The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-02-16
THE SO-CALLED SPANISH
SWINDLE."
published at the request of U.
Secretary of State.)

published at the request of U. s.
Secretary of State)
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 vari-
GUS towns and cities in Spain, who
make practice of writing to per
sons in the United States respecting
the imprisonment of a relative and
the guardianship of a child.
The COnsul-General states that the
alleged prisoner generally describes
himself as Il 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 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 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 represen-
tative has satisfied the costs of the
trial. The prisoner has an only
daughter; dying in his prison, his
sole thought is of his beloved Off
spring. He has no friend or relative
in Spain to whose care he can COM
NIT 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 $4,000?
If the distant relative accepts the
trust one-fourth of the prisoners en-
tire fortune will be the material re-
ward. The good priest will go at
once to the United States and take
the darling daughter with him. There
is but one condition: the ready
money which the prisoner brought
with him to Spain has been exhaust
ed; the distant relative is therefore
requested to send enough to liberate
the valise containing the secret re-
ceptacle and the certificate of de-
posit. This money is to be sent to
the good priest at an address indi-
Gated, and, having received it, the
good priest will at once secure the
yalise and start for America, the
" land of the free and the home of
the brave" with the darling daugh-
ter.
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 falling and the
end is near. He beseeches his dear
distant relative to assume the trust
and be a loving father to the darling
daughter. The third letter is from
the good priest himself, who in brief,
touching terms, and hopelessly bad
English, announces the death of 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 he
shall have received the necessary
funds from the distant relative. The
good priest frequently incloses with
his letter bogus newspaper clipping
announcing the death in prison at
Barcelona of the famous Cuban pa
tEiot (sometimes called Augustin
Lafiente); the newspaper notice also
speaks cunningly of the confiscated
valise and the darling daughter.
II is a simple scheme, but present.
ed in such a plausible way that al
most any unsuspecting distant rel
ative" of European extraction would
be more or less deceived by the glad
prospect OF falling heir to the agree
able custody of darling daughter
with big fortune. and a one-fourth