The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-24
HUMBERT FAMILY
WHO GOT MILLIONS
 ON AN EMPTY SAFE.
The Swindle of a Century--How . Peasant Girl Gained $14, ,000, 900 And Left a Trail of Death
 and Misery.

Madrid Cable.
 The police have arrested the entire Humbert family. which became notorious in connection with the great safe fraud in Paris. The members had been tn this city since May 9. The prisoners comprise Mime. Humbert, her husband. Eva Hun- bert, and the three d dAurignacs, Romain, Emile and Marie.
 The presence of the family here was made known to the French Ambassador. M. Patenotie. In an anonymous commit nication and he informed the authori- ties.
 To coin Alooo.ooo from an empty safe supposed to contain the treasure left by a mythical American millionaire and to keep up swindIing operations for years. were the achievements of the HuubsEts. who fooled Parisian bankers. statesmen, and tradesmen. In the history of all syindling games there was never so dar- Ing a method of raising vast sums Of money. as the safety of the cuiprits de- pended at all times on e seal which could nave been broken by thumhnar.
 When the swindlers started to work. their asset was a safe located at 6 Ave nue de la Grande Armee. The opening of that safe. years after the wealth of the American millionaire" was supposed to have been deposited therein. revealed the greatest swindle of the century. Women, with money borrowed on the strength of that empty safe, had been courted by the society leaders of Paris. Bankers. gullible to a degree that hardly Is cred ible, had loaned millions of francs year after year on . fraudulent testament and an empty iron box. The gigantic swindle owed its existence to the fact that the civil courts of France are per- mitted to place their seals on property In liquidation without examining the prop erty or making an inventory of it.
 The story of the great hoax begins with the alleged death of one Robert Henry Crawford. an American millionaire. He departed this world-if he ever lived in 1t --botween 1878 and 1883. It was. after the latter date. that Mime. Humbert, having already purchased the Brantclxi mansion In the Avenue de la Grande Armee, Paris. and two other fine estates. the Chateau des Wives Faux. near Melun. and the Co., learn property, near Narbonne, produced a copy of an alleged wfA left by the sup posed Robert Henry Crawford. By the terms of the will Therese o'Aurignac-- Mime. Humbert's maiden name-was made the sole legatee of the Crawford estate. said to be valued at 100000 francs. Soon afterward a second will, dated the same day as the frst was produced, which
  lionaire" between Marie dAurtgnac. young sister. and two nephews of the res- tator-Henry Crawford and Robert Craw- forthwith the provisions that these per sons should invest enough in Paris to provide an annuity of 5000 francs per month for Therese d'Aurignac-Mme. Humbert. The second document was dated Nice. September 6. 1877.
 Not long after the purchase of the Pa risian mansion, Mime. Humbert produced a third document binding the heirs of the American millionaire to preserve intact the title deeds and securities and seques- terlng them and placing them in charge of M. and Mime. Humbert until Mile. d'Aurignac attained her majority, when an amicable distribution Vf the property was to take place.
 The safe was duly sealed by the author ities and on the production of the three documents by Mime. Humbert, the fraud was started on Its long and prosperous career. During the years of the swind- ling operations the shadowy. phantom like Crawfords were only referred to. No real Crawfords n flesh and blood ever appeared to claim a share of the money or to protect their rights. In fact, 1t is now known that the existence of the Crawford nephews was entirely in the imagination of the Parisian swindlers.
 Told of Personal Wealth.
 Mime. Humhert said she never had to borrow any money She had an immense private fortune outside of the vast wealth bequeathed to her by the kInd-hearted American, but, of course, if Parisian bankers wanted to lend money at reas- onabie rates on the title deeds and secur- ities left by Crawford, Mime. Hambert was satisfied. The Crawford nephews were very obliging. They wanted the will of their uncle to be carried out and t.e families of Humbert and Crawford united. Documents from the nephews were pro- duccd. giving Mime. Humbert. guardian of the fortune. the right to invest in French rentes, ard to take rherefrom a yearly revenue of 365, 600 francs.
 Marie d'Aurignac, however showed no desire to unite the Humbert and Craw- ford fa1nilies by marrying one of the nephews when she became of age. so on behalf of the mythical brothers an in- Junction was obtained which forbade Mime. Humbert to make any use of the Crawford millions. which were then SUD- posed to be locked in the safe in the man. sion of the Avenue de Ia Grande Armee
 After the banking operations were start ed, of course. the wealthy Mime. Humbert could not be seeker after loans, so Maitre Parmentier had charge of the ne. gotiations.
 It Is not likely that the entire history of the swindle-or rather the hundreds of swindles which were evolved out of the original myth--will ever be written Only Mime. Humbert herself Is able to disclose all the details. and she Is hardly likely to do so. One of the best accounts yet written of the whole affair has been con tributed by T. P. O Connor, M. P.
 MT. O'Connor says that the swindle of the safe is believed to have led directly to no less than ten suicides while as to those ruined by Mime. Humbert they are to be counted by the hundred. If not by the thousand. and range from the once rich banker or retired millionaire mer- chant to the servant and the poor village priest In this connection MT. OConnor says:
 Profound, indeed, must have been the sleep. and splendid the nerves and Of marble impenetrability the conscience. of | the woman who could go through the | day and night without waking to the shrieks of Girard. who put bullet in | Da