SWINDLED

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 107, 7 May 1924, Page 14

SWINDLED

"THE SPANISH PRISONER"

HOW IT IS WORKED

A CLASSIC FRAUD.

Americans' have .a. proverb which, being translated, reads': A' '.'mug" is born every minute. But after studying the-files of the authorities who deal with tho "Spanish Prisoner Swindle" you'feel that mugs must hatch out in batches like May flies, writes G. Ward Price in a dispatch to the-"Daily Mail" from Madrid.' The.age of thisclassic fraud almost makes it respectable. Nor, though been' again and again the subject of police and Consular Warnings, do its authors trouble to alter taeir methods in a single- detail. In addition to old wines and old tunes, human nature evidently; likes old' swindles best. Jt'would be a pity to tamper with the trap,'for it not only excites the greed; of its -victims under the .form of an appeal- to- their generosity, but also holds out a chance of diddling established authority such •as mankind delights in. The characters in the plot are:—(l) The Spanish prisoner; (id) a prison chaplain known as "the Venerable Rev." ;' (3) "a, 'beautiful orphan girl named Mary. ' . > - Any reader of this\article may one day receive from ■Spain: a letter addressed-to him by name, in' sprawling handwriting and quaintly broken English. The writer generally opens by claiming,distant relationship and goes on to describe himself as a.major in the Spanish army in prison foi\his Republican opinions. ( He is^now dying from a.wound received at his.arrest, and,:fearing betrayal from friends of his own nationality, he turns to his distant kinsman to tell his secret, Before his arrest, says the writer, he. had realised all his fortune, amounting to £70,000, and concealed it in English banknotes in the. false hot-' torn of one, of his trunks. This trunk has been seized by.the police,_who know. nothing of its contents, and it will be given up only: on payment of 'the- costs of /the trial: amounting to .three pr four hundred; pounds.- ■."■.:-■'' -'!- •:■■., --' The writer is in despair.. He'has only a little longer to live and he has a motherless only : daughter of sixteen. To secure part of the hidden fortune,for her, he : urges his British correspondent to send the money required to free the trunk, in return for which one-third of the £70,000 shall be his reward. The dying.prisoner will also-make,a wOl appointing ; him guardian, of the daughter, with enjoyment, of the interest, on. the rest till she coniegii of age. : ':'."-.. \ ; It. is through the'kind .complicity, of ,the;prison chaplain,' the prisoner explains, that, the letter is smuggled but. • "The rectitude of this saint priest," he adds,, cunningly; make it necessary, to .ignore always, .the existence ofl my ..fortune." This story is supported by'a mass of confirmatory, documents,' cuttings—apparently from Spanish newspapers—relating ■the. circumstances: of the arrest of tKe prisoner, his trial, and sentence, and certified copies of the judgment of the Court, all forged, corapletp with official stamps, by the swindlers' organisation. ■'.';■; , THAT. SECRET DRAWER. 1 Instructions iare ■ furnished, too, for finding the secret' drawer in the trunk, which contains the fortune:; "When the: Rev. will .deliver you- at your homo my trunk you only, will perform tile trunk openingj. and: opened once-you. will see in its interior.:paft arid in-its reft 11' side of Spanish shield iri: its centre you will upon * your f ourfihger 'so that when- an -.electric bell is pushed and quickly the secret will appear in full view in which you will, find my fortune and you know only my* trunk secret." , '.■'".- ' 'f It is .'a .forcible commentary- on the. common-sense of humanity that, according to Spanish police records, hundreds and hundreds of presumably sane people ail over tho world have been found who will part with . large sums on:. the strength of; Such, a /muiribo- jumbo trea-sure-story as this.- .■■■:■ ' ', But. the above is only the" opening phase of the ■' 'Spanish prisoner's" offensive. ■■, If it 'has not yielded a remit-. tanco '- it is followed; up with-a letter fromthe"prison chapiain,!.';.date.d "The Presbytery," with a chalice .printed on. the'paper., ;. The priest announces "the sad death of the- prisoner, "the victim of selfishness human," as he adds feelingly. .. Ho sends a certified/ copy of deceased's will, .making ,his'English1 cor-: respondent heir .to one-third of his property, and. also , encloses a letter from the "daughter,'! signed "Your affectionate niece, Mary," accompanied by her photograph. She appears as an attractive, .dark-eyed."girl, but the picture, according to the unromantic police record, is always the same and is that of a dis-: guised_choir-boy. Like her defunct father,1 and his' spiritual.adviser, ■■ the daughter writess fluent,"--if. quaint, Ehgh'sh. ,■ " ShouldVthe credulitys of the victim at! length yield.a; remittance', the "saint priest" discloses /the unexpected news that, the Spanish Court has imposed unexpected additional charges. "I beg God to. give me forces of supporting this' irregular proceeding of the tribnnal," he exclaims indignantly/But, however much money is sent, neither trunk, fortune, nor daughter ever reaches the es!pectant "legatee." •'■.■./.- ---'. WORLD-WIDE SUCCESS. If the victim shows only cautious interest in the proposal, he is urged to come to Spain himself, and-is duly met at.the frontier by the "priest," who represents that it is indispensable that, he alone should, take the* money .to Court to free .the trunk—and forthwith disappears with it. .. ;, : : , For forty . years at least gangs. of swindlers, chiefly . settled at Valencia and Saragossa,;, have; been '.working' this trick on the whole of the civilised world. They simply, choose names, from foreign directories, and employ, staffs of scribes' to write the voluminous letters by which they operate.' ,'.."■ ' In the fiies11 have.seen wero records of tlieir success as far, away'as Sumatra; in. several cases it was apparent that their dupes ■ actually ■ borrowed the money which .they sent them. The Spanish police estimate.that 20 per cent, of the' people who get a "Spanish prisoner letter reply, and 4 or; 5: per cent, part with money. This yields a rich return, and since the war several Germans in Spain, with their national taste for method and painstaking, haii-e also entered the business. Some "prisoners" ■are said to rent offices, and one, I was told, has built a large house and keeps motor-cars. Proof of the-fraud is difficult, as they, work from "fake" addresses, ' and in any case short imprisonment and fine are' the only penalties they risk, • ■'■ . ; '...■■■

Yet one cannot deny that they -\vritt> convincingly. I have'read' so many ofthe" outpourings ■of the dying, devoted. persecuted parent, and the "Venerable' Rev." that I almost believe in their existence myself. : .•■■-■■'■