"PHANTOM YACHTSMAN."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12991, 7 October 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

"PHANTOM YACHTSMAN."

ROMANCE OF A FRENCH BANK ROBBERY. I ARREST AT BAHIA. Not since the Humbert case has public attention in France been so excited over a criminal romance as it has been by the audacious swindle of Oallay, the - bank clerk, and son of a detective, who posed as a baron, robbed the Comptoir d'Eecompt« of a large sum of money, and escaped in a yacht along with a female accomplice. The story fills columns of I lie French papers, and pamphlets full of romantic details of "the phantom yachtsman" have been sold in the streets of Paris and other cities. The bank officials stated that the amount of money stolen was half a million francs, but later estimates are much higher, one account putting the total at £73,000. The Comptoir d'Escompte offers a reward of 10 per cant, of the money found on Gallay when lie is caught. Gall ay's method of embezzlement was simplicity itself. lie was one of the correspondence staff at the Comptoir d'Escompte, earning £110 a year, arid his duty was to receive and answer letters. By .forging a letter from a. customer he obtained payment into accounts opened at other banks or other branches of the Comptoir d'Escompte of large sums of money, and by stealing the letter which advised the customer of the payment lie avoided discovery. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Gallav, of his companion, who went by the name of Madame Meielly, and of the latter's servant., Marie Audot, who accompanied the fugitives" to Havre and went with them on board the yacht. The warrants were notified to police officials in English and American cities by cablegrams. These state that Gallav and the two women are wanted for forgery and embezzlement, and include requests for extradition. At the Comptier d'Escompte another proof of the manner in which Gallay worked has been furnished to the judge destruction. By means of the forged signature of a depositor who lives in Alsace, and was supposed to -write for money from a French seaside resort, Gallay obtained nearly £4000 in three instalments. The man Gallay is about 53 years old, thin, fair-haired, good-looking, and always dressed well. He hid a double life, having a wife and children at Neuilly-sur-Seine, and keeping a second establishment in a street in the district, of the Champs Elysees. From a list of the mock baron's expenditure, since last June it is shown that he squandered about £25,000 on motor-cars, on the upkeep of Madame de Merelly, and on the yacht. After the discovery of the defalcations the private police of the bank and the detectives began investigations as to the life led by Gallay. He hud a flat in the Rue Francois I. and gave dinners there as the Baron de Gravald or Grandval. In this place he lived with Mine.. Merelly, a divorced woman, who also had a flat in the Rue Gustavo Flaubert. She is a. fascinating, dark-haired person, under 30, and is said to have had numerous admirers, some of whom are prominent men. With this woman Gallay left Paris, she going to Havre, not by, train, but in the clerk's hired autocar. , , .• .: They took with them a large supply of provisions, especially groceries, and many cases of champagne. All this was to stock the English yacht Catarina which Gallay had hired. He engaged the captain and crew* of the yacht for a voyage to . South America, being also accompanied by a doctor. ; . " ! It is fiaid that the yacht, a schoonerrigged* vessel, left Las Pa!mas on August 9, after repairs necessitated by damage received in the Bay o!; Biscay. The doctor haa written from Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, to his concierge in Paris stating that the yacht encountered very bad weather after leaving Havre. He also stated that lie would be glad when the voyage was over, and complained of the mystery as to the destination of the vessel, no one on board being able or willing to tell him where they were going. ■ Gallay's father is a detective in the Dijon police, "and he himself was .for a time a superintendent at Orleans and at Caen. Ho was once also assistant to M. Tomps, the f detective of whom a good deal was heard during the progress of the Dreyfus case at Bennes and in Paris. Madame Merelly comes from Sedan, where she was known as Valentine Barbtiurg before her marriage With M. Sohet, Who had a printing business. The couple came to live in Paris in 1898, and took a Small'flat in a house on the Boulevard de Clichy. Later on they rented a little house in the same locality, ' M. Sohet. opened another printing business, and his wife's brother, an artist, introduced them to many of his own profession, 'as Well as to authors, actors, Composers, and others. .In this; artistic and literary environment Mtae. Sohet, previously a simple and homely provincial woman , began to feel her head turning,. She received presents and compliments from the men around her, and was persuaded by some of them to try her luck on the stage. She was told that her good looks, her figure, and her voice Would bo a guarantee ot success. Mule. Sohet accordingly took lessons in singing and declamation from an actress, and, in spite of her husband's objections, appeared at the Grand Guignol, under the playbill name of Andree Flora Dor. Her husband used to wait for her every evening to take her home. After the Grand Cuignol Madame Sohet went to the Aihenee, and then to the theatre of Eiffel's Tower. She now broke with her husband, telling him plainly that he was not able to dress her or to supply her With jewellery. She wanted, she said, a, nabob, a Russian prince, or somebody with millions at hit? disposal. Before leaving her husband Madame Sohet divided with him a little sum of £1200 left to her by her mother. Then she 'became Madame Merelly and went to live in the Rue Clapeyron. She wanted loag, however, for the man with the millions, but at last a rich Chilian took over Madame Merelly, alias Sohet, bag arid baggage, and she was soon able to set up, well-dressed arid bejewelled, first in the Rue Herran and then in the Rue Gustave Flaubert, . .'From the Chilian she passed to the mock baron. , Madame Corbet, who acted as charwoman in the flat in the Rue Gustave Flaubert, and assisted the two servants there, says that in the interval between the Chilian's departure and the arrival of Gallay, who was also known as Baron de Guerche, and even as the Duo d'Herse, Madame Mtrelly was often hard up. Madame Merelly was in financial difficulties when the mock baron loomed on her horizon, but he soon set her to rights with the Comptoir d'Escompte money. He loaded her with jewels, and had her clothes made by the best experts of the Rue de la Paix. Gallay opened an account for her w*ith. the Societe Generate in the name of Madame de Vieuville. The woman, it is affirmed by some of her neighbours, was bald and wore splendid wigs. She lost her owh. hair last year through typhoid fever. The chief of the Surete Department lias made searches at the residence of Gallay and of Madame Merelly. He discovered several manuscripts in.botß places, showing that the pair had a taste for writing. The woman's manuscript was the beginning of a novel, having as foreword or motto, " Life is but a chimera." Gallay was Writing oil automobilism, and had already published one volume, entitled "The Motor-car for Society People." Inquiries at. Southampton show that the Steam yacht Catarina was taken by Gallay on a two months' charter. With the option of extending the time. She is of 500 tons burden, with a speed of abouf sight, knot 3 an hour, and is bound for South America. The agents and owners are ifessft?. Camper and Nicholson, yacht builders, of Gosport. The. Vessel's stores Were supplied from Portsmouth. He: skipper is Captain Caws, of the Isle of Wight, "he Catariiia arrived and Was docked at Southampton on Monday, July 31, for cleaning, and sailed again in Dine hours. ; Lloyd's report that the yacht left Havre on August 1, sailing for Brazil. A , later "message slates .that' Gallay and the two Women who accompanied him were arrested at Bahiu', in South Amcrieu,