The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-03-30
INSIDE STORY OF
CALMETTE CASE
Dramatic FOrerunnarS Of tho
Tragedy In Paris.
AMAZING CHAIN OF EVENTS.
For Third Time Handsome Woman
Statesman-caiIlaux's Letters TO Wo-
man He Subsequently Divorced Full
of Cynical Comment.

@~NN~' w
nan He Subsequently Divorced Full
of Cynical Comment.
In the Washington Post appears
what the writer, G. II. Bertelli, de-
clares to be a full and accurate ac-
count of the amazing chain of events
which eliminated in the assassination
Of CASTOR Calmette. the Paris editor,
by Mime. Caillaux.
$50 intricate is the plot" says the
writer, that for the reader to compre-
bend 1T 1t is necessary first to sketch
the dramatis personae.
Joseph Caillaux, finance minister.
former premier. aged ffty-one, florid.
bald. small, with restless eyes. Il
square jaw and "a despotic nature. hsl
a skyrocket career. He rose quickly
to a high place I'm the government of
his country.
Louis Barthou, able statesman, for
| mer premier. under whose administra-
ton the three year military law was
passed as Il reply to Germany's in
crease of ornaments. He was a bitter
political opponent of Caillaux.
Castor Calmette. intimate friend of
Prince Victor Napoleon. pretender to
the French throne, owed his prominent
| position as the editor of q leading Par
is newspaper to his marriage to Mile.
Presta, daughter of the president of
the Figaro company, whom he secret
ly divorced recently. Calmette. a bril-.
liant polemist. who waged the bitter
est campaign against CaillauX known
in French public life since the Dreyfus
affair, was a sentimentalist at heart,
"a white man.
Mime. Caillaux No. 2, beautiful. of
wealthy and cultured parents, Is the
former wife of Leo Claretie, Figaro's
literary critic. from whom she was di-
yorced to marry Caillaux in 1911.
"a handsome the third wo-
man who has stood between Caillaux
and Calmette, was formerly a close
friend of the present Nine. Caillaux.
She is the wife of a distinguished play
wright. a tall brunette. with the ele-
gance of a Parisienne and the vivacity
of an American girl
"In 1889 Il divorce took place between
an obscure couple. Nine. N blessed
with what is known as fatal beauty
always inspired and liked mems adj
miration. Her successes as a beauti-
full and smart woman are a byword in
Paris. She vas thirty-two years old.
Mime. Calmette. nee Presta. was for
a long time an inmate of a private hos
pital. Nine. Dupre. Caillaux's first
wife, divorced Dupre in order to mar
ry the minister, Jules Dupre was
the son of a famous painter, and he
thrice held a clerkship at $500 a year
at the ministry of fine arts. The same
year Caillaux became finance minister
and shortly afterward married Nine.
Dupre, whose former husband imme-
diately p~rospered and is now filing an
important position under the ministry
OF finance at $4.253 salary.
"In this epoch Caillaux developed a
fondness for writing letters. his beset-
ting sin. His volatile nature betrayed
him into making cynical remarks
about prominent politicians, including
those OF his w party and to whom
he owed his position.
These comments as well as his own
intimate ideas about current politics
he was In the habit of committing to
writing in long letters to his wife and
women friends.
when he met the present Nine.
Caillaux. then the wife of Leo Cla-
retie, he fell in love with her at first
sight For awhile he correspondent
with her and o decided to obtain
a divorce. The proceedings We're be-
gun: but. as Caillaux didn't propose
to pay his wife any alimony. she used
the convincing argument afforded by
a bundle of letters written to her and
other ome containing evidence dam
aging to his political career.
Damaging Letters Photographed.
During these negotiations these let
ters We're con6ded by Mime. Caillaux
No. l to one of her literary acquaint-
ances, with Il view to their arrange
ment for publication, and thus. it is
understood, passed through the hands
OF several persons, during which proc
ess they were photographed.
For, when Caillaux finally yielded
to his wife's demands for $4,000 a
year alimony. he regained possession
of the original letters. But photo
graphic copies remained In other hands.
and it was precisely extracts from
one of these letters which Calmette
published In the Figaro n which was
the direct cause of the tragedy. For
some years the friendship between
Caillaux and Nine. Claretie went on
smoothly and Caillaux's political i'm
portance grew daily.
AT this time Mime. Claretie's great
est friend was Mime. Y, who even then
was on intimate terms of friendship
with CASTOR Calmette. Meanwhile
Claretie agreed to a divorce and inn
mediately the decree wal made abso.
lutte In 1911.
"Caillaux was then premier of
France. To the general establishment
he married the former Nine. Claretie
[ In the thick of European political con-
plications."