The story of a crook in a cassock in Nogent-le-Rotrou. Eurelian Chronicles #54

Find on Actu Chartres, every Sunday, a Eurelian chronicle of History and stories proposed by Alain Denizet. Professor, historian, writer from Eure-et-Loir, he has for years brought together all of his chronicles on his site.

1902, Nogent-le-Rotrou: the story of the crook in a cassock

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Born at Coudreceau in 1869, an early orphan of a father, little Guillaumin had been sent to Minor Seminary of Nogent-le-Rotrou [1]before attending the major seminary of Chartres.

After his vicariate in Illiers, in 1897 he had found a familiar universe, that of the minor seminary of the Percheronne city where he had been appointed professor of drawing.

Ostentatious piety and reckless “chipie” spending

Not very diligent in his duties, the abbot showed, on the other hand, an ostentatious and mannered piety which earned him from his pupils the nickname of “chipie”.

Above all, he spent lavishly – on these funds – for the ornament of the chapel and the chasubles of the altar boys. Father Guillaumin had no doubt forgotten those verses from the Gospel where Jesus drives the merchants out of the Temple.

For this well-groomed man, wearing silk stockings and scarf, polished shoes with silver buckles, was above all very busy dealing with his voluminous mail relating to his business every day.

Pluck Madame Civet with a banker?

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As his relations had introduced him to the beautiful Parisian salons, he met there at the beginning of 1902 the lady Civet, a young divorcee of the explorer and entrepreneur Mourichon [2]and rich in 500,000 francs in cash and securities which she was thinking of making profitable without wanting to take care of it herself: business bored her.

Obligingly, the abbé recommended the Banque generale de la Bourse de Paris directed by Malleval and as the lady Civet was late, he sent her an insistent letter.

You’re not doing everything you promised me. I only wish you well. I can do for you what I have already done for Madame RM de Reims. She had deposited 350,000 francs in me and after five years, I gave her 130,000 in profits.

He ends his letter by offering his services for another cause: the obtaining by the Vatican of the annulment of his marriage so that she can remarry religiously.

Precisely, he wrote to her, “I know Cardinal M. very well, who is in Rome [3] “. In this regard, it was Canon Rosenberg who extracted 60,000 francs from the young divorcee [4].

Father Guillaumin arrested in full feast

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Yielding to the sirens of the abbot Guillaumin, Mrs. Civet withdrew her titles from the establishment, entrusted them to the abbot who placed them with his friend Malleval.

For three months she pocketed huge interest of 25% then, like Sister Anne, saw nothing more coming.

A crook with a sulphurous past, Malleval had squandered the funds and lost the rest in smoky operations. When Madame Civet summoned it to court, the bird had flown away to Brussels.

There remained Father Guillaumin, a certain intermediary, a possible accomplice.

The police proceeded to arrest October 14, 1902 when he received for lunch in his apartments in the rue Chaillou the administrators of a Parisian financial company. Warned by his maid just as he was about to serve the fried gudgeon, the abbot slipped away without warning his guests.

His arrest caused a sensation, especially since a number of notables, ecclesiastics from the department (two priests from the minor seminary and the vicar general of the bishopric) and his brother – established in America – had entrusted him with their savings.

After the confession, direction Health

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Dressed in a black frock coat, Father Guillaumin had only kept his clergyman’s hat on when, on October 15, he was questioned in Paris by the examining magistrate.

Acknowledging that he was in charge of fund investments, he however defended himself from being a tout: “I gave a simple piece of advice. I had the most complete confidence in the banker Malleval and I myself was his dupe”.

A deception that he estimated at 170,000 francs…

Moreover, in lack of money, he confessed to the judge that he had to resort “to a loan for my personal needs [5] “. His financial situation was, in fact, very badly engaged. His three houses were mortgaged, his suppliers weren’t being paid, and he owed six months’ wages to his maid. [6].

That was no reason to fool a widow. The judge had him transferred on the spot to the health prison.

The convict in the cassock condemned

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Threatened with bankruptcy, the crook in a cassock was put in the shade in Paris, then released on bail pending trial.

It took place on November 27, 1903 without the abbot who had preferred to remain in prison. From his four walls, he took his pen to write to the judge, denying having received commissions for his advice.

Father Guillaumin was sentenced to two years in prison. Context obliges, this business made the fat cabbage of the local and national anticlerical press.

“Everything in the cap is theft, lies and blackmail”, summed up Lantern October 20, 1902. Malleval, the crooked banker, was still running. Dame Civet, whose fortune had been lightened by “the colossal swindle” had to settle for an income of 10,000 francs instead of the hoped-for 80,000.

As for Father Guillaumin, The Eure-et-Loir Dispatch announced on July 11, 1905 that he had died in Fresnes prison. No further comment.

[1] This Minor Seminary opened in 1853. Its particularity was to prepare for an ecclesiastical career as well as for civil careers.

[2] Public works contractor, general contractor for the buildings of the Colonial Exhibition of 1889. He made expeditions to present-day Ethiopia with Prince Henri d’Orléans in 1897.

[3] Quoted by the Journal of October 22, 1902

[4] Father Guillaumin was exonerated from this sin.

[5] Le Petit Journal October 17, 1902.

[6] L’Eclair, 22 October.

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