THE ASSASSINATION OF M. BAZILIONDIS

Will this morning's Court Operations clear up the mystery?

La Presse, in reporting the mysterious conditions in which a lawyer, Mr. Léonidas Baziliondis, had been found on Monday morning, grumbling, in his office at 10, rue de Richelieu, had expressed cautious reservations with regard to the version of suicide, adopted first and with a certain haste.

The autopsy of the corpse, carried out by Doctor Paul, seems today to show that Mr. Baziliondis was allegedly killed with a revolver shot by a gunman placed on his right.

The bullet, before lodging in the cranial box, crossed the right hand, which the victim would have interposed in front of his face to parry the blow which was intended for him.

We know that it was on Monday morning, around 10 a.m., that Mr. Baziliondis' secretary, Mrs. Balan, discovered the body of her boss lying on the carpet in the office. The lawyer was still groaning.

The young woman rushes to seek help from the "Palais-Royal" pharmacy, located at the bottom of the building,

What the trainer says

I was called, the young pharmacy assistant told us, on Monday around 10 a.m., by a young woman who seemed to be in the throes of great emotion, and who asked me to help her boss, whom she found, lying unconscious on the floor of his office.

I immediately went to the apartment, Mr. Baziliondis was lying on his back. I tried to revive him by having him breathe ether.

A reaction took place, the body twitched, which made me see first a pool of blood under the head, then, a moment later, a revolver under the injured man's right thigh.

I believed, like everyone else, that we were in the presence of a suicide, but since the injured man was in a coma, a few moments later he was sent to the hospital where he died.

Investigation

During the investigation opened by Mr. Labat, police commissioner, Mrs. Balan, the lawyer's young secretary, revealed that her boss was in intimate trouble. Among other things, he was pursued by the recriminations of a Miss Éckmann. One day, after having read a letter, he had let slip these words in front of his secretary: "Again this young lady Eckmann, whom my mistress throws into my legs." It must be said that, for twenty years, Mr. Baziliondis had lived with a steak of the Bot de Talhouet, from whom he had a 24-year-old son and who, although separated
of them since 1915, he continued to see them. The lawyer gave his former mistress a monthly pension of 100 francs. By a curious coincidence, M. du Bot, the lawyer's illegitimate son, had come to see his father on Saturday morning and found him very preoccupied.

Who bought the revolver?

The weapon found under the victim's body was quickly identified. It's a browning gun, 6mm. 35, from the French Manufacture d'armes. He was bought in a department store on the rue de Rivoli on July 12 by a person who would have given the name of Eckman.

Could this be the key to the mystery?

This is what the investigation will establish shortly. But we make all our reservations on this point.

This morning's court proceedings

Mr. Faralicq, commissioner in charge of the judicial police, accompanied by Inspector Bethuel, went this morning to 10, rue de Richelieu, where he first had the fingerprints photographed by the identity service judicial.

This operation once completed, the skilful magistrate received the visit of two young people from the entourage of Mr. Baziliondis, with whom he spoke for more than half an hour.

After which Mr. Faralicq and Inspector Bethuel carried out a thorough search of the victim's apartment, during which they seized a voluminous correspondence which they took to the Quai des Orfèvres to study it even more carefully. .

When he left Mr. Baziliondis' apartment, Mr. Faralicq did not hide from us that he had not wasted his morning and that, in the victim's papers, he had discovered a most interesting correspondence,

Discreet as usual, he refused to tell us more, but everything in his attitude seemed to show that he was beginning to see clearly in this dark affair.

Safe

It now remains to open the safe that Mr. Baziliondis had in a big credit company. Mr. Faralics. who seems to hold the common thread of the case, will perhaps discover the key to this mysterious death. In the entourage of the lawyer, there is talk of a will that would be deposited there and the reading of which could be of great help following the investigation.

In any case, we can expect, before forty-eight hours, a turn of events.