Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-10-09
MISSING SINCE 1891.
MYSTERY Or THE DISAPPEARANCE OF
SOME FAMOUS JEWELS.

Arrest of rive Men with the Property
In London.
Where are Nine Du Barry icwclsY
This question is pulling many persons
at present. Though she has been dead for
many years, this famous Frenehwoman
has suddenly become an object Of great in
terest throughout Europe and all that con
Germs her romantic life is regarded as of
! historic Importance.
Nine. Du Barry was very wealthy, and
up to the present hardly any one seems to
| have made the slightest effort tl lay hands
upon the fortune which She unqueston-
ably left behind her
Divers 90 to the bottom of the sea in
quest of bullion, others spend years i'm
hunting after legendary wealth, but until
now no one seems to have given a thought
to Nine Du BaIry's lost cashbox, with
| its wonderful collection of diamonds and
other gems.
History gcems to give a clear clcw as to
the present location of these gems. On the
evening of Jan. TO- 1874, Nine. Du Barry
left the castle of Louvccienrcs in order to
Ivy Il visit to the Due de Urssuc, her in
tention being to return on the following
day During her absence burglars entered
! her bedroom and carried off her Jewels
| Moorin, Nine. Du Barry faithful servant,
had heard no noise in the house, and the
soldier who was ON duty in front of the
castle was found intoxicated in neigh
| boring wineshop.
The list of the stolen jewels is still to be
found in tie French archives and reads
like chapter Of "Thc Arabian Nights
so bewildering is the long catalogue of dia-
monds, rubic7 emcralds, pearls and other
| precious stones.
When the theft was made known, the
French public smiled in incredulity.
Nine. Du Barry was not popular, and the
revolutionary journals Woo unanimous in
| claiming that the former favorite of Louis
| Nv had invested the whole story. Ac-
cording to the London Public Advertiser,
published at the time, the men who had
stolen the jewels came straight to London
with their booty
There were five of them, and on their
arrival they went to first class hotel and
ordered first class dinner Their lack of
luggage and scedy clothing did not tend
to inspire confidence in the hotel keeper
but they succeeded in convincing him that
they had plenty of cash and only needed
to get it changed into English money On
the following day they went to Mr.. Simon.
one of the richost jewelers. in London. and
IA price which was scarcely one-sixth of
their real value. The jcwclcr bought all
Of them, then asked them if they had any
more of the same quality.
They said that they had, whereupon the
/ jewcler, finding some prctext for leaving
| his shop, Mastered to tell his story to the
| police. The latter had litt,c difficulty in
| cffccting the are. of the five men, who.
! finding themselves discovered attempted
to throw the diamonds in the fire They
| failed to acco;Npiol tits purpose, however.
| and the police took possession of the treas
ure. One of tie thieves was an English
man who had before been frequently ar
rested on various charges
Being informed of the arrests, Nine Du
Barry came to London, accompanied by
her jewelcr The latter identified the pre-
ciOus stones, and his testimony was so CON
vincing that nothing seemed to remain but
to punish the Indicators and hand back
the property to its rightful owner In
| those days a crime of the kind was pun
ished with hanging Nine. Du Barry.
| however, was not to recover her property
so easily. The thieves positively refused
to plead guilty.
The beautiful Frenchwoman went to
Newgate prison, where they were confined,
| thinking that she could fascinate their
leader into Il confession of his crime but
| in this instance those charms which had
| worked wonders with 50 many men proved
utterly fruitlcss. The callous til eff remain
| ed stubborn as IA mule and refused to 90
| to the scatfold at her behest. The result
was that the lord chief justice decided in
their favor. The charges against them, he
said, had not been proved, and further
more no English tribunal was competent
to inllict Il penalty for a crime committed
! in Il foreign country. The five thieves then
We're discharged. As to the jewels, the
court was rather in IA quandary
! The thieves had cyidcHtly stolen them,
| but if they We're rot Nine. Du Barry :
property, whose were they: The matter
was ingeniously compromised The jew
els were placed in II cIShboX, on which
was stamped the seal of the city of London.
and were then placed for safe keeping with
Messrs. Ransom, Morllnd x Co., who did
u large banking business in Pail Mall,
near Marlborough House. The understand
ing was that the jewels would remain
with them until the court had rendered II
definite decision as to their ownership.
! One hundred and five years have elapsed
since they were handed over to the bank
ers, and no definite decision has yet been
rendered
But on the morning after the theft Nine.
Du Barry promised II big reward TO any
one who would find her jewels, and the
| jewelcr who had denounced the thieves
demanded this, and the lord chief justice,
without any hesitation, decided in his fa-
vor.
so far as Mime. nu Barry was concern
ed, the case ended here. She never saw her
| jewels again In due time she was con-
demned to death by the revolutionary tri-
bunal on the ground that "She had CON
spired against the republic and had fur
thcrcd the success Of those hostile to France
by procuring them immense sums of mon
ey during the frequent journeys which she
made to England. -
Latci nephew of Mime. Du Barry and
AN officer of the Imperial guard cndeavor-
ed, but I'm vain, 10 establish his claim to
the jewels and STAGE then no new claim
l.. fgt .1t