The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-05-27


and most remarkable circumstance that,
from time immen,"rial the possession Of
great diamonds has always been accom-
psnjed hy great III luck and disaster.
There b MT Q single stone 0f import
ance Of which this n not true. Dia-
mond have been factors In the basest In
trigues, in the blO0diest wars, in the
most savage outrages that cisgrace the
pages Of history. I suppose when the
new. book Is published we may look for
some remarkable illustrations of this
fact; otherwise the authors will have
done their work very care)essly, and
without . full appreciation Of the extra
ordinary romance, chief tragic, which
surrounds the ''olistering halO' Of such
famous stOs es o. those mentioned at the
outset 0f this letter. Frosu the moment
Of their discovery, through centuries,
down to their latest p0sses4Ors the cele-
brated diamonds Of the East have trav-
eied through blood and adventure Of the
most dramatic character. Wars have
been fought for them, children have
been slain for them, mOnarchS have had
their eyes put out for them, princes have
been racket far them, and there Is hard.
" q phase of torture invented by cruel
despots whitlh is not illustrated IN the
stories of these lovely gems. 1t might
even he noted, though one would be in-
clined to put it forward with great deli
cacy, and, Of course, without for q mo
ment implying ones belief in the East
ern superstition that KOh-i-N"or
brought I'll luck to the Queen. This
stone, Of all others, has had career Of
misfortune. 1t was only year or two
after the Prince Consort placed it upon
the cutters wheel to have 1t reshap+d
that he died, and her Majesty has had
since them some severe atflictiOns. TAX
ed in connection with the previous his
tory Of the kOh-i-NOOr, t!,e~e arc, to say
t;,esleast, remarkable coincidences, a.
though it would be folly to- put them
forward rs examples Of the theories
which are sOberly discussed in Eastern
literature in regard to the virtue Of pre-
ciolls stones.
As note Of comfort and reinsurance
to the diam,On.l-]Oving readers Of this let
ter 1t IL only right to add that i'll luck is
not traceable 10 the possession Of small
gems such as are generally wOrn-to le
particular, let me say to the extent Of
twenty or thirty carats. ! should t'e
sorry tn make any gentleman with a dia-
nlOnd in his shirt-front or any lady
with pair in her ears unhappy, ami
therefore add this supplementary excel>-
ton in regard to the lnisfOrtunes that ut
tend great diamonds. At present Amer
lea d0e~ not possess n single historic
stone. This il rather remarkable cOnsitl-
ering how large buyer she Is In the
diamond market. Seeing that without
u break the histories of all the great
gems are full Of misadventure for those
who touch them, perhaps Columbia j.
to I've congratulated that all the famous
are in Europe or Asia. No prejudice
has, h"wever, that have heard Ot,
grown up againgt big diamonds. though
Opals ure regarded by even sensible l~<'-
pie with superstitiOns fear. They are,
nevertheless. EavOrite gems with the
present royal family Of England. ] re-
call curious coincidence in connection
with Opals. An explorer from Costa Ri
"a came home with u lot Of Olnals. Some
friends aud bought several fine exam
pl..s. had mine set in ring. One
night guing home late. presented this
asa peace Offering to my wife. 'Olals. "
l said, "are reputed unlucky; II you arc
superstitin,,s, throw the ring out Of the
window. II am not" she said. ''Nhat
po<sib)e influence can jewel have upon
events: laugh ut such folly She did
not laugh the next morning. At $50,
before daylight. our house was torn t.
pieces land we narrowly escaped with
our lives) by the explosion Of five tons
of gunpowtler and other cOInhustihlc
under our very windows. had carried
the opals home ON the night before "tht
Regents Park explosion" Of unhappy
melnOry.-.NrM York Times.