The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-05-15

Lamicvette, then In prison under sentence
OF death. One day while Sergent, then one
OF the inspectors Of prisons for the Com
nune, was making his rounds, Lamicvettc
begged ~ a special favor that he might be
allowed 10 shave himself. Sergent granted
the request, and out OF gratitude the pris-
ouer Informed him that he had overheard
two OF his fellow-prisoners conyersing
about the robbery ut the Garde Meuble,
and that from what they said he believed
they bad buried their booty at the foot OF
q certain tree in the Tuilleries gardens.
/ In accordance with tins revelation
Scrgent claimed TO have found the
most valuable Of the missing treas
ures, including the Regent diamond and
the agate cup known as the "Sugar cup"
now in the Bibliotheque Rationale. The
story looked very dubious, and to the end
OF bis life suspicion rested on Sergent OF
having been concerned in this famous
robbery. Sergent died in 1S47, protesting
his innocence to the last. Not long before
| his death he wrote: 81 wished to be
worthy to possess the great and noble
heart OF woman whom have adored for
more thar sixty years." She was the sis
ter Of Marceau, whom she had adopted,
| and OF whom she made hero. "Could !,
loving such woman and loved by her,
have been guilty OF such crime?"
Guilty or not guilty. Sergent-Marceau. as
he called himself after his marriage 10 Mile.
Marceau. died poor man, and his only
resource in his old age was pension of
1900 francs granted to him by Louis
Philippe.
Many OF these have their history, but
few so romantic az that OF the celebrated
Sancy diamond. Its first-known owner was
Charles the Bold, Duke OF Burgundy. who
wore it on his helmet. 1t got lost in the
battle i'm which its owner was killed, but
was picked up by q Swiss soldier, who sold
it 10 a priest for form. The priest, as
ignorant OF its value as the soldier, thought
that he made a good bargain when he
| sold it to the King Of Portugal for form
and half. The profits OF his Portuguese
Majesty were still handsomer than those
OF the priest, for he got 100000 CROWNS
an enormous sum in those days-for
it from Harlay de Sancy, in whose family it
remained for several generations. One OF
his descandatns, wishing to pawn tin order
TO lend Henry III. some money, sent it to a
Jew broker by the hands Of 4 servant in
whom he had every confidence. The SER
want never returned, and the broker de.
| clared that the man had never made his APP
pearance with the diamond. The police
asserted that tie servant had fled with the
| jewel, but Sancy declared that his conf
dence in the mans honesty was unshaken,
and that If he were alive his diamond was
perfectly safe.
This confidence was not displaced, for
after awhile the body OF murdered man
was found in ditch near the city walls,
which was recognized as that of the missing
| servant, aud when the surgeons examined
the body the diamond was found in his
stomach. 1t continued in the Sancy family
for several more generations, until one Of
| them got hard up and sold it to James Ill,
of England. | don't know how much King
James paid for it, but he got tired Of it and
presented it to Louis XIV, IL remained
among the crown Jewels OF France until
the Duchess De Berry sold it to raise money
for her attempt to upset Louis Philippe
and place her son. the Count De Chambord,
on the throne. Its purchaser was the Rus.
sian banker, Demidorf, Of whom it was said
he was a baron in Germany, q count in
France, prince in Italy and nobody in
his own country, and who used to sport
the Sancy diamond whenever he went to
the State balls at the Tuilleries.
| ANOTHEk CElEBKhJED GEM.
Another famous gem still among these
| Jewels Is the ruby called the Cote de
Bretagne," one OF the largest known spe-
cimens Of that precious stone. 1t was cut
and mounted for Nine. de Pompadour,
who had it recut in the shape of dragon.
Louis XIV. had it set in the collar OF the
Golden Fleece, and it was among the jewels
stolen from the Garde Meuble and re-
covered in the manner already related.
The Pompadour did pretty much as she
pleased in her days, and when she pre-
scented herself at court ceremony
she was, according to the testimony
of an eyewitness, "no longer u
woman, but a fairy, and what was more,
| an apparitiOn of the crown diamonds.
Under Louis XIV, it was the turn of Nine.
Du Barry TO wear these crown diamonds,
and when one reads the list OF the jewels
that this royal mistress possessed, one is
literally thunder struck. The diamonds,
pearls, rubies, emeralds, and other precious
stones are counted by the thousands in the
inventory made Of her personal property
when, after the death OF LOUIS XIV,
she was sent to the Convent aux Danes.
One set Of iewelry contained over four
thousand diamonds! All those that were
taken away from her, but those that she
was allowed to keep were so numerous
and valuable that she was able TO sell half
OF them for something like 100000. One
day she was robbed Of half of those that
remained, and hearing that they had been
found in England, she posted off TO Lon
don to identity them. While there, the Re-
volution broke out in France, and she hur.
ried home TO protect those that she still
possessed. On her arrival she was arrested
by the Republicans and soon afterward
was sent to the guillotine.
Jewels had also no little to do with the
unpOpularity Of Marie Antonette. The
King made her a present OF set OF dia-
m0nds and rubies that cost him $3.50
and she herself purchased a pair of ear
rings for $4,000. The ieweller, q man
named Boehmer, then made a wonderful
diamond necklace, for which he asked a
fabulous price. The Queen at first felt
disposed to ask her husband to boy 1t Tor
her, but she changed her mind when she
was informed that there was not enough
money in the treasury to equip the
ships OF the French navy. The SUBJ
sequent history OF the disappearance
OF the necklace and the scandal it created,
IN which the Queens name was so mixed
up with an English nobleman, has been
told too often for me to repeat it here. but
IL was to this circumstance that Marie An
toinette owed her unpopularity with the
people of Paris, and when she was tried by
the revolutionary tribunal the old story was
revived.