FRENCH TAXI TRAGEDY.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15894, 19 January 1924, Page 5

FRENCH TAXI TRAGEDY.

PHILIPPE DAUDET'S DEATH. ASTOUNDING ALLEGATION.. CHARGE AGAINST THE POLICE. f Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.!.. Received January 19, 11.30 a.m. LONDON, January 18. The Morning Post's Paris correspondent says there were astounding developments in the case of Philippe Daudet, who was found dead in a taxi-cab with a revolver bullet in his head. The father attended before the investigating Magistrate, and made a statement accusing the police of having shot his son. The' accusation, based on the fact that Philippe, on the morning of his disappearance, cabled to a bookseller and announced his intention of killing -some- political personage. The bookseller regarded the lad as demented, and 'phoned to the police, who surrounded the shop. According to previous reports they did not find Philippe. The father now alleges that one policeman did And Philippe, and being unaware of- his identity, and thinking that he was dealing with a dangerous anarchist, fired with fatal . results. When the policeman's superiors recognised the body, they searched the pockets, removed the identity marks, put the body in a taxi-cab, and ordered the cabman to report that the lad committed suicide in the cab, which tt> cabman did.

Philippe Daudet was the 15-year-old son of M. Leon Daudet, a -French Rovalist leader, and the news of his death caused a considerable stir at the time. It w-as at first generally assumed that he had committed suicide, but following the receipt of fresh information, notably a statement in the. anarchist journal . Libertairo.. that Philippe before taking his life enrolled as a member of the anarchist organisation, the father came to the conclusion that his son was assassinated, and requested the Public Prosecutor to take steps in order lhat justice may be executed. It was asserted that' the boy intended to kill his father, who had created a host of enemies among the anarchists.