Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-07-06
B|ackmer, Oil Scanda|
Figure, Still Seeks
Privacy in France
Once FobuIousIy Rich
Moenote Left U. S. in
Teapot Dome Floreup
BY TAYLOR HENRY,

ny
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent |
PARIS.-A second marriage at SO
has only intensified Henry M.
Blackmers passion for privacy
quest of the one-time oil magnate |
in is years of exile to avoid testi-
flying about scandals of the Harding |
administration.
A colorful figure in building a |
great fortune in boom times of the |
West, lavish party giver, Blackmer |
slipped away to France in 1924 to
become one of Americas most famed |
expatriates and finally "a man with
out a country"
Every effort of the United States |
to eXtradite him failed during the |
sensational investigations of Tea
pot Dome and its allied scandals in |
the 20s
And Blackmer, called the child of
the gods" for his amazingly success
full business career, lived on in Paris,
seeking with only partial success the |
privacy he wished after years of
litigation to keep from returning
home. His friends say his desire
for solitude has grown with the
years.
Marriage Was Secret.
Only relatives and few friends
knew when Blackmer and Eide No.
rena, Norwegian soprano, were mar
ried February in quiet civil
ceremony. News of the wedding
leaked out a month later, but even
then Blackmer persisted in trying
to keep secret everything about his
personal life.
Just tell them we were married
three months ago." he instructed
his attorneys despite the fact that
the actual date was matter of
public record.
Blackmer's friends say his mar
riage has caused him to live even
more to himself in large apart
ment on the fashionable Avenue
Foch, which runs like private park
from the Arch of Triumph to the
Bots de Boulogne.
He and his wife entertain friends
more than they go out. They play
bridge and backgammon. Some
times his wife sings. The quiet
home life differs from the amuse-
ments Blackmer found when he first
came to Paris Is years ago. Then
he spent considerable time at the
cosmopolitan Travellers Club, where
his friends knew him as a first
class story teller, an expert at bridge
and a champion at backgammon.
Child of the Gods"
Behind him is spectacular
I.
fortune during the COS and the
opening decades of this century.
Blackmer once was Colorado's lead
ing lawyer, flnancier, railway owner,
banker, oil man and mining mag
nate.
In Denver he became known as
the city's most lavish spender and
most unobtrusive philanthropist.
That was during the years when
friend and foe alike called him
Child of the Gods" because of his
good fortune. That also was before
Teapot Dome became national
scandal and before Henry Blackmer
became "a man without a country"
passport in 1927.
The oil scandals involved, among
others, two of Blackmers oil asso-
ciates, Edward L. Doheny and Harry
Sinclair, as we'll as President Hard
ing's Secretary of the Interior, AL
bert B. Fall.
Rather than testify before a con-
gressional inquiry into the Cont
mental Trading Co. and its $50,0OO,-
900 deal with a group of oil COM
panies, including the Midwest Co.,
which Blackmer headed, he left the
United States.
Blackmer considers that the al
most 100000 he has turned over
to the United States Government,
for income tax evasion charges, and
to shareholders in the Midwest Co.
has settled all claims against him.
Now he believes he is entitled to live
out his years as he pleases.
Put the Past Behind Me-"
st have made my life here"
friends quote him as saying. my
friends are here. They ask nothing
of me- I have put the past behind
me"
That was not m easy task for a
man who once was one of the
wealthiest in the United States
The life of an expatriate was ap-
palling at first for man who was
involved in financial affairs which
once Melted him $1,000,000 on a
single deal.
After the four-year fight to re-
move him was over, Blackmer trans
ferred his holdings to his bankers
and sought new interests in the
country of his adoption.
Now Blackmer, native of Wor-
cester, Mass, speaks fluent French
and the library of his Paris apart
ment is lined with books on French
history.
He still plays good game of golf,
but as he has grown older his in
terests have turned toward the lit
tie known regional customs of
France. His friends regard him as
an authority on such things.
Blackmer is interested particu-
larly in Brittany and the history of
the small fishing villages where he
has spent many summers.
The one-time titan of finance is
familiar and accepted figure to the
Inhabitants of these tiny seacoast
towns far from the usual tourist
track.
Blackmer's friends say he likes the
remote villages because they afford
him the nearest thing to the seclu-
sion which for the last Is years has
been his quest.