ALL PARIS LAUGHING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 81, 27 June 1927, Page 1

ALL PARIS LAUGHING

A GREAT HOAX M. DAUDET RELEASED GAOL OFFICIAL DECEIVED By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright PARIS, Sunday. EVERYONE in Paris is laughing at a hoax perpetrated on the prison authorities. A Royalist practical joker, imitating the voice of the deputy of M. Sarraut, Minister of the Interior, telephoned to the prison authorities and ordered the release of M. Leon Daudet, authorjournalist. who was serving a sentence, for libelling a taxi-cab driver. The authorities complied with the order, and M. Daudet left Paris. The joke is most popular, because of the resentment against the imprisonment of M. Daudet. The inclusion of M. Semart, secretary of the Communist Party, who was also released, is regarded as the refinement of subtlety, doubling the embarrassment of the Government, which has not yet issued a statement. HOW IT WAS DONE M. Daudet’s newspaper, “Action Francaise,” reveals the fact that 15 members of the Camelots du Roi arranged the hoax. One went to the Ministry of the Interior and others to adjacent cafes. All of them telephoned to the Sante Prison, thus engaging all the lines. The conspirator in the Ministry, however, was the only one who actually spoke. The director of the gaol, M. Catry, was suspicious, and rang off. Then he rang up the Ministry. As the conspirators were holding all the lines he was merely put through to the Camelot who was posing as M. Sarraut’s deputy. The latter replied: “I just teleplfbned to you. Hurry up and carry out your orders, or I shall get into hot water.” Being now satisfied, M. Catry hurried to M. Daudet’s cell and annou I ed the news. He tearfully embraced the prisoner, and released him. ROYALISTS CELEBRATE M. Semart, in a statement concerning the affair, said: “M. Catry came to my cell and told me I was free and must leave within half an hour.” He added that he was willing to surrender if the Court of Cassation upheld his conviction. M. Daudet tipped the gaolers, and distributed bottles of champagne and various articles of food. The staff of “Action Francaise” celebrated his release by drinking champagne. GAOL DIRECTOR SUSPENDED The Premier, M. Poincare, was unveiling a war memorial in the northeastern part of Paris while the farce was being carried out. He summoned a meeting of the Cabinet for the evening. In the meanwhile the Ministry of Justice held a council of war and ordered M. Catry to give an account of his stewardship. When the Cabinet met it suspended M. Catry pending his triar by a disciplinary- court. It also ordered an inquiry to be held.—A. and N.Z.-Sun. M. DAUDET SURPRISED NOT IN THE JOKE LONDON, Sunday. The Paris correspondent of the “Sunday Express” says M. Daudet was not aware that his release was the result of a hoax until the Camelot chauffeur joked about the plot, earing that the director of the gaol, M. Catry, would suffer for the affair, M. Daudet wished to return, but was persuaded to go to a secret rendezvous and continue the fight against the Government. —A. and N. M. Leon Daudet caused a stir a fortnight ago by refusing to surrender to the police in order to serve a sentence in gaol. He was due to do so for having libelled the driver of the taxi-cab in which his son, Philippe, had been found dead in 1925. M. Daudet and numbers of his Royalist supporters shut themselves in the premises of the newspaper Action Francaise, defying the police to arrest their leader. A day or two later, however, M. Daudet surrendered at the persuasion of the Prefect of Police.