Le Marechal's Derby

An excited gendarme wrenched a Parisian telephone instrument off its hook. "Fleurns, vingt-huit, trente!" he cried--the number of the private residence of Marshal Foch. Soon the gendarme commenced to sputter with vigor and at length.

He told that the automobile of M. Le Marechal had crashed into a motor driven by Mlle. Godart, the daughter of M. Justin Godart, Minister of Labor and Health in the last Herriot Cabinet (TIME, June 23, 1924). He told that the scene of the crash was the broad Champs-Elyseees, where motor cars have perhaps more space in which to avoid one another than anywhere else in Paris. He meticulously read out of his notebook a list of the personal damages sustained from flying glass: Un--The derby hat of Marshal Foch pierced by a sliver. Deux--The lapel of his civilian coat likewise rent. Trois--Minor lacerations suffered by Mlle. Godart, by her mother who was riding with her, by Captain Hopital, aide to Marshal Foch. . . .

Soon reports of the accident spread about. Parisians expressed their relief, rejoiced especially for the sake of Mme. Foch (the former Julie Bienvenue) and the two Foch daughters, Mme. Becourt and Mme. Fournier. To his only son, they recalled, is vouchsafed the distinction "Mort pour la France,"