Arizona republican., 1899-06-22
COMMENT UPON
 FOREIGN NEWS


 they have made their pile in this
 country, are accustomed to return Q their native land, carrying with them.
 not only American dollars, more or less honestly earned. but likewise
 what are known in Europe by the
 name of Yankee notions" I sup ipose that it is among the latter that
 We must include wknt is known as that particular swindle known by the gen.
 eric name of green goods which is
 now convulsing both Naples and Rome
 in great social scandal.
 The head of the enterprise seems to
 have been a marquis of the name Of
 Susio, belonging to the leading Ne
 apclitan clubs, and to one of the old- est families of the Neapolitan nobility
 The knowledge which both ne and his equally aristocratic confederates pos sessed Of the financial status of peo- | pie in society, both at NaTles and at Rome. enabled them to klow whc, were the most likely persons to yield to their temptations. The latter took l the form of offering to sell them not merely counterfeit bank notes, but | likewise the 1ithographic stone to be used in their production On the lith- ographic stone a bona fide bank noe was cleverly photographed, and this, 1 together with bundles containing the bogus notes, would be handed to the victim in return for good cash at one of the small towns in the vicinity uf Naples. On the return drive the pur- chaser was usually accompanied by one of the gang.
 At a deserted point on the way back to Naples the carriage would be stepped by individuals showing police badges. The member Of the gang would thereuDon urge the victim to throw the green goods out Of the car riage So as not to be caught with evI- dence of an intended crime in his pos sessiCn, and would at the same time call upon the coachman to whip up his horses. The sham police would make a feint of pursuing the carriage, and would then permit the latter to es- cape, contenting themselves with sc- curing possession of the green goods and stone ready fer other prey. Ma turally none Of the victims dared com plain Of the treatment if they suspect ed the trick to which they had been subjected, while in instances where they failed to realize the true condition Of affairs, they were made the object of further blackmail, under the pre- text that they had been recognized by the police, and that it was necessary to bribe these myrmidon Of the law.
 The whole matter was brought to light by a Russian Eob,sman of the name of Baron Bakounine. grand nephew of the nCbleman of the same name who is the father of Nihilism, and ward and ne1hew of Count | Mouravieff, the Russian minister of foreign affairs. The B1.A sfent the | winter at Naples, at the Heel de | LGndres, played for hiSb stakes at | cards in the leading clubs and at one | moment found Himself jh SC tight a | place, financially srerkns. that he was approached by the gang. and | yielded to their solicitations Wi,h tue | usual result. Subsequently they black | mailed him to such an extent under | the Pretext of bribing the police that | he eventually made a clean breast 0f | the whole affair to the Russian consul | general asking his advice in the mat ter. The consul general a5 once called | upon the leading authorities Of the | city, pressing the matter for al it
  relationship of the young baron, who had been falsely described | as prince, the Russian embassy at Rome likewise took a hand in the matter, and thanks to this the entire has been laid bare, and all of the members thereof arrested, save six of the titled confederateS of Mar quis Susio, who have managed to eff feet their escape to the United tSat5s.
 *#$%
 With regard to the recent lawsuit in connection with the application by Lord Francis Hope, ard his American wife, May YCha, for permission to sell the famous big blue diamond, which one of the family heir looms in the possession of the bank rupt lordling, there seems to be a gen. eraI impression that it is the samE stone as the celebrated Tavernier blus diamond that figured in the French re. galia, prior to the great revolution, and which disappeared in the early portion of the century. This is nos quite correct. The stone which be- Ionged to the French regaia was Of siXty-seven Carats, whereas that znokn as the Hope diamond, and which was bequeathed to Lord Fran cis by his maternal grandfather, MT. Hope, is only a little over forty carats.
 The fact of the matter is that the .hief who stole the Tavernier blue dia- nond from the French regalia was un- able to dispose of it in it's original owing to the certainty Of <: he stone being recognized. Accord ngly, he had it cut into several pieces. The Hope diamond is the largest of the l ,ra gnents. and was purchased by old Nr. Hope for S100000. An3ther fraS- nent of about 12 carats WIS owned by l he late Duke Of Brunswick and came 7Don the market when the city of ( Geneva. as the. chief lsgatUG Cf the {