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21 Green Bag 396 (1909)
The Uncovering of a Spanish Swindle

handle is hein.journals/tgb21 and id is 432 raw text is: 396 The G' said with unction that the world was bad, the people were wicked, there was no truth or godliness or righteousness anywhere. 'And,' said Dean, 'how do you man- age to live and enjoy yourself in all these surroundings of evil and wicked- ness? Why don't you get up and out of it? Why don't you reform these people and make them over again?' reen Bag 'Oh, Mr. Dean,' replied the man, 'when I look at the sins and the sinners I think of hell and I feel refreshed.' Dean died some years ago, carrying his eccentricities to the grave. His widow still resides on the Putnam County homestead in Missouri, and may be seen there any fine day, seated under a great shade tree, in the yard, puffing contentedly on an old cob pipe. Des Moines, Iowa. The Uncovering of a Spanish Swindle A RATHER singular instance of the so- called Spanish swindle was lately ex- posed by Mr. Edgar 0. Achorn, a Boston lawyer. Mr. Achorn received a letter October 1, 1908, postmarked Madrid, signed Luis Rodriguez Achorn, who claimed to be a rel- ative of his. The writer said he was dying in a Madrid prison and that he would will Mr. Achorn over $100,000, one-quarter of his fortune, if he would redeem his personal ef- fects and act as guardian for his fourteen-year- old daughter. The strictest secrecy was enjoined:- If you accept my proposition you will answer me by cable at the name and address of the inclosed card and the cable must say as follows: All right. I beg of you not to name me for anything in the cable. It is not convenient that any letter will come to me because it is very easy that it shall be intervened and in danger so to whom receives it and also because my illness do not allow me to wait much longer and I wish to have all my business arranged. From the outset Mr. Achorn realized that this letter was a fraud, but he decided to see the affair to a finish. He sent a cablegram and two days later got a reply that the cable- gram could not be delivered, as the addressee could not be found. Then was revealed the craftiness of these swindlers, for a few days later a letter came from the Spanish prisoner thanking Mr. Achorn for the cablegram and asking him to redeem the luggage in the cus- tody of the court, including the trunk in the secret drawer of which lay the entire fortune of Luis Rodriguez. The prisoner also be- sought Mr. Achorn to accept the appointment as guardian in his last will, one Chaplain Garcia, a man of immaculate honesty, being named as executor. Mr. Achorn sent word that he would do what lay in his power. As the correspondence progressed, the Spanish prisoner wrote, rather tardily, that in the scuffle when he was ar- rested he wounded a policeman as well as receiving a wound himself. He explained that the court demanded that sixty pounds of the money taken from him be turned over to the maimed officer, also that his life was fast ebbing away. Then typewritten letters began to come from the good Chaplain Garcia, whose letter heads were graced by symbols handsomely engraved and sufficiently elaborate to inspire confidence in almost any one. Under date of Nov. 3, Chaplain Garcia in a long communication announced the death on Nov. 2, of his esteemed friend, Luis, claimed to have been malignantly persecuted. Inclosed with this was what was purported to be a legal document in Spanish, namely, a copy of the resolution of the tribunal con- cerning the requirements for redeeming the seized luggage. In his next typewritten letter, dated Nov. 14, Garcia warned Mr. Achorn not to think of coming to Spain, as all concerned were

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