The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-23
NEW HAVEN MORNING JOURNAL COURIER

with pecks Of diamonds which they
were willing to dispose of at less than
cost price. This statement was ex-
planned by the detective, further on,
when he said that the dealers who
pawned their goods for less than cost
price were carrying on their business
on credit system, so that man with
stock of 100000 worth of goods was
only required to pay percentage of
what he owed to the persons from
whom he received the goods. AS long
as payments We're kept up regularly
the supply of diamonds was kept up,
thus enabling the dealer to go right on
pledgink diamonds for sums much be-
low their cost. Every now and then
there was business failure in the jew
elry trade and this was due to the fact
that goods were disposed of at less
than their cost value.
From another witness who testified
in the case it was learned than many
of the diamond dealers in this city en-
ployed policemen and firemen in uni
form to dispose of their goods in pawn
shops. A policeman in uniform could
easily obtain d loan of $4,000 on dia-
monds that cost only $500. For doing
this the policeman received $40 COM
| mission. A fireman in uniform could
| raise a thousand dollars on jewelry that
| originally cost $500. The fireman would
so to the pawnshop directly from the
| Jewelry house in the diamond district.
He would tell the pawnbro.zer that he
| was just on his way home to dinner
and that there was death in his fam
| lily which required him to raise some
| ready cash. The pawnbroker would
lend such a man a sum almost equal
to the full value Of the goods. Very
often the pawnbroker would suspect
| the fireman as a diamond flyer" and
| then the fireman would have to go to
another pawnshop. 1t was added that
there were about 500 policemen and
firemen engaged in the diamond pawn
ing business in this city.
| One of the pawnbrokers who was
| seeen yesterday by Sun reporter said
that the diamond pawning business
had grown to such an extent that
many of the pawnbrokers had decided
to organize a protective association
| aside from their regular organizat ton
At present there was only one detect
| i've who had been employed by the
pawnbrokers who had agreed to COM
/ bine in the new association. This de-
| tective had succeeded in. learning that
| the wholesale diamond dealers who
made it practice to employ flyers
were very numerous in the diamond
district. Some of them operated in
| European cities. The detective further
learned that the fashionably dressed
women who were employed to pawn
| diamonds were in the habit of earning
salaries amounting to as much as $20(
a week. They all lived in the fashion
| able quarter of the town. Some OF
! them, the pawnbroker said were wo.
men whose husbands were well known
business men. 1t was the intention OF
the pawnbrokers to put stop to the
trade, for it had gone so far that every
pawnbroker in the city had been over.
loaded with diamonds.
"Of course, there are very few of us
who have been stuck on the goods
pledged" said the pawnbroker, "bu
| nevertheless many of us have lost g
lot of money which we would or.
| dfnarily have received as interest ir
the course of business on the money
which we advanced on this class o.
| goods. / say this because / know o.
many cases where the diamonds pawn
ed by flyers" have not beeen redeemed
and, when sold under the autioneer's
| hammer, have only realized thu
amounts which we originally loaned
Consequently, we have lost the use o.
this money for a year. Nnow that We
| have learned all about this diamond.
pawning business, we will be very care
full in the future about making bis
loans and in this way we intend tt
break 1t up.-From the New York Sun