In the 1920’s two men from eastern Europe were going around the Appalachian region scamming people out of large sums of money, pretending they were paying back “family debts” incurred by their uncle, who had been an immigrant coal miner in whatever area they happened to be visiting at the time.
On this day in 1924 a man from the town of Appalachia met up with these two men, Raoim and Talin Tata.
Mike Cash was a yard foreman in Appalachia who had been contacted by the two men, who were staying at the hotel in the town. One of them suddenly became ill and appeared to be close to death when Cash arrived. They told Mr. Cash that their uncle had lived in Appalachia and had even had a business there, which failed, leaving him owing $60,000 in debts to several people in the town. He had left, owing that money, going to Texas, where he stuck it rich in the oil business.
Furthermore, this uncle had left a will mentioning Mike Cash as one of his main creditors. According to the Tata brothers, the uncle wanted them to give Mr. Cash $60,000 to pay back all those debts.
There was a catch, though.
They handed him a sealed satchel they said contained the money but, as a sign of good faith, they wanted him to put $1,100 of his own money in there with the $60,000. Mr. Cash handed over his money and it was put in the sealed bag, then the bag was given to Mike Cash, who left the hotel.
The next morning he opened the bag and found nothing but cut up newspapers wrapped in handkerchiefs. His $1,100 was gone. After returning to the hotel, he discovered that the men, too, were nowhere to be found.
There were no reports on whether the money was ever recovered.