Famous Genealogies

Biography

Barthou was born in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France, and served as Deputy from that constituency. He was an authority on trade union history and law. Barthou was Prime Minister in 1913, and held ministerial office 13 other times.

As Foreign Minister, Barthou met King Alexander I of Yugoslavia during his visit to Marseille in October 1934. On 9 October, Alexander was shot and killed by Vlado Chernozemski, who was also shot and killed on the spot by the police escort. Barthou was also wounded, and bled to death from a severed humeral artery (he was not treated until it was too late). The assassination ended the career of Préfet Jouhannaud of Marseille.

It was assumed that Chernozemski hit both victims. But in 1974, forensic examination found that the bullet that struck Barthou was not a 7.65 mm caliber bullet and could not have been fired from Chernozemski's gun. It was an 8 mm bullet, the same caliber used by the Marseille police, and must have been fired at Chernozemski by one of the escorts.

Source :  http://www.wikipedia.org/