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Paul Bolo

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"PAUL BOLO (d. 1918), French financial agent and traitor, was born at Reunion, of humble parentage. He became at an early age a dentist in Marseilles, and afterwards appears for many years to have lived by his wits. In 1905 he made a bigamous marriage with the rich widow of a Bordeaux wine merchant. He entertained lavishly in Paris and Biarritz, and was received by many influential people, in spite of the fact that he underwent a term of imprisonment for fraud in connexion with one of his financial transactions. In 1914 Bolo met in Paris Abbas Hilmi, Khedive of Egypt, to whom he proposed various financial schemes, and the Khedive bestowed upon him the title of Pasha. On the outbreak of the World War Bolo appears to have entered into communication with German agents for the purpose of supporting a " defeatist " movement in certain Paris newspapers. In 1915-6 he travelled in the United States, and received considerable sums, amounting to over 30o,000, from representatives of Count Bernstorff, at the time German ambassador to Washington. During 1917, however, the French Government under M. Clemenceau displayed much energy in hunting down treasonable conspiracies, and in Sept. 1917 Bolo was arrested. His trial by court-martial, begun on Feb. 4 1918, ended in his being found guilty of treason. Attempts were made to connect M. Caillaux with Bolo's proceedings, and Caillaux's acquaintance with the adventurer was brought up later to his discredit at his own trial in 1920. A sensational feature of Bolo's trial was the appearance of Monsignor Bolo, brother of the accused and a well-known preacher in Paris, as a witness for the defense, though as he had hardly seen his brother for thirty years, his evidence was of small value. Bolo was sentenced to death and shot at Vincennes, April 17 1918.