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- <text id=91TT2784>
- <title>
- Dec. 16, 1991: Was It Suicide?
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- Dec. 16, 1991 The Smile of Freedom
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 56
- Was It Suicide?
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Robert Maxwell may be resting in peace in an Israeli
- cemetery, but the rumors about how he met his demise refuse to
- die down. Spanish investigators contend that Maxwell suffered a
- heart attack, but last week's revelations that $767 million
- mysteriously disappeared from a pair of Maxwell operations
- during the months leading up to his death have revived the
- speculation. There are three schools of tabloid-style musings:
- </p>
- <p>-- MAXWELL KILLED HIMSELF! One version holds that Maxwell
- took his life knowing the financial dam was about to burst. The
- Daily Express in London reports that Maxwell seemed agitated and
- depressed during his "last supper." A variation is that he was
- suffering from a fatal disease, supported in one tabloid by
- Spanish doctors.
- </p>
- <p>-- MAXWELL'S ALIVE! The Sun, a British tabloid, suggests
- that he might be hiding in South America while some other large
- chap rests in Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. The Guardian states,
- "The Spanish authorities have no evidence other than the word
- of his family that the body pulled from the sea...was that
- of Mr. Maxwell."
- </p>
- <p>-- MAXWELL WAS KILLED! A rumor among cynical Israeli
- journalists is that Maxwell was an agent for the Mossad,
- Israel's spy agency. Thus Israel's enemies rubbed him out. Or
- was it that the Mossad executed Captain Bob to prevent him from
- exposing secrets? Or did he launder millions from secret arms
- sales to Iran and get killed "to shut him up." Then there's the
- one that Maxwell was hammered by New York Mafia hit men angry
- about layoffs at the Daily News. Or maybe...
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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