Treasure Chest Thursday: Captain P. Rychner

This is a business card (or possibly a calling card) for Le Capitaine (Captain) P. Rychner.  It is 3 7/8" x 2 3/8" and is yellowed with age but might have been white or off-white originally.  It has a large brown spot in the upper left corner, along with two dark holes, one near the bottom of the brown spot and one about 3/4" below the first.  This business card is one of four items that were held together with a straight pin which rusted over time.  I removed the straight pin but have kept the four items together.  Captain Rychner's card also includes his position, Commandant la Compagnie sanitaire I/1, which means Commander of the Health (Medical?) Company I/1.  I don't know how to interpret the I/1.

The postcard is 5 7/8" x 3 7/8".  It was written in Tunis, Tunisia on March 23, 1916 and mailed on March 25 to Mr. and Mrs. Jean La Forêt in Algeria.  I believe the signature of the person who sent it is D. P. Rychner, which would appear to be the captain whose card is shown above.

The note is on a torn piece of paper that is 8" x 3 7/8".  It might be the bottom part of a regular sheet of paper.  The date is April 9 (my birthday!), but no year is included.  The note does say Dimanche, which is Sunday, and April 9, 1916 was a Sunday, so I'm guessing that's when it was written.

The second business card is the same size as the first, 3 7/8" x 2 3/8".  It is for G. Ramboud, whose address was 12, Rue Broussais, Algiers.  There are notes in French on the front and back.

All three of the above items have two holes from the straight pin that held everything together.

And next are the transcriptions and translations of the French texts.

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Postcard:

(I really wish there wasn't a postmark right over the message.  It made it much more difficult to read!)

Carte Postale

Tunis 23 III. 16. Midi.

Correspondance.

Désolé.  Je croyais, j'étais sûr que je rentrerais pour Alger.  Et voilà que nous devons nous embarquer à Tunis ou plutôt à Bizerte pour aller encore en Corse.

Je vous écrirai à mon retour en Suisse.

Bons souvenirs

D. P. Rychner


Addresse.

Monsieur et Madame
Jean La Forêt
Vice Consul des Etats-Unis
6 Rue Henricet
St Eugène
Alger


Front:

6413  PAYSAGE DU SUD.  —  Dans l'Oasis.  —  LI.


Note:

Front:

Dimanche 9 Avril - Reçu visite du Col. de Gendarmerie Boineau {Inspécteur des prisonniers de guerre {ou 9 9. chance de ce guerre[?].  M'a dit vous a rencontré en Tunisie où vous avez eu la chance d'aider à le tirer de son trou dans les sables.


Back:

Mad


Business card:

Front:

Boineau  –  Colonel
Inspecteur des prisoniers [sic] de guerre
G. Ramboud
guerre
206 Cour St André
Villa des Peupliers
Grenoble (Isère)
12, Rue Broussais    Alger


Back:

Visité Dimanche 9 Avril

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

Postcard:

Postal Card

Tunis, March 23, 1916.  Noon.

Sorry.  I beleived, I was sure that I would be returning to Algiers.  And now we have to board in Tunis or rather Bizerte to go again to Corsica.

I will write to you on my return to Switzerland.

Good memories

D. P. Rychner


Addresse.

Mr. and Mrs. Jean La Forêt
U.S. Vice Consul
6 Rue Henricet
St. Eugene
Algiers


Front:

6413  Southern landscape  — At the oasis  — LI.


Note:

Front:

Sunday, April 9 — Received visit from Police Colonel Boineau (POW Inspector).  He told me that you met in Tunisia, where you had the chance to help him pull[?] [something] from the sand.

Back:

Mad [an unfinished note?]


Business card:

Front:

Boineau  — Colonel
POW Inspector
G. Ramboud
war
206 Cour St. André
Villa des Peupliers
Grenoble (Isere)
12, Rue Broussais   Algiers

Back:

Visited Sunday, April 9

-- >< -- >< -- >< -- >< --

So this is an interesting collection of items.  Rychner's business card is logically connected with the postcard, as it appears to be Rychner who sent the latter.  The only thing that connects those two items with the note and Ramboud's business card is the fact that I received them pinned together.  The note does mention Tunisia, however, and Rychner was in Tunisia when he wrote the postcard in March.

One important question here is who wrote the note on the torn paper and the note on Ramboud's business card.  If it was Rychner, then Jean was in Tunisia at some point and met Colonel Boineau there.  It makes sense that Rychner wrote these notes, because he would have sent them to Jean, and that's why they were kept together.  If Jean wrote them, then logically he would have sent them to Rychner (or whomever), and then he shouldn't have had them anymore.

Another question is just who G. Ramboud is, other than someone in Algiers.  The only part he appears to play here is to have his card be a piece of scrap paper on which to write a note.  None of the information here connects him with Rychner, Boineau, or Jean.

Was Boineau the person whose address was in Grenoble?  Or was it Rychner, who wrote on the postcard that he would write again on his return to Switzerland?  Did he send the note and Ramboud's card from Switzerland?

The note on the front of Ramboud's business card was written originally in pencil and then copied over in ink.  I noticed that the lines doesn't all match up well.  It might be that the pencil was written by Rychner and copied in ink by Jean.  Whoever wrote over the pencil in ink missed the word "guerre" to the right and below the name Ramboud on the card.

One final question:  What does the "P" stand for?