The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-18
Plan to Dupe Kansas Farmer
Nipped by Manhattan Lawyer.
Wilbur knight, Riley County
Farmer, Is a Near Victim.
U. S. ATTORNEY INVESTIGATES
Young Man Had Visions of Ad-
venture and Gold in Spain.
Canary Island Banker Was
Principal Figure in Scheme.

Some time ago the police were
notified that a banker named Ro-
berto de Silva, from the Canary Is
lands, had absconded, leaving a
deficit of nearly two million pc
setas. Necessary instructions hav-
ing been sent to the police at the
frontier. Roberto de Silva, accom-
panied by a beautiful girl OF 16
said to be his daughter. was recog-
nized and arrested on trying to
enter France
''The banker and his daughter
were taken to the commissary of po-
lice and later appeared before the
judge, who disposed that the beau
tiful young girl should be immedi-
ately set at liberty and that the
absconding banker should be re-
manded. The moment of separa-
ton between the two was one of
extreme emotion and produced a
very sad scene
The baggage of the banker.
which was only mace up of two
portmante3us, was seized and
searched, but nothing was found,
altho it IS known THAI he took a
large sum with him on leaving the
Canary islands. AS the Canary is
lands are a Spanish possession and
the law establishes that natives
shall be tried at the nearest county
town to where arrest is made, the
trial of Roberto de Silva Will be
held at Barcelona"
The reason why the police found
nothing in the portmanteaus of Senior
de Silva, as related in the above al
legged clipping from a Barcelona news
PAPER, Is extremely simple to under
stand when one has letter from the
senior himself explaining it. Facing
arrest for fraudulent bankruptcy fol-
! wi financial embarra ssment
brought on by extensive but unwise
speculation during the World war. he
resolved TO flee to a foreign country.
Hurrying to London he deposited in an
important bank there the sum of
s so. 600. taking in exchange therefor
two checks, one for $4,000 and the
other for 100000, payapIe to bearer
on demand at Chicago, u. S. A.
Was Arrested at Frontier.
While trying to get into France
Senior de Silva was arrested at the
frontier, tried, convicted and sentenced
to pay a fine of $4,000 pesetas, or
900, and to be imprisoned at Bar
celona for a period of three years.
But the checks were safe, for he had
cunningly hidden them in a secret
pocket of one of the portmanteaus.
which were being held by the prison
But two things worried the former
Canary Island banker as he languished
in a Spanish dungeon. One was his
beautiful daughter, thrown among
strangers and now being cared for in
an orphan asylum on the outskirts of
The other was the fact
that unless the costs of his trial were
paid by December so, 1922, his port
manteaus would be sold at auction.
He feared that. by too frequent ex-
animation. some of the bidders might
discover the secret pocket and find
not only the two checks but the jewels
Of his deceased wife. worth $500
pesetas.
Wrote to Farmer Near Manhattan.
While the senior was thus pondering
upon his sad predicament he made the
a acquaintance of an American gentle
man who was also detained in the
prison. The real name of this gentle
man is not known, he having regis
tered under an assumed name to spare
his family the disgrace. But he was
we'll acquainted with one Erve Knight,
4 farmer living near Manhattan, Kan,
and assured the senior that Mr.. Knight
was a fine man and would no doubt
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