The National tribune., 1890-06-26

ana calmly swallows It. w Gen MS Shlft which
lasts II hours. is over, the overseer specifically
examines him, but never suspects the presence
OF n stolen stone. The boy passes it to n con-
| federate who IN turn hands il to me.
curious ]. ID. Il. case was tried az Beaufort
/ West some 200 miles from Kimberley, in ISL,
which ended in the acquittal Of the accused. a
man well versed not only in the mysteries of
the l. d. b, trade, but also in the punishment
| attendant upon its detection. This man offered
a certain Jew residing there an imitation dia-
moud for sale. The Jew would not purchase
| on his own Judgment, but asked a friend TO
| value the stone for him, which, after buying on
| his advice for $3.50 he found out was merely q
| piece Of glass not worth q farthiug. Not living,
| however, in Griqualand West where au uE-
| licensed purchase would have been a crime,
which might have consigned him 70 the Cape
! town Breakwa for Is years, but in the Cape
| Colony, where no restriction was then IN force,
| he called in the assistance OF the law. charged
| the man with obtaining money under false
! pretenses, and the case ultimately came before
! Judge Dwyer at the circult court held III that
| town. The sale by the prisoner was, of course,
| duly proved. Judge Dwyer, however, in
| structed the jury that rs the purchaser had
| been guided i'm his opinion by his friend. il
was a question for them To decide whether he
| had been misled or not by the statement of tie
accused. AS / said before he was acquitted.
Amongst the devices invented for the secre-
4
large hole is cut in the pages of some novel
or ready reckoner and the space filled with
| diamonds carefully packed. The parcel being
| properly packed attracts no attention from the
| postal authorities. katirs were employed as
runners at night; in the day white horsemen,
nicknamed troopers" were paid to face the
| risks of detection the diamonds they carried
being wrapped in lead so that they could be
| dropped into the neighboriug grass. if danger
| doomed in the distance, aud recovered again at
| leisure Horses are fed with balls of bran
containing the diamonds, driven across the
border before the very eyes of the detectives,
| where in the course OF nature, the diamonds
were restored 10 their owners. The tails OF
| oxen or the wings of fowls were often utilized,
| passing the border unsupported while carrier
| pigeons, instead Of carrying valuable intorma-
| ton. were used 10 carry diamonds to the
| Transvaal or to the Orange Free State. One
man named Phillips had the heels of his shoes
made hollow and filled them M with rough
| diamonds. scaling them down with wax. The
handles Of his travelling trunk We're also made
| to remove, the empty spaces behind being used
| as receptacleS for the same purpose.
But enough of /. ID. b.; wall now give you
"a short history of the discovery of diamonds in
| South Africa, which, am sure will DO read
| with interest by all your readers. Mr.. Johu
O'Relly, one of the principal actors, relates his
| experience in this important discovery as fol-
| lows: I" lie is % years ago since first li5 upon
| the diamond which led to the finding and de-
| velopment of this wonderful industry. was
| trading around as usual, never dreaming of
anything particular occurring, when, in October,
1867 outspanned at a farm belonging to
| Boer named Niekerk, close 20 the Orange River.
! His youngsters, when L came there, were play
| ing with pebbles and their father was standing
alongside watching them. Seeing mo looking
| on he pointed out one stone prettier than the
rest in the hands of little black servant boy,
who was mindng his children and said in
Dutch: There's pretty stone for woman's
brooch / had a diamond ring on my finger,
| and lancied l could see some resemblance to
the cut stone, and taking it from the boy /
| tried to scratch my initials ON the windOw-pane,
as l had somewhere seen that this was one OF
| the tests of diamonds. As soon as | found that
the stone would cut glass | offered to give
| Niekerk, if he would allow me to take it away,
one-half of what might get for it,, surprising
| it proved TO DO diamond. This no jumped at.
| | at once inspanned my oxen into my wagon
aud went to Hopetown, our trading center at
the time. When got there / showed the stone
| to Solomon, the storekeeper, who chaffed me,
and offered to bet me dozen bottles Of beer
| that it was worthless and that must be an
utter idiot to bother about such a mares nest.
l From HopetoWn went to Colesberg, where