Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-03-09
out Of keeping with the value Of the

out OF keeping with the value Oh the
jewel entirely.
"Before taking any other steps, miss,
it will be necessary for you to go with
me to the chief of police and explain in
what manner the pearl came into your
possession.
Her eyes darted fire. "And if re-
fuse to do itp' she exclaimed passion
ately.
''Your refusal would compel me to
call in policeman, rejoined dryly.
''All right, (" she said; 81 go along
with you, if this.is the custom in vi
emma when storeKeepers are dealing
with their customers. Please call car
riage."
lyon must pardon me, )" I said apoI-
ogetically. "but this is really an ex-
traordinary case. A jewel of such val
ue'--
"All right, but whatever you do
you do at your risk. .
The girl appeared to me entirely
above suspicion and to be quick witted.
A long acquaintance with crooks of all
kinds permits me to quickly distinguish
between the hypocrite and the honora-
Bile, and | was indeed not mistaken in
my diagnosis Arriving at police head
quarters, she was asked who she was,
whence she came and whence the pearl
She gave her name and residence. Her
father, she stated, had at his death be-
queathed her modest pawnbroker shop
in small country town, which had
often been visited by young farmer,
who had pawned various articles with
her. He was very poor, she said. One
day she accidentally passed near his
miserable hut and heard noise in the
yard. Well knowing the man, she en-
tered and learned that all his posses
sions were being distrained for debt
of 10 forms The young man called her
aside, secretly showed her the pearl and
asked for a loan of 90 forms on it to
pay the debt. He said the pearl was an
old keepsake with which he parted most
unwillingly. Moved rather by pity than
by the value of the collateral, she ad-
vanced the sum desired, although she
knew from general experience that if
the pearl was genuine it must be quite
valuable, but she thought it to be an inn
itation only It is barely worth while
to add other data. The telegraph was
called into requisition and the truth OF
her statement established.
The history of the pearl was as fol
lows: The father of the young farmer
had been a chamber valet of Count
Louis Batthanyi, the minister president
of the revolutionary government OF
Hungary. in 1S4s. The count wore the
pearl as cravat pin, and few honrs
before his death-as is known he was
shot in Pest by order of a military
court martial-he presented it to his
faithful servant, who under no cir
cumstances ever parted with it. At his
death his son took the pearl out of the
setting, which he sold, keeping the
pearl and parting from it as recited.
The pearl itself had been stolen about
| $50 years ago out of the English crown,
which had contained three of them.
Two large diamonds went with it al
the same time The English govern
ment had been looking for it for 15G
years, but to no avail Nothing was
ever heard of it until this accident. In
what manner it drifted into Count Bat
thanyi's possession viii doubtless re
main a secret forever. He had most
/ probably bought it of some antiquarian.
The English government redeemed
the pearl, paying for it the offered re
ward of G2, 500, a handsome sum,
which the girl divided with the farm
er-but not divided, because the his
tory of the pearl says that the two con
cluded to keep the money together
best done by getting married
Eyes added my gray haired inform
ant, many jewels and pearls have
had their eventful history, and during
the many years that | have been en-
gagged in dealing in precious stones &
good many of their ups and downs and
mishaps theft. arson. murder and all
| the crimes ON the statute books-haye
come to my knowledge. | propose tC
write book about these adventures
sooner or later, and / assure you it viii
contain entertaining and startling read
ing matter Jewellers Circular.
I