Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-13
HUGE FRAUDS IN DIAMONDS,
Extensive Operations Of a lang
of Diamond Painters"
The Trade Astounded- MANY
Dealers Losing Heavily.
Inferior sc mes that Pass Pr First
Water Gems
New York Star.

ment has prevailed In tho diamond
trade in this city owing to the disoov.
cry of Wholesale frauds on dealers
who have been victimizsd to tho OK.
tent of hundreds Of thousands of dol.
lars. DJtec ives have been long on.
gagged In endeavorlng to ferre. out the
frauds, and 1t is confidently asserted
that within the next forty-eight hours
important arrests will be made. The
o experts who have co successfully i'm
posed on the trads, used for the pur
pose of deception a simple but clever
process of coloring inferior diamonds
so that they looked exactly like frat.
water gems. When pressed by the re-
porter for particulars, the broker sud.
denly became unoommuncative, and
| referred his iaterlocutor to Detective
j. A. Britton, who Is a deputy of Mr..
Anthony Comstock. Before applying
to Mr.. Britton the reporter made
inquiries upon his own account, AID
gathered many facts as to the new
mode of ~swindling diamond merchants
and their customers. Then the do
~tective was approached.
"Mr. Britton," began the reporter,
II have been told that you have been
working up this diamond painting
business, particularly with reference
to one firm which has been victimized.
I should be pleased to have you state
the facts 10 the case, the modus oper.
andi of the swindlers, and any other
u,a&kar. of puht;o ,pforaut ~
Mr.. Britton replied quickly:
"Who told you I knew anything
about the matter2 Suppose l do, am
I going to give away the whole thine2
Scarcely. When my Investigations
(supposing that I have made any are
complete and the offenders brought to
justice, I may talk, but not before"
TO this the reporter rejoined by
convincing Mr.. Britton that he al
ready had enough material for an
article.
"Now, Mr. Britton," said the in-
quirer, "The Star will publish these
facts, even if you refuse to say a word.
You see, it is no secret, and you will
gain nothing by silence" The de-
tecsive started, WAS sllent a mo.
ment, and then said, slowly and re-.
luctantly:
"Weil, If you know 80 much, I sup
pose l may as well tell you the rest.
Let me begin by reciting a little story.
Not many weeks ago a man came into
the shop of a well known East side
pswnbroker and exhibited a pair of
superb eight. carat diamond earrings.
They were large and looked like
twelve. carat gems. The man asked q
loan of 81, 500 upon them. Long and
carefully the pawnbroker examined
the gems. His covetous eyes s~paikled.
He concluded that the stones were
genuine blue.white diamonds, which
are as rare as they are beautiful.
They bring from $3.50 to $500 a carat.
Tiffany & Go. had one awhile
ago for which they refused
$1,000 q carat. But the brokers' ad.
miration did not get the better of his
business instincts. Flo declined to
loan more than $500 upon the ear.
rings. This the customer promptly
ana positively refused. After a long
argument the contracting parties com.
promised upon $3.50. AS soon as the
customer left the shop the broker
ordered his clerk (who was out q
sight during the nsgotiations) to fol
low the man and buy the ticket at any
price. The clerk obeyed, and afte,
some dickering the victim exchanged
the ticket for $50, Wild with delight
toe broker fastened to wash and polish
|, his treasures. Bat when he took
them from the water a cry IF astonish
| ment escaped him. The blue-white
lustre was gone, asd, to his surprlr,
, and anger, tie shrewd oxpsrt found
, that he had paid a high plics for or.
| binary green yellow diamonds, wortl
at the most $40 a carat. The stones
were painted.
> 81 suppose" continued Mr.. Btitton
"that there is not a diamond mer
-. chant or a pawnhroker between New
York and New Orleans who has no
bseu humbugged by painted jewels.
D Glow did the matter come to you
t attention7' asked the wondering Sta.
man.
"Just Is this way. About fv
months ago gentlemanly, we'll
dressed man, entered the Office Of
prominent firm of diamond brokers
and represented himself as the agen
of a large house in Paris. He ha'
some fac gems. Would the firm hav
the c~omplaisancs to examine them
The frm did 50, and bought $40, 00'
worth Of stones. Upon another occs
sion they purchased q yet large
amount, and six weeks ago purchase
= of the pleasant gentlemen from Pari
a third lot, for which they paid Go 90
n 1926, 0JC0 Tho last package the
did not examine with the care bt
slowed upon the others, for they ha,
n perfect confidence In the judgmen
n and integrity of the man from France
4 In d short time, however, the cut
) toners who had bought diamonds {
the third purchase, returned them I
the firm, declaring that Instead ,
blue-white gems they were of tn
green, yellow variety. The wholesal
10 merchants were astonished beyon
~ measure; bu. upon applying a simp
"a test, they found that the diamond
a for which thsy had paid Go, 600 wei
worth perhaps one-ffth of thI
amount"
,e SHOW was the cheat discovered"
10 easily. Before getting, the ston'
10 were washed, and the paint came OF
h staining the water a deep re'
Further Investigation showed that Il
10 gentleman from Paris had no col
rs nection with the firm he representa-,
IL and that his credentials were forge,
10 l suppose chat fellow has cleared ha
At a million within six months"
r care there any other people o
IA uaunl L. L. .h~.nnuhnnk A. ao.L-