The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-08-04
By FULTON THATCHER GRANT
CHAPTER TWELVE
DART n

Let us recall the lVIo C&Se, % V4tcA
postponed. In which stavisly and
several associates were to be tried TOR
taking several million from exchange
agents. Now you Will remember that
strange obstacles had been thrown IN
the way OF the wheels Of law ana
order. stavisky died or was
assassinated. Twelve hundred docu-
ments vanished from the dossier.
Legal tricks and quolibets entramel-
led the case. Postponed, put off, set
back, the case was finally to come of
in February or March. The public had
forgotten the date, II any fixed date
there was. Greater events had shifted
public attention.
But somewhere . man was busily
engaged in picking OUT the threads
Of that tangled 1926 case not 80
much for the case itself as for its
bearing upon the whole tangled skein
Of the stavisky case Of le33-34. Some
body was digging out the roots and
the rhizomes from the black, hardened
DIRT of the earlier year. end slowly de-
taching from them the fruits Of In
vestigation, In order to reveal the in
tertwining Of important. high-seated
men In this muddy affair.
That man was Counsellor Albert
Prince.
In 1926 he had been made Judge
substitute in charge Of the financial
Investigation service Of the Paris mag
istrature. When Judge Pachot in
1919 made his complete reports Of the
actions and deeds Of Serge Alexandra
revealing the man to be Stavisky, and
turned It In with the 1926 and 1927
reports Of detective Gripois attached
to It, Judge-suhstitute Prince had
studied 1t, collected other material
enlarged the report and passed it on
to his superior. That was in 1888
and his superior was Procuror Press
ard Of the Republic.
We know that those reports were
stifled and came to nothing. But
Albert Prince, promoted to the dis
tinguished position OF Counsellor
Judge in the Court Of Appeals, still
retained his own personal notes and
when time revealed that the inactiou
which had smothered the Stavisky
case was about to be overcome by
Doumergue's famous forty-two-mar
commission, Councillor Prince as.
sembled hts facts and composed
another report which would have cleo.
trified the whole legal world Of
France.
There is one point wish to make
before we examine the dramatic and
extraordinary circumstances sur.
rounding the death Of Albert Prince
We have noted that he changed hi
functions to the Court Of Appeal.
, from the financial section Of the Paril
magistrature. That was In November
1891. He had been promoted to thu
rank OF Counsellor Judge In the fin.
ancial section, but after q few months
Of this service, he asked to be trans
ferred to the appeals division. Thu
reason for the demand Of transfer
viii be IN important note In oul
story.
Gets Mysterious Call
On the fatal day OF February 20
after having his coffee at the Cafe
DE- Flore, Counsellor Prince went tc
the Palais de Justice as usual to be-
gin his days work.
At his home, 1t 8 rue Babylone
Madame Prince received q telephone
call. The conversation I report L
taken from her statement to the po-
lice:
Hello, Littre 7o-65?"
Eyes,"
II wish to speak to Monsieur
Prince"
Hes not here. He has gone to the
Palais. This Is his wife speaking
Who Is asking for him?"
81 am telephoning for Doctor
Ehringer from Dion. He asked
me to tell the Counsellor that Ma
dame Prince. his mother, is going to
be operated today. It IL an urgent
matter, case Of intestinal adhesions.
The doctor urges NJ. Prince to come
to Dion by the first train possible
for the surgeon does not wish to oper-
ate without having seen him first
Will you please tell hiin?"
Certainly, I shall phone him now.
We can leave directly"
Pardon me, Madame, but I think
It would be unwise II you should
accompany him. Old Madame Prince
is very low, and T have been asked to
say that the least emotion might be
fatal. Her sons presence alone will
be dangerous, though necessary, but