St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1909-11-27
speaks cunningly of the confscated

0PSo"ho SdtIilIiSIy VI CIlS NOill4oNoHCN
valise and the darling daughter.
1t is simple scheme, but presented
in such a PLAUSIBLE way that almost
any unsuspecing "distant relative" of
European extraction would be more
or less deceived by the glad prospect
of falling heir to the agreeable GUS
tody of a darling daughter with a big
fortune, and one-fourth interest
therein as an additional recompense.
Naturally the first impulse Of the
distant relative is to ask lawyer or
a judge CIR some authority what course
he ought to pursue in the premises,
but as he thinks of doing this his at
tention is taken by the warning in the
prisoners letter beseeching him not
to mention the matter to any living
soul lest the secret of the valise and
the hidden receptacle be indiscreetly
betrayed.
The vaIise, aftsr all, with its con-
cealed certificate of deposit, is the
key to the situation and possession
must be taken of it before anything
can be done or said. This $50 cum
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 Counsul-General at BARGE
Iona, he quietly sends a draft for the
sum demanded to the good priest and
awaits results. Of course he awaits
in vain, and the poor, dead prisoner
and the good priest and the darling
daughter in the course of time pass
out of 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 organized;
they have confederates not only in the
United States but in most other
countries. The confederates in ques-
tion select man and find out all they
can about him; they get hold of family
names, family origin, and family
characteristics. This information is
transmitted to the rascals in Spain,
and letters are at once written to the
prospective victim. The scheme is
presented and developed in a very
plausible way and many of our fellow
countrymen have ''bitten" promptly
and cheerfully.
Under the Spanish laws a felony
must be consummated before the police
may act, and mere attempt to obtain
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; other
wise prosecution would be useless.
Recently the letters written to the
distant relative have varied some
what from the original; the political
prisoner having become noted Rus
sian banker who absconded, leaving a
deficit of some millions of roubles,
killed in quarrel in England another
Russian, and finally took refuge in
Spain, where he was apprehended and
charged with manslaughter.
This change of character, however,
is immaterial. and in the future more
new characters will probably be intro
duced by the 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 it's repre-
sentatives in Spain to unmask these
scoundrels and bring them to justice,
and the Spanish authorities have also
been active and several members of
the gang have been apprehended and
held for trial, but so far no convic-
tions have resulted, owing probably
to the peculiarity of the Spanish law
referred to in the report of the Consul
General at Barcelona.