Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1910-02-10
The so-calIed "Spanish SwindIe. "

town man by game worked by gang
of sharpers whose headquarters are in
Spain. The Department of State has
sent us the following circular showing
the methods of these rascalS:
The Department of State, at Washing
ton, has received areport from the Amer
ican Consul General at Barcelona, Spain,
in regard to the band of swindlerS oper-
ating in various 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 guar
dianshlp Of child.
The Consul-Genera states that the al
legged prisoner generally describes him
self as political prisoner from Cuba; ne
is at the point of death and has but one
friend-the prison pricst-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 in his valise; the
valise itself has been taken possession OF
by the court at Carthagena, which tried
and condemned him, and will be held un-
til the prisoner or his representative has
satisfied the cost OF the trial. The pris-
oner has an only daughter; dying in his
prison, his sole thought is of his beloved
offspring. He has no friend or relative in
Spain to whose care he can commit her.
In this emergency his thoughts turn to
the distant relative in the United States
whom he has never seen and of whom he
knows only through hearSay or the family
tree. Will the distant relative assume
the guardianship of the darling daughter
and the darling daughters fortune OF about
$30,0O02 II the distant relative accepts
the trust one-fourth OF the prisoners en-
tire fortune will be the material reward.
The good priest will 60 at once to the
United States and take the darling daugh-
ter with him. There is but one condition
the ready money which the prisoner
brought with him to Spain has been ex-
hausted the distant relative is therefore
requested to send enough to liberate the
valise containing the secret receptacle and
the certificate of deposit. This money is
to be sent TO the good priest at an ad-
dress 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. II 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 loving father to the darling
daughter. The third letter is from the
good priest himself, who in brief, touch
ing terms, and hopeleSsly bad English, an
nounces the death of the unhappy pris-
oner the good priest adds the darling
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 re-
ceived the necessary funds from the dis
tant relative The good priestfrequently
incloses with his letter bogus newspa-
per clipping announcing the death in
prison at Barcelona OF the famous Cuban
patriot sometimes called Augustin Lafi-
ente); the newspaper notice also speaks
cunningly of the confiscated valise and
he darling daughter.
II is simple scheme, but presented
in such plausible way that almost any un-
suspecting "distant relative" Of European
extraction would be more or less deceived
by the glad prospect of falling heir TO the
agreeable custody of a darling daughter
with big fortune, and one-fourth in
terest therein as an additional recon-
penSe.
Naturally the first impulse Of the dis
tant relative is to ask lawyer or 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
beseeching him not to mention the mat
ter to any living soul lest the secret of the
valise and the hidden receptacle be in
discreetly betrayed.
The valise, after all, with its concealed
certificate Of deposit, is the key to the
situation and possession must be taken of
il before anything can be done or said.
This $50 cunningly set forth by the pris-
oner) is very evident to the distant rela-
tive, and so he quite frequently preserves
the secret intact, and instead of consult
ing a lawyer or writing TO the American
Consul General at Barcelona he quietly
sends 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 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 swim
die. and If is needless to suggesttr atthey
are very carefully organized; they have
confederates not only in the United
States but in most other countries. The
confederates in question select man and