New-York tribune., 1902-05-23
THE HUMBERT MILLIONS
THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY SwINDLING
CASE IN FRANCE SINCE THE FAMOUS
DIAMOND NECKLACE AFFAIR

the most remarkable case of swindling record
ed in France for over a century. This daring
speculation on human credulity, known as THE
Humbert Millions" has something of the social
and dramatic elements of the famous diamond
necklace affair of 1855. of which Talleyrand
wrote at the time that he should not be sur
prised if this miserable business overturned the
throne" The Humbert Millions is already
alluded to by NJ Jules Lemaitre the Pana-
ma of the Magistracy," and the opposition press
predicts that the bubble pricked last Saturday
will bring about drastic overhaung. if not
revolution. of the French judiciary. Ii is, in
deed. difficult to conceive how the legal maChin-
cry of the United States OF Great Britain
could be utilized to further vast fraudulent
conspiracy like that which has been carried on
here successfully for twenty-five years. The
Humbert Millions reads like the narrative of
Sherlock Holmes.
a phantom inheritance Of over $4,000 900. the
only tangible evidence Of which is the fictitious
will of an imaginary American millionaire
named Robert Henry Crawford has been
manipulated with daring and cOnsummate skill
and made the subject of such intricate litiga-
tion that the self-styled legatees NJ. and Nine
Frederic Humbert, have. during the last twenty
years. succeeded in obtaining from leading
bankers and financial institutions of Paris in
Guiding the Bank of France itself. the Credit
Foncer and the Compagnie Generate, loans
! amounting to more than S1000O0O0 In cash. and
this upon the sole security of a zealously guard
ed but empty safe.
NJ Frederic Humbert is an ex-Deputy of the
Department of the Seine. and his father was
Minister of Justice in NJ de Freycinet's Cabinet
Of 1882. NJ. Frederic Humbert and his wife.
formerly Mile. Therese d'Aurignac moved in
fashionable circles. They resided until last Sat
urday in a magnificent house. No. 80 Avenue de
la Grande Armee. the Arc de TriOmphe;
they owned several well kept country seats;
they had a smart and swift steam yacht, lie
Levrier: their art gallery contained rare me-
diaevaI tapestries. and among the paintings is
valuable collection of Corots. Meissoniers and
Ziems. Only last Wednesday night Nine. Hum
bert. becomngly attired in an austere but rich
dinner gown and wearing a superb necklace OF
diamonds went to the Opera to hear Jean de
Reszke in "Siegfried." and occupied her 'entre'
colonies box. that formerly had been reserved
for the Haussmann family, and which Nine
Humbert had hired for the last fifteen years at
a rental OF $1,000. Nine Humbert Is patron of
q number of charitable associations to which
she has been a most liberal subscriber.
The method of procedure of this queen OF
swindlers almost NapOleonic In conception
and execution. and may be briefly summarized
Twenty years ago there died at Nice Mr..
Henry Robert Crawford. who left TO Therese
d d'Aurignac his entire fortune She had nursed
the kind hearted American devotedly during
long Illness. which had been brought on by cuts
in the head and erysipelas caused by his falling
one afternoon through plate glass window at
Toulouse where the dAurignac family kept an
antiquity shop in the house where the Hum
berts lived Meanwhile Mile Therese d'Au-
rignac had married NJ Frederic Humbert. But
just as Nine. Humbert was about 10 enter into
possession of her enormous windfall two Amer
leans Henry and Robert Crawford produced a
will written and signed by the late Henry Rob
ert Crawford drawn UP, like the former one. at
Nice and Of the date. BY this will the
testator bequeathed to his two nephews Henry
and Robert Crawford and 10 Nine. Humberts
younger sister. Mile Marie d'Aurignac, the
whole OF his fortune. condition Of their pay
ing TO Nine. Frederic Humbert an annuity OF
S72 900
Thereupon the rival claimants brought the
case before the courts. The laws delay dragged
the affair through multiple phases. during which
Mime. Humbert the Crawford nephews and Mile.
Marie d dAurignac won and lost alternately. came
to terms. or attacked each other in all the
courts from the civil tribunals to the Court Of
Appeals, and from the Court OF Appeals to the
Court Of Cessation. The case seemed destined
never TO end. Hundreds of thousands of dollars
spent in counsel fees and legal expenses
Those who wise after the event now point
out that amidst this wilderness Of litigation
the mysterious Crawford brothers never ap-
peared in person. but only by attorney More
over. they never contested the will itself. They
simply produced another will. of the same date
which had the legal effect of a codcil. that
the judges unconsciously embodied in their
Judgments the essential fact that the vast estate
itself really existed.
II Is also noted that in the suits brought by
Nine Humbert the existence of the Crawford
brothers was never disputed. consequently the
dry formal verbiags OF the judgments of the
tribunals. invariably accepted as gospel truth
by all Frenchmen. could he adduced irref-
utable evidence of the existence not only of the
vast fortune In question. but also of the invisi-
bile Crawford brothers. who, a matter of fact.
like the famous $50 600 900 were purely imag
mary.
II seems most astonishing that one has
ever seen or known either the late Henry Robert
Crawford, the testator, the Crawford
nephews. supposed TO have S4000O00O each yet
these phantom plaintiffs and defendants have
been executing wills and legal summonses and
by the alleged comulicity of judicial officials
have been signing and contesting legal instru-
ments without any one being able to Identify
or find them. They legally looked for at
No. POP Broadway. New-York, hut this is now
found to be furnished apartment house, where
no one of the name Of Crawford has lived.
and when the domiciie Of the elder Crawford
was sought for it discovered that at the
address given there only park, but no
dwelling at all.
Another mysterious feature that Mime
Frederic Humbert declared that she had in her
safe money and securities amounting over |
500 coo 600 and that this sum had been ntrust-
ed to her for safe keeping by the other parties |
and that consequently she had in reality nothing
whatever available for cash payments because |