The herald., 1897-10-05
A s4oo OFF COLOR DIAMOND
pUNNIGAN SUES ON A "BooM"
CONTRACT
An Attorneys Divorce Subtitle
Rapsch Damage Suit Fizzles
Out-The Police Court

math to the burglary committed in NO
vember, 1885, at the residence OF MAJOR
Ben C. Truman, at Twenty third and
Toberman streets.
The suit was one in which Mrs. Angus
ia Truman sought to recover ddamono
from John w. Young, proprietor OF the
Hollenbeck hotel cigar stand. This
stone, it was claimed, was one Of num-
ber taken at the time of the burglary
and is valued at $40O.
Miss George Truman, with charming
noivete. sets rules of law at defiance
and told her story regarding the val
liable Jewel in her own way. She told
how her father gave the stone, set IN e
finger ring, to her mother on her wed :
ding anniversary in 1898. 1t, with all
other of her mothers jewelry was
espe ecially we'll known by Miss Truman
for the reason that she always deposited
1t in the safe deposit vault and also
washed and cleaned it at intervals. Dur
ing the week which included. November
IA, 1895, the witness attended several
social functions and brought home her
mothers with her own jewelry. On this
Gay of the burglary she, with her
parents, went out during the afternoon.
The Jewels were then inside locked
trunk, which was in a closet that was
also locked, and the door of the room
itself also was made snugly tight. When
the family returned the house had been
ranSacked, the room and closet door
broken open, the lock on the trunk forced
and a number of valuable jewels taken.
Upon cross-examination Attorney F.
P. Flint did not venture to question the
smiling and very confident witness, but
simply submitted a small jewelers. box
containing five diamonds, asking her
If she could identify the lost Jewel
among the number.
But that raised very vigorous OBJ
lection. Col. Hotchkiss, representing
Mrs. Truman, insisted. that the stone be
produced in court, while Mr.. Flint as
strongly maintained that until the
power to identify had been shown the
stone should not be produced. Judge
York held with Mr.. Flint, but the ban
died words had somehow, given rise to
the idea that the diamond was not in
cluded in the five submitted. Miss Tru-
man. wanted assurance on this point.
and very prettily gave her opinion of
not fair. But all the same she eyed the
stones with the eye of connoisseur
while smilingly disclaiming to be an ex-
pert. Judge York gallantly assisted her
by having a magnifying glass brought
from his chambers for her use, and then
witness made a close examination oe
the several stones Finally she failed
to Identify any one Of the diamonds as
being the one stolen from her mother.
Major Truman then had a try. He
stated that while he had purchased
considerable number of diamonds for
a poor man, yet, being 63 years old, he
didn't know that he could very success
fully pose as an expert and examine the
little parcel of diamonds The ore he
had given his wife was slightly off color
and weighed about 81 carats. He said
that he would like to go with the jewels
into a dark room in order that he might
detect the yellow gleam from the Stone
IL his wife's diamond was among the
number. Thereupon Judge York and
the major went into the judges cham
bers and, returning in few minutes.
he, too, ackr owledged failing to identify
the missing stone. He said that two of
the stones were similar to the one lost,
and one was very like it.
Mrs Truman next went upon the wit
ness stand and closely examined the
unset five stones. She stated that one
of them closely resembled her lost treas
ure in shape, but it was larger than hers.
Detective Goodman testified to get
ting on the track Of the stone in Mr.
Young's possession by arresting young
fellow named Millar who was trying to
cash a check Of Young's for $1OO The
detective was informed by Mr.. Young
that he had given the check in payment
for stone he had purchased from
Millar, and he showed the stone to the
officer. For some time the police de-
partment did not identify this particu-
lar stone as one of those stolen from
Major Truman's residence. and when
ultimately the detective did take it UP
to Twenty-third street for identifica-
tion, neither Major Truman nor Mrs
Truman was cersain: the daughter
only being positive that it was her
mothers diamond. Goodman had given
Young some reason to believe that If
the stone proved to be one Of the Tru-
man jewels that had been stolen he
would be recouped for the $10O he was
Dut OF pocket. Oung was perfectly
agreeable to that, and on the very first
Interview with Goodman told him if he
thought the stone had been stolen he
would stop the check. But Mrs. Tru-
man took the stand that if the stone was
hers that as citizen and taxpayer
Bhe ought not to be required to pay out
any money; and if the stone was not
hers she didn't want it.
The detective, although he stated he
had been jeweler for thirty-five years
was very dubious about picking out the |
Truman stone from the bunch-if it was |
there at all. He stated that it was a |
matter Of great delicacy; that size, color
weight and cutting all had to be taken
Into consideration, and although he
looked at the five diamonds he did not |
venture upon any Identification.
At this point Colonel Hotchkiss re-
newed his motion that the stone be pro-
luced, and the court sustaining him.
Attorney Flint said that the stone that
The defendant had bought from the man
Millar was the second largest among
The five. That put things in a curious
TX. and Major Truman, with all his
weight of years and bad eyesight, came |
It least nearer to Identification than |
"a