CHRONICLE OF THE COURTS
The Black Prince

It is a real Black Prince who came to sit on the bench of the civil party, in front of the ninth chamber, presided over by Mr. Laugier, since he is the own nephew of our old enemy, King Behanzin; the black, moreover, the most correct and the most sympathetic, a doctor of medicine, a law degree and a lawyer registered with the Paris bar.
He was the victim of a mishap that all of Paris, and especially all of Montmartre, knew about. On August 4, after midnight, he entered an establishment, accompanied by his brother, a few friends and a dancer; they wanted to be served a bottle of champagne. It is a very widespread fashion; nothing is more elegant than paying a lot of money for a bottle of that liqueur that Murger, I think, called epileptic coconut.
Ordinarily, the owners of these "clubs" never refuse customers, and Prince Kojo-Tovalou expected to be well received at the Elgaron on rue Fontaine, when, following a protest, a group of Americans , Mr. Renault, the manager of the place, informed Mr. Tricot, friend of the prince, that Negroes were not served at his place. Americans pride themselves on being democrats, but their democracy does not include men of color.
No colored men! cried those of Elgaron when they saw the two sons of the king of Dahomey.
And M Renault obeys unceremoniously. He refused the table that was asked of him, even though there were four unoccupied ones; he roughly pushed Prince Kovalou out of the room, which is on the first floor, onto the stairs, grabbing the prince by the collar of his jacket and punching him, according to certain witnesses, contenting himself with shaking him, according to others.

Below, that is to say in the street, the prince and his entourage were picked up by agents whom a hunter had hastened to fetch. We went to explain ourselves to the station and the explanation was taken up before the eleventh chamber.
In my humble opinion, it has not shed complete light. Witnesses contradicted themselves or other witnesses. But it was often fun.
To complete this comic court hearing, Me de Moro-Giafferri, for the prince, and Me Campinchi, who assisted Mr. Renault, used humor, one to the detriment of the other's client and the other to the detriment of one's customer. It was spent a lot of mind.
Finally, the court sentenced Mr. Renault to fifteen days of suspended prison time and a 200 franc fine.

EDGARD TROIMAUX.