Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-19
4 Clever Diamond Swindle.

oVlLIulCA
4 dispatch from New Haven. Conn
says: Jacob Nepel, a diamond broker
was arrested to-day by defective Ra;llv
charged with obtaining money nndssr
,alse Pretenses from Edward Engel, .
pawnoroker Bail in $500 was required
anu furnished by Mr.. s%tcinert, the mu-
SIC dealer. Mr.. Engel states that he
mas IN ms possession six diamonds which
came from Nepel, five of them being
SET IN two studs, a pair of earrings
anu a nnger-ring. On these he ad-
vancot 1925, and now finds that thew
are not worth more than from $500 to
S4oo. MIR. Engel says that on March
~ a young man, who subsequently
proved to be G. R. Dorman. son Of =
carriage-makcr in New Haven. brought
him a diamond stud weighing three
carats, on which he wanted $500. He
represented that he had been sent to
Mr.. Engel by y party staying at the
Grand Union Hotel who was in need of
money. The stone appeared to the
p~awnbrowker like q rare gem. some
thing not often seen, and he ave a
check for the desired amount. The
stone had the rare BLUSH tint which
makes a diamond so valuable. Mr..
Engel went so far as to question the
police as to whether any valuable stone
OF the kind had been stolen, and re-
celved an answer in the negative.
Chief of Police Webster himself exam-
med the stone and was greatly pleased
with its appearance. A local jeweler,
OF thirty-five years experience, to whom
it was shown, said he had never seen
anything like IL before. The same af-
ternoon the young man called at Engel's
again bringing a solitaire pair of ear
rings and a solitaire ring. The ear
rings, he said, were purchased at Tiff
fany's and cost $500. He represented
thnt the owner needed 1925. All the
diamonds, he said, belonged to the same
party. Mr.. Engel gave him the money
asked for, supposing the stones were of
the old mine variety. The day after he
showed them to Heller & Burdell, of
No. 10 John street, New York. They
asked him how much he paid for the
stones: When Mr.. Engel mentioned
the price they said they must have been
stolen; that they could not have been
obtained honestly ut the price named.
The stud which brought 5000 they said
was worth $1,000.
The result of the inquiry Mr.. Engel
told the police here was as follows: III
had heard that worthless stones had
been colored sc as to look like fine gems.
of the first water, and so I asked Heller,
4 Burdell if it was possible that these
stones had been put through the pro-
cess. They laughed at the idea, and
said that they had read about such
things, but they did not believe any.
preparation could give the stone the
appearance of the one inthe stud. They
made a test, however, and by a good
scrubbing of soap and water all the
rich, blush tinge was made to disap-
pear and the beautiful stone turned out
to be nothing but the common African
diamond, with which the market is
flooded. Instead of being worth s 1000
it would hardly bring $3.50. The other
stones were subjected to the same pro-
cess and the fine color disappeared in
the same manner"
On April 2 young Dorman came again
to Engel, this time bringing a two-carat
stone with the same blue tint, for which
he wanted $3.50. Acting under in
structions from the police, Mr.. Engel
retained the stone and said he would
settle with the owner. 1t transpired
that the diamonds came from Martin
Gum, a barkeeper at the Grand Union
Hotel, and formerly clerk at the New
Haven House. Gum, when questioned
by the detectives, said that he obtained
them from Nepel, who agreed to give
him q percentage for disposing of them.
Mr.. Engel states that the parties inter-
ested-Nepel, Gum and Dorman-
have been to him offering to settle the
case by paying him the difference be-
tween the actual value of the stones
and what he advanced upon them, com
petent judges to estimate the real worth
of the diamonds.
George H. Ford, the jeweler, says
that he has seen many of these arti-
ficially washed diamonds, and that
many merchants hereabouts have been
deceived by them. He states that q
scientific paper recently contained an
account Of a similar fraud perpetrated
in Paris. A magnificent stone, sold at
an enormous price, lost five-sixths of it's
value in consequence of a simple wash
ing in soapy water. Purchased as a
Brazilian gem, it was thus discovered
to be only a Cape diamond of honey
yellow color. The process of making a
yellow diamond colorless, according to
this statement, consists in plunging the
stone for a few moments into an
aqueous solution of aniline violet. After
drying every trace of color vanishes,
while the luster remains unobscured.-
Chicago Times.
A GnlArel Ex.lOnRn1prafa.