Omaha daily bee., 1888-03-25
THE ROMANCE OF A DIAMOND.
Strange History Of a Jewel Stolen
But at Last Recovered. 600
EARLY SIN AND RE1RleurloN.
How q Son Met His Mother Aftcr
Years OF Crime An AFFAIR
that is on Record at
st. Louis. ,.-s

Mr.. Joseph Drukker who for many wears
was a leading diamondXmerchant, of 81.
Louis, and who is now connected with a
leading jewelry firm of this city, has a fund
of interesting tales concerning precious
stones, and many Of them are surrounded
with the halo OF romance. Through him
have been discovered the perpetrators of
many bold robbcries, and in many instances
his acknowledged ability as an expert has
provenof great value in finding the owners of
stolen jewels. One of the most romantic
stories told by Mr.. Drukkor is reproduced
below. -
One Of his most liberal patrons In st. Louis
was a woman who. presided over a house of
i'll fame. She was famous in the Mound city
for the sumptuous furnishings of her" house
and the magnificent diamonds she ALWAYS
wore. Among the many valuable ornaments
were q pair of magnificent first water
diamond earrings, q nine stone lace bare, a
necklace that Cleopatra would have envied,
and u bracelet with q cluster of gems. The
cluster was circular in shape and as large ms
a silver dollar. The confer stone was one of
the largest and finest ever seen in st. Louis.
1t was valued ut nearly 1000. Nt
Years before the woman purchased these
ornaments, as subsequent events showed,
she had given birth to a son. Upon this lille.
gitimate offspring the woman lavished all
her love, and when the child became old
enough to notice what was going on around
him she determined to remove him beyond
the influences of the horrible life led by her.
1t was her one hope, bad as she was, that her
child should grow up a good, useful man and
forever remain in ignorance of his mothers
perhdy. She placed him in the home of q
respectable family named Marion and as the
boy grew to young manhood she lavished
money upon him, through the medium of his
fAatA - 49, Ma x.~,,Al ...-- ~ a. -
money came from his grandmother. When
he was about eighteen years of age both of
his adopted parents died. Young Marion,
tfor such he supposed his name to be) chose
lodgings down tow and every Monday
morning he regularly received a liberal re-
mittance through the mail. The restraint of
his foster parents having been lifted, he
gradually forgot their good teachings and
driftcd into the company of fast young men
and subsequently, became q card sharp, a
roue, and finally a murderer. The crime
over a game of cards. The young
man was ably defended and
secured a light sentence-two years in the
penitentiary.
A GREAT DIAMOND ROBBERY.
Six or seven months prior to his conviction
the town had rang with the details Of o dar-
ing diamond robbery. Madam -, the
keeper of a notorious masion de joie, had
awakened early one morning and found
standing by her bedside two masked men.
In the Pickering light of the burning gas she
could see that both of the men held revolvers
in their hands. One Of them ordered her to
keep silent and kept guard while the other
ransacked the room. He secured all the
madame's diamonds-those brilliant gems
that had created many a sensation at balls
given by the demi monde.
CoNvICT's CONFIDENCE.
Nothing was heard of the diamonds up to
the time of young Marion's convection. He
was taken to the penitentiary at Jefferson
City. He had been there but a short time
when he was given a cell-mate by the name
of Schroeder. This new conner was sent
down on u charge of burglary and had been
captured only after a desperate fight with q
policeman who narrowly escape with his life
The new convict took a great liking to
Marion. His term of punishment would not
expire for over ten years, and he often told
Marion that he never expected tn leave the
prison alive. A few weeks before Marion's
release Schroeder told his mate that he was
one of the men who had robbed Madam
-o of her diamonds. He and his pal
had divided the plumber. All of Scbroeder's
share had been disposed of and the money
spent except a diamond bracelet with an
enormous cluster. This he had been afraid
to offer for sale from the fact that 1t was of
such great value and had been so extern
sively advertised. He had buried il at a
certain place and the magnificent jewel was
there. He then told Marion that he would
reveal the hiding-place if Marion would
'hi w opus - ~ Niiid ilh u Duk
ments to supply him with such. luxuries as
were permitted by the prison officers.
Marion promised, and shortly afterwards
was once more in st. Louis. He lost no
carefully drawn plan gwen him by his former
cell-mate. He found the bracelet and saw at
once that it was very valuable.
AN ATTEMPT TO SELL THE JEWEL.
After two or three days consideration he
resolved to take the stones out of their set
ting and dispose Of them separately. Hefirst
removed the large center stone. This he
took to a Fourth street pawnbroker, and lay
ing it down on the counter asked the pro-:
prietor what was its worth. The broker
looked at it a moment and then said, "Not
more than 25 cents"
''That's what / thought said Marion, and
as he left the shop he cast the bauble into the
street. He was half inclined to cast the
bracelet after the bogus stone, believing the
other setting to be false also, but reflected that
he might raise "a dollar or two or the
pretty bauble He strolled into a Locust
street pawn shop next, and throwing down
the bracelet, said to the boy behind the coun-
ter: take this to the old man and see If he
will let me have a dollar or two ON it.n The
boy carried it to the rear and told the pro-
prietor the strangers request. The ''old
mani instantly discovered that the remain-
ing stones OF the cluster were genuine and
very valuable. He Immediately dispatched
the boy for an officer and managed to haggle
long enough with Marion over the amount of
the loan until the policeman arrived. Marion
was taken TO the four courts and locked up.
MOTHER AND SON.
The police, assisted by Mr.. Drukker, easily
discovered that the jewel was the famous
cluster bracelet stolen from Madam -----
over two years before, She was sent for and
Immediately identified it. Madame--n no.
ticed that the center stone was gone, which
led her to say: ANYONE that has got that
stone and thinks it is a diamond
will get left: About two weeks > be-
fore the robbery 1 needed some money
badly and took the bracelet to a ieweler'
who loaned me $1,000 on the center stone and
replaced il with a paste diamond.n
The chief then sent for the prisoner and
soon mother and son were face TO face. Tie
woman turned pale beneath her paint n
with a wild shrek tainted dead away. 80
There was no prosecution. -C ~
Things Excavated by Snow ~Shoveiers.
New York Sun: Men who were try