The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-04-22
THE FITCH DIAMONDS.

THE FITCH DIAMONDS.
How a Magnificent Robbery Was Plan
ned and Consummated-Isecove of
the Jewels.
From the Washington Republican, April l..
Last evening Lieutenant and Mrs. Fitch,
who have been spending few weeks in
st. Louis, visiting General and Mrs. Sher-
man, arrived in Washington on the 9:l0
train. and driving from the depot direct to
Wizards, were assigned to parlor No. II.
Immediately on gcing to their room, Mrs.
Fitch made the discovery of the loss of her
diamond necklace, the royal present from
the Khedive of Egypt. Thinking the
simplest way of transporting the valuable
jewel would be the most likely way OF
keeping it safe and from the clutches of
the thieves, she locked the necklace in
common travelling saichel, made of heavy
green cloth, and bound with brown
leather. 1t was her purpose soon as she
arrived at the hotel to take out the neck
lace and send it to the office to be locked
mp in the safe. Her feelings can be better
! imagined than described when sh found
the satchel in her possession filed with
worthless trash and her necklace gone,
and the further discovery was quickly
made that a satchel similar in every re-
spect TO hers, so far as material and make
are concerned, had been substituted for
! her own.
Mr.. Cake was quietly called to the par
| lOr by Lieutenant Fitch, and being made
acquainted with the loss, and the facts at
tending it as far as they could be given,
/ he advised that Mr.. Clarvoe, Chief of our
| Detective Force, should be promptly con-
suited, and he directed Mr.. Harris, one of
! tho nlarlyc Of tho hnta1 n tal-a aarriaO,l
and go for the Chief. Fortunately, Mr..
Clarvoe was at home, and by l0:15 O'Clock,
/ or in about forty minutes from the time of
the arrival of Lieutenant and Mrs. Fitch,
| the facts attending her great loss were i'll
possession of the Chief of Police, Major
Richards and the Chief of the Detective
Corps, Mr.. Cla-voe. In the meantime,
| Mrs. Fitch,
OVERCOME BY GRIEF AND FRIGHT,
had been thrown into violent convulsions,
and was utterly unable to give Mr.. Clarvoe
any additional Information. On being
closely questioned, Lieutenant Fitch recol-
| lected that when they left st. Louis Tues
day morning the seat directly in the rear
of them was occupied by tall, darkroom
plexioned, neatly-dressed man. and that
he occasionally had slight conversations
with him up to the time of reaching Har
risburg, where he was joined by young
lady of remarkably prepossessing appesr-
auce, who took a seat beside him and kept
! it until they arrived in Washington. Lieu
! tenant Fitch was sure that his wife or him
! self constantly had possession of their
satchel all the way from st. Louis, and
| that it was not out of their hands but
once, and that only for moment, when,
after arriving here, Mrs. Fitch laid the
| satchel on the seat for a second while adj
! iusting her shawl.
Mr.. Clarvoe then gave positive instruc-
| tiOns that the knowledge of the loss should
not get out, and going to headquarters he
! Immediately summoned to his aid the en-
tire detective force, Messrs. Sargent, Nc
Dewitt, McElfresh, Miller and COomes.
These keen, vigilant officers of the law
were all united in the opinion that when
Mrs. Fitch laid her satchel down to fix her
shawl the woman in company with the
man adrOitly
SUBSTITUTED her sATCHEL
for that of Mrs. Fitch, and that both she
! and her accomplice were in the city. They
could not have left by railroad after the
robbery was committed, nor would they
| in all human probability attract attention
| to themselves by engaging conveyance
/ to leave the city at that time of night. The
plans of Chief Clarvoe were quickly de-
veloped. He did not believe that robbers
so daring and accomplished would be
! found consorting with thieves, or in any
of the dark AID obscure places OF the
city. 1t was his opinion that they must
either be in some private clearinghouse
or in one of the hotels, and acting on tLis
! hypothesis, Detectives Sargent and Nc
Elfresh were assigned to work the west
ern part of the city above Seventh Street,
while he, with Miller, COemes and Nc
Dewitt, would attend to the balance. 1t
was now nearly u O'Clock. The prelim.
mary arrangements for the search had
been conducted with method and GOODNESS,
and the keenest Judgment of the officers
had been brought into requisition to make
the capture sure, but the magnitude of
the job created an intense degree of eX-
element.
THE VALUE AND BEAUTY AND CELEBRITY
of the necklace, the fact that it was the
royal gift of an influential sovereign to
one of the most favored of American
women, the high character of Mrs. Fitch's
parents and relations, the gorgeous cere-
mOnials attending her recent wedding,
and the pride the officers must naturally
feel i'm a successful result of their efforts
to capture the thieves, all combined to
produce a nervous determination they
never felt before and an intrepid courage
that would lead them through any dan
ger. Our readers, in this connection, will
remember that
THE NECKLACE
is 1--WE can only at this hour of writing
give brief description of it) composed of
a double roT of diamonds set in gold.
: Each stone is from three carats down to
One.half carat, and between every eighth
diamond there is a pear-shaped diamond
oflarge size surrounded by twelve good
sized diamonds; attached to the two rows
are five festoons of diamonds, composed
of fifteen diamonds each, and each loop is
fastooned with a pendent containing
, pear-shaped diamond, surrounded by fif-
teen small diamonds, and besides these
there are in the center of three of the
festoons large pendants containing pear
shaped diamonds of great beauty, sur
rounded by eighteen diamonds. The
center stone is a diamond of some fifteen
carats, and the snap is one of about eight.
/ The mounting is very heavy, and is really
quite burden to carry it around the
, neck. The estimated value is five lackhs
: of rupees, ESQ, 600, or $250.000, or a mil
lion and quarter of francs. By law of
Congress it was admitted free of duty, and
it was delivered to Mrs. Fitch at the Gus
tom house in New York some six weeks
: ago. An unintentional error in the law
{ makes it null and void, but as it was the
clear intention of Congress that Mrs.
E Fitch should have her present free of duty,
I it was turned over to her with the under
? standing that the Government should for
E the present have mere nominal control. 1t
5 is one of the grandest, most superb Orna-
! ments ever manufactured, and could only
: be offered as gift by sovereign of
: princely revenues.
, THE FIRST CLUE
r to the robbers was obtained by Mr.. Sar-
{ gent. Armed with the usual authority to
t examine the records ofth telegraph office
I he went directly to the Western Union Of
r flee, corner OF Fourteenth Street and
: Pennsylvania Avenue, and examined all
s the private kilograms which had been
!, sent off since 9:l5. There was only one
e that gave the snghtestindication of having
: any relation to the matter in hand, and
: that was as follows:
: WASHINGTON, D. c., 80 p. m, March 81
n.s1 IL SA~alAe