Evening star., 1934-02-23
PREMIER DEMANDS
SLAYER'S CAPTURE
Doumergue Orders Action
as Police Study Theory
of "Maffia" Gang.

copyright. 1884 by The Associated Press)
PARIS, February %. - Premier
Doumergue called today for the cap
ture, dead or alive, Of the mysterious
slayer of Judge Albert Prince. "the
man who knew all in the StaviSky
banking scandal
The premier's order went out after
Minister Of the Interior Albert Sar-
raut declared he believed France in
the grip of "Mafia" gang deter
mined to block the investigation
The government offered 100 900
francs (about $6,500) for the arrest
and conviction of the slayer.
Belief grew in official circles the
judge was murdered because he knew
too much. Still police said they were
baffled by conflicting tales Of the
killing.
Bound and mutilated, Judge Princes
body was found on q railway track
near Dijon Wednesday. Nearby lay
bloody knife. HIS brief case had
been rifled.
Brutaliy Slain.
He had been brutally slain Just
one day before he was to have testi-
fed in an investigation into the col
lapse of Serge Stavisky's pawn shop,
in which investors lost SAC. .00o, 900.
Inside information" was said to
be in Princes possession. For one
thing, he cas present back In 1926
when Stavisky was arrested in con-
nection with an earlier promotion.
Later he was in a position to know
details involving high officials, who
obtained frequent adjournments of
the Stavisky hearings.
The judges son Raymond said he
is convinced his fathers murder was
a political crime.
Il fear the assassins will never be
known" he added, for they were only
the instruments of powerful higher
ups"
The grief-stricken son said he
would press the investigation "even If
it costs my life"
More than q score Of deaths have
resulted in one way or another from
swindles said to have been engineered
by the debonair Stavisky.
Died in Riots.
All but two Of those-Stavisky him.
self and Judge Prince-died in the
anti-government riots which ragged in
Paris after bogus bonds, alleged to
have been floated by Handsome
Alex" led to revelations Of widespread
corruption. French institutions gen.
orally were threatened. The govern
ment was imperiled.
France was shocked on January 4
when it became known that Stavisky
had disappeared after the failure of
the Bayonne Pawnshop he founded.
High government officials were ac-
cuSed OF implication in Stavisky'S
manipulations, and rage swept the
nation. Before this wave of public
Indignation, increased by economic
conditions and famed by monarchists
and radicals, two cabinets fell-those
Of Camille Chautemps and Edouard
Daladier. Rioting ran rampant. Un-
counted hundreds were wounded. At
least a score was slain.
Protection Alleged.
The suave. Russian born Stavisky
worked his way and, it was charged,
bought his way into political circles,
where he found protection.
This protection, 1t is charged, ena-
bled him to Jump from one fantastic
swindle to another until he was
caught in the affair at Bayonne-
nd h &c a
Handsome Alex" Wh) started with
shoestring, cornered millions and
yet died a pauper, pyramided his
frauds in the hope he could pull out
before the structure crashed.
He was first arrested in 1926 and
was charged with issuing fake bonds
on a pawnshop at Orleans. He was
to Bayonne, Investigators recount, and
there issued millions Of francs In
bonds without security.
In order to make these bonds good
he organized insurance and contract
ing companies, drawing influential
men into his organization and selling
stock.
He attempted to get himself out of
all his difficulties with the Hun
garian bond scheme which made
Stavisky an international figure. It
was based on the indemnities granted
Hungarians for lands appropriated by
the Treaty OF Trianon. Certain Hun
garians, dissatisfied with the amounts
awarded them, sought further reim-
bursement.
A bond issue was then created by
an international committee, but these
bonds suffered the same fate as Ger
man reparations and their value was
speculative.
Stavisky stepped in. He bought UP
huge amounts of these bonds for
tri1e OF their face value. He was
engaged Tn negotiations In Paris to
put them on the market when the
Bayonne crash came.
'-- 80