The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-11-23

dered to face a retrial.
Again he went to work delaying
action. If he could put of trial
until March, 1914, six years from the
day of his arrest, and whole matter
would be outlawed and he would be
free. Official after official appears to
have been corrupted, delay after de-
lay was manipulated.
It seemed Rochelle, who had stoEen
millions, would escape unscathed. HIS
companies had collapsed one after the
other. His whole nefarious scheme
lay exposed. Still he was not brought
to justice.
LIE Figaro His Enemy.
But all this time violent wind
had been gathering force. The FL
caro-, edited by the valiant and stiff
necked CASTOR Calmette, appeared
one morning with a blast of attack
on the ministry, charging that Roch-
cite was being protected for venal
reasons.
M. Joseph Cai1laux, former Premier
of France and now Minister of FL
nance, was charged with having or
dered the postponement of the
Rochelle trial. Monis, president OF
the council, was assaulted as having
aided Caillaux, and acted as his tool.
In a few days the matter was
brought to the attention of the
Chamber Of Deputies, and an investi-
cation was demanded. After fierce
opposition a committee was appoint
ed to probe the whole scandal as Tar
as it involved Caillaux and Monis.
Jean Jaures, the late Socialist
leader, was made head Of it and an
investigation was begun,w 18th the re-
suit that the ministers were found
to have aided Rochelle, but not from
evil motives. The public prosecutor
was made the scapegoat.
LIE Figaro and M. Calmette grew
increasingly bitter and insistent- Aft
er the verdict of the Jaures Board the
paper centered its fire On Ca1llaux
the dapper, suave Minister of FL
nance The charge was made to the
benefit of Rochelle. 1t was again as
serted that he had personally OF der
ed the delay of the Rochelle trial.
Murder by Mime. Caillaux.
Then, one morning early in 1914
came the climax LIE Figaro, which
had been going into the past of Call
laux. appeared with the most daring
and blackening attack of al, printing,
among other things, letter when
reflected on the moral past OF the
minister and limiting scandalous mat
tiers about his divorce from his first
wife and his marriage to the present
Nine. Caillaux
CONSERVATION and desperation seiz-'
ed the Caillaux household. The
minister threatened to kill Calmette.
His wife, whose honor was threaten
ed by the promised revelations, went
to the office of LIE Figaro the follow
ing evening at dusk with revolver
in her muff and shot the vituperative
editor to death.
The series of events that followed
the arrival in Paris of the waiter with
his thousand dollars had reached the
climax. Nothing since the Dreyfus
case caused such volcanic excitement
in France as did the subsequent bit
ter trial Of Nine Caillaux.
The first wife of the minister was
dragged into court to expose his past
and tell how he had been stolen by
the woman who now bore his name,
the woman who had killed in de-
tense of her secret. The highest
names of the French legal profession
figured in the case. A change Of min
istry came about through the scandal.
~ In the end Henriette Caillaux was
set free. It had been impossible to
convict a woman.
Hunted Over the Earth.
But the chief actor and conspira-
tor, Henri Rochelle, had fed long
since. When, in the rising tide of the
scandal, the officers went to look for
him, he was gone. In time it was re-
ported he was in Mexico, and ar
rangements were made with Fran
cisco Madero, then in power, for his
extradition, Rochelle heard of the
plan in advance and fed over the
roofs.
The waiter who HAD heeesne- one Of