The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-23
THE GREAT pans swIxDLE.

1t is not at all surprising that the
| Humberts. the principals in the great
est swindle of this, or perhaps any
other, age have been caught The
wonder is that they were not caught
sooner. The swindle was discovered
| last May, and it seems that the swim
| dlers have not been very far away
| from Paris, the scene of their opera
| tons. They were caught, as stated in
our dispa tches, in Madrid, and, when
| they faced the officers of the law,
claimed that they had been the victims
| of swindlers. Very shrewd people
| these Humberts are! And now they
! threaten to make revelations that win
| bring many prominent people in Paris
| into disrepute. The threat will not pre-
vent them from being prosecuted. 1t
may be that they can smirch some
regulations. If they can there will
be no pity for those whose regulations
are dragged in the mire.
/ More than twenty years ago young
woman named Mile. Therese. .d'Aurgi-
nae claimed that she had been left
fortune of s2O, O0O 900, by a wealthy
American, named Robert Henry Craw-
ford, whom she had met on a railroad
train. He was ill. so the story was,
and she rendered him some slight as
sistance. His. disease was consump-
ton, and she became his nurse. He
died soon after she met him.
No one ever saw the securities which
represented the great fortune. 1t was
given out that the fortune was in lit
igation-that two nephews named
Crawford, Americans, claimed a part
of it. They never appeared in person
| as contestants. They were always rep
resented in the court proceedings by
attorneys.
Under the law of France a fortune
that is in litigation may be locked in
a safe, and the safe sealed by a no.
tary, the notary certifying the amount
so locked up. The Crawford millions
were dealt with in that way, the no.
| tary, 1t seems, accepting the word of
the Humberts for the amount in the
safe. How did the Humberts come in
to the matter? Mile. Terese d'Aurignac
|
the son of a distinguished lawyer The
marriage took place very soon after the
rumor got abroad that she had been
left the great fortune
Having got the safe locked with the
notary's certificate of the amount it
contained, it was an easy matter to
borrow money on the securities, and
| hat fe
they borrowed from banks and money
lenders, in all, about $32, 900, 000--at least
that is the amount of the claims now.
They of course include interest, and
the interest that was charged was
doubtless pretty high. For twenty
years the Humberts lived on the fat
Of the land, as it were. They had
yacht, a country place and fine horses
and carriages. No prince lived on a
grander scale. And is it not wonder
full that there was never a suspicion
on the part of the banks and money
lenders-even on the part of the con-
sentative Bank of France? 1t seems,
however, as if there wasn't, until last
May, when certain things were discov-
cred which looked suspicious; and then
the creditors thought they would have
a look into the wonderful safe. They
got an order of court for that pur-
pose. But they found nothing but a
diamond brooch, and the diamonds
proved to be paste, worth about 50.
The Humbcrts are in custody. but
what good win that do the creditors?
The creditors will mourn for their
vanished millions, but the millions win
not be seen again. And the lawyers
who conducted the litigation for the
absent Crawford nephews, who were
oontesting the VIII. what will they
have 10 say2 There were no nephews
and no Robert Henry Crawford. There
were no crawfords and no Crawford
millions. The story OF the millions
was set afloat by the swindlers There
never was a shrewder swiBdle ana
never more successful one.
---s7-sr-s---
U.