A DETECTIVES MEMOIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 300, 18 December 1911, Page 6

A DETECTIVES MEMOIRS.

STORIES OF ROYALTY. PARIS, December 12. The "Memoirs" of M. Xavicr Paoli, the -well-known French detective, have just been published. It is a very readable volume, and not the least interesting of the many stories told by the author are those concerning Royalty, with whom —at different times—he has had close personal relations. M. Paoli relates that on one occasions Queen Mary, when Duchess of York, was visiting Nice, and that on her arrival, there the fisherwomen presented her with some flowers. The simple fisherfolk, after they handed their gift to her Royal Highness, became greatly embarrassed, and considered what next they should do. "Kiss the Equerry," mischievously suggested Baoli, and the fishermen fell to with a will and faiTly smothered that officer with kisses. The Duchess enjoyed the joke immensely, ana almost laughed herself into hysterics. There is another story of the Shah, who, while ■witnessing an execution in Paris, sought to have a strange whim gratified by asking that the executioner should be decapitated instead of the criminal.

GERMAN SOLDIER SHOT. EXCITEMENT AT METZ. PARIS, December 12. Tremendous excitement has been caused throughout Alsace-Lorraine as a result of a shooting affray which occurred in Metz. A German soldier named Marsch was shot and killed in the street by Alexandre Samaine, one of the leaders of the French party. Four of Bamaine's friends were with the murderer at the time, and they, together with Samaine and his brother, have been arrested in connection with the crime. The trial of the accused is considered likely to have a momentous effect in "fanning the hostile racial feelings* which have always been acute in the districts of Alsace-Lorraine. M. Samaine was the organiser of the French party, and it was he who organised the demonstration in Metz in January last, when the troops had to he called out to disperse the crowds, who paraded the streets si' -rig, the "Marseillaise" and cheering fur the Republic.

WHITE SLAVE TRAFFIC. THRE£ HUNDRED GIBLS SOLD. PARIS, December 13. One of the gravest scandals that have besmirched Parisian society for years has jnst been brought to light by the authorities. The police have secured proof that 300 girls, r- 13 from 9 to 17 years of age, have hern sold by their mothers into the white slave traffic. Disclosures made up to the present point to this as *eing the worst white slave scandal in the history of the city. M. Victor Flachon, a former editor of "La Lanterne," M. Gaston Allard, a wealthy manufacturer, and several women have been placed under arrest. Other prominent men in the social life of Paris have fled France.