Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-01
THE GREAT GREEN DIAMOND.


To the Hon.Heury Chantrey, from George Louis
Eedmayue;
''DIAR CHANTREY-AIy conduct yester-
dav IN receiving at YOUR hands the legacy
left by your late client and our mutual
friend, Christopher Listhrop, appeared TO
Won, / am well aware, to be that of a mad
man. You wondered at my reluctance to
even open the ease containing the gem be-
qusstha6 to me and which had been left
with you by poor Listhrop, locked and
sealed IN an irun casket, made especially
for ii. till the dav when death should re-
lease hin from Il life Of which he had grown
weary. You wondered still more when,
pocketirc the still unopened casket, L re-
qucSted YOU 20 accompany me for few
hours run on my little yacht, the Petrol S
Wing. and when We had cleared the harbor
10 see NE deliberately cast into the sea the
stone. which even the brief examination
permitted YOU to make Of it enabled youfo
pronounce the finest green diamond in the
world.
''Gur lonC-StGndiG@ friendship constralns'
mo 20 give you an explanation Of nv be-
havior. though that explanation involves
-ge telling of a story l thought never 10 have
suffered q pass my lips, and L can think ct
ua better vav of relating that story than to
sod voR the paper I wrotC out shortly after
Ihe green diamond tirst threw its evil rays
across ny path. Ny object in setting down
the remarkable fac,s contained In this paper
WAS merely TO endeavCr iormy own satistac-
ti0n TO sift the actual occurrences from any
eIaCC6rations an excited fancy might have
invested them with, and this thought pos
sible 20 90 by setting down the matter N
cold ljgck and white
Written cn the IG,h OF September, fei7, in the
d. .ty- OF Ae2'co-
SET sy-ila in the midst nf a noisy crowd of
soldiers. engaged in cooking their supperS,
or i'm rough practical Jokes. Here and there
Ties one asleep, snoring away undlsturbed
I'm. ..a varied noises about him. ] have
chosen this spot for the very reason that it
is SO lu.l oF L6ueliuess and commonplace
siga.4 and sounds hoping that the shadows
which have recently filled my brain may
;ake flight before them The loudest laugh,
;hC rough5st Jest and the very kissing of
she meat IN The pan are welcome to me.
They are the tokens of a healthy humanity,
which nv dcsh ihirSts for, after that which
l have seen OF late. am plain, practical
man. loving no mystery. counting nothing
supernatural. and l could well nigh curse
the ialiv OF Chris Listhr0p in drawing me
1ter him into IN abyss Of black doubt and
internal mystery, for I am convinced that
only the evil one could be at the root OF
Tlis matter.
When our troops entered this con-
gTerCG cs-v the day before yesterday, l lost
si-1J Of Chris for some hours, as the hustle
end confusion was something beyond ordin-
AIRY. It seeming never to have entered the
peoples head that the American army was
really on lis way hither, and [ suppose in
all history greater Gislnay and terror was
never Eelr on such occasion. NV duties |
lepr nc closely occupied for the entire day,
and !; was not until late al night that was |
az liberty TO walk abroad through this |
curious old city, but the streets were still |
alive with soldiers and such of the in !
lanitants whose curiosity had got the bet
ser of their dread of the invaders. / in |
quired OF all The Americans [ met as TO
chris. but none had seen him. and l was
le-innlng 10 feel provoked with him, for 1 |
concluded lie had lost his wits in the /
triumph of oar arms and was running about |
au mischief bent, and I had a message for |
lria from the captain of our company. of |
which ! an Iirsr lieutenant and he second. |
Z had about abandoned the search, when |
7 was accostcd by a soldier, who informed |
ma that Lieutenant Iisthrcp had dispatched /
li-a 20 l0ok for ne AID to tel me that an 1
ac1.dsnt IN which he had barely escaped /
with MS Efe had befailen him, and that [ |
would md him IL q certain house close at /
hand. Ny friendship for Chris being of no
recent birth, we having been raised in the !
same village and deskmates in school and |
companions IL every boyish enterprise, L |
was much concerned to hear of this mishap i
and questioned the soldier as he led the |
way 70 the house in which Chris had been
carried.
But he could tell me but little. Some !
t4na-ical citizen had thrown heavy stone |
i-- from q window under which the Lieu
tenant was passing, and one edge striking |
rim on The head had stunned him. Seeing
that he was not dead. an old man standing |
30 the door Of an adjacent house had de- |
clare6 himself possessed O.. sufficient lznowl- |
edge 20 dress the hurt and had insisted on /
the wounded Dlsn being carried into his
dwelling.
''Yaeuely uneasy at my friend having
been Jeff 10 the care of 4 stranger one of \ |