The catastrophe of the Humbert-Crawford case, briefly out- lined, in
our last issue, beggars the invention of a Gaboriau. The famous box was opened on Friday week in the presence of magistrates and notaries, and proved to contain, instead of the alleged £4,000,000 of securities: nothing but an empty case and some old papers. In other words, on the strength of the fictitious will of a fictitious millionaire contested by,,Actitions co - heirs, Madame .Humbert has during a period of twenty years raised upwards of two millions of money, with which she and her husband have bought a splendid house, lived in great luxury, founded various charitable institutions, and floated financial companies. The list of creditors shows that seventeen bankers, brokers, commission agents, jewellers, &c., have lent sums varying fro& 210,000 to £250,000. A notary and the attorney who had vouched for the existence of the 24,000,000 in the box have already been arrested, but Madame Humbert with her husband and sister have so far evaded apprehension. Paris meantime amuses herself with witty caricatures of the mythical brothers Crawford, and seethes with sensational rumours as to the implication of various highly placed personages in the frauds, which we cannot help thinking were rendered possible by a sort of wild credulity in the boundless possibilities of American wealth. Financially speaking, the average Frenchman believes the normal Yankee to be not only a man of boundless wealth, but capable de tout. Madame Humbert's really great and original invention was the use of law proceedings against herself to supply evidence to back up her frauds. The stronger the case looked against her own claim the better the evidence that the money really was in existence.
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