The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-08-15
The Champion Diamond RObber--.BOrn Gen.
tleman, Bred Thief.

The statement concerning young Harding,
who stole the mailbag from the New Rush
South Africa post office, containing four or
five hundred thousand dollars worth of dia-
monds besides large amount of ready money
and checks, has been given briefly heretofore.
The following account of the young man is
calculated to "point moral :"
The culprit is the younger SON of gentle
man residing in Surrey, England. "To keep
the elder brother up in state" the younger was
sacrificed. This particular Harding was gen.
tleman's son, and though primogeniture abso-
lutely demanded that his father should not
spoil the paternal estate by giving him any
part of it or furnishing him the means of "get-
ting on" in business out of its revenues, an ed
ucation suitable for gentleman must be given
to him.
When he left college young Harding was
fitted to shine as man of leisure, but not to
succeed as a man of business. Indeed, it seems
that to 60 into business at all was never con-
templated by him. His father plainly never
said, How is this boy when grown to manhood
to support himself? Whether Harding had no
desire to enter the church or the army our
meagre account does not inform US. But GER
tain it is that if his family had influence enough
to procure him position in either they failed
to exert it, and permitted him to drift on pur-
poseless. 1t will be thought by many readers
that he should have become the architect of
his own fortunes; that he should have struck
out for himself, as the world owed him a living
and should be compelled to pay its debt. This
line of reasoning fails to take into considera-
ton the peculiar social atmosphere in which
this young man was born. His circumstances
and his education were all against his doing
anything for himself
Hardng's idleness soon became intolerable
to himself. 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 hope was proper enough in its way at
distance, but when he reached the spot it soon
came to naught. Harding did nothing-could
get nothing to do. He realized fully the Scrip.
tural description of another person. "He could
not dig, and to beg he was ashamed" But un-
fortunately he was not ashamed to steal. He
flched Gl00 from his roommate, a Mr.. Beau
clerck, and left Cape Town for the diamond
fields. While there he learned that a warrant
was out for his arrest on q complaint for theft.
What could he do? He was standing in the
vicinity of the post office, and the postmaster
and his assistant leaving the building before
his ewes suggested q way of escape. A mail
bag would surely contain one hundred pounds
1t IS robbing Peter to pay Paul; but then Pc
ter, 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 pro-
duced in court. Harding reasoned quite speci-
ously that he would, by pursuing such a course,
keep his own body out of Jail and save his fam
lily from the resulting disgrace.
This gentleman" robber appears to be a
man in many respects of fine organization. No
Hamlet is he. What his head commands his
not procrastinate. He did not even wait to see
whether any one was watching him. He ad-
yanced to the window of the post Office, broke
pane of glass, opened the sash, and, without
the slightest trcpidation, 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 Tolts Pan.
But he found in the bag what he had not
thought of. Two thousand three hundred and
seventy-four diamonds of all weights, from
eiphty-nine carats down, and all degrees Of
brilliancy were spread before his gaze. Meet
ing Mr.. Beauclerck, Harding, after at first de-
nying the theft offered to settle the matter by
paving 1900. This the former refused, as he
wanted only his money. Harding counted out
one hundred guineas, and this circumstance led
to the suspicion which finally stamped him as
the diamond robber. He worked on at Du
Toits Pan for some time, but finally left for
Cape Town, after having concealed his dia-
monds in the barrel of his gun. His arrest
just before leaving in the Syria for England,
and his bearing when arraigned- ed-cool, without
effrontery-have been described This most
remarkable robbery furnishes another reason,
if one were needed, against the absurd system
which educates man for q position which it
gives him no fair opportunity honestly to fill.