The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-01
ARKLERS
Diamonds Have Long Excited the Gu
pidity Of INSCRIPTIONS Men.
STEALING AT THE MINES
Valuable HauIs Have Often Been
Made In America and Else
where-T he Du Barry
Robbery.

From the New York Herald.
Diamonds-so easy of concealment
and always possessing a high market
value-are, next to money itself, most
greatly desired by professional thieves.
and to getting them much daring, in
genuity and skill are devoted. Besides
this. there is frequently surrounding
great diamond robberies an air of ad
venture and romance. For these rea-
sons the stealing of diamonds makes a
most interesting chapter in the history
of crime and one that is called strongly
to mind by the recent Burden and
Barnes robberies.
During this last fall an article in a
London paper, which stated that one
John Francis Du Barry. who claimed
to be heir to the famous Nine. Du Bar
ry. mistress of Louis XIV. was in that
city searching for lost diamonds and
other Jewels that had been stolen a
century before, brings to mind one of
the most famous and tragic diamond
robberies of history.
THE DU BARRY ROBBERY.
AS the story goes. in 1891 Nine Du
Barry. who had ingratiated herself
with Louis XIV, and who was promi-
nent and influential character in
Louis gay court. and who had pos
sessed herself of great wealth, which
had been diverted from the treasury of
the state. was living in the Chateau
de Louveciennes. On the night of Jan.
10, gorgeously arrayed and bedecked
with 100000 worth of diamonds and
Jewels, Nine Du Barry attended
grand fete. She returned to her cha
teau at an early hour In the morning.
entered her boudoir. and, wearied by
excess. hurriedly placed her diamonds
on the dressing table and sought her
bed. Before sleep had closed her eyes
she saw the hangings of her window
part and two men, wearing masks, en-
tered the room. One, with a drawn
knife. babe her keep silent while the
other gathered up the Jewels, and then
the two quickly departed, leaving her
in faint.
A scaling ladder was found at her
window, and the dagger that had
threatened her life on the ground at
the foot, but the thieves were never
again seen in France They were, how
ever seen in London, where they tried
to sell the diamonds. and were arrest
ed. But as the theft was not commit
ted in England there was then no way
of holding the thieves and they were
allowed to go with the loss of their
booty, which was placed In the care of
Ransom. Morland & Whammerstay.
bankers.
Nine. Du Barry offered S. 900 reward
for the return OF the Jewels, and when
she learned of their fate, took steps to
get them; but, pending negotiations,
which were heightened by the bankers
code of red tape, war broke out be-
tween England and France and she
lost her head as well as her diamonds.
The theft of diamonds of such great
value only called attention to the ILL
gotten wealth of Nine. Du Barry. and
during the excitement she was inn
peached and guillotined. The hiding
place of the precious store of lost dia-
monds no one knows and therefore the
heirs of Nine. Du Barry have little
hope of their recovery.
STEALING AT THE MINES.
Some of the largest diamond rob-
berries occur in the fields where the
gems are found, and there. when the
thief is discovered, justice is as swift
as a leaden ball fired from a pistol
A noted case was one at New Brush
postoffice, in the Cape diamond fields.
which occurred in 1871. From that
postoffice many thousand dollars
worth of diamonds were sent by regis
tered letters to London, and shortly
before the sailing of a ship from Cape
Town there would frequently be a
large and therefore valuable collection
of packages ready for shipment. 1t
was on one of these occasions when
$4,000 worth of diamonds, ready for
the mail, were left on a table near
window unguarded for a few minutes
while a careless postmaster went to n
nearby saloon that James Harvey. a
diamond hunter in Ill fortune. who was
well acquainted with the premises
stole the package.
Harvey was cunning enough to play
poverty and even borrowed money to
pay his way to Cape Town and to Lon
don. Two months later, while at Cape
Town. and on the eve of sailing for
London, while in convivial mood, he
a lQN nf hnf ln1 n
his arrest and conviction. Being out
side of the diamond fields when arrest
ed, he saved his life at the time, but
shortly afterward lost IL by disease
while in prison.
Two years afterward there was a
$500. 900 diamond robbery near the same
place. but the thief enjoyed his booty
only for a few seconds. Three broth
ers, of the name OF Robbins, who had
had remarkably good fortune. went to
sleep in their little tent on the eve of
their departure for London. with the
accumulation of their joint labor for
Elk years under a pillow OF the middle
one. when a Spaniard named Marc
Mariana entered.
He came through an opening made
by a stiletto. which he carried in his
hand to murder with IL one OF the three
sleepers moved. Fortunately for the
brothers, they did not move until the
fODDeT ndu SECURED the ulan1onQS anu
was parting the tent to retreat. when
the three. on the instant. awoke. With
a quickness born of years of watchful-
ness they aimed their cooked revolvers,
and with the moon to light their hu-
man tragedy target. fired Mariana
fell dead. with three bullets in his
body, any one OF which would have
caused death.
RoBBING THE MAIL.
A robbery OF the mail. which result
ed i'm the loss of 100000 worth OF dia-
monds, occurred at Hatton Garden
postoffice. in London. on Nov. l6. 1881.
These diamonds were in registered let
tiers from Cape Town. and disappeared
in a mysterious manner. never yet full
ly accounted for. The authorities sus-
pected two French women To be in the
crir4e. and following them. led TO the
arrect in London of John Reynolds,
alias Rev. Lemesurer Reynolds, who
claimed TO be an American. with his