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THE VALDOSTA TIMES, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 19 )8
HOW THE SWINDLE
IS
me Smioib But Ancient Same Ttiat
Didn’t Catcli Mr. Wisenbaker
He Hm no Brother-In-Law In a Span
ish Prison With a Fortune and a
Beautiful Young Daughter Without
a Guardian—The Would-be-Swind
lers got None of His Cash.
(From Tuesday's Dally.)
A few weeks ago The Times prin
ted as account of the receipt of a
letter by Mr. Lawrence Wisenbaker,
of Lake Park, which purported to
have been written by a kinsman of
his from a poetical prison in Carto
gena, Spain, asking Mr. Wisenbaker
to take charge of the writer’s young
daughter and a fortune of thirty-six
thousand pounds sterling. The letter
started out something like this:
“My dear sir and Relative: Hav
ing not the honor to know you but
for the reference which my dear
wife, Mary Wisenbaker, your rela
tive, gave me, who mentioned the
Individuals of your family, and prais
ed the honesty and good qualities
that distinguished you, I address
myself to you for the first time, (and
perhaps for the last -time, consider
ing the grave state of my health),
explaining to you my sad position
and requesting your petition for my
only daughter, your nelce, who I keep
as a pensioner In a college at Santa
Clara.”
The letter then went on to state
that the wr*ter, whq was the secro
tary and treasurer for General Cam
pos In the Spanlsh-Amerlcan war,
joined the rebellion and was forced
to flee from Cuba, when Gen Weyler
took charge of things there. He
want to England and while in Lon
don learned that his wife had died
and his only daughter, whom he had
left in Cuba, was without a protector.
Depositing his fortune of thirty-six
thousand jjfjnds sterling in a hank
fax London he started back to Cuba,
intending to bring his daughter to
this country, when he was arrested
and placed in prison at Cartegena,
etc. _
As Mr. Wisenbaker had a sliter
Mary, who married Rev. Peter Ker
shaw and removed from this section
to Texas more than forty years ago,
and considering other references to
the family history, the communica
tion was at least plausible. He de
cided to investigate the matter, but
before the lnreslgatlon was more
than started, a flood of letters pour
ed into him, telling of numbers of
other people who had received com
munications of the same nature, and
relating many instances in which
unsuspecting people had bid a long
farewell to great big rolls of Uncle
Sam’s “long green” In an effort to
get a slice of the Spanish fortune,
and Incidentally to help the beauti
ful orphan girl. It was a hoary old
swindle of the rankest kind, and It
didn’t take Mr. Wisenbaker long 10
find it out.
Almost one of the first letters Mr.
Wisenbaker received, after the pub
lication of the story, was one from
a gentleman at Macatawa, Mich.,
whom it seems had been selected as
a victim by the confidence men op
erating the game. In the letter tlie
gentleman clbsed a communication
from Mr. Frank D. Hill, American
consul-general at Barcelona, Spain,
dated June 24th, 190S, exposing the
method employed by the swindlers.
Mr. Hill writes as follows:
“This office has for some time
been aware of the existence of a
band of swindlers operating from
various cities %and towns In Spain,
who make a practice of writing to
persons In the United States respect
lng the imprisonment of a relative
and the guardianship of a child. The
alleged prisoner generally describes
himself as a political captive from
Cuba. He is at the point of death,
and has but one friend, the prison
priest, through whose good offices he
Is enabled to smuggle an occasional
letter out of the prison fort
“The prisoner is rich; he has a
fortune on deposit in the United
States or elsewhere, but the certifi
cate of deposit Is concealed in a se
cret receptacle of his valise, the va
lise itself having been taken posses
sion of by the court at Cartegena
which tried and condemned him
and will be held until the prisoner
or his representative has satisfied
the cost of the proceedings.”
The story of the beautiful young
daughter Is rung in every time, Mr.
Hill states, and one-fourth of her Im
mense fortune is pledged to the rel
ative who will come and assume her
guardianship. There is always one
consideration, however: The ready
money which the prisoner brought
with him to Spain is exhausted and
the distant relative is requested to
send enough money to liberate the
valise containing the secret recep
tacle and the certificate of deposit
of the fortune. The money is to be
sent to the good pleat, and he will
take charge of the fortune and the
daughter and carry them to the rel
ative.
If this letter doesn’t bring results
it is quickly followed by a second,
in which the prisoner pathetically
states that he is rapidly falling and
that his end is near.
The third letter Is from the good
priest himself, who in touching and
hopelessly bod English, m
the death of the ■ prisoner, the priest
adding that the darling daughter is
in his care, and that he is ready to
start with her for, the United States
as soon as the kind relative sends
the “wherewithal." This letter gen
erally does the business.
