The Warwickshire Herald. — 1888-05-03 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

STORY OF A GREAT FRAUD.  The trial has taken place at Versailles of Henry Castelnati, Alexandre Martinet, chemist, and Marie Prouteau, Crustlenau's servant, on a charge of concocting a false certificate of death. As Juliana Metz has not been given up by the Government of Austria, in which country she is about to be tried,ehe did not appear, but was included in the indictment. The confess:on of all the main facts by the chief ilelinquent lessened the interest of the trial, but the consciracy was one of peculiar audacity, the victims being English life insurance companies. A German adventurer named Schemer had married an American wife at Brooklyn, but not finding her rich, as he had expected, had deserted her. He came to Paris in 1883 with his mistress, Juliana Met; and, being reduced to great shifts, conceived the idea of insuring his life in English offices and of pretending to be dead, so that Juliana might receive the insurance. He had formerly been an agent for insurance cotnpanies, and was well acquainted with their working. He accordingly effected insurances for £8,500, and some months afterwards, a certificate of death at Meudon being sent in, the companies, after some demur, paid the policies. Mary Proutean, however, after a time, gossiped to the servant who had succeeded her at Castelnau's ; the latter repeated the story, and an anonymous letter reached the companies. It was then discovered that Scheurer was still living, that the man who had died was really named Carl Glockner, that Castelnau, a doctorand Anarchist orator at Paris, was a party to the fraud, and that the chemist Martinet had received 23,000 f. for having secured the consumptive patient Glockner. a journeyman brewer, who was to be passed off OR death as Schemer. The lastnamed meanwhile had naturalised himself in Canada, had taken the name of Clarence Percy Robert, had bigamously married Juliana at Brighton, and had gone with her to Austria. On hearing that the fraud had been detected Schemer went to Italy, but learning that Juliana had been arrested with £B,OOO in her possession he committed suicide at Conio. He left a paper avowing his guilt and exonerats ing Juliana. Castelnan, on being interrogated, acknowledged that he made Scbeureed acquaintance in 18;8, that he himself was then in pecuniary straits, and that he agreed to assist in Schemer's plan, He was promised 100,000 f., but received only 20,000 f. He went and asked Martinet to find him a sick mall. GliJckner was not only a German, bit had some resemblance to Scheurer. Glockner was taken to a house at Meudon, and Castelnan maintained that lie was well cared for. No doctor, however, saw him till a few days before his death, when the medical WWI called in found him in the last stage of consumption. Castelnan received the money through Martinet, and he gave 10,000 f. of it to his daughter. He admitted basing at Schemer's dictation drawn nli the certificate of death. Martinet, while obliged to admit that he had provided the invalid Glockner for Castlenau, insisted that he had known nothing of the fraud, but believed that Castlenaii wished to test a new cure for consumption. Marie Prouteau also maintained that she did not at the time know of the fraud, and did not know who the patient at Meudon was, though Schemer afterwards induced her to make a declaration that the patient was Baron Schemer. There was no reason to suppose that Glick • ner's death was hastened by foul play. In the result Dr. Castlenau was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment and a fine, Martinet to five years' imprisonment and a fine, and the servant Prouteau was acquitted.  At the Central Criminal Court Robert James Mathew has been indicted for shooting at Henry Blaming with intent to murder him. The prosecutor was tried at the January sections for unproper conduct towards prisoner's daughter, but was acquitted, and on the night of his acquittal went 64 the public-house of which Mathew was the manager, and, it was alleged, laughed at the prisoner, who shot him. The jury found Mathew guilty of unlawfully wounding, but strongly recommended him to inercy.—Mr. Justice Smith, in passing a sentence if six weeks' imprisonment, said that the class of pistol which had been used was a onrs.,e to t:a country.