The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-11-06
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| THE METEOR DIAMOND
How 1t Was Recovered by
Detective.


It was the night of Nov. 4, 1899, as
Mr.. David Allen sat blue penciling
some proof sheets, when there came a
ponderous thud that to him seemed
Just under the window. 1t shook the
whole house, and when he looked out
of the window he saw that something
had made a deep hole In the garden.
The next day he dug up a small me-
teor. 1t was a most formidable look
ing piece of metal. 1t contained at the
surface a small crystal.
The stone in size and shape resem-
bled the egg of rock pigeon, but IN
color it was watery, with just a tinge
Of yellow. Mr.. Allen wrapped 1t up In
tissue paper, placed it In box and call
ed on the scientist to ask his opinion.
DR.. Reford said 1t was a leopardite-
mineral, he said, found always In a
crystalIized condition-and talked about
lateral planes, oblique prisms, trans
lucent edges and wound up by giving
the component parts of this wonderful
stone and its specific gravity.
lis the stone of any value, DR.. Re
ford p Allen asked.
"Well, scientifically, yes; intrinsical-
| ", no. But before returning 1t
would like to make further and more
exhaustive inquiry into the chemical
parts Of it."
Certainly, DR.. Reford. Keep it as
| long as you WISH" Then Allen went
home.
He thought no more about 1t until
his friend Jones asked:
"What have you done with the peb-
BILE, AllenY
"Oh, l took 1t to local doctor who
dabbles bit in science"
did he tell you what it was? I'll
tell you why l ask. Do you remember
| Clayton of Yale? Well, no matter.
He's wonderfully smart chap. l saw
him absolutely make diamond few
weeks back. He explained that the
pinhead he produced was of the first
water and that when electricity was
better known diamonds would be as
cheap as they are now dear He placed
a few metals and other ingredients In
to a crucible and then boiled the lot up
by the aid of a powerful electric cur
rent. with the result I've told you.
Now, Clayton says If he could only get
an odd hundred or thousand degrees,
1 forget which, more heat he could
make diamond as big as hens egg.
Despite all efforts of Allen to dispel
! the thoughts conjured up by Jones re-
marks the matter would recur. He
tried to laugh it away, but to no avail,
SO he walked over to DR.. Refords to
ask for the pebbles return.
The doctor was in and disengaged.
"Well, Mr.. Allen. have dissolved
that stone 1t was nothing more than
glass" Dr. Refotd showed Allen a
wide necked vial with some whitish
LIQUID in it and beneath which was a
small ridge of green sediment
'There," said he, ''is all that is left
of your treasure, Mr.. Allen"
Allen was disappointed in not having
the pebble to keep as memento. He,
however said it couldn't be helped.
"I'H tell you what l will do, Mr.. AL
len. III solidify that sediment so that
you may have something to remind you
of your midnight visitor"
Allen jumped at the offer and left,
contented.
About a week after this DR.. Reford,
accompanied by a youngish looking
man. called upon Allen. The doctor
introduced the youngish looking man
as DR.. Smith. He said DR.. Smith was
going to take charge of his practice
while he voyaged to Europe.
The next day gentlemanly individ-
ual called to see Mr.. Allen on urgent
business.
'My name is John Westlock," said
he, "and I'm a detective sent to you
under instructions from Mr.. Albert
Jones, q friend of yours"
'Good heavens, man, what's upP
According to Mr.. Jones, sir, few
weeks back you had meteor fall In
your garden"
81 had What thenw
"You sent a pebble it contained to a
local doctor named Reford for exam
nation"
Certainly"
'Well, sir, the day before yesterday
this doctor called upon Mr.. Clayton,
the eminent scientist, and explained
that the meteor fell In his garden and
that he found the pebble. Mr.. Clayton
examined 1t and found it to be most
valuable diamond. A few minutes aft
er the doctor left Mr.. Clayton's house
your friend, Mr.. Jones, called and was
told the story about the meteor. He
was satisfied that somehow this doctor
had got the pebble from you and had
deceived you OF course it's your af-
| fair, but If my advice is worth any
thing I'd go and get what he says Is
all that remains of your pebble"
To this Mr.. Allen agreed.
Together they journeyed to DR.. Re
lords and were somewhat surprised
when not the doctor, but the house
keeper, came to the door.
ooh, Mr.. Allen, is it you, sir? I'm so
glad to see you! Things is in an aw-
| full mess Afore any of us were up this
morning that Mr.. Smith-or DIR. Smith
(contemptuously) = leaves the house.
Soon after the master was up there
was an awful row. He swore he'd
been robbed, and when he heard as
this Smith man had gone l thought he
was going mad, sin indeed did. He
raved round the place like a regular
luny and then ran to the railroad sta
| ton"
Mr.. Allen had no difficulty in obtain
ing the vial, but Westlock learned moth
ing at the station. There had not been
a single passenger either to arrive or
depart These two doctors seemed to
have vanished completely.
| The green sediment was analysed,
proved to be nothing but copperas in
solution, and with that solitary piece
of information the police and all con-
cerned in the matter had to be content.
Allen had almost forgotten about his
pebble, when Westlock, the detective,
called again.
"Well, Mr.. Westlock, any news"
asked Allen, somewhat SURPRISED
"I've got your diamond, Mr.. Allen.
AS no outside news was obtainable,
came to the conclusion that there had
been some foul play, and for the last
fortnight I've been searching the
neighborhood, and met with success
this morning. Both doctors bodies
were lying in Meridon qnarries hidden
among lot of underground. To me 1t
is clear DR.. Reford must have seen
Smith hiding or seeking shelter, and
the two must have had struggle on
the cliff and in their frenzy have fallen
over"