Mr. Hill states that the swindle
has been worked for nearly thirty
years In a most plausible manner.
The knaves hare confederates In thty
and other countries who select a
man, find out all they can about his
family history, tills characteristics,
etc., and then go to work on him.
Many men of an impulsive and gen
erous nature who may have a rela
tive in a foreign country who has
not been heard from In a long
while, when a atory of this
kind Is so plausibly presented to
them, will send their check for the
amount asked, and Investigate later.
Replying to the natural question
why the authorities have not put a
stop to the swindle, ,Mr. Hill says
that In Spain a felony must be con
summated before the officials will
In other words the fraud must
actually occur, and the witnesses be
Johnny on the spot,” before official
attention is given the matter.
Mr. Wisenbaker received numbers
of letters from people In this and
other states, when the story was pub
lished In the newspapers, and it is
very probable that a great many per
sons have been “stung" by the
/swindlers. The writers enclosed
clippings of the articles which they
read In the papers, relative to Mr.
Wisembaker’a case. In many In
stances they had received almost
identically the same letters from
Spain that Mr. Wisenbaker had, with
merely a change of names. Occa
sionally the location of the fort
where the “prisoner” is confined 1»
changed, and the fortune in some fax*
stances Is larger ttyan iji others. In
the main the letters are alike and
evidently emanate from the same
source.
Six or eight of the solicitous
friends who wrote to Mr. Wisenba-
ker, live In Atlanta. One man re
lated how a friend of his had lost
a thousand dollars by the swindle.
Another man had “bit” and mailed
a check for $800 before he decided
that he was the victim of confidence
men. He succeeded in stopping pay
ment on the check.
From Jackson, Abbeville, Macon,
Columbus and Forsyth, Ga., Talla
hassee and Braidentown, Fla., Ashe
ville, N. C., and otjier cities, came
warnings to Mr. Wisenbaker to “let
it alone.” He had already done that,
however.
One letter which bore no date, but
which was written on a note sheet
headed “Deputadon Provincial de
•Barcelona, Particular," was as fol
lows:
"Dear Mr. Wisenbaker: Don’t be
a fool. The Spanish prison fake is
as old as Spain. Thirty-six thousand
pounds! There is not thirty-six shil
lings In the whole business for you!
Prison! Fifteen-year-old child! Beau
tiful story! Dear old "grist mill
man,” keep your money. The swind
ler Is after it. Truly,
“ALICIA.’
SAVANNAH LUMBERMEN
Think Saw Mil! Association Made
Mistake in Raising Prices Now.
A dispatch from Savannah, gripted
In the state papers yesterday, says
that while but practically one lum-
berrnan of Savannah is in the orga
nization known as the Georgia-Flor-
Ida Saw Mill Association, the lum
bermen of Savannah as a fWe are
inclined to believe that the recent
step of ithe association in greatly in
creasing values on yellow pine and
short leaf pine lumber and timber
generally was 111 timed and ill ad
vised. As mentioned previously the
new price sheet issued by the Gem*-
gia-Florlda Saw Mill Association is
now la the hands of the membership
and these Interests are sticking
i^eely to the prices quoted. As val
ues were raised from $2 to $3 per
thousand in most cases and the lum
bermen elsewhere refuse to meet
the advanced figures there are *
great many of the “middlemen” both
as regarding brokers and whole
salers who are much concerned over
the outlook.
Of course, all interests are inclin
ed to believe that there is no chance
of now changing the values quoted.
It 1b also conceded that the buyers
elsewhere cannot for the present at
least be “educated" up to meeting
the increased prices asked and this
being ithe state of affairs many or
ders have been turned down here
within the past two weeks or so be
cause the lumbermen could not see
their way clear to make even a slim
marginal profit on the business.
Indeed in speaking of the outlook
yesterday one wholesaler who was
caught in the recent “squeeze” as
mentioned In these columns said
that he was not attempting to do
business while the wide difference
between the buyers and mlllraen was
In evidence because he was convinc
ed that to close an order for any
large schedule at this time would
mean an Inevitable loss on the busi
ness.
In the meanwhile the mlllmen gen
erally continue very firm in their at
titude and are taking only tfie most
attractive schedules offered. The
“attractive” business, of course, is
very limited because of the variance
of prices as existing and business
for this reason just now is distinctly
quieter than would otherwise be the
case.'
It ftp]
the old "saw," "you
to water,” etc.
3#ars only another example of
“saw,” "you can lead a hor#
The J. P. Carter Co. is paying
union prices for cotton.
