The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-15

Waahingt0n, d. G., sept l4-TEe
Spanish swindle, which in the past
has lured nobody knows how
many million dollars out Of gulltbis
America, 10 again being tried. this
time presumably on larger
scale.
Tnis celebrated hoax = based on
the human weakness for easy
money and for adventure. Many
people see no reason why adven-
ture and great wealth should net
wait around the corner for them
Just n in the movies and in maGa-
zine fiction. Occasional stories in
the papers also tell Of vast for
tunes acquired in odd ways.
So, when an honest American
citizen receives letter bearing a
Spanish postmark and address "a
TO him in quaint, foreign hand
writing. he is intrigued. II he
knows no one in Spain, he opens
such q letter curiously. with all
sorts of romantic possibilities
buzzing through his brain. ne
reads the communication, and ms
widest speculation regarding it be-
come suddenly tame. He learhs
that he has been selected to help a
noble Russian who faces bank
ruptcy and is in prison. He reads
further, breathless. and learns
that "a modest fortune" OF $l2O.-
900 is practically within his grasp
The noble Russian has some-
where in American 100000 good
American dollars, and he is gem
erously willing to reward the per-
son addressed with one-third VI
them, if only be will help in the
recovery of the money. The unfor-
tunate Russians baggage has been
seized and he needs trifiing sum to
reclaim it and to pay the registrar
of the court for the expenses OF
the trial. In the portmanteau
among the Russians baggage there
is a secret pocket, he says, and IN
the secret pocket he has "hippen
two checks payable to the bearer
for that sum"-that IL, for $780,
600.
The imprisoned man cannot re-
ceive letters in his"Spanish prison.
but he has a trusted friend. The
American is -requested to cable
this friend, in Barcelona, who will
instruct him how to proceed. II
the chosen benefactor does cable.
he will be told to send the small
sum, compared to 100000, neces-
sary to recover the portmanteau
When he has cabled the money he
finds that the noble Russian and
the trusted friend have passed
quietly out of his life.
Postal Officials Active.
The postoffice department has
begun lately to receive complaints
regarding this new form of the
old Spanish swindle. It is fairly
certain that the scheme is being
widely worked because the letter
that is being sept out is multi
graphed. The ink is multigranh
ink, and under a reading glass the
writing shows that it is not ordi-
nary handwriting. Some down.
strokes, for instance, are faint al
most to indistinctness in the mid
die of the stroke, the result of un-
even printing.
Spanish swindle letters 60 to
people in all parts of the country.
No special attempt is made to Sc
lect millionaires or philanthropists,
probably because the operators
know that such persons would be
slow to respond to this particular
kind of bait.
Judging from cases that gain
publicity, it seems likely that the
names of prospective victims ale
picked out of directories at ran
dom. The swindlers no doubt fig-
ure that less wealthy persons lead
more restricted lives and that they
will more eagerly take chance on
this bit of adventure. The thrill Of
being selected to correspond with
an imprisoned Russian noblemar,
and to send cables relating to Sec
ret pockets and fortunes does rot
come often to the average Ameri-
can, at least he does not realize
how often this particular thrill is
offered to the public.
Many farmers IN outlying sec
tons of the country receive the
Spanish swindle letters. How