The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-07-16
Death Makes Entrance
SUiclpE or muR1ER
~~* *x Sc
NeUs Stories ThrillefS

INCWS 0LOTI
ny FULTON THATCHER GRANT,
The Stavisky case moves into its
second phase with the death-be It
suicide or murder-of the principal.
It might be called the political phase.
It was dramatic. Living In France
during those days was exciting BUSH
ness. Reading your morning paper
was almost like living day to day
installments Of an Edgar Wallace
detective story.
And, better than reading the de-
velopments, reporting them for the
press was doubly exciting. That was
my privilege.
think the best way to make you
feel the suspense-the tingling, aggra-
waiting, daily suspense-and to keep
those days as fresh as possible for you
is to 60 back to the brief notes and
jottings I made for myself. For the
next twenty-eight days there is no
narrative. There are only develop
ments. Bright, sudden little develop
ments, often disconnected, often
startling. My notes, while crude, seem
to say 1t all faster than I could re-
write It. today, several months after
ward.
Stavisky died at midnight January
10. He had been unconscious since
the moment the police found him-a
suicide" He died In the hospital
without throwing any light on the
situation. The newspapers will have
none Of the police story, however, and
there is certainly discrepancy be-
tween Carpenters first report to
headquarters and the second one
which followed it to the Minister Of
the Interior. Here they are:
~ First report says Voix was
with Stavisky when they broke
into his room, and that It was
Voix who first used the word
suicide"
az Second report says Char
pentier's men met Voix and Lu-
cette Almeras on the road to
Chamonix village before they
broke int. the ''vieux Logis."
Two Opinions on Death
Somebody Is lying or at least badly
mixed up. There are two opinions: ~
that Voix himself killed Stavisky in
the last minute, paid to do so by the
police; and a. that Charpentier or
one Of his men shot stavisky as they
entered.
interviewed Henri Voixs wife.
He seems q pretty bad character, and
adds credit to the theory that he
may be stavisky's paid assassin. She
gave the following story:
Henri Voix Is q native Of Dion
In 1881 he was out Of job for long
time. He finally succeeded in getting
q place in Stavisky's Public Works
corporation In the Place st. Georges.
She said his salary was officially
1000 francs q month but that no
sooner had he gotten his new posi-
ton than, although only doorman,
he began living high, wide and hand
some. He started coming home at all
hours. Then only few times week.
Then he abandoned his wife and their
child altogether. She got = divorce,
but when she tried to get alimony he
showed in court q sworn statement
from the company that he only earned
1000 francs a month.
While in the neighborhood
stopped at the nearby cafes and asked
about him. Everybody knew Voix but
nobody had a good word for him. He
is suspected of being dope-peddler
among other interesting things.
Henri Voix may have been Stavisky's
murderer. Here is what Leon Bailby
writes in lie Jour today:
Does everybody know that one
Of the detectives who has been
shadowing Stavisky, and who was
present at the Chamonix drama,
Is called 1.-THE Killer" by his fell
low policemen, not only because Of
his extraordinary strength but
because of his personality? -.
Loot Cache Mystery
In the same article Bailby asks some
pertinent questions which are an echo
Of what you hear on the street cor
ners or in the cafes everywhere In
Paris:
But where is the money?
Where are the billion francs
stavisky stole? Even II he had
paid In gold or in platinum the
baksheesh and the tips he 50
freely distributed, and the gags
he put in the mouths Of black
mailers, or the police who pro-
tected him, there must be some-
thing left Of all this money. Say
At least $50 millions. Where are
they? In what banks? In what
clever investments2 In whose
pockets? Who Is concealing them?
A fight Is on between the public
and officialdom. The machine seems
trying to hide something. Premier
Camille Chautemps tried to defend
the official machine today by publish
ing the following communique:
Full light will be thrown on the
stavisky scandal, and full justice
will be done. -.
But Leon Daudet;s Action Franchise
screams "Murder!" at him.
This royalist newspaper has never
been . popular organ. The French
man Is no longer q royalist at heart.
He Is fed up with royalty.
Peoples Animosity Significant
But today there Is phenomenon
In Paris. The Action Francaise has
erected bulletin boards on the corner
Of the rue de Rome and the rue de
lIsly, near the Care saint-I.axare