Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-26

! peFoF OF hussla, (hohluoor, Engllsh re-
gala, Hastings diamond, ditto. .
1t ees none of doze, - interrupted
Van Cooler. s'Doze are all graun tia
munds. You must Wind heem, if ad all
among der private broberty
''Quite so, - said Mr. Padger, with q
nod of approval, and turning over sew
eral pages, as he hastily skinned the
list. ''Ah, here we are. The Sanci
Stewart. That g too big. Earl of Dud-
dIey s diamond. That is more like it. ,
g Mir. Badger, said the old man
You are houting vot you gall a mare S
nest, NIGHT wahr? l should know if soch
shdones had peen shdolen.
9 Possibly, - said Mr.. Padger. ''But
if s my only chance. Piggott, The Mas
SAX, property Of Lord Westminster
G25. 000-Iny stars!'
And so he went on through the whole
list without any satisfactory result
Either the stone did not III the least pos
sess the necessary qualifications. or its
present whereabouts were too well known
for it to have been stolen without the fact
becoming public.
Ono, " said Mr.. Padger. at the end.
cit ism t there. -
q dold you 70, - said the merchant
holding out his hand for the book
Every honest detective would probably
unhesltatiugly admit that in a large
majority Of cases of exceptional difficulty
he has owed his final success to a piece
of information obtained from some ap-
pareutly tri -Ial accident, and it is no
disparagement to his skill to confess as
much, for it is in the power OF availing
himself of such chance assistance, in the
faculty of approaching to the full the
Importance of minor details that the SUI
peTlOrity of the really clever detective
is most cOuspicuously exhibited.
Such happy accident at this moment
befell Mr.. Padger. He let 90 of the
little volume before Mr. Van Cooler had
fairly taken hold of it, and as result it
fell to the ground between them. Hastily
STOPPING to atone for his awkwardness,
he perceived q scrap of printed paper,
resembling a cutting from a newspaper,
which in the tumble had futtered from
the leaves between which it had been
slipped. As he was about to restore it to
its former position his eyes fell upon the
larger type of the heading, and he read:
''The Freiliger Diamond -
"Halloh! What have we here, Mr..
Van Goeler?'' he exclaimed.
''Ah,'' said the old Dutchman with a
deprecatory laugh. 'Dot ees bTezictly
vot you gall der eggseption do brooves
der rule. Dot tiamund has in vact dis
abbeared vor Zeven or eight years ago. -
''Indeed!' cried Mr.. Padger sharply.
/" May read it. -
ooh yes, oh yes, of course.
Mr.. Padger did not waste time in fur
Their discussion, but immediately took
advantage of the permission as freely
granted.
This is an authenticated copy of what
he read
1.-THE FREMIGER DIAMOND. -
81 writer, whose name has temper
ariIy escaped our memory, once re-
marked that if the true history of any
of our great historical precious stones
could be dredged from the all-devOur-
ing NAV of the vast ocean, oblivion,
and fairly painted it would present to
the startled vision of the Mortified on
locker a hldeous and revolving panorama
OF treacheTy and assassination, midnight
murder and stealthy poisoning, private
feud and devastating warfare. This, it
is to be feared, too truthful conjecture,
has received within the past few days
terrible illustration nay we may almost
venture to say confirmation from an
appalling event IN our very midst.
"Mr. George FreileingeI, one of our
wealthiest, best known and most re-
spected citiZens-yes, we boldly assert,
respected in spite of the ignominious and
despicable aspersions shOwered upon his
name by a degraded and veniaI contem-
pOraTy-has been found barbarously
murdered under circumstances of the
greatest atroc:ty, and 1t calls for little
penetration TO divine the motive of the
dreadful deed.
cone more precious jewels, the devil s
choicest bait has started upon it's career
of crime, for it is difficult TO associate so
potent cause of evil from its awful eff
fects. 1t was not without good reason
that the ancient moralists, wrapping up
their mighty truths in parallels and
myths, as the Indians packed their pearls
in garbage, placed the choicest and most
dazzling gems in the heads of venomous
serpents.
''In the year 1879 it was Tumored that
Mr.. Freiliger, who had already distin-
guished himself by accommodating an en-
ormOus fortune, had discovered on a
claim of his a particularly large diamond
of the finest water. Where if was actu-
ally found has never TRANSFERRED, as Mr..
EreiligeT himself persistently refused to
give any information on the subject
hoping we presume to make another find
Of similar value. 1t was, however, no |
iced by keen observers that he subse-
IuentIy purchased eagerly all property |
n the neighborhood of the Red Rag |
mine, which the fortunate finder had /
then but recently purchased, and popu- !
ar rumor attributed to that property the |
credit Of having produced the wonder. |
There was, however, in reality no other |
for this conjecture, and the |
)nly man capable of revealing the secret |
S now silent forever.
''The widest legends were al first cur
'ent as to the beauty and size of the new
found stone, but as is usual in such cases
here was much exaggeratiOn in these !
'eports. The following particulars re-
produced from our columns, and gath
'red from MIR. Freiliger's own lips may |
De implicitly relied upon.
'"The stone, now it has been cut.
weighs l77l4 carats, is of an almost per-
ect oval shape, as nearly as possible,
me inch and a quarter in length, by
hree- quarters of an inch in breadth and
lepth. 1t is of a remarkably fine and
)ure water, and the lucky discoverer
himself values it at upwards of one hun
Ired thousand pounds.
fbiS boartfifnI /