Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-03-04
THE so CALLED SPANISH SWINDLE'

I'LL pV UALLLU Or HNiDli oW iNULL
The Department of State, al
Washington, has received a report
from the American Consul-General
at Barcelona, Spain, in regard to
the band of swindlers operating in
various towns and cities of Spain,
who make practice of writing to
persons in the United States re-
specting the imprisonment of rel
a tive and the guardianship of a
child.
The Consul-General states that
the alleged prisoner generally de-
scribes himself as a political prison
er from Cuba; he is at the point of
death and has but one friend the
prison priest - Though 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 secret re-
ceptacle of his valise; the valise it.
self 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 prison,
his sole thought is of this beloved
offspring. He has no friend or rel
alive 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 the
family tree. Will the distant rela-
tive assume the guardianship OF the
darling daughter, and the darling
daughters fortune of about $780,
900? If the distant relative &C
cepts the trust one-fourth of the
prisoners entire fortune will be the
material reward. The good priest
will 90 at ouce to the United States
and take the darling daughter with
him. There is but one condition
the ready money which the prison
er brought with him to Spain has
been exhausted; the distance rela-
tive is therefore requested to send
enough to liberate the valise con-
tanning the secret receptacle and
the certificate of deposit. This
money is to be sent to the good
priest at an address indicated. and,
having received it, the good priest
will at once secure the valise and
start for America, the Gland of the
free and the home of the brave, "
with the darling daughter.
The above is generally the first
letter of the series. 1t is quickly
followed by another in which the
prisoner pathetically states that his
strength is rapidly failing and the
end is near. He beseeches his deal
distant relative to assume the trust
and be loving father to the darl'
inc daughter. The third letter is
from the good priest himself, who,
| in brief, touching terms, and hope
lessly bad English, announces the
unhappy prisoner; the good priest
adds that 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 ne
shall have received the necessary
funds from the distant relative
The good priest frequently incloses
with his letter a bogus newspaper
clipping announcing the death in
prison at Barcelona of the famous
Cuban patriot sometimes called
Augustin Lafente); the newspaper
notice also speaks cunningly of the
confscated valise and the darling
daughter.
1t is simple scheme, but pre-
sented in such a plausible way thai
almost any unsuspecting distant
relative" of European extraction
would be more or less deceived by
the glad prospect of falling heir tt
the agreeable custody of a darling
daughter with big fortune, and {
one-foulth interest therein as al