The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-05-27
BUTTE MONTANA: SATURDAY. NAY e. 1882.
1OAANOD m 9TOQD9.
Tho Had Luck that surely Accom-
ponieo Biz Diamonds.

Tho Dod Luck that Surely Accom-.
panies Big Diamonds.
It was In 1867 that John O'Reilly, .
trader and hunter was passing through
. portion Of the British Colony known
@ Griqualand West. At that time,
however, the territory had not been ced-
ed to the English crOWn; It was under
the ohieltainship Of Nicholas Watert'oer.
Albania WAS the particular district Of
the 0riqua Territory in which Mr..
O'Reilly6 adventure occurred. He was
returning from the interior to ('0les-
bury, and called upon aleading c0lOntst,
4 Dutcbnau. one Mr.. Van Niekirk,
who entertained him Hospitality. Dur
ing tho evening Que Of Niekirk's chill
dren was playing on the floor with
some pebb1es that had been gathered
from the neighborhood Of the Vaal Riv-
er. They were sparkling and attrac-
tive-look1ng things, and Mr.. O'Reilly's
attention was d rected to one Of them,
which threw out quite . strong light.
He took e up and examined 1t, and Of
fered to buy Il. Van Niekirk was anus
ed at the idea Of O'Reilly wishing t
purchase the pebble, and refused to take
any money for It. O'Reilly, in reply,
informed him that he believed the pel,-
bic to he . precious stone Of value, and
he would therefore not take 1t for moth
ing. After some pleasant higgling be-
tween the two honest fellows, it was
agreed that O'Reilly should take the
stone. flnd vut its value, and II it proved
= diamond, a. O'Reilly suspected, he
wse to cell it and divide the money be-
tween them. O'Reilly took the stone
to Colesburg, and ut the bar OF the local
hotel showed It to several people and
told them that he believed it was dia:
mond. He cut glass tumbler aud
wrote his name on the window pane
with It, and was laughed at even for
the illustrations OF his belle: in Its char
actef. One of the men present grew
quite annoyed at O'Reilly's "fo,iy,"
and, picking the stone up, threw 1t into
search that O'Reilly found the stone
a0sin. He sent it to DIR. Athetston. Of
Gr.hamstown. This gentleman hand
ed it to the Roman Catholic Bishop,
who was not only theologian, hut y
scientist. He examined it, and unhesi-
tatinely pronounced it to be u diamond
of 22( carats. From GrahamstOwn the
stone was forwarded to the Colonial
Secretary. the Hon. Richard SOuthey,
afterwards the Lieutenant Governor OF
Griqu.land West. He submitted the
stone to best authorities ut hand, and
they endorsed the judgment Of the Bisl'-
op. 1t was then sent to Messrs' H"ht
4 Reskell, Of London, the Queens jew
elers. They confirmed thedecisiOns ob-
tained In the Colony. and valued the
stone at &, 500. Sir Philip Wodehouse,
who was Governor of the Colony nj the
time, purchased 1t atthis valuation. MI.
O'Reilly llsereupon set out upon fresh
journey to zee if he could find other d!a-
monds where this was picked up. He
was fortunate In coming upon one ot
8.78 carats, which was purchased by Sir
Philip Wodeho,lsc for 81 900. This was
the beginning Of the excitement which
readers will remember was ca: seq ny
the opening Of the diamond fields ut
South Africa, an excitement almost
equal In extent to that which followed
the annOu.. .cements Of the discoveries of
gold in Australia and California. The
diamond fever extended In aIi diret'-
tions; 1t caught even the natives wro
came swarming in from all par . with
pebbels of all descriptions, many of
them proving to be small d'amonds'
Soon afterwards the startling lnte!ll-
gence went through the country that =
diamond Of over etghty-three carats had
been discovered. The story was quite
true. Mr.. Van Niekirk, hearing that
the stone he had given to O'Ret!ly was
diamond, r>nembered that ne nad
seen one Of n similar character In the
noesession Of native. lie went straight
to the Kaffir, and found that the man
still held no. session of the stone in qucs-
ton. Van Niekirk bought 1t from him.
The native, however, was very cute
native: he obtained from Van Niekirk
500 sheep, q number Of horses, a"d, IN
deed. almost the whole Of the stock the
Dntchman Dossessed. Van Niekirk inl-
mediately on securing It set of with the
sfone to Mcssrs. Lilienfield brothers. Ol
Hopet0wn, merchants of long standing
in SOuth Africa, and now represented
mt the scene Of the great diamond and
icweiry robbery in Hatton, London.
They purchased the stone for $55, 600
and Christening it 1.-The Star of SOUTH
| Africa. ., sent it to Messrs. Hurst & Ros
kell Of London, who eventually sold Il
to the present Earl of Dudley, who had
| il yet with ninety-five smaller briIItants
and it IL worn on important occasions
bp his beautiful wife. Singular enough
, I met Lori Dudley and wife yesterday
not in society, not on familiar terms
but driving along Bond stceet. !:ort
Dudley IL one of the richest men In Eng
land. He Ia a great c0al owner ant
lives in q palace in Worcestershire
called Whitley Court. He married
few years ago probably the loveltest wo
man in England, woman as far in ad
! uance of Mrs. Langtry for the grace ant
beauty that belongs to breeding as 10
app arance and manner. She was on
Of the n'.n,erous lovely daughters o
scotland. had the honor of dancing
at her wedding, which seems to me Z
have occurred only . few years ago
Lord Dudley was then u handsome
stalwart, aristocratic gentleman. Carica
turists have always been able to hit mn
of successfully on account Of bis Iuxur!
ant and bs,shy hair. His wife wssa tal
graceful, 1.-the figure, and wherever the.
went. to whatever court In Europe, sh
was the cyIosure Of al eyes.
i Icould not help recalling this yeste'
day when, talking to a friend ON Bon
afreet. there passed b. q victoria draw