Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-04-29
Sheer Luck.


When the great pink diamond of
Guznee reached Europe it created
widespread interest and took immedi.
ate rank with tho historical stones Of
the world. II was compared with the
finest gems i'll the royal and Imperial
regalia, sayants wrote learned dis
questions upon its beauties, and the
magazines and newspapers spoke OF
its yalae IN way that made ones
mouth wafer.
Among others whose envy was
aroused by the descriptions of the
stone was Mr., Lamorock, II gentle
man who had passed under many
aliases iii his career, and who had only
recently been released from Portland,
where he had been sequestcred for mis-
taking the proprietorship of n check.
AS lie read OF the grea. diamond his
eyes sparkled at tho thought of its
worth. There it was-flO0, 000-and
you could put it in your waistcoat
pocket.
But how to get it?
The eX-conyict, rs he pondered over
the sui. ect, knew the task was not an
easy one. The papers impaired the
confidence that it was in Messrs. Bons.
field Brothers safe Mt Bristol; but
burglary was not in his line. There
are grades OF refinement in all profes.
sions, and he looked upol burglary as
vulgar, besides which night watchmen,
strong rooms, and electric alarms
made such work hazardous and only
fit for people better supplied with
physical strength than brains.
The first step was to obtain the con-
fidence O; the Bonsields. To get this?
an Introduction. How?-to forge
1t!
without more ado he wrote short
note to Congle.on d Co. the celebrated
diamond merchants of Hatton Garden.
asking them ifthey would care to buy
some old faiaily jewels, and received
n rep Y expressing their willingness to
inspect them. After studiouHly ex-
.amining the caligraphy of their letter
with a magniiying lens he set himself
10 practising n number of curves and
fouriShcS on sheet of PAPER. An
hours work seemed to satisfy him,
and he then indited the following
epistle:
''hRtton Garden, Jan 4, 1896.
Messrs. Eonsiield Brothers: Dear Sirs
AS q clidNt of ours desires to inspect
your pink diamond known as 'rhe
Light oi Guznee, with view to pur-
chase, we should feel obliged if you
would send il to us. Our Mr.. Lamo-
rock will call upon you few hours
after You receive this letter and will
bear note vouching for his identity.
We shall be happy to undertake all
risk and responsibility for the stone
from the time it is intrusted. to the
custody of our representative, and we
beg to remain yonrs faithfully.
"CoNGLEToS x Co."
When this production of his pen
and brain had been carefully scrutin-
lied, our caiigraphist composed
another short letter, which stated that
the bearer was Mr.. Lahorock, the rep.
resentative Of Conglcton S Co. He
went ont and bought half dozen
Havana cigars, four of which he /.
steamed open and unrolled. Smearing /
the interior portion over with dark, .
treacly liquid, lie rolled them mp again
with expert fingers and put them into
his case.
The first letter he had written he .
sent by registered post, going down to .
Bristol by the same train that took the .
mail. But on his arrival there he .
waited for three hours so rs to allow
of it being delivered before calling.
He then went to their office and pre-
sented his credentials, the genuineness
OF which were not for q moment sus-
pected.
The Bristol firm, who acted with
great caution in all their business
transactions, thought il safer
that the stone should be under
the custody of their own rep.
resentatiye. and determined that one
of their partners, Harry Bonsfeld,
should accompany Lamorock mp to
London, taking it with him. This,
however, was a contingency provided
for both by Lamorock's cigars and by
q neat little revolver that nestled in
the pocket Of his great coat.
1t was bitterly cold day, and bit
ing east wind made them shiyer in
spite of their coats and wraps; so
much so that they mutually regretted
that the operation of securing a
reserved carriage left them no time to
pay a visit 10 the refreshment room.
They had just seated themselves
and the train was already
in motion, when an elderly gentleman
. II II fo,o al HAL l,.l,,