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«The Seznec Mystery : revealed»
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In
the mid 1980’s, I bought several cartons of old papers at an
auction in Dallas. They seemed to come from a car dealership
or a
representative of a car maker that no longer exists. There
were
numerous user’s manuals, technical documents, commercial
brochures, letters, trophies, awards, etc. I did a quick
inventory to pick out the items that held value for me a
collector. I then found an old notebook with yellowed
pages. Inside were notes and clippings pertaining to a story
that
took place in France in the early 1920’s. A Type 57
Cadillac from 1918 was at the heart of this story. Part of my
family comes from Louisiana, and it is a family tradition to study the
language and a little of the culture of La Fayette, but I had never
heard of this story before. Although intrigued, I replaced
the
notebook amongst other papers in a corner of the attic and had
completely forgotten its existence until recently.
My name is Albert Baker, I’ve had a wide range of jobs in my professional life, but mostly I wrote articles about antique cars. Now, retired, I regularly write for club magazines of old car lovers. I am also a collector of old papers regarding automobiles. I am particularly interested in the beginning of the automobile until the World War II. Recently, after a nasty fall on the slopes in Colorado, I found myself immobile for several weeks with my leg in a cast. During this time of forced inactivity, I decided to sort and arrange all of the old papers and documents that I have accumulated throughout the years. My wife brought dozens of boxes down from the attic in which she placed alongside my chair. The boxes sent me on a captivating voyage in the past by recreating the daily life of the automobile at the beginning of last century. After several days of thumbing through and studying, sorting, and arranging, an envelope yellowed with age caught my attention. There it was, the notebook regarding the French story in the 20’s. There were handwritten notes in English in a small tablet, clippings of French newspaper articles and a book in English published by Cadillac Motor Company in 1919. I understood that a certain Pierre Quéméneur disappeared in May 1923 and that his friend Guillaume Seznec had been accused of murdering him during a trip to Paris. This trip was taken in a Cadillac that resembled a Type 55 or 57 Torpedo. Guillaume Seznec was condemned to penal colony in French Guyana for this murder even though the body of Pierre Quéméneur was never found. Seznec had always claimed his innocence and in 1947 was pardoned by Général De Gaulle after 20 years of imprisonment. The notebook included personal notes regarding what has become the Seznec Affair. The notes were a little difficult to understand because they gave indications or comments on several details. One would have to have studied this rather complex story to understand the significance. I found no name, nor any details regarding the author. It seems though that this person, like many others, was fascinated by this story. It was probably an American citizen, perhaps a soldier present on French soil a the time or perhaps someone employed by a large American business in the auto industry working in Europe between the two wars. This story involving a Cadillac in France in the 20’s sparked my curiosity. I thought that there was sufficient material for an article. I started by looking for information. My first surprise was to note that this affair was still news. Guillaume Seznec always claimed his innocence and his family demanded several times of the justice to review his case. The last, in 2005 by the grandson, Denis Seznec, was to be judged by the highest court of French Justice, la Cour de Cassation, chambre criminelle. I started to obtain a few recent publications on the subject. These writings, not having an English translation forced me to read and reread the original version. At this time, I realized that the notes found in my forgotten box shed a new light on the entire affair. I was more and more surprised to find information that had never before been cited in the other published works. Some events were at times in contradiction with certain assertions. The logical deductions furnished a rather convincing explication to the whole of the affair. In fact, the auther of these notes show us that a vast traffic of Cadillac cars never took place between France and Soviet Russia. The explication was so simple that it is almost incredible that it has never been mentioned. The author indicated also very simply, that Seznec, didn’t say the complete truth about his doings on the road to return. Above all, our author gives a hypothesis about the area where we might find Quéméneur. To complete my investigation, I went to France to study the different areas and confront them with these new details. Starting from these exclusive notes, I decided to write “The Seznec Mystery : revealed”. I am more interested by facts than by human testimony. From these facts, I was able to bring to light a series of logical deductions based on the principle of Occam's razor “pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate”. Albert Baker Oklahoma USA contact@albert-baker.com |