Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-08-03
A AFAMoUs~DIAmoNDs STORY.
How Gen. Mellkov's- Ancestor Hid
the Jewel from tho Porsians.A

How Gen. Mellkov's- Ancestor Hid
the Jewel from tho Persians.A
From the London Truth "t" 1r~ r.
The f ollowing details of the origin OF
the famous jewel which aaorns the i'm
perial sceptre of Russia we're fnrnishea
me dnring residence in St. Petersburg
by a descendant OF the Armenian mer-
chant who brought the'stones to Russia.
The diamond in its rough state,
formed the eye of an idol in a temple
near Toichinopoli, and was abstracted
by a French renegade. who escaped
with his prize to Persia. Here he wan
derea from town to town trying to dis
pose of it for a moderate sum, but only
meeting with distrust and suspicion.
At length, when the news of the theft
had spread over India and reached Per-
sia, fearing arrest, he accepted the offer
the diamond for $4,000. Meantime
the Shah was informed, not,on!y OF tie
robbery, but also. that the thief wasre-
siding in his territory, and had offered
the stone repeatedly FIR sale.
AT once his highness gave orders to ar
rest the man, dead or alive, md to Seize
the diamond. The Jewish merchant
naturally became alarmed for the safety
of.his new acquisition, as we'll as that of
his head, and gladly sold the stonet tosan
astutc Armenian merchant named Sha-
fras for 100000. The magniicence Of
Catherine the Great and her court was a
by-word in Armenia and Persia, and
Shafras knew right we'll that if he could
reach st. Petersburg with his diamond
he would be able to dsposefof itasat n
handsome profit. The greatest difficulty
was to secrete the stone $50 thoroughly
about his person sthatin case of his sar-
rest it should not be discovered. 1t was
too large for him to swallow, SO he solved
the problem bv making deep incision
in the calf Of his left. leg, inserting the
stone, and sowing up the wound witt,
silver thread.
When the cut had cicatrized sufficient.
ly to allow the removal of the wire,
Shafras began. his travels towarl RUSSIA,
Had he known on arriving at the
frontier that the damon had been
traced to the Jewish merchant and fronl
him to an Armenian, he would probably
have tried to conceal his nationality.
But he boldly proclaimed himsefan AR
menian merchant to the Shah's inqus-
tive officials, was arrested, and consignet
to prison on suspicion. Strong emetics
were administered, but no diamond
came to light, He was stripped naked.
plunged into aLvt bath, and then ex-
amined frcal head to foot, with no bet
ter success. Even a little torture was
tried, but Sh afras was firm; and in the
over the frontier-his petty cash, how
ever, being detained, He reached Oren-
burg, and here some compatriots ad-
vanced him some money to reach the
capital
Catharine the G.eat was short OF
ready money wheu Shafras, !ofteged her
his diamond for sale. He demanded
100000 for it, but the Empress could
not raise more than 100000, and though
she offered 10000 dessiatins (at four
acres cach) of Crown land in addition to
this sum. Shafras refused. Catharine
was greatly chagrined. and did not hide
her annoyance; but she was too noble o
character to resort to the coerciye meas
ures which Shah of Persia would have
adopted without a moments hesitation.
Shafras was allowed tosdepart unmoiest-
ed and betook himself to Amsterdam to
have his diamond cut Here it was that
the famous. Count Orlow first saw the
,cNSl lOI LILO W ~ as d
fras was concl,1ded oif-hand, tor Count
Orlow never haggled. In exchange for
the diamond (Which weighs lS5 carats.
and is valued at 81 800, ,0U0) Count Orlov
promised Shafras, cn his sreturn,to Rus
sia, $35, 900 down, gangannIity of$2D0,
and patent of nobility. W ! " "
The Count kept his word; Shafras the
merchant became Lazarev the gentle
man, cashed his bills at the imperial
treasury, and drew S2,000a year for the
rest of his life, which, as usual with an
nuitants, was q very prolonged one.
Before lie died he became one of the
richest men in Russia. With the price
of the diamond he bought mines in the
Oura. land in Bessarahia, and houses in
ST. Petersburg. The ''unearned incre-
ment' in thirty years made him ten times
a millionaire, and at the present time
his descendants, numbering hundreds,
are ali immensely rich. Loris Melikov,
former Minister of the Interior, and
Delianov, at present Minister Of Public
Instruction, are grandchildren ofs the
Armenian IaZareY,e& EksS vi III 1