The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-17

stones have increased in value nearly one
half there is sure to be an outbreak in
that direction, which the Illicit diamond
buyers will take advantage of.
Although the l, D. r. traffic has been
suppressed to a great extent. the Kim
berly detectives are kept very busy and
the surgeons in the hospitals in the COM
pound have plenty of sore legs to ban
dage. While visiting there recently I
saw Matabele boy dying of lockiaw
caused by terrible wound in his right
leg. He had cut open the calf and CON
cealed a diamond weighing 80 carats in
the flesh
This seems to be the favorite place of
concealment. Formerly the boys did a
thriving business by swallowing the dia-
monds, but Mr.. Williams has put a stop
to that by penning up these 11,OO0 natives
in one great Enclosure called the COM
pound. and it Is safe to say that no such
habitation as this is to be found on
the face of the earth.
1t is built in the form of square and
includes about five acres. Along each
side of the square are built one-story cor
rugated iron buildings, divided into rooms
holding 20 natives each.
A high iron fence is erected around the
compound. 10 feet from the building, and
guards armed with Martini rifles patrol
thereabout.
it was found that many diamonds were
being filched, and it transpired that the
boys stole them in the Mines concealed
them until they got into the compound
and then pitched them over the fence to
a confederate in the street. Mr.. Williams
thereupon had the entire compound rooted
with wire netting, and TINS terminated
the thefts of that sort.
There is very little opportunity these
days for native to dispose of a gem.
He is never permitted to leave this COM
pound, and when his time of service is
approaching he is kept for two weeks in
a special compartment absolutely naked
along with so or 60 brothers. If the boy
has concealed in his anatomy somewhere
a precious stone it Is bound to make its
appearance in that time. A surgeon goes
over each boy every two days, and if he
looks sick puts him through sort of
third degree that generally ELECTS dia-
mond or two. The company RECEIVERS
about G40O.oOO worth of diamonds in a
year from the native employees in this
way.
The boys in the compound are a jolly
lot. The convict laborers, on the con-
trary. present a sullen appearance and
look like murderers. These men are en-
ployed mostly in sorting the diamonds as
they come from the washing machines
keen-eyed guards, with instructions to
shoot the first man who attempts to es-
cape. watch every movement of these un-
| fortunate beings. The law against I. D.
B., in fact, is terribly stringent. Any
person caught in Cape Colony with Il
| rough diamond in his possession and no
certificate of registry gets a short shrift
If white man he is sent to the Break
water convict station at Capetown for
perhaps 10 years, where he is employed
in eXcavating for the new docks. One
of the most distressing scenes in South
Africa is the march of these men from
prison to work through the streets sur
rounded by a regiment of guards. One
entire section is made up of Americans
and among them is the son of an eX-con-
gresham and the scion of famous New
Orleans family.
To be a successful diamond thief there
fore requires the utmost cleverness. but
the detectives at Kimberly will tell you
of many instances when they have been
outwitted.
An American from Chicago, who owns
a saloon in johannesburg, wears on his
shirt bosom one of the finest stones to be
seen on the Rand, and he glories in tell
ing how he beat the Kimberly sleuths
by feeding the diamond in bunch of hay
to his horse. He rode the animal out Of
Cape Colony, pursued by the officers,
| until he got over the border into the
Transvaal, where he cut the horse open
and took out bis prize.
Another man got ahead of the detectives
by loading his gun with about 1870 carats.
Suspicion rested on him and he was fol-
lowed, but escaped detection by firing the
charge into an OK. When the detectives
left he cut out the stones and made for
the TransVaal, which is the haven of the
l. D. B. men. great many diamonds
have been stolen by feeding them to
chickens and shipping the latter to Jo-
hannesburg.
America has proved a bonanza for Mr..
Rhodes and his syndicate. It is chiefly
owing to our increased demand that the
prices have been raised. George F.
I<unz, the Tiffany expert who knows
more about diamonds than any one else in
America, has just completed his annual
report on the production of precious
stons for 1898 for the department of the
interior-United States geological survey
and therein predicts that the year 1900
will chronicle the greatest importation
into the United States that has ever been
known and further advance in prices