Connecticut western news., 1909-11-11
THE SO-CALLED
 SPANISH SPINDLE
OLD GAME STILL BEING WORKED
A Circular Issued by the Department of State at Washington, Calls the Attention of the American People to the Methods Employed.


 Attention of the American People to
 the Methods Employed.
 The Department of State, at Wash ington, has received a report from the American Consul General at Barcelona, Spain, ill regard to the band of swindlers operating in various towEs and cities i'll Spain, who make practice of writing to persons in the United States respect ing the imprisonment of a relative and the guardianship of child.
 The Consul General states that the alleged prisoner generally describes him. self as political prisoner from Cuba; he is at the point of death and has but one friend the prison priest - through whose good offices he is enabled to smuggle an occasional letter out of the prison fort.
 The prisoner is rich. He has fortune in cash on deposit in the United States, but the certificate of deposit is concealed in secret receptacle of his valise; the valise itself has been taken possession of ty the court at Carthagena, which tried and condemned him, and will be held until the prisoner or his represen- tative has satisfied the cost; of tue trial. The prisoner has an only daughter; dy- ing in his prison his sole thought is of this beloved offspring. He has no friend or relative in Spain to whose care he can T,, hSC thoughts turn to the distant relative 1n the United States whom he has meyer seen and of whom he knows only through hearsay or the family tree. Will the distant relative assume the guard ianship of the darling daughter, and the darling daughters fortune of about $20,000? If the distant relative accepts the trust one-fourth of the prisoners entire fortune will be the material re- ward. The good priest will go at once to the United States and take the dar- ling daughter with him. There is but one condition: the ready money which the prisoner brought with him to Spain has been exhausted; the distant relative is therefore requested to send enough to hberate the valise containing the secret receptacle and the certificate of deposit This money is to be sent to the good priest at an address indicated, and, hay ing received it, the good priest will at once secure the valise and start for home of the brave," with the darling daughter.
 The above is generally the first letter of the series. It is quickly followed by another in which the prisoner patheti- cally states that his strength is rapidly failing and the end is near. He beseeches his dear distant relative to assume the trust and be @ loving father to the dar- ling daughter The third letter IS from the good priest himself, who in brief, touching terms, and hOpelessly bad English, announces the death of the un- happy prisoner; the good priest adds tbat the darling daughter 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 frequently in closes with his letter bogus newspaper clipping announcing the death in prison at Barcelona of the famous Cuban patriot Sometimes called Augustin Lafiente) the newspaper notice also speaks cunningly of the cOnfscated valise and the darling daughter.
 It is a simple scheme, but presented in such plausible way that almost any unsuspecting distant relative" of European extraction would be more or less deceived by the glad prospect of fall ing heir to the agreeable custody of a darling daughter with big fortune, and a one-fourth interest therein as an additional recompense-
 Naturally the first impulse of the dis tant elative IS to ask lawyer or judge CT 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 ill the prisoner $ letter beseeching him not to mention the matter to any living soul lest the secret of the yalise and the hidden receptacle be indiscreetly betrayed.
 The valise. after all, with it's concealed certificate of deposit, is the key to the situation and possession must be taken of it before anything can be done or said This (so cunningly Set forth by the prlsoner is very evident to the distant relative, and so he frequently preserves the secret intact, and instead of consult ing lawyer or writing to the American Consul General at Barcelona he quietly