The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-08-03
Get-Rch-Q Quick Bubbles That Have Burst
BY HARLEY MATTHEWS
THE WOMAN WITH THE GOLDEN WIT


Who blow the bigger soap bubbles
boys or girls? Doubtless, among
children, that argument will never be
settled, But in the grown up world
Madame Humbert showed that a wom-
an could blow bubble of finance as
large and as well as any man.
She was not beautiful, nor well
born. On the contrary, she was ugly
and her parents were Toulouse peas
ants. Paris first heard of her in the
year 1877, as Mademoiselle Theresa
Daurignac, the heiress of Robert Hen
ry Crawford, an American multi-mill-
lonalre. She had nursed him through
an illness, she said, and, in his graf
itude, he had left her all his property,
valued at $4,000, 900. In support of
her story she showed a copy of the
will. 1t was signed at Nice and dated
September 9Th, 1877.
Soon Mademoiselle d'Aurignac. as it
had become now, was being discussed
all over Paris. That is just what she
wanted, whatever they said about her
In short time she was being adj
mitted to the homes of the aristocra-
cy, where her hand in marriage was
sought by every available man. Some
thought she made a peculiar choice
Monsieur Humbert, son of a Cabi-
net Minister-but she had her reasons.
They began to keep house in prince
~ style. Tradesmen gave them all
the credit they required, for was not
Madame Humbert the heiress of and
American millionaire?
Then came an announcement that
Madame Humbert was not the sole
heiress after all Two Crawford
nephews had appeared with a will
signed by the millionaire, also dated
September 9th, 1877. leaving his prop
erty in the equal shares to the neph-
ews and Marie, Madame's sister. How
ever, this will still left Madame with
an income of $4,000 a year so there
was no need for the creditors to wor-
ry.
The Crawford nephews gave out
that it was their uncle's dying wish
that one of them should marry a
d'Auriganac girl. so as to unite the
two families. Perhaps that was why
they were so friendly about the whole
business. While announcing that they
intended to take legal steps to have
their will recognized, they made an
agreement to allow Madame HumberI
to retain custody of the $4,000, 900
worth of securities. These were all to
be sealed and locked away in her
safe, and not opened until the order
of the court.
To this Madame Humbert consent
ed, and accordingly a French notary
of standing was called in to see the
sealing. This, according to his affi-
davit made for the court he did with
his own hands, after counting the Sc
cuIities one by one.
1t was a long time before the law
suit could be heard In the meantime
the Humberts wanted money. With
the knowledge of the securities sealed
and locked away, bankers made no
difficulty of supplying them with it.
Was not Madame at least entitled to
$4,000 year? All they wanted was
Madame's note, and if Mademoiselle,
her sister, the other only possible heir
ess, would endorse it, all the better.
While the courts were deciding who
were the rightful heirs, the Humberts
bought a castle. Here again the
owner was satisfied to take Madame's
note, payable after the conclusion of
my action-at-law."
At last the case was heard, and
Madame got the decision But the
Crawford nephews Immediately enter
ed an appeal and the securities still
had to remain under seal The Hum
bert credit was still further strength
ened, however Here was a court Of
France recognizing not only the ex-
istence of the millions, but Madame
Humbert as heir to them.
Madame bought estates everywhere
Generally when she wanted money, it
was in ma hurry, and she was willing
to offer any interest. Few bankers
or money lenders could refuse the in
ducement-and with such security too.
In one case she borrowed $135, 900, the
interest SO per cent to be paid forth
with out of the advance. Wouldn't
You prefer my note a year hence for
80 per cent she asked.
Certainly" said the banker and
pushed the money over to her taking
the paper she signed
Madame now seemed to have all
that a woman of her tastes could de-
sire. She was one of the leaders Of
Partisan society, and her husband was
a member of the Chamber of Deputies
Her art collections were famous, and
she possessed estates in various parts