The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-11
GREAT DEI'LS
Of H(h].:RI CASE
Manner in Which the Great
Swindle Originated.
ITS POLITICAL ASPECTS
Those Who Suspected the
Fraud Years Ago.
ITS POLITICAL ASPECTS

Paris. Jan 1o.-For seven ard half
months the six members of the Humbert
family have seemed TO have disappeared
int some crook OF the universe. sudden
ly they have been arrested in Madrid,
where they have been living quietly all
thi5t time while the police and detectives
of the civilized world were supposed to be
Hunting Cor them.
What a wonderful family! Is the mys-
terry of their existence at last coming
to an end, Or will the trial which must
follow their arrest be so manipulated as
only to deepen the visible darkness of
their career?
In any event. the arrest Of the Hum
berts marks a second epoch in the great
est swindie OF the century" just as their
flight and the opening OF their famous
freproof safe marked the first. And
rightly or wrongly. the abrupt ending o.
the idle a-i the rig -je.ayc,l s,Ir.-St of
the swindlers are popularity connected
with ex-Prirne Minister Waldo k-?ous-
seau
For more than twenty years the Hum
berts borrowed hundEc s Of millions Of
francs on the st,ti 9Th OF an inheritance
left tc Thersse Daugrisnac, the wife OF
F'rad,iic lIumoert the inheritonce did not
exist For seventeen wears the Hunibe-ts
managed TO give their imaginary inheri-
lance legal standing before the courts by
suits and countcr-suits with tire Craw-
fords. supposed contesting heirs; the
Crawfords did net exist.
In 1884. before the Crawford suits BEGAN.
or the name Of Crawford had been pro-
nouuc-d. NJ. Waldeck- Rousseau was pres
ent at a dinner with brother la gyers in
the south of France. Tie Court Of Mont
reili had Just given 4 judgment IN far-
OF the HUmberts. who were pressed tor
immediate payment of the Chateau OF
Celsyran. which thcy mad secured two
years before by vague promise TO pay,
signed b ythe supposed heiress and her
husband The lawyer of Therese Humbe-t
gave the Court his personal assurance of
the reality of the Inheritance. which a.
that time was attributed. not TO Craw-
ford. but TO a rich Portuguese romanticaI-
" connected with Therese Daurignac and
her mother The strange tale Of the in
herited fortune which could not be real
tied for the time being. the extensive
borrowing OF money and purchase OF real
estate on credit based on the tale, and
the constant money difficulties of the
Humberts had been known FOR three
years The dining lawyers talked freely
together OF the Humbert case. which al
ready involved tens Of millions OF francs
II. Waldeck- Rousseau. so il is now re-
nembered. already openly declared his
belief that the inheritance was a swi4tIe.
Suits followed suits, constantly involv-
ing greater sums OF money, and a whole
generation OF lawyers became familiar
with the curious details of the Humbert
case. IN 1895 NJ Waldeck- Rousseau him.
self was engaged as lawyer in an effort
to force Therese Humbert to repay the
millions borrowed from Gi-ard, a banker
OF Elbeauf; the unfortunate banker. find
ing that he could rot recover his imprud-
ent loans and recognizing the ruin of his
bank. had blown his brains out in despair.
Before the court NJ Waldeck- Rousseau
denounced the pretended existence OF the
Crawfords as the most gigintic swindle
OF the century" The Numbers paid under
compulsion-and continued their manoeu-
yres as before.
NJ. WaIdeck- Rousseau became Prime
Minister. and for three years he had all
the powers of government in his hands
The Humberts went on their way uumo-
Tested. until the few weeks preceding N.
Waideck-Rousseau' retirement from Of
fee. Then on the 24th Of April. 1902. the
Aatin a Ministerial journal began thu
6nal campaign of publicity with the Hum
berts which al their friends in politics
and the courts. found themselves unable
TO face. They escaped-six persons. all
OF characteristic and universally known
appearsnce-although they had already
been denounced to the attention of the
public and the police.
Their disappearance was complete
Trace after trace was followed up and
came 10 nothing They had reached Bis
bon and embarked for Argentine; they
had sailed from Nantes for Panama. as
Henri Rochefo-t knew. They were gone
20 Greece where extradftion does not
work One OF the Daugrignac brothers
was living in Brussels while another ap-
peared here. there. everywhere even in
Paris. The whole family had found shell
ter in a convent. either in Paris or II
Spain the land OF castles and cloisters
and mystery. They were living on estates
long since bought for this emergency in
the Ural mountains Of Russia. or they
were in the Bavarian highlands. One Of
the few Frenchmen that travel had rec
ognizsd Therese IN Pittsburgh. and an
other in Colorado. Meanwhile. their spec
tral automobile was seen in gathering twi
light scurrying along the roads OF the
French provinces
Detectives followed Up every trace. Oft
En-: finding new ones of their own; an
came 10 nothing. y brace CT them are
now on their way TO Aontevi5eo: on their
arrival they viii learn that the objects
of their search calmly took the tram for
Madrid al the PaTfs-O-Ieans station or
the night of the 9Th Of May. On the sth
when the judicial authorities were open
frg the freproof safe in Paris. the Hum
berts were leaning from a ba cony which
they had rented and decorated for the
coronation procession OF the young king
OF Spain. There they have waited until
now for some one to discover them
Meantime the government changed in
France. and N Walieck-RoCsseau went
travling for his impaired health The
Opposition il politics had already seized
on the Humbert affair 10 accuse the
Radical Ministry OF having p7osected tie
swtndlers on accoun; q their connection
wi.s great men OF the republic. New
they openly accuse the new Ministry ~
riufu,iy negIecting 10 secure their arrest.