The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-03
BITING THE BITERS

ID i lNU llH III L L4tO
The MAN WHO FOR THIRTY YEARS
DUPEo THE PAWN6ROKERS.
/ Remarkable Career Of Diamond Bob,
Who Preyed Only on the Shrewd Money
Lenders-MakinS High Priced stones For
aFew Dollars-The Watch SwindIe.
From q brief dispatch dated San Fran
cisco, received in this city, the police and
others learned of the suicide of famous
character in criminal circles known a,
Diamond Bob. His proper name was Rob
ert Ashmead, and he spent all but 20years
of his life swindling pawnbrokers In the
big cities of this country and Europe. Sc
successful was he, strange as IL may seem
TO those who have had dealings with tn,
willy money lenders, that at one time he
was reputed to be worth $500, 600. Dur
ing the 80 years he was engaged in his
operations he was arrested but once, and
then he was in custody only few hour,
in this city. The pawnbroker who had
been swindled failed TO prosecute Diamond
Bob. for he believed it would injure him
If it became known he had been success
fully imposed upon In lending money or
| diamonds
In searching about for some one whc
knew Diamond Bob well found the very
man who caused his arrest for the onl.
time at the Vanderbilt hotel
80 Diamond Bob is dead. you say, .
the detective said when l preached the
subject. We'll, of all the queer and pecul.
lar criminals this land ever gave birth TO,
that fellow Ashmead was the queeres,
and slickest. Peculiar cuss he was too
Had heart as big as an OK. What do YOU
Think The man could never get il
through his head that he was committing
crime by swindling pawnbrokers. No
sir. And he was honest in his belief too
( don't believe he ever willfully wronged
or stole from any one but money lender,
No, there was no sentiment connected with
his selecting and pursuing pawnbrokers
He was smart crook and believed he
was smarter than nine tenths of the money
lenders, and he proved it. There isn't a
pawnbroker in this country or in any Of
the big cities of Europe who doesn't know
Diamond Bob. He has been sort OF
Nemesis to tho money lenders for a quar-
ter of a century at least PawnbrokerS
associations have been after him for years,
but they never caught him, and his name
used to be rung into the prayers of every
good pawnbroker' family every night in
the year.
And the poor fellow committed sui.
eide, eh? Well, well! How some people
will rejoicep'
"How did he get the name Diamond
Bob" asked
well, it was just like this: Some years
ago be put up one Of the most artistic
swindles imaginable ON all the money
lenders of the eastern cities. He met q
poor diamond cutter one day who was in
the hardest kind of luck, through nobody :
fault but his own. Diamond Bob saw q
fortune in this fellow if he could only ge,
him to do as he wished, and there was lit
tie difficulty encountered, / assure you.
The diamond cutter had got so far down
he was ready to commit almost any crime
to get rum. So, when he was we'll paid fol
filling diamond shells with opal in an ar
tistic manner, he didn't ask any questions
as to whether they were to DO used in
swindling.
by taking the shells of diamonds left
by the cutters in the big jewelry establish
ments and deity placing opal in the mid
die of them and sealing the cavity with
paste diamonds Diamond Bob had a
gem apparently of the first water that
shone with wonderful brilliancy. He
pawned this fake diamond at night, wher
il was in its highest state of brilliancy.
The money lender could apply all Of the
tests, as the shell was the genuine article.
1t would cut glass the same as a good dia-
mond. Well, Diamond Bob turned out
hundreds of these bogus gems and pawned
them in all the pawnshops of the eastern
cities for sums ranging from s25 TO $3.50
before the swindle was detected. As the
stones cost him only few dollars apiece
1t can be readily seen bow great was his
profit. IL % no eyaggeration to say he
swindled the money lenders out of n cool
500, 900 on his novel game, and when the
other smart swindlers heard of it they
christened Ashmead Diamond Bob.
1T was Diamond Bob who took about
$50 900 from the pawnbrokers of this
country a few years ago on what the po-
lice knew as the watch swindle.' 1t was
an exceedingly ingenious scheme to beat
the money lender 1t is pretty well known
that @ man can secure a loan OF at least
$3.50, and oftentimes as high as $500, on a
certain make Of watches. A pawnbroker
will take the watch Of such a make as
quickly as he will take diamonds, the
name that is on the works Of the watch be
ing the guarantee of its genuineness. One
Of these firms places its name on the in
side of the cover in letters that are cut into
the case and enameled over nIwhite. Dia-
mond Bob secured the services of a skill
full matchmaker and set him to work
First they bought a number Of the watches
of genuine make. These can't be had for
less than $500 apiece. They then took out
the movements, which can be sold back TO
the manufacturer for three -fourths Of the
value Of the watch, or about $500. They
returned the works, only retaining one of
them TO copy from. Next they bought a
lot of ordinary watch works that cost them
about $25 apiece, which were fitted into
the genuine cases The name of the man
ufacturer was forged on the movements, so
that il couldn't be told from the original
After this was done the doctored watches
were circulated among the money lenders
who took the bait without the least sus-
picion. Hundreds OF these watches were
pawned almost simultaneously in all the
big cities east and west, Diamond Bob
and his companion, whom he had taken
into copartnership, visiting one money
lender after the other a. fast as they could
travel New York Herald