IMPROVEMENT IN FEED 8TUFF8
Do not forget that DeWltt’s Little
Early Risers are the best pills made.
They are pleasant little pills that
are easy to take and are prompt and
gentle. We sell and recommend
them. Sold by Ingram & Ramsey.
Syruptffigs
^OixirtfSeima
Cleanses the System Effect
ually; Dispels Colds and Head-
aches due to Constipation;
Acts naturally, acts Truly as
a Laxative.
Best forMen\\(>mcn and Child-
Ty{’T g R nd 9- \Vh *
ho gel us lienericial £,f feels
Always buythe Genuine which
lias ine jull name of the Com
pany
r CALIFORNIA
Ro Strup Co.
by whom it it manufactured.printed on the
front of every package.
SOLO STALL LEADING DRUGGISTS.
on* size only, regular price 50*p«r bottle.
State Chemist ways Inspection Under
New Law Brings Reeults.
Atlanta, Ga., Sept 16—The Depart
ment of Agriculture of Georgia has
Just issued a bulletin gotten up by
Dr. R. E. Stallings, state chemist, on
foods and commedal feeding stuffs
inspected and analyzed In the state
of Georgia up to June 1, 1908, show
ing the excellent work done by Food
Inspector P. A. Methvln.
In his report to Commissioner
Hudson, Dr. Sitallings says: “The
work In the laboratory during the
last few months has shown conclusi
vely that there was an enormous
amount of adulterated articles on the
market; It shows that our state has
been the veritable dumping ground
for rtlhe manufacturers of Impure
goods. Since the department has tak-
up the matter the conditions of
affairs have undergone a revolution,
tiie good effects produced by the law
have demonstrated Its usefulness."
Continuing, this report says: “The
total amount expended by consumers
for the last ten months aggregate
$2,102,715.00, these figures do not
take Into account the large amount
of cotton seed meal that has been
used for feed purposes. Since the en
forcement the quality of feed have
constantly Improved. During this
time many carloads, aggregating
many hundred tons of feed, have
been found to be adulterated. They
were seized by order of this depart
ment and were shipped out of the
state.”
They Take the Klnke Out.
"I have used Dr. King’s New Life
Pills for many years, with Increasing
satisfaction. They take the kinks
out of stomach, liver and bowela,
without fusa or friction,” aays N. H.
Brown, of Pittsfield, Vt Guaranteed
satisfactory at A. E. Dlmmock's, W.
D. Dunaway's and Ingram & Ram
sey’s drug stores. 25c.
Three Negroes Arretted Yesterday.
Sheriff Passmore yesterday arrest
ed Jim Reed, Jim Anderson and Gus
McLeod, three negroes, and placed
them In Jail. Anderson and Reed
were charged with misdemeanors
and McLeod waa charged with lar
ceny after trust. It Is likely that
all three negroes will give bond. If
not they will remain in Jail until
their trial In the city court
The J. P. Carter Co. are paying
5% cents for good seed cotton.
In the Bankruptcy Court
The first meeting of creditors of
BL- Simon, of Quitman, who was re
cently adjudged a bankrupt, was
held before Judge Wilfred C. I.ane
in Valdosta this morning. The bank
rupt^ Was examined and Mr. Russell
Snow appointed trustee. The meet
ing then adjourned until Saturday
morning, when it is understood that
this case and a number of others
■will come up.
A sudden attack at night of some
form of bowel complaint may come
to anyone. Every family should be
provided with a bottle of Dr. Seth
Arnold's Balsam. Warranted b/ A
B. Dimmock.
The J. P. Carter Co„ Naylor. Ga.,
carry.e full lino of coffins end caskets
Pittsburg, Perfect Poultry
THE
THATW
and
Garden Fence
ALSO
American] Poultry and
''J Rabbit Fence
You can buy fence not so
good, but none better. Sold
in Valdosta by:: j;
W. H. Briggs Hardware Co.
“EVERYTHING IN HARDWARE.’
[mm
.A
V
Cures Biliousness, Sick
Headache, Sour Stom
ach, Torpid Liver and
Chronic Constipation.
Pleasant to take
Cleanses the system
thoroughly and dew*
sallow complexions of
Laxative Fruit Syrup
INGRAM & RAMSEY. Valdosta, Ga.
White
AND
Light
Leaving out all other considerations the two
above qualities always center our attention on
Sylph Flour.
Every family that uses this flour is ready at all times
to speak in its favor because it is not deceptive. It is
not experimental. It is known and established in
every home that is accustomed only to the best This
is the one purpose of SYLPH FLOUR.
Satisfaction Guaranteed...
The Ousley Co.