The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1923-10-31
SWindle Game
Is Unedrthed
PERPETRATORS OF SPANISH
DODGE BROKEN UP IN BAR
CELONA, SPAIN.

Local interest is attached to the an
nouncement in the metropolitan press
of the breaking up of the Spanish
prisoner swindle gang by the police,
revealing operations, which have been
carried on in vast scale throughout
the entire world. People of this To-
cality were among the thousands
throughout the northwest, who re-
ceived letters of appeal from the
ring.
Last February it will be remem-
bered by readers of the Journal, that
press dispatches announced Rud.
Bach, wellknown Thespian, who had
made his headquarters here, had be-
come victim of the gang to the tune
of 5000 At the time Bach fell for
the swindle he was a resident Of
Brooklyn, N. Y.
For many years these swindlers
have been flooding the world with
heartrending letters of appeal in be-
half of fictitious prisoners, who are
represented as requesting financial
assistance so that they may pay their
fines and obtain possession of valua-
BILE hidden treasure.
HC SWlIOlC Has OCCA Sa1 iAOo Wv
on large scale, not less than $4,000
letters having been dispatched from
Barcelona in a single year by the
large staff of secretaries employed
by the band.
The police confscated carefully
| kept files of the names and addresses
of persons from whom money had
been or might be obtained. The
authorities said this record was the
most elaborate work of its kind ever
compiled.
Among those taken were two en-
ployes of the Barcelona telegraph Of
flee.
Thousands of northwest citizens
have received Spanish swindle" let
tiers, in which they are promised a
fortune and the heart of beautiful
senorita, if they will forward from
500 to 81 600 to get an unfortunate
nobleman out of prison.
Bach received one of the letters
and fell for the gait. He borrowed
81 500 from relatives and together
with cash he had on hand set out for
Spain. He arrived in Barcelona and
swears that he found everything as it
had been described to him and that
he paid over the money for the fine
and was given one of the checks in
the sum of 100000.
He cabled to Chicago and in few
days received cable that the check
was good! Then he started for home,
after missing an appointment to meet
the daughter Of the nobleman he had
saved from prison, in Paris. He re-,
ceived a radio message on the high
seas reading, "Do Nothing. Letter
follows" He received the letter in
Brooklyn, after the check had been
returned marked IN. G." The letter
exposed the swindle and advised him
to do nothing, for if he reported the
affair to the police he would be the
laughing stock of the world.
Bach is wellknown in New Ulm,
having been here some eight or nine
years ago with the Oberammergau
Peasant Players. He made his head
quarters here for. a time. While in
New Ulm he became acquainted with
Miss Frieda Block, whom he married.
Following the news feature of
Bach's swindle, he visited New Ulm
and confirmed the report that he
made the trip to Spain and had been
the victim of swindle plot, which
parted him from $4,000 in good Uni
ted States legal tender.
Bach, no doubt, now is having his
laugh that the gang has been broken
up.-Brown County Journal.