FESTIVE PRISONER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

FESTIVE PRISONER.

. ———r^# —— . ■■ ■ -T' ] c . DINNER WITH DETECTIVES,"" ; It was close on midnight when three festive gentlemen left a fashionable restaurant in Paris and. stumbled into a taxi ■ ;,:" Where to?" asked" the chauffeur; and " Home " answered the most festive of tie trio, . "But' where's.home?" .insisted thfr'-W chauffeur. ••;. "The Sanfe" was the reply ; he received. - , > ,'. ■: Now, the Sanfce is the prison of 3r .i The chauffeur thought he was being made •■ fun of,' and was preparing to get, angK, ". when one of the trio—the soberest—produced his credentials, as detective. £& the Sante the mysterious faros were 'caW - : ried, where the doors opened hospitably toM'>; ! receive them. ": J The trio, ii turned out, were simply g,' i prisoner named Francbomme and the Ms [ detectives specially detailed for his super- v I vision. '- And what was M. JFranchomaie' '* doinc out at that time, and in that stela? '. -.This is - the quite unofficial explanation '-? | given. > M. Sranchomme, who was srJ rested and imprisoned some time ago oa a charge of theft on a large scale, has <ia% • i interviews with the examining inagistete, to' whom he is making a clean breast of it. vvDuring that, morning's interrogatory . ; la?;: told the magistrate that he was willing to"; V assist the law in its efforts to arrest certain - i accomplices denounced by.him. :..■■:;: "They are clever fellows." he .mi, ": I and you will never catch them ' without I aid." - .•,'.-■ "Very well,' 'said the examining rasgiftrate, "go and do your best;" and 'M.:; Franclionune. with two 1 detectives, started off gaily in a taxi. It was thirsty work, ' : and, moreover, it appeared that the ac-; complices for whom M. Franchomme' sniL; his friends ■ were searching. were to 4 fcss found, if anwyhere, in places where liquid'; refreshment is sold. The afternoon passed agreeably in a bai- ; ; to-bar visitation. Towards eight o'clock M., Franchorame and bis comrades felt hungry; . They entered a famous restaurant—where in . toe dear, ' dead days 51. Franchomme had been wont to ditie lav- .= ishly on bis ill-gotten gains—and there ordered a dinner which commanded the, re- : spect of the staff, .'especially that of UisV'* wine waiter. And that was why. M.; : .- : Franchomme was singing when the doors;' 1 ; of the prison house closed behind 1 a.m., and also why he was not feelinp fit enough to keep his appointment^.wit* the .examining, magistrate at nine o'clock, i nest morning. It is believed that As .< authorities have warned him that the nest, time he comes home in a similar state a*' '- will be refused admittance. -' : '" V '" ' ' - ■