The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-01-11

Just as the CrdWIcfu Will rWaS oAicO
| from 1S7.. both compromise and Win be-
: ing. of course, equally nonresident with
! the Crawfords themselves. The substance
! OF Therese HumbeTts tale was that. I'M
/ der the last viii Of Robert Henry Craw-
I ford, a wealthy American. she had be-
come sole heir to fortune OF 600. ooe
, francs This legacy. she explained. was
an act OF gratitude When Crawford
| vas i'll on a railway train, she had saved
1 his life No caprice of an American mil
| Iionaire seems improbable in France
| In order 10 profit by this invention it
was necessary that her legendary for
/ tune should be accepted as the equiv
alent Of negotiable securities To do
/ this 1t was necessary. first. to obtain
! legal eertihcation Of the existence OF the
I Crawford millions; second. TO avert
demand to show the actual securities.
I At this junctUre, two nephews of Craw-
. lord appeared, and opposed to the Will
] which named Therese Daurignac as sole
/ legatee. one which. leaving small an
nuity to Therese, divided the fortune
/ equally among themselves. Robert and
/ Henry Crawford. and Thereses younger
I
/ wish that one of them should marry
/ Daurignac-either was willing TO wed
/ Marie-and thus unite the families. Pend
/ ing this settlement. Nine Humbert and
/ the Crawfords agreed that the 10000, 800
/ francs in securities should be sealed in
! Nine. Humberts safe, and not be opened
/ by her under penalty of FORGETTING all
claim upon the estate
( Stories that are told by word Of mouth
are so easily forgotten and modified in
seventeen years that II is impossible now
TO determine when the Humberts be-
| gan talking about rich American Craw-
/ ford and ceased to speak of the rich
/ Portuguese The first written mention
OF Crawford Inheritance dates from the
| 3lst day of October, iSs5. after the Hum
berts had been securing money and real
estate to the amount Of tens Of millions
of francs during four years of operations
covered by the respectable name of Sem
ator Humbert and without a pretense OF
a legal document to establish the reality
/ of the inheritance of Therese-
! On that day legal summons was OBJ
( tanned on Robert and Henry Crawford. to
oblige them to execute their part in the
above mentioned compromise. supposed TO
kave been signed the preceding year
With some difficulty, the summons was
actually served by a legal officer on
: supposed Crawford in a Paris hotel. A
/ Crawford also presented himself to a law
yer in Harve to whom he gave the nee
essary legal powers for protecting his
interests in the courts. This lawyer vas
Maitre Parmentier, who for seventeen
years watched all the Crawford suits and
countersuits AS the Crawfords admitted
. 10th viii and compromise. there was
never any question about these documents
which. If not disputed, would have been
demanded by the courts; there we're
enough other questions based on perfect
( ly legal citations and powers Of attorney
to occupy the attention OF the judges
At most the production OF one OF the
Crawfords in person might have been ext
acted but when a Frenchman sues by
procuration in America, is his presence
/ in person demanded?
OF course all powers and documents
signed ythe pretended Crawfords were
forgeries. and the few times they ap-
]
constitute false representations; and II In
for this as well as for general swindling
that the Humberts are now to be tried
The possibility Of perpetratins the swim
die by tying up Madame Humbert's inher-
itance through perfectly legal proceed
irgs was the stroke of genius And this
is commonly attributed to Senator Hum
bert; It is even said that this first legal
document OF all-the summons on the
] Crawfords in 1sS5-was in his handwrit-
ing.
Early in 1885, Therese Hsmbert and her
husband bought a great house in the Ave
nue. de la Grande Armee: 1t was paid for
in signatures Of the couple. always on
( the strength of the wife's inheritance.
The Crawfords were suing Madame Hum
bert: therefore they existed Their suit
concerned her Inheritance; therefore the
Inheritance existd. This simple reasoning
| satisfied every one. and Therese Humbert.
the rich heiress with an eccentric story.
kept her position as great lady OF the
republic until the final catastrophe.
In turn the families OF President Garnet
and President Felix Faure shared her
intimacy: Senator's and Deputies and the
highest Judges OF the land graced her
h0spitabie table. Gen. Bouiarger, came
with the rest. half-pleased and half-en-
ragged at finding so many of the Radicals
u no distrusted him. II was hardly fair
OF Minister OF Justice Vale. when ques-
toned by political opponents few years
ago concerning the delay in arresting the
Humberts. TO assert that Frederic HUM
bert had been a Boulangist Deputy. After
the undignified free fight 20 which this
taunt gave rise in full Parliament.
sufficient answer was given by pointing
out the fact that when Frederic Hum
bert's second election was invaI.dated-
he was defended by Camille Peiletan, the
present Radical Minister OF Marine
The acc-eGiting Of the Humberts By
B the company they kept cannot be exag-
ssrated IN its effect on possible money
F lenders. Her notes. payable after the
conclusion OF my actionsat law. were
freely accepted by banks y Lie banker
advanced 7.s1a. 90 francs She was OF the
books OF a dozen other banks for SUMS
ranging between iSoo.ss and $4,000
francs The security was un9uss.io7aSle,
to- every note was endorsed BY her SIS
ter Marie the alternative heir ard he
prospective BRIDE Of one Of the wealthy
CraHforis-
Il was in fact the activity Of the CraE-
T fords that was the most convincing proof
that this great fortune existed For Up
wards q fifteen years they Tough, Arre
Humber IL the courts accepting COM
promises only 70 boggie a, the terms o,
their execution. But the CTzwfo-cs were