The Newtown bee., 1879-08-13
The Diamond Gang.

A New York correspondents throws some light upon q certain class of iswindlers in that city. No doubt, he writes, you have noticed q good deal in the papers about gang of swindlers wko have been paving the diamond game pretty freely. There are supposed to be about dozen persons in the-gang, and half of them are women-reguar confidence women,. of course. The method is very simple. It is necessary, to begin with, to have couple of pawn brokers and two or three diamond brok- CTS in the ring. When the gang is ready for business, one of its members, a lady in distress, perhaps, puts an advertise ment in the Herazd asking some capital ist to release her diamonds from pawn, as they are in danger of being sold. The capitalist appears and has talk with the afflicted woman, who is usually very handsome, and exceedingly talented in the tongue. She tells him all about her imaginary troubles, works vigorously on his sympathy, and occasionally goes so far as to make some demonstrations of affection. He agrees to visit the pa wn- broker next day and see about the dia- monds Ten to one he knows nothing about diamonds, and he means to be wide awake in this affair, and is dead sure that no one can get the best of him. He calls on the pawnbroker next day, with the interesting and distressed crea- ture, probably 9 pretended widow, who has excited his sympathy. He asks what sum has been loaned on them. and l is told $I,500. But are they worth that? l Oh, yes, and much more. The capitalist wants to know how he can find out. | The distressed widow then takes her cue. Perhaps the pawnbroker will h" so kind as to let his clerk take the lIonds to an expert, who can tell the gentle ar
 what they are worth. Certainly; so the clerk takes the diamonds. and he and the lady and gentleman go off to find an expert. The capitalist does not know where to look for one. The clerk finally remembers one, a well-known diamond broker in the neighborhood. He is one of the gang, but when the parties enter his shop, of course, he does not know any of them. The diamonds are shown, and his opinion as an expert is asked as 1 to their value. He looks them over carefully, and thinks they are worth from $2, 800 to B, 3,000. The woman had said that they cost her husband $3,000. They return to the pawnbroker's and (we may as well call him that, though perhaps he is worth $10,O00 all told) hands over the $1, 800 and receives the diamonds. He is to receive ten per cent. interest until the diamonds are redeemed, and perhaps bonus as well. The trans action is over and the parties separate. The capitalist tells some friend about it next day. The friend suggests that ii might be well to look into things 2 little deeper. A reputable ieweler, possibly Tiffany, is consulted. He says the dia- monds are probably worth $2OO. Of goes the capitalist in B rage to find the woman who has swindled him. She has folded her tent in the night time and silently gone away. The pawnbroker is visited but he does not know the wo- man and he is not loaning money upor diamonds at present. The expert is called upon, and he sticks to his belle
 that the diamonds are worth from S2, ,50( to B, ,OO0. Will he buy them for $1, 800! No, he is not buying diamonds just now
 The market is dull, and he has a large stock on hand. It is clear to the capital
 ist, at last, that it is first-class swindle and he thineks N1 tae is gone, ana it can get no trace of her. This game ha. beenplayed over and over again in twenty different ways. The police lately caught
 awoman who has been identified as ont of the chief operators. She denies i
 f1atly, and it may not be easy to convict her. ...- -.