Name Bolo Pasha | ||
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Died April 1918, Vincennes, France | ||
Bolo Pasha, originally named Paul Bolo, was a Frenchman who was a Levantine financier, a traitor and a German agent. He led a life of adventure: "he circumnavigated the globe, engaged in various curious occupations, participated in many shady schemes."
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The French secret police and Scotland Yard tried and failed to collect enough evidence to convict Bolo Pasha, but eventually he was convicted of treason with the help of evidence collected by the New York Attorney General. He was executed by firing squad on April 17, 1918.
Early life
Paul Bolo was born in Marseille to highly respected, law-abiding parents. Bolo's older brother was "an eloquent French prelate". Starting in his youth, Paul was the black sheep of the family. He changed occupations frequently. His first place of employment was a barber's shop, where he worked as an assistant. After a few months, Bolo became the owner of a small soap shop. After his soap business collapsed, Bolo decided to sell lobsters. "For many months all went well. The sales were large, but the expenditures were greater than the receipts, and the venture went 'to the wall.'" After that failure Bolo left Marseille, and it was rumored that he was involved with a silk manufacturing company in Lyon.
Later Bolo ran a photographic shop, taking pictures of customers belonging to various sectors of society, but this business also was short-lived. His next stop was Paris, where he quickly became "a man about town". Easy-going and intelligent, he became a frequent guest "in the convivial circles" of Paris. Soon Bolo married a woman who was both beautiful and charming. She was older and much richer than he was, but apparently the marriage was a love match rather than a confidence trick. When his wife died and left her fortune to him, Bolo was ready for new adventures, this time in Egypt.
Travel to Egypt and beyond
Bolo was an adventurer, and Egypt was considered to be "the Mecca of adventurers" at that time. A colorful, multicultural country appealed to this inquisitive Frenchman.
Almost as soon as Bolo arrived in Egypt he sought a meeting with the ruler, Abbas Hilmi, the last Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. Hilmi, who spoke fluent French, was as eager to meet with Europeans visiting Cairo as they were eager to meet with him. Bolo and Hilmi liked each other from the first meeting; the Khedive and the lobster-dealer had common ground: their love of adventure. They met frequently, and at one of those meetings, Bolo was presented with the title of Pasha. Paul Bolo thus became Bolo Pasha.
Bolo accompanied Hilmi on various outings: to a petrified forest and on boat trips along the Nile; the boats were decorated as if it was the era of Cleopatra and Antony. Bolo and Hilmi were seen together, visiting the statue of the Sphinx, the pyramids and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, which is situated in the Citadel of Cairo. Gradually Bolo became an intimate friend of Hilmi, and as such he was present at some unusual court ceremonies, some of which he planned himself. One was a reception for a Consul-General from one of the European countries.
This was a carefree time in Bolo's life, but Hilmi had foreseen a storm on the horizon. Hilmi felt he was about to be deposed, and he knew his country's history: nobody in Egypt was going to admire a deposed Khedive. Hilmi tried to decide how he could save as much as possible of his fortune. He decided to use his faithful friend to assist him in this effort. Newspaper articles of the time preserve this history:
Bolo found himself under suspicion because of his frequent trips between Paris and Geneva. In March 1915, Bolo met with Hilmi in Switzerland. Apparently Bolo was given $2,500,000 to be used to pay the French media in order to influence the public to accept peace with Germany.
Traveling to the United States
On February 22, 1916, Bolo arrived in New York City. He spent almost a month there, leaving on March 17, 1916. During the time he spent in New York, Bolo tried to avoid being seen in the company of German agents, but he traveled to Washington, D.C. for a secret meeting with Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, a German ambassador to the United States.
When the French government appealed to the governor of New York asking for help in collecting evidence against Bolo, Merton E. Lewis, the Attorney General of New York State, was assigned to the case. He was able to collect some "sensational" evidence:
One of the most important pieces of evidence was the letter Bolo wrote to the New York City branch of the Royal Bank of Canada on March 14, 1916:
Arrest and trial
Bolo was arrested in Paris on 29 September 1917. He was tried at court-martial and was charged with treason. Visibly shaken by the charge of treason, Bolo exclaimed:
When asked why he never kept records of his money transfers, Bolo responded: "I am the master of money, not its slave!"
Abbas Hilmi was called as a witness, but he failed to arrive in Paris. However, Bolo's second wife was a strong witness on his behalf, as was his brother. Senator Charles Humbert (whom Bolo had mentioned in his letter to the Royal Bank of Canada on March 14, 1916) was called as a witness. The senator testified "he never suspected for a moment that there was any hidden motive in the deal for the bonds of the newspaper."
In his last appeal to the court, Albert Salles, Bolo's attorney, said:
Salles' speech was to no avail. The court convicted Bolo and sentenced him to death. The conviction was based on circumstantial evidence, and the decision was handed down after only 15 minutes of deliberation.
Bolo Pasha was executed in Vincennes, on the morning of April 17, 1918.
After the execution, Georges Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France addressed the American people: