New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-08
DUKE A THIEF,
DUCHESS AYERS
Continued from page

81 tried to give pan TOT tnc uuh''
was refused, and was told to go 10
Police Headquarters the next morning
wnen the case was called. went tnerc'
The duke was sentenced TO elght DAYS
! nrotested against this. and TO get to
The root of the affair sought the chief
of police TO learn why fuch severe "c-
ton had been taken.
"On nv introducing myself to the
chief he told me the situation wae lar
more serious than he had expected. IN
looking over the records, "a Is custom
ary. TO learn if the prisoner had been
concerned in other illegal acts, he had
found something. Would | look at ~
Description Fitted Duke.
at was a circular issued by the Paris
police, aSking for the apprenens,oil VI
one Arturo Durazzo. The description,
fitted the duke skin-tight. II appeared
that the duke had been employed IN d
confidential capacity. az cashier, by =.
pnlecheid Cornet. proprietor Of the
Hotel Richemond, Paris, and had hau
full charge OF the cash and paper Sc
curities. The circular continued to ray
that on April II, 1912, the duke en-
be2zled :404 in cash and $1,000 in ne,
gotiable bonds from Cornct and losI
The money gambling. and that the next
dav the hotel man made the discovery.
"Thc circular added that Cornct mott
fed the police, and that when an indict-
ment was voted the duke skipped OUT
before he could be arrested. In ac-
cordancc with the French practice, the
duke, though he had fed, WAS convicted
and sentenced 70 serve three years or
n "a roturn IN France
az said | could not believe It, and,
certain of the dukes innocence, ! felt
that, despite the accuracy OF the DC
scription, the guilty man WAS not my
brother-in-l But when ! went to
his cell and asked him about 1t he
hoored me by confessing.
al decided to stand by him for rea-
sons unnecessary to detail. Besides, he
had. he told me, returned the bonds
soon after the theft and had made good
the currency larceny when he borrowed
the $500 from me in New York. lie had
cabled the money TO his cousin TO be
turned over to Cornet. SO ! retained "A
good lawyer.
az told my wife Of this. and we agreed
il was wise to hold the truth from the
duchess. thinking could have the mat
ter disposed of quietly by having the
Paris court suspend sentence. But my
sister, after two weeks saw the duke
still in Jail, refused to accept my eX-
PLANTATION that in Monaco it was GUS
tomary to hold for several weeks a
prisoner guilty Of disorderly conduct.
| had to tell her the truth. Naturally
she collapsed. and announced that she
and the duke had seen the last of each
other.
Took Duke TO Paris.
AZ had to see the thing through.
From Monaco the duke was taken TO
Nice and from there to Paris. en-
gagged additional counsel there. and we
went before the court with the full
story. The trip from Nice TO Paris
was made quietly. We had informed
the court of our situation. and got
permission to bring the duke to Paris
in the custody of two private officers.
"When il was explained that resti-
tuition had been made, the court
seemed not too deeply moved. Instead
of suspending sentence, it modified the
sentence to six months, in considers
ton of the time already spent in jail
at Monaco and Nice. Again We plead
cd. and the dukes release was ordered
with the provision that he must serve