
question select a man and find out
all they can about him; they get hold
of family names, family origin, and
family characteristics. This infor-
nation is transmitted to the rascals
in Spain, and letters are at once
written to the prospective victim. The
scheme is presented and developed in
very plausible way and many of
our fellow-countrymen have "bitten"
promptly and cheerfully.
Under the Spanish laws a felony
must be consumated before the. police
may act, and a mere attempt to OBJ
tain money by false pretenses does
not appear to warrant arrest. The
money must be actually paid over and
the prosecuting witness must be
present in propria persona to testify;
otherwise prosecution would be use
! less.
Recently the letters written to the
DIST; mt relative have varied somewhat
from the original; the political pris-
oner having become a noted Russian
banker who absconded, leaving a de-
! fcit of some millions Of rubles, killed
in a quarrel in England another Rus
sian, and finally took refuge in Spain,
where he was apprehended and char
ged with manslaughter.
| This change of character, however,
is immaterial, and in the future more
new characters will probably be intro
duced by t.e gang. The scheme is
the same, and the public is warned to
place no credence in such or similar
, letters.
Every effort has been made by the
Department of State and its represen-
tatives i'll Spain to unmask these
scoundels and bring them to justice,
and the Spanish authorities have also
been active and several members of
lthe gang have been apprehended and
held for trial, but so far no convic-
! tons have resulted, owing probably to
the popularity of the Spanish law
referred to in the report of the Con-
| sul-General at Barcelona.
Department of State,
Washington, D. c. October, 1909.
INDEPENDENT PRESBYTERIAN