Evening star., 1944-02-21
bedaux Was Fifth
OF Mystery Men
To Die Violently

WITH the QeaJh OF Charles e,
Bedaux in Miami last Friday five
OF the six contemporary mystery
men Of international finance have
ended their colorful roles in world
affairs and all but one have died
violently. Axel Wenner- r-Gren, the
only one of the group left now,
living furtive life far from the
capitals that once knew him well.
The six-Sir Basil Zaharoff, Ivar
Kreuger, Serge Stavisky, Alfred
Loewenstein, Bedauv and Wenner-
Gren-all moved, during the two
decades between the World War and
the present conflict, in the yelled
realm of high finance where their
actions were seldom visible to the
public except when the explosive
force of a political scandal or pri-
vate tragedy revealed them.
All were men who dined privately
with kings, prime. ministers, war
lords and keepers of the public
purse. Occasionally the result of
these relations would be glimpsed
In the announcement of an in
ternational loan or the signing of
a huge armament contract. Other
wise their maneuvers were secret
from the millions of citizens whose
lives and finances often were vitally
affected by their movements in in
ternational politics.
Alone of the five who have died,
zaharoff, long known as the "muni-
tions king" ended his career peace
fully. The man who had made and
broken kings during his years of
intrigue in the Balkans died in
Monte Carlo seven years ago at the
age of 86.
Loewenstein Lost Over Channel.
The Belgian capitalist, Alfred
LoeWensteln, whose control of iron
and coal mines in the Saar and
Ruhr districts gave him vast power
in the councils of Europe, disap-
peared mysteriously in 1928 from
an airplane flying over the English
Channel. 1t was generally assumed
that he had drowned, although the
tale Of fisherman who said he had
seen a parachute descend near
fishing boat in the Channel always
left an element of doubt as to the
flnancier's end.
A scandal that rocked France at
tended the death of Stavisky in
1884. An investigation revealed his
close connection with men highly
placed in the French cabinet and
the disappearance of $35, ,00O,O in
public funds. Pursued by French
police, he was found in the Alpine
village of Chamonix with bullet
in his head, which authorities
claimed was self inflicted.
Kreuger's Empire Collapsed.
Kreuger, the Swedish match
king" shot himself in Paris in 1882
when he realized that his vast in
ternational financial empire was
about to crack. The failure of his
enterprises, like the falling of
house of cards, had repercussions
on financial institutions in both
America end Europe.
Wenner Gren, sole surviving
member of the big Six" was last
reported somewhere in Mexico" A
friend of Hermann Goering and
other high-ranking Naxis, he re-
portedly was active in 1910 in an
attempt to heal the growing breach
between the United States and
Germany. His firms are on the
State Departments blacklist of
those having Axis connections. Re-
Gently his palatial yacht-in which
the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
visited America-was confiscated by
the Mexican government for use as
q naval auxiliary.
Bedaux, a naturalized American
of French birth who amassed for
tune as an industrial engineer,
ended his life in Miami by taking a
lethal dose of sleeping powder, the
Justice Department announced, aft
er learning that he faced possible
charges of treason against the
United States because of his alleged
cooperation with the NaZis.