The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-04-11
A DIAMOND STORY.
The Clever Work Now Accomplished hs
Dishonest Lapidaries.

4 well known diamond dealer, who
has hcccme an expert from many years
handling OF precious stones, was near
" taken n few days ago by shrewd
diamond shark, whose new scheme de-
serves attention, as it is likely to be at
tempted in some other quarter. Ths
dodge consists in trying to palm off a
clcverlv ''doctored" diamond as very
valuable stone and IN telling plausible
and picturesque story to give it coun-
tcnauce.
The short. stout man, with grizzlcd,
graz muStache, who tried to victimize
the jcweler in question, brought to him
an eicgant-looking solitaire ring, pur-
porting to contain q diamond of unusual
size and Drilliancy. TO the eye even
Of the expert the stone looked all right,
and the man tried hard 10 make bar
cain with him at once, without pro-
cceding any further. AS it looked, the
diamond was easily worth f20O, and
the man, who told a tale of dire neces-
si,v. offered to sell it for flO0.
The story of the diamond as told by
the man, who gave the name Of Charles
Iurwool was that it belonged origin
aliv to the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia.
In December 1871, when the Grand
Duke, WHO was young and handsome,
attended the reception given in his
honor in the Academy of Music. an
episode ACQUIRED that attracted consid-
erablc attention at the time and has
! been much talked of since.
Some time after the promenade, and
when everything was in motion, the at
tention of the Duke, who had gone up
stairs with two Of the gentleman of the
committee, was attracted by lady in
oae O: the corner rows of curtalned
balcony boxes. There were but two
ladies in the box, one of them an elder
ly lady and the other 4 tall, beautiful
young woman, about 20 years of age,
vino had remarkably fine eyes, which
could not fail to be noticed.
The Grand Duke expressed desire to
be introduced, which was soon gratified,
and after standing for few moments
in front Of the box he asked permission
to 90 inside In 4 little while he asked
the lady to go'on the promenade, and
otherwise showed his pleasure at meet
ing her, but she Midi y and persistently
refused.
AS he rose to 60, the Duke, holding
her hand q moment and slipping from
one of his fingers diamond ring, pre-
senlcd it 10 her and asked her to keep
it rs souvenir of the occasion. The
lady did SO. aud kept it for several
years, until at last She fell into reduced
circumstances and determined to get
rid Of the ring in spite of its assocla-
tons
Such, in substance, are the facts OF an
occurrence upon which the man with
the diamond to sell told his story. DE
Teprese ented that the diamond he had
was the one given to TINS lady, and he
endeavorcd very clearly to trace its his
tory to her. The jeweler, however, in
sisted upon removing the stone from the
setting to examine it, and this the man
J allowed him to do.
The mans willingness to do this very
nearly threw the jeweler off his guard
al the last moment, especially as upon
removing the stone he could see nothing
wror.g with it. Taking up microscope,
however, he was able to detect, with a
close scrutiny, slight variation in the
q!lality and texture of the stone between
the middle portions and the ends,
Then he held the stone near a lamp,
and in few minutes the whole natur g
Of the ingenious fraud dawned upon
him. A small real diamond OF inferior
quality formed the top and bottom, and
4 fine piece OF crystal had been sand
wichcd between them, adding nearly
ten tiples to the value of the stone. II
had iJecn so cleverly and ingeniously
put together with q colorless cen1enl
dat it was almost beyond the power OF
detection. The man, of course, express
cd surprise. and asserted that the dia-
mond was just as he received lt.-1'd'
EitS.