Connecticut western news., 1872-08-23
A Gentleman Thief.

The history of Harding, who stole the mailbag from the New Rush, South Africa, post-ofice, containing four or five hundred thousand dollars worth of diamonds besides 8 large amount of ready money and checks, is remarkable in more ways than one. The culprit is the younger son of gentleman resid
 ing in Surrey, England. When he left college young Harding was fitted to shine as man of leisure, but not to sue ceed as a man of business. Indeed, it seems that to go into business at all was never contemplated by him. Harding's idleness soon became intolerable to him. self. He solicited permission, which was gladly granted we may be sure, to go to South Africa. Perhaps he had vague visions of making fortune by digging diamonds. Such a hope was proper enough h it's way at distance, but when he reached the spot it soon came to naught. Harding did notmng-could get nothing to do. He realized fully the scriptural description of another person. He could not dig, and to beg he was ashamed" But unfortunately. he was not ashamed to steal, He flched 41O0 from his roommate, MT. Beauclerck. and left Cape Town for the Diamond Fields. While there he learned that 8 warrant was out for h1s arrest on com plaint for theft. What could he do? He was standing in the vicinity of the post office, and the postmaster and his assis- tant leaving the building before his eyes suggested way of escape. A mailbag would surely contain one hundred pounds! It is robbing Peter to pay Paul; but then Peter, here meaning the public, can better afford to lose the amount than Paul, and besides no one will know the robber of the mail-bag-this was the illusion-while every one would hear of the thief of one hundred pounds when produced in court. Harding reasoned quite speciously that he would by pur- suing such course, keep his own body out of jail and save his family from the resulting disgrace.
 This "gentleman D robber appears to be man in many respects of fine organ ization. No Hamlet is he. What his head commands his hands execute, and at the moment. He did not procrasti- nate. He did not even wait to see whether any one was watching him. He advanced to the window of the post office, broke pane of glass, opened the sash, and without the slightest trepida- tion took out the mailbag, and having concealed it walked off. He was not in error as to finding one hundred pounds he found more than thousand when he opened the bag in his tent at Du Toit's Pan. But he found in the bag what he had not thought of. Two thous
 and three hundred and seventy-fou1 diamonds of all weights, from eighty, nine carats down, and of all degrees o1 brilliancy, were spread before his gaze. On meeting MT. Beauclerck, Harding, after denying at first the theft, offered tc settle the matter by paying e20O. This the former refused, as he wanted only his own money. Harding counted out one hundred guineas, and this circum stance led to the suspicion which finally stamped him as the diamond robber. Ht worked on at Du Toit's Pan for some time, but finally left for Cape Town after having concealed his diamonds il the barrel of his gun. His arrest jus
 before leaving in the Syria for England and his bearing when arraigned-cool without effrontery-have been fully de scribed.